(Radio Iowa) – Officials with the GoServ Global humanitarian organization say their frustration level is growing over the situation in Haiti. The organization was co-founded in 2011 by missionary Terry Baxter and Iowa farmer Ken DeYoung following a devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010. DeYoung says they support operations in the southwestern part of Haiti. “We’ve been able to keep the school going, our hospital, birthing center, those kinds of things going fairly well,” DeYoung says. “But the biggest thing for us and the orphanage we support is the availability of food and fuel and that king of thing.” He says it has been hard to get all the supplies they need.

“The gangs have shut the road off going from Port-au-Prince to Le Cayes and so we haven’t been able to get many supplies. There is some food available, but it is at a ten-X price of what it was six months ago,” he says. DeYoung says the unstable nature of the country makes it difficult to try to help.

“You get to the point of desperation where it’s next to impossible. I’ve got a container of food sitting in Port-au-Price right now, been there for several weeks, that we can’t get up there,” DeYound says. “And even for me to fly in supplies to La Cayes, and I haven’t been able to get clearance to go in there since this whole shutdown happened. Even if I can, the desperation sets in to the point that you don’t hardly show up with plane load of food, everybody will know what it is.”

GoServe Global is in the process of moving from Eagle Grove to Ankeny.

This is Donate Life Month, when you are encouraged to sign up on your driver’s licenses to donate organs, eyes and tissue. Heather Butterfield, spokeswoman for the Iowa Donor Network, says it’s a time to highlight the critical need for donors, to shine a light on those who are on waiting lists, to honor those who’ve donated in the past, and to celebrate those who’ve received organs through transplants. She says last year was a record-breaking year in terms of the number of donors saying ‘yes’ to donation.

You can go online to IowaDonorNetwork.org to register.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Officials with the Page County Sheriff’s Office, Tuesday, said a man from Imogene was arrested after he turned himself-in on a warrant. 41-year-old Vincent Michael Martin was wanted on a Page County Warrant issued on March 4th.

The warrant charged Martin with Assault on Persons of Certain Occupations – Intent of Injury, Disarming a Peace Officer, Interference with Official Acts – Inflicting Serious Injury, and Assault on Persons in Certain Occupations.

Martin’s bond was set at $16,000, but the court allowed 10% to be paid. Martin posted $1,600 bond and was released from custody pending additional court proceedings.

A charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa now has a law modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law last (Tuesday) night at an event sponsored by The Family Leader, a Christian conservative group.

In a written statement, Reynolds said religious rights have increasingly come under attack and this law uphold ideals that are the very foundation of our country. Critics say the law will let some Iowans weaponize and misuse religion to
discriminate against others.

The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act was approved in 1993. According to the governor’s office, 26 other states have adopted similar laws in the past three dec

(Radio Iowa) – Some elements of Governor Kim Reynolds’ plan to improve Iowa students’ reading scores have won approval in the Iowa House. Under the bill, schools must notify parents if their child isn’t reading at grade level in kindergarten through sixth grade — and teachers would have to chart a plan for each of those students falling behind in reading. Representative Thomas Moore, a Republican from Griswold, says most teachers are doing that already.

“I don’t want to say, ‘all teachers,’ because obviously we wouldn’t be in the middle of the pack nationally, reading wise, if all of our teachers were doing some of these things,” Moore says. The bill also says college students in teacher prep programs would have to take an exam to test their knowledge of research-based reading instruction, but a passing grade wouldn’t be required for graduation. The governor recommended that current teachers take the test, too, but that’s not in the House bill.

“I also want to thank the governor’s office for their willingness to accept my toning down what their original bill was and to come up with what I feel was a good compromise,” Moore says. The bill passed on a 92-to-three vote. Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, supported it, but she says the bill could have gone farther in addressing the needs of students with dyslexia.

“Dyslexia is estimated to affect 20% of our kids in school and the intervention to help those kids with dyslexia is very specific,” Steckman said. “…It’s very important that we get our universities that are teaching our teachers to understand the importance of knowing how to teach a child with dyslexia.”

The chairman of the Senate Education Committee says he’s working on legislation to improve the reading skills of Iowa students and it’s not yet clear what a final bill that gets approval from the Senate, House and the governor may look like.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that’s passed the Iowa Senate would block lawsuits against farm chemical companies based on how the products are labeled. It means the companies couldn’t be sued for failing to warn of potential health risks if product labels meet federal guidelines.

“Iowa feeds the world and we need partners in that who aren’t constantly under threat of lawsuit for following the very laws governing the ways they do business,” Senate President Amy Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton, said.

In February a federal appeals court refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming Roundup causes cancer and the CEO of Bayer, the company that produces Roundup, recently told investors lawsuits are a huge burden for the company. Senator Jeff Edler, a Republican from State Center, said the costs of Bayer’s legal predicament are passed along to farmers.

“We’re dealing with billions of dollars of lawsuits,” Edler said. “…The price of Roundup has gone up exponentially because of these lawsuits.”

Thirty Republican Senators voted for the bill. Four other Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate in voting against it. Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said the legislature should be looking out for farmers.

“The people of Iowa should matter more than the corporations and whatever funding they’re pouring into the state to get this bill passed,” Donahue said.

Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, said the legislature should be focused on responding to the fact Iowa has the fastest rising cancer rate in the country.

“What we should not be doing is taking away options from Iowans who fall ill,” Weiner said.

A key lawmaker in the HOUSE says the bill could soon come up for a vote in a House committee. Similar legislation has been introduced in Missouri and Idaho, but Idaho’s Senate rejected the bill in February.

BURLINGTON, Iowa – Joshua Michael Bergen, convicted of Willful Injury Causing Serious Injury, Willful Injury Causing Bodily Injury, and Burglary 3rd Degree in Louisa County, as well as Escape of Felon in Des Moines County, failed to report back to the Burlington Residential Facility as required yesterday.

Bergen is a 30-year-old, 5’5″, 169-pound white male. He was admitted to the work release facility on Jan. 18, 2024.

Persons with information on Bergen’s whereabouts should contact local police.

Joshua Michael Bergen

FORT DODGE, Iowa — Fort Dodge police are asking the public for help locating a person of interest. Police say they are looking for Lewis Ayala, 49, of Fort Dodge. Investigators want to question Ayala regarding the shooting death of Ryan Andrews in December. Police previously took in David Dayton after labeling him a person of interest in connection to Andrews’ death.

Ayala is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall and approximately 145 pounds. He is wanted in Webster County for possession of a firearm as a felon, according to police. Webster County Crimestoppers is offering a $500 reward for information regarding Ayala’s whereabouts.

Lewis Ayala

(Radio Iowa) – There are likely to be new limits on how much T-H-C from hemp may be legally added to food or drinks sold in Iowa. A bill that’s passed the Iowa House and Senate closes what bill backers say are loopholes in a 2020 law that made it legal to produce, sell and consume hemp in Iowa. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says the bill lays out desperately needed regulations to prevent highly-intoxicating products from being sold.

“To not only protect the industry, but also to protect the consumers who might indulge in these products,” Dawson says. The bill also bars businesses from selling hemp-infused “consumables” like drinks and gummies to anyone under the age of 21. Dawson says some hemp-infused consumables being sold in Iowa have really high levels of T-H-C — and seem to be competing with state licensed medical marijuana businesses.

“That program starts at a 4.5 milligram THC usage,” Dawson says. “The Iowa Hemp Act, or the program that we’re talking about here today, needs to be at a milligram usage that’s less than our Medical Cannabidiol program, otherwise the lines are blurred.” Senator Tom Shipley, a Republican from Nodaway, says four years ago when he worked on the law that made it legal to sell hemp in Iowa, he had an inkling people with nefarious motives would exploit it.

“Some people could find an angle to around things and do things that are not good for Iowans,” Shipley said. The House approved the bill with new regulations for hemp-infused products last month.

The Senate approved the bill today (Tuesday) and sent it to the governor.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is joining counterparts in 26 other states in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject what she calls Illinois’ unconstitutional ban on AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles. Bird calls the Illinois law “an outright assault on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says he always tries to “find a balance between AR-15s or any Second Amendment right and protecting the people.”

“The Supreme Court 15 years ago made it very clear that it gives utmost protection to most guns,” Grassley says. “Submachine guns would be an example that’s been outlawed for 90 years.” Grassley says it was a few years later that the nation’s high court made it a fundamental principle that applied to the states through the 14th Amendment.

“That doesn’t mean that states can’t outlaw certain things,” Grassley says. “I know that some states have done that, and I think that that’s a factor that you’ve got to take into consideration, that the states can do some of this themselves.”

Grassley says nobody who wants to hurt someone should have a gun, and he notes, that’s why we have background checks.

“States can, in 50 different ways, try to regulate guns but it’s got to be within the Supreme Court decision,” Grassley says. “So, Illinois can pass what they want to pass, but sometimes it’s going to be checked by the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court’s going to make that determination of constitutionality.”

Grassley says the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the U.S., with a recent poll showing more than 24-million Americans own one, or a comparable firearm.