DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa lawmaker has pleaded guilty to operating while intoxicated and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Cedar Rapids television station KCRG reports that Rep. Francis “Chip” Baltimore, a Boone Republican, entered the written plea Friday in Story County District Court. The maximum penalty for each count is a year in jail, but Baltimore’s plea notes an agreement with prosecutors that he receive a year’s probation and pay fees and civil penalties of $1,815.

Baltimore, an attorney, was arrested last month in Ames near Interstate 35. His blood alcohol tested out at nearly twice the legal limit to drive, and a pistol was found under the driver’s seat.

He was subsequently removed as chairman of the House judiciary committee, but retains his elected seat.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — The adoptive brother of a 16-year-old girl who died of malnutrition in her family home has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to seriously injuring her before her death.

The Des Moines Register reports that 22-year-old Justin Ray pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of willful injury. In exchange, prosecutors dropped two counts of child endangerment against him.

Police have said Ray “drop-kicked” Sabrina Ray down basement stairs sometime between April 15 and May 1, leaving her unable to walk, talk, eat or drink normally.
The girl’s body was found May 12 in the Perry home she shared with her adoptive parents, who face first-degree murder and other charges. The girl weighed just 56 pounds at the time of her death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Public health officials say 28 people in Iowa have been sickened by chicken salad sold at Fareway grocery stores and another 66 illnesses are probably linked to the product.

The Iowa Department of Public Health is advising consumers to throw away any chicken salad bought at Fareway produced between Dec. 15 and Feb. 13 and sold in plastic deli containers with a Fareway store deli label.

The chicken salad was produced and packaged by a third party for the Boone, Iowa-based grocery chain that has more than 100 stores in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Fareway voluntarily stopped selling the product on Feb. 2.
Salmonella, a bacterial illness, can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever. Some people develop severe symptoms that require hospitalization.

Three people were arrested Thursday in Cass County, on District Court warrants for Probation Violation. Those who were taken into custody include: 23-year old Samantha Kim Jensen, of Atlantic; 33-year old Ehren Michael Mardesen, and 33-year old Miles Blake Cooley, both of Anita. Cooley was also arrested for Possession of Marijuana, 3rd or subsequent offense. He was later released from the Cass County Jail on $2,000 bond. Jensen and Mardesen remain in the Cass County Jail, held on $25,000 bond, each.

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have arrested a southeast Iowa man accused of head-butting his son to discipline the 2-year-old. Court records say 21-year-old Zachary Fritsch, of Washington, is charged with child endangerment causing injury and assault causing injury. Des Moines County Jail records say he remained in custody Friday.  A court document says Fritsch, the boy and the boy’s mother were visiting a West Burlington residence when the child was injured. His mother and another woman took him to a medical center, where workers notified police about the possible abuse victim.

The woman with the boy’s mother told investigators that Fritsch head-butted the boy’s forehead after yelling at him for playing with a bottle and pacifier that didn’t belong to him.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say two men suffered minor injuries after a fire broke out in a Waterloo duplex. Waterloo Battalion Chief Mike Moore says smoke alarms awakened at least one of the residents around 1:20 a.m. Friday, and she alerted other people in the building. The two men were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and minor burns. Two other occupants were not injured.

Firefighters limited the flames inside to just the bedroom where the fire began, but there was considerable damage to the front of the structure. The fire cause is being investigated.

An Audubon man who went missing last weekend returned home today (Friday). The family of 38-year old Jason Malloy had reported him missing, after they hadn’t heard from him for several days. Jason’s wife Tina told KJAN News he returned home at around 8-a.m. today (Friday), not knowing that anyone was looking for him. He apparently “wanted some time away,” and was staying with a friend in Omaha. Tina Malloy said February is a difficult month for Jason, because his mother passed away in February. The man suffers from depression, as well.

She thanks everyone who passed along word of his disappearance, and who kept an eye out for him.

Jason Malloy

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A former mayor in eastern Iowa is trying to revitalize a troubled neighborhood by encouraging more private investment with his move to the area. In September, former Davenport mayor Ed Winborn and his wife, Sandy, purchased a home at auction in a Davenport neighborhood filled with grand but often empty houses. The Quad-City Times reports that five of the 15 properties on the north side of the Winborns’ block are listed by the Scott County Assessor’s Office as owner-occupied.

Ed Winborn has also attempted to keep the city’s core from deteriorating by bringing together a group of stakeholders last month. Winborn called the meeting to brainstorm and identify other investors, including business owners, administrators of various trusts and representatives from local colleges.

House Republicans want Iowa to join a dozen states that bar lawsuits against doctors who do not provide pregnant women with information about abnormalities that might prompt some women to seek an abortion. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake is the top Republican in the legislature. “We want to make sure we’re protecting physicians in those circumstances,” Upmeyer says. “…If there was a legitimate medical malpractice claim or something, that’s separate from this issue.”

This fall, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled a Fort Madison woman had a right to sue her doctor after giving birth to a child with cerebral palsy. Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, a Democrat from Ames, says the woman has argued she might have chosen to have an abortion if she’d known she’d give birth to a “severely disabled child that will never walk or talk.” “Whether you disagree with what decision that woman will make or not, we certainly deserve to have the information to make our health care decisions,” Wessel-Kroeschell says.

A bill eligible for debate in the Iowa House would prohibit so-called “wrongful birth” lawsuits that seek money to cover the lifetime costs of caring for a child with profound disabilities.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Iowa Supreme Court says the birth mother of an 18-month-old girl, paid as a surrogate to have the baby, is not legally the child’s parent. The opinion issued Friday means the girl remains with the Cedar Rapids couple raising her. The child will not be turned over to the woman who gave her birth. It’s the first time the state’s highest court determined surrogacy contracts in Iowa can be enforced.

The court says if the contracts were nullified it “would deprive infertile couples of the opportunity to raise their own biological children.” The case centers on Paul and Chantele Montover of Cedar Rapids who paid $13,000 to a Muscatine woman who wanted to keep the baby. The court concluded Paul Montover, as the baby’s biological father, gets permanent custody.