JEWELL, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man’s body was discovered after a fire that heavily damaged a garage, a house and three cars at a salvage business in central Iowa. Firetrucks were dispatched early Monday morning after explosions were reported at the site about 3 miles (5 kilometers) southwest of Jewell in Hamilton County. Jewell Fire Chief Duane Hendrickson says firefighters from two other departments helped bring the blazes under control by 5 a.m.

The man’s body was found in a bedroom of the home. His name hasn’t been released. An autopsy was ordered. The cause of the initial fire hasn’t been determined.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Amilee Mylie Squires, of Villisca, was arrested at around 10-p.m., Tuesday. Squires was taken into custody for Violation of Probation. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate have voted for what would be the country’s most restrictive anti-abortion policy if the governor signs it into law. After nine hours of debate, 51 Republicans in the House approved a bill that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, about the sixth week of a pregnancy. Representative Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta, acknowledges the bill is designed to challenge Roe v Wade, the decision that legalized abortion. “The science and technology have significantly advanced since 1973,” Lundgren said. “It is time for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue of life.”

Lundgren says the bill draws an important line.  “A heartbeat is that logical line that is now backed not only by what people understand as a recognizable sign of life, but by the advancement of science,” she said. Twelve hours after Lundgren’s remarks, Republican Senator Rick Bertrand of Sioux City celebrated as Republicans in the Iowa Senate were poised to pass the same bill at about 2:20 this (Wednesday) morning.

“My God, doesn’t it feel good when Republicans vote like Republicans?” Bertrand asked. “…My friends, today we will make history. Today we will begin this journey as Iowa becomes ground zero now, nationally, in the life movement and the starting line back to the Supreme Court.” Democrats like Senator Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City predicted the state will waste millions in court defending a law that’s been overturned in several other states. “This extreme bill is the new form of GOP coersion of Iowa women,” Bolkcom said. “It’s time for you to quit playing doctor.”

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, called the bill “anti-woman.”  “This is unconstitutional and this will not stand,” McCoy said. “….All you have done is disenfranchise more women, as if you need to give them one more reason to vote against you this fall.” Representative Sandy Salmon, a Republican from Janesville, says the bill “thrusts Iowa to the right side of history” in challenging Roe v Wade. “With this bill, we make Iowa one of the safest places for the baby in the womb in the entire nation,” Salmon said.

Representative Amy Nielsen of North Liberty is among the many House Democrats who spoke against the bill Tuesday evening, arguing it basically bans nearly all abortions in Iowa since few women realize they’re pregnant at week six.  “I and every woman in this state deserves to have someone stand up for them and say: ‘Your choice is worth saving,'” Nielsen said.

Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, a Democrat from Ames, says if the bill becomes law, women with the resources will travel to another state, like neighboring Illinois, to get an abortion.  “These restrictions do nothing to reduce or eliminate abortion,” Wessel-Kroeschell says, “but put roadblocks between a woman and her physician and making the best medical decision for her.”

And Wessel-Kroeschell suggested House Republicans passed the bill because they’d been “backed into a corner.”  “You see no way out of this legislative session until this bill passes,” Wessel-Kroeschell says. “The Senate is holding you hostage with their extreme agenda and you are willing to take this extreme vote, just to get out of here.”

A handful of Republican senators threatened to block progress on budget bills if the House failed to pass this bill. A spokeswoman for Governor Kim Reynolds says the governor is “100 percent pro-life,” but Reynolds “will not comment on any bill until she sees it in its final form.” The bill would allow abortions AFTER the sixth week of pregnancy in limited circumstances, such as a medical emergency, a fetal abnormality or if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. The bill also would ban selling or donating fetal tissue from abortions or still births for medical research.

(Radio Iowa)

Deputies in Fremont County, Monday, arrested a woman in connection with an assault that took place April 21st. Authorities says 50-year old Cynthia Devault, of Hamburg, was arrested for Willful Injury and Domestic Abuse 2^nd Offense. Additional charges are pending.

Devault

Officials say Deputies were called to a home in Hamburg on April 21st, following a report of a man having possibly been stabbed.  Deputies determined that Devault had stabbed the man during an argument, and fled the scene prior to law enforcement arrival.  The unidentified male subject was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Devault is being held on $7,000 bond at the Fremont County Jail.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop Tuesday by Deputies with the Fremont County K9 Unit, resulted in the arrest of two men on drug charges. The vehicle was pulled over for speeding, near the intersection of 380^th Ave and Hwy 2 near Farragut, Iowa.

McCart

Vanatta

During the traffic stop, a K9 was deployed and indicated to the presence of controlled substances in the vehicle.  A subsequent search uncovered marijuana and a loaded handgun concealed inside the vehicle. The driver, 20-year old Brandon Vanatta, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance, (marijuana.)  A passenger, 20-year old Anthony McCart, was placed under arrest for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Carrying a Loaded Weapon. Both men are from Thurman.

Vanatta was being held on a $1,000 bond, while McCart was being held on a $2,300 bond at the Fremont County Jail.  Two minors in the vehicle were released to the custody of their parents.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lawmakers have paved the way for the nation’s most restrictive abortion legislation in the country. The Republican-majority Iowa Senate fast-tracked a vote early Wednesday morning on a so-called “heartbeat” bill that seeks to ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The GOP-controlled Iowa House approved the bill hours earlier.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has appointed her 78-year-old father to a six-year term on a panel that vets and recommends candidates for open judgeships. Reynolds on Tuesday announced that she had appointed Charles Strawn of Saint Charles to the District 5A Judicial Nomination Commission, among two dozen other appointments to similar commissions. The governor’s announcement didn’t mention that Strawn is her father, but press secretary Brenna Smith confirmed the relationship.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police in eastern Iowa have announced an arrest in the killing of a woman pulled from a burning garage. Cedar Rapids police say they have arrested 38-year-old Timothy Wesley Evans in the death of 38-year-old Gina Frederiksen. Police said Tuesday in a news release that investigators believe Evans broke into the detached garage, assaulted Frederiksen and then set fire to the garage.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has amended his annual personal financial disclosure to list several private companies that were left off his initial filing. The Associated Press reported last month that a company Pate formed in 2016 recently spent $2 million purchasing a strip mall and developing a Cedar Rapids storage business. Yet he didn’t name the company when asked to list his outside businesses. Pate’s amended filing names that company and three others that weren’t on his earlier form.