DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have announced the arrest of a man for the shooting death last April of a Des Moines woman. Police said in a news release Thursday that Antonio Markez Hodges has been charged with first-degree murder and intimidation with a dangerous weapon in the death of 33-year-old Catherine Bobbitt. Police called to an area just blocks southwest of the Drake University campus on April 3 found Bobbitt suffering from a gunshot wound.

She was taken to a hospital, where she died. Police say that witness statements and video evidence led them to develop Hodges as a suspect in the case. He was arrested on Feb. 1 at a home in Des Moines and charged this week.

(Radio Iowa) The Iowa House has unanimously passed a bill to prohibit defendants charged with a violent crime from claiming temporary insanity because they discovered the victim was gay or transgender. Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton says defendants in several other states have used this so-called “gay panic” argument and their sentences were substantially reduced.

Before the bill passed the House, Representative Liz Bennett of Cedar Rapids asked for a moment of silence for Kedarie Johnson, a gender-fluid teenager who was murdered in Burlington in 2016.

In 2017, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a federal lawyer with experience on hate crimes cases to Iowa to serve as the local prosecutor and both men were convicted of Johnson’s murder. The bill that has cleared the Iowa House would prevent a “gay panic” defense from being used in state court when someone is charged with a felony or rioting.

(Update 10-a.m.) The Iowa Department of Public Health, Thursday, reported 841 new cases of the COVID-19 virus since 10-a.m. Wednesday, for a pandemic total of 327,255 positive cases. There were 22 additional deaths reported, for a total of 5,196. Statewide, 4,690 COVID deaths are attributed to Underlying causes. COVID was a contributing factor to 506 deaths. Deaths at Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities account for 2,124 deaths. There were two more deaths in the KJAN listening area: One more in both Guthrie and Harrison Counties (see more data below).

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks went from 39 Wednesday to 38 today (Thursday). LTC patients testing positive amount to 1,046, with 678 having recovered from the virus. The State data show 273 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is down from 292 in the previous report. Officials say 64 patients are in an ICU, 32 were admitted over the previous 24-hours, and 26 patients are on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa), 13 are hospitalized with COVID symptoms, seven people are in an ICU, one person was admitted over the past 24-hours, and one person was on a ventilator.

Iowa’s statewide positivity rate is up a bit. The 14-day positivity rate is 8.4% compared to 8.6% on Wednesday. The 7-day average was down slightly to 6.2%.   A total of 299,122 Iowans have recovered from the virus.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} – if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:

• Cass, 1,223 cases; {+2}; 46 deaths
• Adair, 755; {+31}; 25
• Adams, 313; {+0}; 3
• Audubon, 449 {+0}; 9
• Guthrie, 1,067 {+0}; 28
• Harrison County, 1,640; {+3}; 68
• Madison County, 1,352; {+1}; 16
• Mills County, 1,446; {+8}; 20
• Montgomery, 949; {+4}; 35
• Pottawattamie County, 9,538; {+30}; 138
• Shelby County, 1,116; {+3}; 32
• Union County,  1,165; {+6}; 31

Jim Field visits with Dustin McLaren, father of Atlantic High School Senior Steele McLaren, who suffered from a Traumatic Brain Injury during an accident on Oct. 25, 2020. Dustin updates us on Steele’s remarkable recovery, and what’s ahead. He also expressed his gratitude for the First Responders who worked to save his son, and those who have prayed for Steele’s recovery.

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More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) – A majority of the Republicans on the Iowa House Education Committee have voted to get rid of the tenure system at Iowa’s three public universities. Representative Skyler Wheeler, a Republican from Orange City, says tenure protects bad professors.

“Tenure was originally designed to protect diversity of thought on college campuses, however as we have seen clearly in our Regents universities, there is no longer diversity of thought,” Wheeler says. “According to a study of the top 40 colleges, this is about four years ago, on average for every one Republican college professor, there are 12 Democrats.”

Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says Iowa would become the only state in the country to ban tenure if the bill becomes law. “I’ve always believed Iowa is a quality place and we stand alone, but I don’t believe this would create a good impression of our state and our educational system because it would suffer greatly if we were to abandon or eliminate tenure.”

The move to ban tenure is now eligible for debate in the full House.

(Radio Iowa) – Bills calling for a statewide moratorium on new factory farms are -not- expected to gain much traction in the Iowa legislature this session. Several groups are working to stop development of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, which they say pollute the air and water, impact the quality of life, and devalue nearby land. Drew Mogler, a spokesman for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, says if the legislation is approved, it would be a disaster for the state of Iowa and for the pork industry.

“Livestock production and agriculture is really the economic engine of rural Iowa and really a way for young people to get involved in agriculture,” Mogler says, “so it’s definitely something that would really hurt our industry. We certainly still see the pork industry as something that’s very important to rural Iowa.”

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley says the CAFO legislation has -no- chance to make it to the floor for a vote. The livestock industry, according to Mogler, creates a wide array of benefits for the state. “Livestock production still contributes a lot to these rural economies,” Mogler says. “In the state of Iowa, the pork industry generates over 147,000 jobs and generates over $6.8-billion in household income, which would really be a direct hit to these rural communities and Main Street businesses in those communities.”

Farmers are making great strides with efficiency, he says, learning to do more with less. He adds, it’s important to note the pork industry’s positive environmental footprint. “We’ve done a better job of managing our manure nutrients,” Mogler says. “Agriculture is obviously going to be able to play a big role when it comes to carbon sequestration and using manure nutrients from our livestock farms helps decrease our reliance on fossil fuel-based fertilizer.”

An eastern Iowa farmer says new methods and technologies make the big operations less harmful, adding, the industry has changed from 30-to-40 years ago. Groups that support the moratorium push include: Food and Water Watch, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture, and the Iowa Farmers Union. Jess Mazour, spokeswoman for the Sierra Club’s Iowa Chapter, says the bills target medium- and large-sized livestock operations.

“That would be 500 animal units or larger, and for hogs, that translates to 1,250 hogs, or more,” Mazour says. “It’s pretty straight forward. It’s saying no more should be built or expanded so that we can start to build an agricultural system that works for farmers and eaters and workers and the environment.” Mazour says these bills are focused on the need for improvement to the state’s environment as well as cleaner water, and fixing the current agricultural system.

“We’ve been operating under this system for decades now and when we look out at rural Iowa, we see it withering on the vine,” she says. “We’re seeing small towns dry up, grocery stores and schools and hospitals close. If this system of agriculture, the factory farm system, was so good for rural Iowa, we’ve be seeing thriving towns right now and that’s just not the case.”

Two Democrats introduced bills in the House and Senate to put a moratorium on CAFOs. Senator Pam Jochum, from Dubuque, is sponsoring the measure in that body while Representative Art Staed of Cedar Rapids is carrying the House bill.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that has cleared an Iowa Senate subcommittee would require transgender students in Iowa schools to use bathrooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificate. Republican Senator Jim Carlin of Sioux City is the bill’s sponsor. “The concern is not so much with transgender individuals,” Carlin said, “…but that sexual predators would exploit such laws for posing as transgender in order to gain access to women and girls.”

A lobbyist representing Iowa school boards says the policy would put schools in the impossible position of violating Iowa’s Civil Rights Act and federal guidelines — and set the state up for lengthy litigation. Keenan Crow is a lobbyist for One Iowa, which represents L-G-B-T-Q Iowans.  “Transgender students in Iowa have been abel to use restrooms that match their gender identity since 2017 and over that 14 year period we haven’t seen any uptick in school restroom safety incidents,” Crow says.

North Carolina lawmakers passed what is often referred to as a “bathroom bill” in 2016, but repealed it a year later after some corporations cancelled business deals in North Carolina and the N-C-A-A and N-B-A moved games to other states.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has approved a series of bills that provide state grants and tax grants in hopes of boosting access to child care. One bill would set up a tax credit for businesses that provide child care benefits for employees. Representative Jane Bloomingdale of Northwood says it address two of the state’s major problems — a shortage of workers and a lack of child care options for parents who want to work.

“By providing child care, it helps the employer retain and recruit workers,” she says, “and it helps the employees go back to work when they know they have affordable and reliable child care.”

Officials say 81 Iowa child care centers have closed during the pandemic and another bill would let in-home child care providers that are registered with the state care for one more school-aged child. Another bill that passed the House would significantly raise the income threshold for the state’s child care assistance program. About 25-thousand Iowa children who live in low-income households with parents who work or go to school are covered by the program. Representative Lindsay James of Dubuque says some working parents turn down extra hours or raises because they’ll no longer quality and cannot afford to pay for child care on their own.

“I heard especially from single moms that they were falling off the cliff when it came to their child care benefits that our state offers because they’re getting a higher income in their jobs,” James says.

Each of the child care related bills passed the House with bipartisan support.