(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Democratic Party chairman Mark Smith is traveling to Cedar Rapids and Davenport today (Friday) to critique Republican Senator Joni Ernst’s health care record. “In this election, the easiest question that voters can ask themselves is: After Senator Ernst’s half decade in Washington, is my health care any better?”  Smith predicts health care will be the number one issue for voters.

Ernst is seeking a second term in the U.S. Senate. A spokesman for the Republican Party of Iowa says the five Democrats who’ve lined up to challenge Ernst are embracing socialized medicine, while Ernst is working to make health care more accessible.

(Radio Iowa) — A Dubuque County couple is onboard the cruise ship off the California coast that isn’t being allowed to dock until everyone’s tested for coronavirus. Shelley and George Goeppner, of Asbury, were headed home from Hawaii aboard the Grand Princess when California declared a state of emergency. The Goeppners call the situation surreal as they’re now among 35-hundred passengers who are confined to their rooms. A passenger on a previous voyage got off the ship in Mexico and later died of coronavirus.

A Coast Guard helicopter dropped off testing kits Thursday. Test results should be back by the weekend. George Goeppner says it’s their seventh and final cruise, but on the plus side, now they’re getting free wi-fi and room service.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like clockwork, Daylight Saving Time (DST) strikes again this weekend. Watch for it at 2 a.m. local time Sunday in most of the United States. Don’t forget to set your clocks an hour ahead, usually before bed Saturday night, to avoid being late for Sunday morning activities. With the annual change, sunlight will extend longer into the evening, but the shine will take longer to emerge in the morning.

Graphic to be used as a reminder to turn the clocks forward one hour Sunday March 8 at 2 a.m.;

No time change is observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas. Standard Time returns Nov. 1st.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (The Gazette) — A Johnson County officials says a man serving more than 80 years for two separate murder-for-hire plots died of natural causes. Clayton Schuneman with the county medical examiner’s office told The Gazette that Justin Dewitt died of a heart disease on Feb. 7.

Dewitt was sentenced to 35 years in prison for a murder-for-hire scheme in which he sought to have someone kill his business associate, the associate’s wife and their two children. In 2019 Dewitt was sentenced to 50 years for trying to organize from behind bars the killings of witnesses in his first case so they couldn’t testify against him.

The Iowa Supreme Court today (Friday), affirmed a District Court ruling in the case of a man who committed a 2002 home invasion in Taylor County and was sentenced to 25-years in prison for Burglary and Attempted Murder.  An attorney for Jarrod Dale Majors had argued on behalf of his client, that the district court on remand of its sentence, abused its discretion in failing to follow the supreme court’s mandate, when it imposed the mandatory minimum 17 1/2-year sentence before Majors is eligible for parole. Majors further contends his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to present expert testimony. Upon review, the Supreme Court determined the district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing the mandatory minimum after considering the youth sentencing factors under case law. They determined the sentence is supported by testimony from the State’s expert. In their Opinion, the Court said Majors personally chose not to retain a defense expert, and that his counsel was not constitutionally ineffective for relying on cross-examination of the State’s expert without retaining a defense expert that his client chose to forgo.

Majors was 17-years old, just days away from his 18th birthday, and a high school senior. He was obsessed with a 30-year old woman who lived across the street from him, in Bedford. One evening in May 2002 when the neighbors were gone from their home, Majors decided to enter the home and wait for them to return. He wore a ski mask and gloves and attached a large knife to his waistband. He put duct tape on his wrist and carried a .22 caliber rifle with a plastic soda bottle taped to the barrel. He hid in the closet of the master bedroom and waited for the family to return. When the woman entered the bedroom, Majors emerged and attacked her. She fought him off, her husband quickly intervened, and Majors was subdued. Police promptly arrived. The family, including the children, were terrified, but no serious physical injuries were inflicted.

Majors told police he was paid $100 to commit the crime as a prank. He later said he was hallucinating at the time and could not recall committing the crime due to drug use and lack of sleep for a prolonged period of time. He also believed the neighbors had planned to attack him. Majors had no prior criminal record other than a single offense for possession of alcohol as a minor.

The full court opinion can be found here: https://www.iowacourts.gov/courtcases/8505/embed/SupremeCourtOpinion

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man is awaiting sentencing for drunkenly firing a rifle and wounding a woman inside her home instead of a deer he’d hoped to kill. Court records say 35-year-old Lee Ryals, of Ottumwa, pleaded guilty Wednesday. Authorities say 73-year-old Janet Wright was cleaning her stove on Jan. 4 last year near Ottumwa, when she heard a loud noise and felt pain in the back of her head. Wright drove herself to a hospital, where doctors removed a bullet.

Authorities say Ryals was drunk when he pulled the trigger on the deck of a camper where he’d been staying. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 29th.