Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:10 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a six-week abortion ban into law, marking the strictest abortion regulation in the nation. The move also sets the state up for a lengthy court challenge. The Republican governor signed the legislation Friday. The Iowa affiliates of Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union have already said they’d sue Reynolds if she signed the bill, which Iowa’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved earlier in the week.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law an overhaul of Iowa’s energy policies. Reynolds signed the bill Friday, marking a change in how much natural gas and electric companies must spend on energy efficiency programs. Democrats say the law will drastically curtail the programs, causing higher rates and lost jobs. Republicans say utilities will cut costs and then must pass along savings to customers. The also law requires regulators to review proposed rates more quickly.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The father of a 16-year-old Iowa girl who was tortured and starved to death has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. The Des Moines Register reports that 47-year-old Joseph Finn II was sentenced Friday in Des Moines. He had pleaded guilty in March to three counts of assault while participating in a felony causing a serious injury. Finn’s ex-wife, Nicole Finn, is serving three life sentences for the October 2016 death of Natalie Finn.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Safety regulators say the prison housing Iowa’s most violent inmates is exposing workers to “serious physical harm” by equipping them with deficient emergency radios and poorly trained security dogs that can engage the wrong people. The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration found 21 serious violations during a recent inspection of the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison and is seeking a $49,500 fine against the Department of Corrections, which is contesting the violations.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests took place, Friday. At around 11:25-a.m., Deputies arrested 41-year old Chrystal Rush Stewart, of Red Oak, on a warrant for Failure to Appear in court. Stewart was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

And, at around 11:53-a.m. Friday, Montgomery County Deputies arrested 39-year old Jill Christine Curring, of Corning, following a traffic stop. Curring was arrested for Driving While Revoked, and Failure to have insurance. She was also cited for Expired license plates. Curring was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash bond.

BELLE PLAINE, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating the deaths of a woman and a young boy at a railroad crossing in eastern Iowa. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says in a news release that Belle Plaine police were called to the crossing around 5 a.m. Friday for a train-pedestrian accident.

Arriving officers found the bodies of a woman believed to be in her mid-30s and a boy believed to be about 8. Police say the names of the two will not be released until they have been positively identified and their family members notified.

Police say Union Pacific Railroad is cooperating with the investigation. No other details about the deaths have yet been released.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law a six-week abortion ban, marking the strictest abortion regulation in the nation, and abortion rights activists staged a rally on the statehouse grounds today (Friday), pledging a legal battle overthe new state law that would ban nearly all abortions in the state.

Suzanna de Baca, president of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said Friday, “I am here to tell Governor Reynolds: ‘We will see you in court.’ The Republican-led legislature passed a bill banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which happens around the sixth week of a pregnancy.

Mark Stringer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, says the abortion ban is the most restrictive in the country, and that “the ACLU of Iowa will be proud to be a part of the litigation team that will stand with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland as we sue.”

Many of the Republican legislators who spoke in favor of the bill during House and Senate debate are anxious for the matter to go to court, too, hoping it will be the catalyst for overturning Roe v Wade, the 1972 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Erin Davison-Rippey, director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, was the lead-off speaker at today’s (Friday’s) rally. She says Planned Parenthood and its allies “will persist no matter what.”

“We will do whatever it takes to make sure that we protect the rights that our mothers, our grandmothers and our great-grandmothers have already won,” Davison-Rippey said. Rally-goers also criticized a proposal that’s eligible for a vote in the House and Senate that would deny federal grants to Planned Parenthood sex ed programs for teenagers. Andi Grubb, director of education for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, says “tens of the thousands” of Iowa teens take the courses.

“We empower young people to determine their own values, to determine their own boundaries and to practice healthy communication and consent,” Grubb said. “In an era of #metoo, we need more of that, not less of that.” Grubbs says classes explain how to use contraceptives to avoid pregnancy and protection to avoid sexually-transmitted diseases. Abstinence is also discussed.

“We answer questions honestly and we tell people it’s o.k. not to have sex until you’re ready,” Grubb said. “And, yes, as a leading source of reproductive and sexual health education, Planned Parenthood teaches safe sex.” Critics say abortion providers have a “conflict of interest” and should not be involved in government-funded sex ed classes.

(This report uses information from the Associated Press and Radio Iowa)

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Adam Edward Lee Austin, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Jail late Friday morning, on a warrant for probation violation. He was originally arrested Thursday night, on an assault charge. Bond for Adam Austin was set at $1,000.

And, Thursday morning, a woman from Kellerton reported the Union County Sheriff’s Office, that sometime over the past week, someone entered her property in Lorimor and took two antlers, a Craftsman lawn mower, and damaged windows on the garage and house.  The loss was estimated at $650.

Abortion rights activists staged a rally on the statehouse grounds today (Friday), vowing to sue if Governor Kim Reynolds signs a bill into law that would ban nearly all abortions in the state. Suzanna de Baca, president of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said “Sources tell us that in the next 24 hours that is exactly what she plans to do and so I am here to tell Governor Reynolds: ‘We will see you in court.'”   The Republican-led legislature passed a bill banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which happens around the sixth week of a pregnancy. Mark Stringer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, says this abortion ban would be the most restrictive in the country. “And if the governor does sign this bill, the ACLU of Iowa will be proud to be a part of the litigation team that will stand with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland as we sue,” he said.

Many of the Republican legislators who spoke in favor of the bill during House and Senate debate are anxious for the matter to go to court, too, hoping it will be the catalyst for overturning Roe v Wade, the 1972 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Erin Davison-Rippey, director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, was the lead-off speaker at today’s (Friday’s) rally. She says Planned Parenthood and its allies “will persist no matter what.”  “We will do whatever it takes to make sure that we protect the rights that our mothers, our grandmothers and our great-grandmothers have already won,” Davison-Rippey said.

Rally-goers also criticized a proposal that’s eligible for a vote in the House and Senate that would deny federal grants to Planned Parenthood sex ed programs for teenagers. Andi Grubb, director of education for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, says “tens of the thousands” of Iowa teens take the courses. “We empower young people to determine their own values, to determine their own boundaries and to practice healthy communication and consent,” Grubb said. “In an era of #metoo, we need more of that, not less of that.” Grubbs says classes explain how to use contraceptives to avoid pregnancy and protection to avoid sexually-transmitted diseases. Abstinence is also discussed.”We answer questions honestly and we tell people it’s o.k. not to have sex until you’re ready,” Grubb said. “And, yes, as a leading source of reproductive and sexual health education, Planned Parenthood teaches safe sex.”

Critics say abortion providers have a “conflict of interest” and should not be involved in government-funded sex ed classes.

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A regulator says the prison that houses Iowa’s most violent offenders is exposing workers to harm by equipping them with radios that sometimes don’t work during emergencies and poorly trained security dogs. The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration found 21 serious violations during a recent inspection of the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. The agency is seeking a $49,500 fine against the Iowa Department of Corrections.

The Associated Press obtained the citation as part of a personnel appeal recently made public. The citation says radios fail to bring assistance to correctional officers who are under attack by inmates, including during two assaults that injured workers. It also says the department failed to provide K-9 officers with adequate time to train animals, which has led to dogs disobeying handlers.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — Police in an eastern Iowa city are investigating racist graffiti that was left on a bus belonging to a predominantly black church congregation. Senior Pastor Jerry Drake of Bethel AME Church in Clinton told the Clinton Herald that he found the graffiti April 27 on a door of the bus and on the seats inside. He says the discovery of what he called a hate crime has made the church members more cautious.

Clinton Police Capt. Steven Kopp told The Associated Press on Friday that the church building wasn’t the only structure in the area vandalized with racist language or neo-Nazi messages.
Kopp says there have been no arrests so far. He says officers interviewed one person who admitted several of the acts of vandalism, “but the church vandalism wasn’t one of them.”