Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An organization representing Iowa’s Hispanic population has filed a lawsuit to challenge a new Iowa voting measure passed with only Republican votes a day after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it into law. The League of United Latin American Citizens is represented by Washington-based voting rights lawyer Marc Elias in the lawsuit filed in state court in Des Moines. The law shortens time for voters to cast mail ballots, reduces days voters can request a ballot and shortens the time polls are open on Election Day. The lawsuit claims it creates an undue burden on the fundamental right to vote citing numerous violations of voters’ constitutional rights.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa journalist recounted getting pepper sprayed and arrested while covering a protest for racial justice last year, testifying in her own defense at her widely-watched trial on charges stemming from the incident. Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri told jurors she was running away from a scene where riot police had shot tear gas to disperse protesters outside a mall in Des Moines, Iowa. She said that after she rounded the corner of a Verizon store, she saw an officer charging at her and she put her hands up and said she was press. She said she was grabbed, pepper sprayed and arrested anyway. Sahouri and her former boyfriend are charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts. Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Wednesday.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A 33-year-old Georgia man has been sentenced for using information from dozens of University of Iowa employees to obtain federal tax refunds. Federal prosecutors say Edoghogho Collins Oloton, of Sandy Springs, Georgia, was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say Oloton worked with other people to launder dozens of money orders bought with the fraudulent tax refunds. The scheme netted more than $60,000 from tax refunds from University of Iowa employees. More than $1.4 million in illegal funds passed through bank accounts associated with the scheme between February and April 2015.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A 24-year-old man is facing life in prison after being convicted of killing a 4-week-old child in 2018. A Fayette County jury on Tuesday convicted Dean Alan Hettinger, of Westgate, of first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. Prosecutors say 4-week-old Holten Smith was hospitalized in Sumner in April 2018. KCRG-TV reports the child died a month later. Doctors said he had a brain bleed and an autopsy found 36 rib fractures. Hettinger was one of the child’s caretakers. He faces a mandatory life sentence plus up to 50 years when he is sentenced.
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