(Sidney, Iowa) – The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports one person died during a structure fire early this (Wednesday) morning. Authorities say at around 12:15-a.m., the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an occupied structure fire at a detached garage in the 100 block of Clay Street, in Farragut. Witnesses advised an individual had entered the structure and had not been observed exiting.

After extinguishing the fire, responders conducted a search of the structure and human remains were located. The victim’s identity was being withheld pending notification of family.

Farragut Fire, Shenandoah Fire and Rescue, Essex Fire, Riverton Fire, Sidney Fire, Hamburg Fire, Randolph Fire, Tabor Fire, and Thurman Fire all responded to the call with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office. The Iowa Department of Public Safety Office of the State Fire Marshal is investigating the incident.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report deputies arrested a 16-year-old male from Stanton, at around 3:45-p.m., Tuesday. The teen was taken into custody in the 100 block of Coolbaugh Street in Red Oak, following an investigation. He was charged with four counts of Harassment in the 1st Degree.

The juvenile was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs. Additional information was not released.

(Radio Iowa) – Democrats in the Iowa Senate have released a package of bills to expand birth control access and ensure Medicaid patients who are new moms get regular check-ups covered for a year to try to reduce Iowa’s abnormally high maternal mortality rate. The group is also proposing a constitutional amendment to Iowa’s Constitution that would guarantee the right to an abortion. Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum of Dubuque says the 16 Democrats currently serving in the state senate and the Democrats who’ll be running for senate seats this fall are united.

“A vast majority of Iowans support safe, legal abortion in this state,” Jochum says. “and we believe we need to stand firm and let people know where we stand as Democrats and what we’re going to fight for in this coming election cycle.” Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee abortion access in Iowa is similar to amendments in Michigan and Ohio that easily won approval this year.

Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum (D-Dubuque) speaks at a statehouse news conference on Jan. 30, 2024. (RI photo)

“A constitutional amendment ensures reproductive freedom cannot be infringed upon by extremist politicians hellbent on taking away the ability of Iowans to control their own bodies and lives,” Petersen says. Republicans hold significant majorities in the Iowa Senate and House and passed a law in July to ban most abortions in Iowa after the sixth week of a pregnancy. The Iowa Supreme Court is expected to rule by June on whether the law may take effect.

(Radio Iowa) – The bill Governor Kim Reynolds has proposed to find out if foreigners are using a loophole to acquire Iowa farmland has cleared initial review in the Iowa Senate. Iowa’s secretary of state would be required to review land ownership records, to see if foreigners or foreign governments are involved in U-S based companies or trusts that have purchased or inherited Iowa farmland and prepare a summary.

Republican Senator Dan Zumbach, a farmer from Ryan, says the information would be presented to the governor and the legislature, but the annual report would be confidential and not released to the public.

“I think the information, when it’s all said and done, that the public would have some redated versions of that, of what’s going on,” Zumbach says, “but at this point we’re good where we’re at.” Iowa already prohibits foreigners from buying more than 320 acres of land. The bill would impose higher fines for violations.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans on a subcommittee in the Iowa House have signed off on a bill that would require instruction about fetal development to start in first grade classes. The bill calls for students in first through sixth grades to be taught about human development in the womb and shown an animated video about what happens during a pregnancy. Amber Williams, a leader in the Polk County chapter of Moms for Liberty, says she got an abortion when she was 18 and would have benefited from this kind of instruction.

“Had I been shown the video ‘Meet Baby Olivia,’ which actually follows the science of the incredible journey of life beginning at conception, I would have chosen life,” she said. “This curriculum is needed and it will be impactful.” The bill refers to the “Meet Baby Olivia” video, which was produced by Live Action, a non-profit dedicated to ending abortion. Opponents of the bill say the video provides inaccurate medical information. Mazie Stilwell is public relations manager for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa.

Representative Anne Osmundson (R-Volga) gestures as she speaks during House subcommittee hearing on Jan. 30, 2024. (RI photo)

“We think it’s dangerous,” Stilwell says, “and frankly this kind of propaganda has no place in our schools or schools of any kind.” Lawmakers in Kentucky have proposed the “Meet Baby Olivia” video be shown to students in sixth through 12th grades. A West Virginia bill would have the video shown to 8th and 10th graders.

PLYMOUTH COUNTY, Iowa  — After an Amber Alert and a standoff in Remsen, a man was charged with kidnapping in the first degree after allegedly kidnapping his biological son.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS), on Tuesday, Jan. 30, the Jefferson Police Department requested assistance with a kidnapping case. Brandon Duong, 34, allegedly took his seven-year-old biological son, Bryson Duong, from Greene Elementary School in Jefferson, Iowa. A court order from Dec. 2023 restricted Brandon Duong from having custody of his son.

The Amber Alert went out at 3:28 p.m. Then, at about 4:53 p.m., the DPS said, law enforcement found Brandon’s vehicle northeast of Remsen, Iowa in Plymouth County. Duong allegedly led officers on a high-speed chase, eventually crashing his vehicle. Duong allegedly left the vehicle on foot with Bryson and a rifle.

Several law enforcement agencies responded to the area, negotiated with Brandon, and eventually placed him under arrest, the DPS said. Bryson is currently in the care of the Department of Human Services.

Brandon Duong was charged with one count of Kidnapping in the First Degree and will be transferred to the Greene County Jail. The Jefferson Police Department and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation will continue to investigate.

(Radio Iowa) – A state senator who’s tried for years to ban traffic cameras is pairing a proposed ban with a plan to crack down on motorists who use their smart phones while driving. Republican Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale began the effort in 2011 after a camera ticketed his vehicle speeding in Cedar Rapids, but it was his son behind the wheel at the time.

“I believe fundamentally that they’re against our constitution,” Zaun says. “It doesn’t matter who’s driving the car, whoever the car’s registered (to), the ticket goes in the mail.” Zaun held a subcommittee hearing this (Tuesday) morning. Relatives of three Iowans who’ve been killed by a driver distracted by a smart phone pleaded with Zaun to just advance the requirement that drivers’ smart phones be in hands-free mode on the road.

Peter Bengston told senators his daughter Ellen was riding her bicycle near Charles City in 2020 when she was struck and killed by a driver who was opening an app on his cell phone.  “She did nothing wrong, but the driver confessed and walked free because of the current (law) out there,” Benston said. “This is an issue of public highway safety and we ask that you have a clean hands-free-while-driving bill made public and prevent other families from going through the loss my family is going through right now.”

Veronica Young, of Altoona, on right, holds a photo of her son as she speaks at Senate subcommittee hearing on Jan. 30, 2024. (RI photo)

Veronica Young of held a photo of her 22 year old son Derrius who was killed near Sumner on February 5th of last year by a driver who ran a stop sign.  “Hands free is such a big deal and could save so much heartache,” she said. “My son was important. My son meant the world to a whole lot of people other than just family and he had a bright future that was taken away for absolutely no reason.”

Kristi Castenson of Harcourt held up a photo of her husband and their family. Dave Cartenson and his 85-year-old mother were killed in 2015 by a driver using a smart phone. The driver, who was convicted, was sentenced to probation in the first case of distracted driving prosecuted in Iowa.  “We need to do something as citizens to protect the people in Iowa and everywhere because we’re losing way too many people or people are being injured,” she said. “It affects the rest of their life.”

State troopers and. police officers from Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque and Fayette urged Senator Zaun to drop his proposal to ban traffic cameras in Iowa after July 1st of 2025. Fayette Police Chief Ben Davis says he doesn’t have the staff that many metro areas have and traffic cameras are important in his town. “We were one of the first agencies in the state to start a rural traffic program,” Davis said. “Since then we’ve been able to reduce traffic incidences to nearly zero in four years. It helps protect our town and it’s a force multiplier. Technology for law enforcement is always a force multiplier.”

Last year the Iowa Senate did pass a bill to require that drivers only use a smart phone in hands-free mode, but it stalled in the House.

(Radio Iowa) – Brainstorming sessions are used in all levels of the corporate world, but a University of Iowa professor of management and entrepreneurship suggests those sessions don’t work, and he has a better idea. Professor Eean Crawford, in the U-I’s Tippie College of Business, says brainstorming with a group often isn’t productive because it forces our brains to do at least four things at once, and that overloads us.

“One, you’re trying to come up with ideas, so you’re trying to think about them,” Crawford says. “Two, you are trying to listen to other people’s ideas. Three, while you’re doing that, you’re trying to remember the ideas you came up with. And then four, simultaneously, you’re trying to evaluate the ideas that people are suggesting.” Brainstorming sessions may simply lead to meetings that go nowhere or, even worse, bad decisions. Instead, he suggests “brainwriting” sessions that start with a simple problem statement.

“Each of you individually sit down and write as many ideas as you can, quietly,” Crawford says. “Then having written them, you don’t have to remember them anymore, so you’ve relieved your brain from doing that. Then, you gather together and share those ideas. You just take turns going round robin around the group, and each person just reads off their ideas, and at this point, no one evaluates them, you’re just listening.” After all the ideas are vocalized, everyone can discuss the pros and cons and pursue a solution with a fresher perspective. Crawford says it’s a more effective way to get the creative juices flowing.

Prof. Eean Crawford (UI photo)

“I was just this past weekend at a mini-conference and we had brain writing sessions, and it was awesome!” he says. “One of them started with not after the problem statement coming up with your best ideas, the facilitator suggested for the next five minutes, I want you to come up with as many bad ideas as you can, like generate the worst possible ideas to solve this problem. And in the 30 minutes that followed, when we shared those ideas, it was hilarious.” By injecting humor and laughter, the positivity was evident, he says, and that led to another session of writing out -good- ideas, during which there were more ideas and of higher quality. While it may sound like a no-brainer, Crawford notes common sense isn’t often put into common practice.

“I don’t know why brainstorming persists in most organizations, other than it’s kind of the default,” Crawford says. “People don’t put a lot of thought into structuring a session where you need to generate ideas. They just kind of get in a room and say, ‘Okay, what ideas do you have?'” The idea of brainwriting isn’t new, Crawford says, as it was first suggested in print in the late 1960s. He says studies find, brainwriting sessions can increase productivity and idea quality by 20-percent over traditional brainstorming.

(Radio Iowa) – Dr. Deborah Turner, a Mason City native and the national president of the League of Women Voters, died Sunday from complications after a pulmonary embolism. Turner was born in Mason City in 1950 and graduated from Mason City High School in 1969. After graduating from medical school at the University of Iowa in 1978, she became the first black doctor certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the specialty of gynecologic oncology in 1985.

Iowa native Dr. Deborah Turner was elected national president of the League of Women voters in June of 2020 and reelected in 2022. (League of Women Voters photo)

Turner practiced medicine for 35 years and worked at hospitals in Mason City, Davenport and Des Moines. She also taught medical residents in programs at the University of Iowa, University of Nebraska and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Turner first joined the League of Women Voters of Metro Des Moines in 2010 and later served as president until 2015. Turner was elected president of the national organization in June 2020 and was re-elected to the same position in June 2022.