The top Democrat in the Iowa Senate says he “thinks there’s a way” to ensure a Nebraska doctor who performs so-called “late-term” abortions cannot open a clinic in Council Bluffs. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal, who is from Council Bluffs, says work is underway to make changes in a bill that already cleared the Iowa House, a bill that would ban abortions in Iowa after the 20th week of a pregnancy.

“The legislation as drafted by the House I think significantly invites a very serious court challenge,” Gronstal says. “So I think we’re trying to look at some ways to fix that up in such a way that we can guarantee a new, late-term abortion clinic doesn’t open in Council Bluffs.” Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, was asked last week to examine the House-passed bill and lead the process of making changes.

“So I’ve spent part of last week and other the weekend studying the bill and working to craft some amendments that deal with what we think is the number one concern that the bill tries to address and that’s the establishment of a clinic by Dr. LeRoy Carhart in Council Bluffs,” Bolkcom says. Carhart is no longer able to perform so-called “late term” abortions at his clinic in Bellevue, Nebraska because a Nebraska law that took effect in mid-October bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. Other states like Oklahoma, Kansas and Idaho have recently passed similar laws and Iowa is among nearly a dozen other states with similar legislation pending, Bolkcom says there are concerns those laws are unconstitutional.

“I don’t think we should be about passing laws that we know on their face are unconstitutional,” Bolkcom says, “especially looking at the 20-week outright ban.” Bolkcom hopes to release details of the alternatives he’s exploring “within the next few days.”

“The issue we’ve heard repeatedly from people who care about this issue is the establishment of this clinic in Council Bluffs,” Bolkcom says. “And we are focused on that issue primarily.” Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron, worked in 2003 to pass federal legislation that bans so-called “partial birth abortions.” King is urging state legislators in Des Moines to take the next step and pass a state law that would ban abortions after the 20th week of a pregnancy.

“I know a little bit about LeRoy Carhart and I’ve looked that man in the eye and it’s a disturbing experience, let me tell you,” King says. So far, the four other state laws that ban abortions after the 20th week of a pregnancy have not been challenged in court. Indiana’s governor last week indicated he’ll sign a similar abortion ban for his state.

(From Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Harrison County say flames from an unattended brush fire whipped by winds of up to 35-miles per hours, destroyed a machine shop Sunday afternoon, in Missouri Valley. More than 30 volunteer firefighters from five towns responded to the blaze, which was reported shortly after 2 p.m.  No one was injured, but the damage amounted to an estimated $38,000.
Missouri Valley Fire Chief Eugene Shaeffer says the shop’s owner had been burning brush in a pit on the property Sunday morning, and the fire was left unattended. The flames eventually  spread to the nearby, one-story, wooden-structure shop.
Shaeffer said there was little Firefighters could do except spray water on adjacent houses to keep them from catching on fire as well.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s scenic and heritage byways are getting new signage marking the designation.

Troy Seifert with the Department of Transportation office in Ames told the Tribune that the Lincoln Highway between Clinton and Council Bluffs is the first to get the news signs. The first of an estimated 1,000 signs have gone up along the highway between Ames and Boone. The rest will be up by the end of the June. Signs will be installed along the state’s nine other byways by mid-November.

The project began in 2006, and Seifert secured a $580,000 grant for the signs.  Seifert says information about Iowa byways will soon be available online at www.iowabyways.org.