DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Advocates seeking expanded access to medical marijuana in Iowa held a march at the state Capitol. More than 50 supporters of a proposal to expand the use of medical marijuana participated Tuesday. They support legislation that has won committee-level approval in the state Senate and could soon come up for a floor vote.

The legislation would make medical marijuana available to people with certain chronic diseases, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Those approved by a doctor could purchase marijuana products produced in Iowa and sold at state-licensed dispensaries.

Last year, the Legislature approved a law allowing some residents with epilepsy to use oil with an ingredient derived from marijuana for treatment. But the law did not establish an in-state program for the production and distribution of the oil.

A bill making its way through the legislature would allow schools to keep “Epi-Pens”  on hand to use if students have an allergic reaction to something. Representative Norlin Mommsen, of DeWitt, is the bill’s floor manager in the House. “I have received multiple conversations and emails concerning the importance of this bill,” Mommsen says. “It can be best summed up by a comment made by a fellow representative: ‘We have the opportunity to pass this bill before there’s a tragedy and we have to attach a name to it.'”

Iowa schools currently have the authority to stock inhalers which can be used if a student has an asthma attack. This bill would allow Iowa schools to have the “pens” that dispense a single dose of epinephrine if a student has an allergic reaction to something like a bee sting or food. The school could get a prescription for “EpiPens” and only trained personnel would be able to administer a dose, if the bill becomes law.

Iowa is one of just four states that do not have this kind of a law and Representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt, of Cedar Rapids is among the group of Iowa legislators and school nurses that has been working on this proposal for eight years. “I can’t explain the increase in severe allergies in our children,” Running-Marquardt says, “the birthday parties where you now have to know which children have a nut, egg or milk allergies and the EpiPen carrying cases that children have now with their name on them, so you can tell whose belong to who.”

She cited a report indicating 25 percent of the episodes that are the first indication a child has a food allergy occur at school. Representative Mary Mascher, a retired teacher from Iowa City, says “EpiPens” are expensive, but some drug companies provide them free of charge to schools. “This really is a bill that could save children’s lives,” Mascher says. The bill cleared the Senate unanimously on March 17th.

It was changed slightly by the House Tuesday, to allow “agents” of a school — like a classroom volunteer or a parent watching a football game on school grounds — as well as school employees to administer an “EpiPen” dosage if they are trained to do so. That change must be approved by the Senate before the bill can go to the governor’s desk for his review.

(Radio Iowa)

COUNCIL BLUFFS – A public meeting will be held regarding the River Valley OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) Park in Council Bluffs on April 15th, from 6-7 p.m., at the Western Historic Trail Center. The center is located at 3434 Richard Downing Ave. in Council Bluffs. The meeting is being held to discuss temporary closing of the park due to hazardous
trees, plans to remove the trees and the time frame for reopening the park.

Information will be presented on the proposed forestry plan, environmental review,
proposed logging, timber sale and removal of invasive tree and plant species at the
park.

Public comments and questions will be taken following the informational portion of
the meeting. Those unable to attend can submit comments to David Downing, DNR OHV program manager at David.Downing@dnr.iowa.gov.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A West Des Moines man says his brother, who called for immigration reform before being deported to Mexico in September, has been killed. Leonardo Morales told The Associated Press that Constantino Morales was shot and killed Sunday night in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Details about the shooting weren’t available. Leonardo Morales says his brother would be alive if he hadn’t been deported

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will appear at a fundraiser for a progressive group during an Iowa visit this month. Progress Iowa Executive Director Matt Sinovic says de Blasio will be a guest at a reception on April 16 in Des Moines. De Blasio, a Democrat, is making a number of out-of-state trips as he seeks to grow his national profile. His Iowa visit comes as the 2016 presidential hopefuls are starting to woo voters in the kickoff caucus state.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa House committee has approved legislation that would exempt the sale of honey bees from certain taxes, though one lawmaker questioned the point of the bill. The measure would exempt the sale of honey bees from the state’s sales tax and use tax, which is at a 6 percent rate. The bill now heads to the full House.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A former Dubuque police officer has pleaded not guilty to charges that he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl. Twenty-nine-year-old Kyle C. Cross pleaded not guilty to two charges of third-degree sexual abuse. Court documents say a woman contacted Dubuque police in February to report her 14-year-old daughter had run away. Police say they found her at Cross’ residence. According to a criminal complaint, both Cross and the girl admitted they had sexual contact.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The number of trains carrying at least a million gallons of volatile crude oil across Nebraska and Iowa has increased significantly this spring. BNSF railroad has told emergency management officials in both states that it’s now hauling 20 to 30 trains loaded with oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region through the area each week on average.

That’s up significantly from last summer when federal regulators began requiring railroads to notify state officials about trains carrying at least 1 million gallons of oil.

Railroad shipments of crude oil are facing additional scrutiny and tougher regulations because there have been several fiery derailments involving the commodity in recent years. The worst one happened in July 2013 and killed 47 people in a small Canadian city just across the U.S.-Canada border from Maine.

Volunteers are needed to help prepare food packages as part of an effort to provide “Meals from the Heartland.” Pastor Doug Opp, in Audubon, says the organization (mealsfromtheheartland.org) started in 2007 helping to meet the needs of the hungry in Iowa and elsewhere in the U-S and around the world.  Pastor Opp says more than 10.6-million meals were packed last year with the help of Iowans and other volunteers. This year, the goal is 15-million meals.

Meals from the Heartland 2013 event

Opp says the Iowa National Guard Armory in Audubon is the site this Friday, April 10th, or the latest effort to help packing the meals. The event will be ongoing throughout the afternoon and evening. $32,000 has been raised to date, which allows 160,000 meals to be packed. Each meal includes soy, rice, vitamins and nutritional supplements.

The goal is to get enough volunteers to assemble the packs. Each pack serves six people.

To volunteer an hour of your time to help, call 712-563-2625, text 712-304-5567. The shifts run from 3-until 8-p.m., Friday. Area high school students will be packing from Noon until 3. The public is needed to help pack afterward, especially from 3-to 4-pm, and 7-to 8-pm. Interested persons need to arrive 15 minutes before their shift, in order to view a training video.

You can also help by making a tax deductible donation. Address your checks to Meals from the Heartland, and give to your local church. If you have questions, call Pastor Doug Opp at 712-563-2625, or Pastor Steven Frock at 712-268-2660. The packages will be transported in boxes and then on pallets before being trucked to West Des Moines. Persons in the State of Iowa will be provided with meal packs first, before they are sent to the rest of the U-S and the world.

Sheriff’s officials in northeast Iowa’s Jones County say four people were arrested on 1st Degree Robbery and other charges, following a bank robber Monday afternoon. Authorities say at around 12:15-p.m, the Jones County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Exchange State Bank in Martelle. The bank reported they were robbed at gunpoint by two suspects who entered the bank carrying long guns. The two suspects made off with an undisclosed amount of money. The two suspects were seen getting into a white Buick Lesabre, with no plates, and headed northbound on Hwy 1.

At 12:35 PM, the Jones County Sheriff’s Office received a citizen’s report of a white car abandoned on 230th Avenue, North of 35th St., that appeared to be smoking. Officers with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa DOT Enforcement, and Jones County Sheriff’s Office responded and located the car. The car had been on fire and Lisbon Fire Department, who also responded, put out the fire. The vehicle was soon confirmed as the vehicle seen leaving the bank.

Based on information collected at the two scenes, two separate traffic stops led to four people being questioned and eventually arrested in connection with the Martelle bank robbery. The suspects include: 24-year old Andrew Palmer, of Mechanicsville; 22-year old Shiloh Palmer, of Mt. Vernon; 41-year old Peter Olinger, and 25-year old Elibabeth Olinger, both of Mechanicsville.

Shiloh Palmer

Elizabeth Olinger

Peter Olinger

Andrew Palmer

Brothers Andrew Palmer and Shiloh Palmer, were charged with Robbery in the 1st Degree. Peter and Elizabeth Olinger, who are husband and wife, face charges of Aiding & Abetting to Robbery in the 1st Degree. Peter Olinger is accused of driving Andrew and Shiloh Palmer to the Exchange Bank in Martelle, Iowa. Peter Olinger stayed in the vehicle while Andrew and Shiloh Palmer entered the bank, with long guns, and took an undisclosed amount of money. Elizabeth Olinger is accused of meeting the other three defendants on 230th Avenue, where they abandoned the white “get away” car and switched into another vehicle.

The investigation and collection of evidence will continue over the next several days.

A Creston man was transported to the hospital following a collision Monday afternoon, east of Afton. The Union County Sheriff’s Office says 20-year old Jesse Christensen, who was wearing his seat belt, complained of pain and possible injuries. He was extricated from his vehicle, and was transported to the Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston by ambulance following the crash, that happened at around 4:20-p.m..

Authorities say Christensen was traveling east on Highway 34 at the same time a 1999 Dodge pickup driven by 22-year old Eric Downey, of Afton, was traveling south on Redwood Avenue. Downey stopped at the intersection, but then proceeded south into the intersection, where his pickup struck Christensen’s 2000 Pontiac Grand Am. Following the collision, the Pontiac came to rest in the south ditch.

Damage from the crash amounted to $9,000. Officials cited Downey for Failure To Yield Upon entering a through highway.

Two construction workers are credited with saving two children from a burning duplex near Waterloo on Monday afternoon. Travis Moen and Ryan Siems were pouring concrete on a driveway in Evansdale when the fire broke out across the street. Wendi Smith ran from the two-story duplex screaming that her bedroom was on fire and her children were inside. Evansdale Police Sergeant Jeff Jensen says Moen and Siems wasted no time and rushed into the home through thick smoke, disregarding personal safety.

“They both went up there and got that child out of the back bedroom and brought him out,” Jensen says. “The mom had handed off one of her other children, a small girl, to one of the men and they brought them out. They got everybody out of the apartment by the time I arrived on scene, which was a godsend because I don’t know what would have happened had they hesitated a moment.”

The two rescuers found the three-year-old boy upstairs and the five-year-old girl on the ground floor. “There was a mattress that was on fire and I arrived seconds later,” Jensen says. “When I got here, there were flames coming out of the window of the bedroom and the windows were popping.” Jensen says he was patrolling nearby and arrived at the scene just seconds after receiving the call. In that short of time, the fire had already grown very intense.

“I got the call and I was here probably 30 seconds later and the smoke was rolling out of that window bad and flames had blown out the window already and were taking over and were lapping at the roof.” Fire crews from Evansdale, Waterloo and two other nearby communities — Gilbertville and Raymond — were called to the scene.

Jensen says the apartment where the fire started was heavily damaged, while the adjoining unit sustained mainly smoke damage. Investigators believe the fire was started by the three-year-old playing with a lighter. No injuries were reported, but Jensen says six people were displaced by the fire. The Hawkeye Chapter of the American Red Cross was called to assist both families with emergency shelter.

(Radio Iowa)

A northwest Iowa restaurant owner gained national attention last year after the Internal Revenue Service seized more than 30-thousand dollars from her account, forcing the eatery to close — but the I-R-S later dropped its case. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says there are many similar situations popping up lately that involve the U-S Justice Department or the I-R-S wielding far too much power. “There can be good reason to seize property in a criminal investigation, but the law ought to be about protecting innocent people,” Grassley says. “Too often, we’ve seen just the opposite with civil asset forfeiture laws. It’s become a big business for the federal government.”

The Justice Department is taking steps to put more restrictions on how assets can be seized, but Grassley, a Republican, says there are still too many loopholes and opportunities for abuse.  “I’m working on bipartisan legislation that will protect innocent people from being caught up in any sort of a dragnet,” Grassley says. “The bill I’m working on would enhance procedural protections for individuals if property is seized.”

According to Grassley, the bill would also reduce incentives for law enforcement to seize civil assets in these cases. Carol Hinders had run Mrs. Lady’s Mexican Food in Spirit Lake for 38 years, accepting only cash. Her frequent cash deposits caught the eye of the I-R-S and the whole ordeal began. While she did eventually get back the 33-thousand dollars the I-R-S had seized, she sold the restaurant and retired.

(Radio Iowa)