Republicans on a committee in the Iowa House last night (Thursday) advanced a plan to “defund” Planned Parenthood. It sets up a likely showdown with the Democratically-led Iowa Senate which has resisted similar efforts in the past. Chuck Hurley of The Family Leader Foundation, a Christian conservative organization, has been lobbying Republicans legislators to take a stand.

“From our vantage point, we should not be funding anybody who’s killing children in the womb,” Hurley says. State tax dollars currently cover the costs for Medicaid patients who get reproductive health exams or contraceptives at Planned Parenthood, but state tax dollars are not used to pay for abortions. Hurley says that’s not good enough.

“Imagine saying, ‘Well, the money that the German people are sending to Auschwitz only goes to cover the gates and the fencing and the food to keep the place open,” Hurley says. Democrats suggest House Republicans are out of touch with public opinion. A recent Des Moines Register “Iowa Poll” found 74 percent of Iowans want the state to continue spending tax dollars at Planned Parenthood to cover NON-abortion services for low-income Iowans.

Hurley says there’s more “zeal” among activists due to undercover videos released last summer that showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the organization’s fetal tissue donation program. A Texas grand jury concluded Planned Parenthood broke no laws. Two people who worked on the video project have been charged.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Police say a 15-year-old girl has died in a rollover crash in Sioux City. The Sioux City Police Department said in a news release that Alexis Wilde was riding in the front passenger seat of a vehicle driven by another 15-year-old Wednesday evening, when the vehicle went off the roadway and struck a dirt embankment, causing the car to roll over.

Police say Wilde, the driver and another 15-year-old passenger were transported to a hospital, where Wilde died from her injuries. The other two teens suffered minor injuries. The crash is under investigation.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Members of the Republican-controlled House have advanced a budget bill that would remove state funding for Planned Parenthood, though the proposal is not expected to have enough support in the Democratic-majority Senate. The House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines Thursday for a bill that would remove Medicaid funding for family planning facilities that provide abortions.

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (AP) — An investigation into dog fighting by authorities in northwestern Illinois has resulted in two arrests and the seizing of 58 dogs. Rock Island Police Chief Jeffrey VenHuizen says 11 federal search warrants were executed Thursday in Rock Island and Davenport as part of a year-long, on-going investigation related to dog-fighting, narcotics and firearms.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Democratic-controlled Senate is attempting to revive a proposal to fund water quality initiatives through a sales and use tax increase, but the plan has little support in the Republican-majority House. A three-member panel of the Senate Ways and Means Committee agreed Thursday to advance a bill that would increase Iowa’s sales and use tax by less than a penny to fund a natural resources and outdoor recreation trust. The trust, established in 2010, has no money in it.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The board that oversees Iowa’s three public universities has indicated it may need to increase tuition for students because the Legislature has proposed limited new dollars for the next budget year. Bruce Rastetter, president of the Iowa Board of Regents, says the board is disappointed by the proposed funding announced Thursday. Rastetter says the board will immediately start discussions regarding tuition increases for the upcoming school year.

Sheriff’s deputies in Fremont County arrested a motorcycle driver for Operating While Intoxicated, Thursday. Deputies stopped a 2009 Harley Davidson for speeding in the 2400 Block of Highway 59. The driver, 42-year old Carl Ward, of Riverton, was placed under arrest for OWI/1st Offense. Upon arrival to the Fremont County Jail, Ward became combative with deputies and jail staff.

He was charged with Operating While Intoxicated 1st Offense, 2 counts of Assault on an Officer, Interference with Official Acts, and Speeding. Ward was being held at the Fremont County Jail on $6,195 bond.

Carl Ward

A bill that would increase the state sales tax by a fraction — to raise money for water quality projects — has cleared its first hurdle in the Iowa Senate, but it faces strong opposition that’s likely to sink the proposal. Senator David Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan, has become a champion of the tax hike, to fill a state fund Iowa voters created in 2010 for water quality initiatives.

“What is this General Assembly going to be remembered for?” Johnson asks. “…We can do this and it is the best plan.” Johnson and about two dozen other people spoke in favor of the plan during a statehouse hearing Thursday afternoon. Mark Ackelson, a former president of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, says water quality problems are “urgent” and it’s time for legislators to act.

“Water quality’s important, but it’s much more than water quality and people need to understand this,” he says. “This is about investing in our future. It’s investing in our grandkids. It’s about investing in our quality of life. It’s about investing in economic development.” Two state senators signed off on the proposed tax hike Thursday. That makes the bill eligible for debate in a senate committee. Earlier this week House REPUBLICANS advanced their own plan. They want to shift state taxes being used for other purposes toward water quality projects. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal says it does not appear ANY plan has enough support in the senate.

“I would say there’s a lot of ships passing in the night and lots of and no consensus developing on a funding mechanism,” Gronstal says. Representative Tom Sands, a Republican from Wapello, chairs the HOUSE Ways and Means Committee. He says a “straight up” tax increase cannot pass the Republican-led House.

“This idea of just going to Iowans and saying: ‘You need to pay more,’ I do not support,” Sands says. “But it very possibly with some changes could be more of a long-term going forward, just not this year.” Sands says that means CUTTING income taxes at the same time the sales tax is raised. Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says it will be up to advocates of the tax increase to get lawmakers to embrace the plan.

“We can move mountains in the legislature, but it requires Iowans not to sit on their couch and just expect it to happen,” Petersen says, “but people need to get on their phones and they need to email and let people truly know how badly they want this.” Petersen supports the three-eighths percent increase in the state sales tax, with those extra taxes deposited in the “Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund.” Sixty-three percent of Iowa voters approved creation of the fund in 2010, but there’s no money in it.

(Radio Iowa)