Advocates to expanding Iowa’s limited medical marijuana law held an emotional rally at the statehouse Tuesday afternoon. Michelle Richardson of Norwalk has multiple sclerosis and she wants lawmakers to set up a growing and distribution operation here in Iowa for cannabis oil, pills and vapor. “If I have to cross state lines to get the medication, I’m not going to do that,” Richardson says. “Look at me. I’m not going to go to jail for that.”

Monday night, 31 House Republicans unsuccessfully offered a proposal that would have expanded the list of ailments Iowans can possess cannabis oil to treat. Sally Gaer, of West Des Moines, has been lobbying legislators to set up an Iowa-based growing and distribution system for the cannabis oil her daughter takes to control her chronic epilepsy. “I’m disappointed. I feel misled by members of the Iowa House,” Gaer says. “We’ve been working on this for months and what they did last night shows they have no conscience.”

Bob Lewis of Windsor Heights cried as he described the G-O-P plan. “I’ve been fighting so hard for this. My illness wasn’t even covered in the bill that was diluted,” Lewis said. “I have lived in pain for 42 years.” Thirty-six-year-old Laura Jumper and her family are moving from Mason City to Ankeny to be closer to other relatives. She has ulcerative colitis, Graves Disease and a rare form of arthritis that attacks the spine. Jumper wants to take cannabis because prescription drugs are no longer working. “I used to be a fitness instructor and now I barely can walk and have trouble doing everyday things like showering,” Jumper says. “and just getting in and out of the car.”

House Democrats say they’ll try to force a vote this week, somehow, on a plan to grow and distribute marijuana by prescription in Iowa. Leaders say they’re hoping this is the final week of the 2016 legislative session and a limited number of bills remain eligible for debate.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An attempt in the Iowa Legislature to expand medical marijuana access in the state may have reached its end this session with a failed vote in the House. Some Democrats said Tuesday they would keep pushing the issue in the days before a possible adjournment. The Monday night debate, which ended with a 31-63 failed vote, highlights the challenges of passing legislation that includes a production system for the drug.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A competency hearing and murder trial for a 30-year-old man charged with killing his mother and grandmother in Council Bluffs have been delayed. A hearing to determine whether Michael Dieckmann is mentally fit to stand trial was set for Monday but a prosecutor and defense attorney asked for more time. The competency hearing is now set for June 27, and the trial was moved to Aug. 23.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House have passed a bill that could change decision-making within a Des Moines utility that sued three Iowa counties over polluted water. The chamber voted 52-39 Tuesday for the standing bill, which often includes language on unrelated projects. The House bill would change the board that oversees decisions by Des Moines Water Works to ensure representation from different areas the utility serves. The utility has sued three counties over polluted water.

NASHUA, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City man who stopped to change a flat tire on the shoulder of a highway has died after being hit by a pickup truck. Twenty-one-year-old Zachery Gueller stopped because of a flat tire Monday evening on the shoulder of Highway 218, just north of Nashua. An Iowa State Patrol report says he turned on his emergency flashers and got out of the vehicle to change the tire. A pickup hit the vehicle, killing Gueller and injuring three passengers.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Sioux Falls police say a 26-year-old woman has been arrested in Le Mars, Iowa, in connection to a man wanted on a warrant issued in a Sioux Falls homicide. Police spokesman Sam Clemens says the woman was arrested early Tuesday morning on two counts of accessory to murder.

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Jared Stone in the killing of 28-year-old Baptiste White Eyes, who was shot in the head outside a Sioux Falls casino Friday evening and died at a hospital.

Stone remained at large on Tuesday. Clemens says Stone is likely in Iowa. Police haven’t commented on the relationship between Stone and White Eyes other than that they knew one another. Authorities do not believe the shooting was a random act.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A competency hearing and murder trial for a 30-year-old man charged with killing his mother and grandmother in Council Bluffs have been delayed. The Daily Nonpareil reports a hearing to determine whether Michael Dieckmann is mentally fit to stand trial was set for Monday but a prosecutor and defense attorney asked for more time. They say doctors are still evaluating Dieckmann.

He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the March deaths of his mother, 63-year-old Jacqueline Dieckmann, and his grandmother, 91-year-old Illa Pfeiffer. The competency hearing is now set for June 27. Dieckmann’s murder trial was originally scheduled to begin June 1, but will now be held Aug. 23.

Dieckmann remains in the Pottawattamie County Jail on $1 million bail.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says charges are pending following an injury accident that took place Monday evening, about 1.5-miles east of Shenandoah. Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports, the accident occurred at around 5:40-p.m. on Highway 2m near the intersection with C Avenue.

An accident investigation determined a 2016 Jeep Cherokee driven by 28-year old Dustin Richard Comstock, of Shenandoah, was stopped in the westbound lane of Highway 2 waiting for eastbound traffic, to clear so he could turn south onto C Avenue.  20-year old Drew Alexandria Ann Esque, of New Market, was traveling westbound on Highway 2 east of the intersection in a 2001 Ford Taurus.

For unknown reasons, Esque didn’t see Comstock’s stopped SUV. Her car hit the rear end of the Jeep, causing the SUV to move west in the westbound lane before it came to rest.  Esque’s car continued west in the eastbound lane before finally coming to rest in a ditch southwest of the intersection.

Both Comstock and Esque were transported to Shenandoah Memorial Hospital for treatment of unknown injuries. Citations are pending against Esquel. The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Shenandoah Ambulance Service and Shenandoah Fire Department.