DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Only days after a mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, prompted renewed discussions about the nation’s gun laws, Gov. Kim Reynolds is considering a bill that would make handgun carry permits and background checks on unlicensed sales optional in Iowa. The bill was approved in the Senate with only Republican support after clearing the House with the backing of only one Democrat.

Reynolds, a Republican, has made statements in the past in support of the state’s current background checks and permits to carry handguns. However she has rarely vetoed measures supported by her GOP colleagues. When asked last week if she had changed her mind on such gun rules, she suggested an openness to the bill.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa residents in the 515 and 319 area codes will soon have to get used to dialing all 10 digits of a phone number when making calls. The Federal Communications Commission is requiring Iowa callers to start dialing both the area code and phone number when making a call starting Oct. 24. The reason for the change is that officials are preparing to add a new three-digit number, 988, for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

The Iowa area codes that include Des Moines and Cedar Rapids must make the change because some of their local phone numbers use 988 as the prefix for some seven-digit phone numbers.

Red Oak Police, Sunday morning, arrested a woman from northwest Iowa’s Plymouth County. 18-year old Aayla Ann Jo Larson, of Hinton, was taken into custody at around 12:25-a.m., for OWI/1st offense, and Interference with Official Acts. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:05 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Court records show an Iowa gun store refused to sell a semi-automatic rifle to a heavily armed and agitated Colorado man who said he was surprised his friends didn’t suspect he was the Boulder mass shooter. Federal agents say Adam Vannoy made the remark Tuesday when he was trying to purchase an AR-style rifle from Sportsman’s Warehouse in Ankeny, Iowa. The store denied the sale and notified federal authorities. Vannoy allegedly said he had 500 rounds of ammunition in his truck. He has been arrested on a federal weapons charge stemming from a March 14 traffic stop in Nebraska, when authorities say he had several firearms, an illegal silencer and marijuana.

ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on Monday to remember the prison nurse and correctional officer killed in a failed escape attempt. She said Saturday in a news release that that the state “grieves the loss” of 50-year-old nurse Lorena Schulte, of Cedar Rapids, and 46-year-old Officer Robert McFarland, of Ely. They were killed Tuesday at the Anamosa State Penitentiary in eastern Iowa. The release said Monday is when both will be laid to rest. Inmates Michael Dutcher, 28, and Thomas Woodard, 39, are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and second-degree kidnapping.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa coronavirus data continued to suggest Friday that virus activity is increasing in the state with infections and deaths continuing to rise. Similar trends were noted Friday by the White House COVID-19 Response Team members who expressed concerns about rising cases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says cases and hospital admissions are rising nationally and people should take this moment seriously and continue to wear a mask to avoid another surge. Iowa reported 979 new cases on Friday and 19 additional deaths increasing the state death total to 5,708. The seven-day positivity rate increased to 4.8%.