The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, voted to approve new security measures at the courthouse in Council Bluffs. The Omaha World-Herald reports three metal detectors and one X-ray machine will be placed in the middle of the main lobby.Anyone coming into the Pottawattamie County Courthouse will eventually have to go through metal detectors and, if necessary, X-ray machines in the building lobby before continuing onto their destination.

The County Board voted 3-2 to approve the new security measures, which had support from law enforcement and judicial officials. The new equipment will initially cost $387,050.

Legislators are making another attempt to relax state laws for “sexting” between teenagers who are dating. Assistant Iowa Attorney General Sherri Soich says, for example, a teenage girl who sends a racy photo to her boyfriend could be charged with a felony today. “Under the current law, it makes teenagers who are ‘sexting’ actually child pornographyers,” Soich says, “because under the definition of child pornography…if you produce a picture of a prohibited sex act involving a minor, then you are deemed a producer of child pornography.”

Iowa’s attorney general began asking legislators in 2010 to change these laws, to make most cases of “sexting” a misdemeanor. Eric Tabor, another assistant attorney general, says young people sometimes do dumb things. “What we want to ensure here is that some youthful mistake like that does not turn into someone being convicted of a serious crime or being put on the sex offender registry forever,” Tabor says.

A bill that would make most cases of “sexting” a misdemeanor has cleared a senate committee. The bill would allow some “sexting” to be legal if the two parties are in a relationship and the text or photo or video is NOT sent to others, but once that content distributed beyond its original recipient, Soich says charges could be filed. “We want the law to sort of keep up with technology and this kind of new behavior that teenagers are engaging in,” she says. But Senator Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids says legislators are likely to seek changes in the bill.

“I don’t want this legislature to convey a message that ‘sexting’ is o.k.,” Hogg says. “I want to convey a message that that is still illegal, but it’s not going to put you on the sex offender registry and it’s not going to make you serve a multi-year prison sentence if you do it.” The bill has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. As currently written prosecutors could have the discretion to charge individuals between the ages of 14 and 18 with a simple misdemeanor for sending images of a minor engaged in a sex act or in a state of full or partial nudity.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say three young Iowans died last year after using a new kind of synthetic marijuana. The Des Moines Register reports the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy disclosed the deaths Tuesday. Office Director Steve Lukan called the news a demonstration that the “quick-changing products are unsafe” and the need to educate people about their danger. Officials say those who died were in their late teens through late 20s. Officials wouldn’t provide details about the deaths.

The Iowa Poison Control Center says those who died had used a compound called 5F-PB-22. Although it’s hard to prove the drug was the sole cause of death, it was in the systems of those who died. The compound is the latest of many synthetic marijuana products, often known as spice or K2.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Email and Internet service were disrupted yesterday for Gov. Terry Branstad’s office and many state government workers in the Capitol. Department of Administrative Services spokesman Caleb Hunter says the service loss started around 3 p.m. and could not quickly be restored. He says it was caused by a power outage at the government building that houses the state data servers.

DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Two sheep were killed in a barn fire in northeast Iowa. Dyersville Fire Chief Al Wessels says the fire was reported yesterday morning at a farm southeast of Dyersville. The fire was contained a short time later. Wessels tells the Telegraph Herald that the fire destroyed the barn. Damages have been estimated at $25,000.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa lawmakers have granted initial approval of a bill that would further crack down on texting while driving. A three-member Senate transportation subcommittee unanimously approved the measure yesterday. It goes to the full Senate Transportation Committee tomorrow.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lawmakers in the Iowa House are advancing legislation that would change the approval process to construct new power lines. The Des Moines Register reports that a House subcommittee approved the bill, which will move to the Judiciary Committee. The legislation is a response to opposition to the proposed Rock Island Clean Line.