DECORAH, Iowa (AP) — Attorneys for a former Boone, Iowa, man accused of killing his wife opened their defense with statements by his relatives. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports lawyers for Alexander Fazzino called his mother, sister, brother and an aunt to testify yesterday in a Winneshiek County court. Fazzino contends his wife accidentally drowned in a bathtub, possibly induced by withdrawal from prescription drugs.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs woman accused of fatally stabbing her ex-boyfriend has been found guilty. In yesterday’s verdict, District Judge Kathleen Kilnoski found Jodie Sherman guilty of second-degree murder in the July 2014 death of Douglas Richt. Sherman was accused of stabbing Richt in the throat during an argument after he picked her up in a car. She waived her right to a jury.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state Senate may debate a bill soon to increase oversight of facilities in Iowa that provide some educational instruction, but are largely unregulated. The debate would be in response to a sex abuse investigation at a now-closed boarding school in southeast Iowa. The Senate Education Committee met yesterday to discuss the legislation, introduced after authorities announced an investigation into Midwest Academy in Keokuk.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) —Washington state’s attorney general is asking a judge to find an Iowa-based group violated disclosure laws while backing a 2013 food labeling initiative. Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Food Democracy Action! in December 2014, alleging it concealed sources of $200,000 in contributions supporting a measure that would have required labeling of genetically modified foods in Washington. Founder David Murphy says they were simply late in filing reports, and didn’t try to hide their donors or violate the law. A hearing is set for March 25th.