(Radio Iowa) – Backers of a bill that would require drivers to keep their hands off of their smart phones are hoping this is the year the bill becomes law. Iowa State Patrol Captain Todd Bailey says one out of five traffic deaths in the past five years can be linked to a distracted driver.

“It’s extremely scary when you consider the speed issues that we’re dealing with, the following too close and you take all those factors into consideration, we have a reduction in response time by that driver in that vehicle and any type of added distraction or divided attention that you put in that car is basically going to create a recipe for disaster,” Bailey says.

A senate subcommittee has advanced a bill that would require any smart phone use inside a vehicle to be in hands-free or voice activated mode. It’s currently illegal to text while driving in Iowa, but there’s no ban on downloading music, watching videos or playing games. Senator Mark Lofgren of Muscatine said as a runner, he’s dealt with distracted drivers for years.

“Twenty years ago it wasn’t so bad. It’s got worse all the time,” Lofgren said. “Any cyclist or pedestrian or anybody that’s know that (drivers) just aren’t paying attention, so that’s why I support the bill.”

Larry Loss of Clive told lawmakers he was criticalky injured while bicycling last May.

“A young man looking down at his phone cut me off from the bike lane, forced me to hit the curb, propelled me into a concrete barrier,” Loss said during the subcommittee hearing. “I spent 17 days in the hospital, had two surgeries, was off work for two months. By the way, the driver never stopped. I’m in support of this bill.”

According to an insurance industry lobbyists, states that ban motorists from using electronic devices while driving have experienced a 15% reduction in traffic fatalities.

(Radio Iowa) – An Arizona murder suspect is being held in a northern Iowa jail after his arrest following a brief standoff in Charles City. Police in Tucson, Arizona issued a warrant last year for
24-year-old Trevontea Tyron Howard-Brown, a suspect in a fatal shooting near the University of Arizona campus. A 23-year-old man was killed and another man critically injured in the shooting on April 22nd.

According to a news release from Tucson Police, the U.S. Marshals Service tracked the suspect to a home in Charles City and Howard-Brown briefly barricaded himself inside the house Friday morning before being taken into custody.

Howard-Brown is being held as a fugitive in the Floyd County Jail and will be transferred to Tucson to face charges of first degree murder and attempted murder. His bond has been set at $1 million.

(Radio Iowa) – What’s billed as a global anti-human trafficking symposium will be held in eastern Iowa tomorrow (Tuesday). The event is being organized by Teresa Davidson, co-founder and CEO of Chains Interrupted, an Iowa-based non-profit that fights human trafficking. Davidson says the conference will be carried live on Zoom and in-person at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids.

“The title is, Barriers Faced By Sex Trafficking Survivors,” Davidson says, “and there will be multiple people there that have experienced human trafficking, speaking about the barriers that they faced in getting out of the life of trafficking, as well as barriers that they continue to face once they’re trying to seek restoration out of the life.”

Davidson calls human trafficking an “underground crime” that’s widely underreported. “Many times people that are victimized by human trafficking don’t even realize that they’re being victimized by it because traffickers use fraudulent relationships to groom them in and keep them in,” Davidson says. “So, someone pretending to be a boyfriend, acting like the mother that someone never had, the father they longed for, the best friend, and people don’t realize that they’re being manipulated.”

Davidson is the anti-human trafficking coordinator at Mercy, the first Iowa hospital to create a hospital-based position to address human trafficking. Advocates say there are indications Iowa is an attractive state for traffickers, given the wide open spaces and the intersection of major interstates.

“It’s hard to know how many people are being victimized,” she says, “but since the inception of Mercy’s anti-human trafficking program in 2018, we’ve helped over 300 survivors.” Davidson encourages Iowans to look within their circle for people who may be vulnerable to this crime.

“My message to people would be to reach out to them, to be the people that support them, that encourage them, that provide resources for them, because the traffickers are looking for those people and they’re going to reach out first if we don’t,” Davidson says. “We have an opportunity to prevent this from happening to people in our own circle if we only just do it.” The Tuesday event is free and runs from 9 a.m. to noon. It’s being co-hosted by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. It’s open to the public but registration is encouraged.

The Zoom call will be capped at 1,000 participants.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa House subcommittee has again advanced a bill to ban what’s been called the “gay panic defense.” It would prevent defendants charged with a violent crime from claiming temporary insanity because they discovered the victim was gay, lesbian or transgender. The bill has never been considered in the Iowa Senate, but it has passed the House unanimously twice before. Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton said he’s hoping persistence pays off this year. “Nothing’s changed in my mind,” said Kaufmann, chair of the three-member subcommittee. “I find the use of this defense preposterous and heinous and it does not pass the common sense test that this should be a defense.”

Keenan Crow of One Iowa, a group that advocates for lesbian, gay and transgender Iowans, addressed the House subcommittee that advanced the bill. “Thank you for bringing this forward again. I appreciate the tenacity of the House on this matter. I do think it’s important enough to merit a third vote,” Crow said. “What this bill does is it outlaws a discriminatory defense tactic that is based on excusing or minimizing the actions of a perpetrator based on the characteristics of their victim.”

Defendants in a few other states have been able to use a “panic defense” to reduce their sentences. Supporters of the bill cite the 2016 murder in Burlington. During House debate of the proposal last year, a state representative asked for a moment of silence for Kedarie Johnson, a 16-year-old who was wearing women’s clothing the night he was killed by two men.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports a Bridgewater woman was arrested January 16th in Adair, on two Adair County warrants. 57-year-old Michelle Renee Evans was taken into custody at a restaurant in Adair, on a warrant pertaining to an Order Revoking her pre-trial release that was filed on August 26, 2022, and, a warrant filed July 8, 2022, charging her with Failure to have a Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) interview. The warrants are connected with six counts of Animal Neglect with Serious Injury or Death, filed in Adair County on March 24, 2021. According to court records, Evans’ sentencing hearing is set for Feb. 3rd at 10-a.m. She remains in the Adair County Jail on a $20,000 cash-only bond.

Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports also, 59-year-old Todd Lavern Lauridsen, of Ames, was arrested Jan. 15th in Stuart, following an investigation into an occupied vehicle on the side of the road at Adair/Madison Avenue, with its lights off. Lauridsen – who was in the passenger seat – told the Stuart Police officer a friend who was driving, was picked-up by another friend. Together they went to retrieve a trailer to haul the broken down Honda Accord.

A check of Lauridsen’s ID revealed his driver’s license was revoked. The officer noticed a clear plastic zip-style baggie with a torn half, laying on the driver’s seat. The baggie appeared to continue residue consistent with methamphetamine, according to the officer’s report. The officer ordered Lauridsen out of the vehicle, and a substance believed to be meth fell from the passenger seat and onto the floorboard. The substance tested positive for meth. A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted, resulting in the discovery of a glass pipe under the passenger seat. The trunk contained a black box with another glass pipe, along with paraphernalia. Lauridsen’s wallet contained $448, $300 of which was in 100-dollar bills. Lauridsen was arrested for Possession of less than 5 grams of meth, and possession of paraphernalia. He was released from the Adair County Jail Jan. 17th, on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.

And, 41-year-old Stormy Allen, of Greenfield, was being held in the Adair County Jail after being arrested on the 15th. She served a her court-ordered sentence and was released on Jan. 19th.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Police Department reports four people were arrested on separate warrants from Dec. 26, 2022 through Jan. 11, 2023:

• This past Saturday (1/21), 29-year-old Benser Mark, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Failure to Appear, and 25-year-old Ason Pisalil, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant along with a Public Intoxication.
• On Jan. 11th, 28-year-old Nicholas Renner, of Atlantic, was arrested on Cass County warrants for Violation of Probation (2 counts). And…
• On Jan. 8th, 39-year-old Larry Oles, of Kimballton, was arrested on an Audubon County warrant for Simple Assault.

The following persons were arrested for Public Intoxication:

• On January 23rd (Today), and on Jan. 14th, 23-year-old Tarek Bunan, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intox.
• 19-year-old Tarzan Kochiro, of Atlantic, was arrested Jan. 21st, for Public Intoxication.
• and, on Jan. 8th, 43-year-ol Kierstian Takis, of Atlantic was arrested twice, at 2:02-a.m. and again at 9:15-p.m., both times for Public Intoxication.

On January 21st, 33-year-old Benjamin Sonish, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. One day earlier (Jan. 20th), Atlantic Police arrested 31-year-old Cody Pleis, of Atlantic, on charges of Harassment in the 1st Degree, Simple Assault, and False report to public entity. On January 15th, Atlantic Police arrested 29-year-old TR Takauo, of Atlantic, was OWI/1st offense. The A-PD reports two people were cited and released for different, alleged offenses: On Jan. 10th, 59-year-old Debra Frazier,of Atlantic, was cited for Theft in the 4th, in connection with an incident that occurred in Dec., 2022. And, 24-year-old Allen VanAernam, of Atlantic, was cited for Simple Assault.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday (Jan. 24, 2023), will discuss the future of the former Willow Heights care facility. The building and grounds for the facility are owned by the County. Both failed to sell during an auction held last Saturday. The minimum asking bid was $250,000. The other tracts offered during the auction did sell, for a total of $1.7-million.

Their discussion on the matter will take place during the Supervisors’ regular weekly Board meeting at 9-a.m., Tuesday, in their Boardroom at the Cass County Courthouse, in Atlantic. In other business, the Board will act to approve the resignation of Robert Vernon, Grove Township Trustee, the appointment of Mike Kennon, as Zoning Administrator, and the appointment of a Yardman’s position.

During Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken’s report, the Board will act to approve a Resolution for a bid on a County Bridge Project.

(Radio Iowa) – Two long-running strikes at eastern Iowa factories ended over the weekend. Some 11-hundred U-A-W workers at Case New Holland plants in Burlington and Racine, Wisconsin ratified a new contract on Saturday, ending a strike against the ag equipment maker that started last May. On Sunday, nearly 120 workers at Ingredion in Cedar Rapids agreed to a new four-year deal with the grain processing plant.

Those workers are represented by the Bakery Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 100G, and they’ve been striking since August. Statements from both groups say the strikes ended with wins on wages and insurance premiums.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports two men were arrested on separate warrants, recently. Late Sunday morning, 37-year-old Robert Eugene Kibbe III, of Creston, was arrested at his residence on two Union County Warrants. One was for Violation of Probation on an original charge Harassment/1st Degree  – No Bond. The second was for Violation of Probation an original charge Domestic Abuse Assault Display or Use of Weapon/1st Offense  – No Bond. Kibbe is being held in the Union County Jail.

And, 40-year-old Jacob Jeffrey Fry (No known address) was arrested at a residence in the 300 block of N. Jarvis Street, in Creston. He was arrested Friday morning on a Department of Corrections Felony Warrant for Possession of Products Intended for Manufacturing Any Controlled Substance. Fry was taken to the Union County Jail and held on a $5,000 cash-only bond.

A Creston man reported to Police, Wednesday afternoon, that on Jan. 14th, between 5:30- and 6-p.m., he lost his Camo Winchester SX4 shotgun, while hunting at the Gator Farm. The loss was estimated at $1,000.