(Radio Iowa) — All but one member of a Senate committee have voted to require paroled felons to prove they’ve repaid restitution to victims before they’d get their voting rights restored. The bill’s requirements would kick in *IF* Iowa voters eventually approve an amendment to the state constitution that automatically restores voting rights to felons. The bill passed without debate — and with the support of every Republican on the committee and Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen. “Clearly, if Democrats were in control, we would have had a different piece of legislation coming out…because we believe in expanding voter rights,” Petersen says.

The lone “no” came from Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids. Hogg says the proposal favors wealthy criminal offenders who can pay restitution immediately over the poor who may take years to repay their debts. “Restoration of voting rights reduces the chance that somebody released from prison will offend again,” Hogg says. “If we want to keep Iowans safe, this is real easy way to help reduce the chance that people are going to commit future crimes.”

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday on a similar FLORIDA law. The three-judge panel said it’s unconstitutional to require felons to pay all court fines and victim restitution before they get their voting rights back.

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

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman is charged with murder after police say she bound and gagged her husband for hours, leading to his death. West Des Moines police say officers arrested 41-year-old Gowun Park on Wednesday. The charges stem from the death Saturday of her husband, 41-year-old Sung Nam. Court records say Park used zip ties to bind Nam’s feet and hands to a chair, jammed clothing into his mouth and used duct tape to attach a towel over his head. Officers were called Saturday evening and found Nam on the floor. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Park is being held at the Dallas County Jail.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has refused to let a group of lawmakers and attorneys move forward with two lawsuits challenging a law passed last year that gave the governor more power over the selection of supreme court and appeals court judges. The cases filed by a group of Democratic lawmakers and lawyers were dismissed by a divided appeals court on Wednesday in a 3-2 decision. It says the court is hesitant to interfere with legislative branch decisions. An attorney representing the plaintiffs says he will ask the Iowa Supreme Court to review the decision.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa Army National Guard units are being deployed to Africa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Col. Michael Wunn said Wednesday that about 90 troopers from a Le Mars unit have already started training with around 40 based at Camp Dodge in Johnston. Send-off ceremonies are scheduled for June, and then the soldiers will head to Fort Bliss in Texas for six to eight weeks of training. Wunn couldn’t say where the troopers will be stationed after they leave the United States, but he expects they’ll end up somewhere in the Horn of Africa. The deployments typically last a year.

(Radio Iowa) — It’s unclear how the latest debate about expanding the state’s medical marijuana law may be resolved, but bills on the subject have survived this week’s deadline for committee action in the legislature. Representative Jarad Klein of Keota and other Republicans on the House Public Safety Committee have voted to allow a small increase in the potency of cannabis products that are licensed for sale in Iowa.

“We’ll see how negotiations and developments happen between the governor, the Senate and the House,” Klein says. Republican Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale, meanwhile, is among those pressing forward with a different bill in the Senate. It would allow medical cannabis products with far higher levels of T-H-C. That’s the chemical that causes the high and is also used to combat nausea, seizures and other medical conditions.

“It’s going for the gusto. I mean I’m asking for everything because I know that we’re going to negotiate,” Zaun said, “and I like to negotiate from a high position.” Zaun’s bill would allow patients who qualify for the state program to buy up to 25 grams of T-H-C in cannabis products over a 90-day period. The HOUSE bill mirrors the recommendations of the state board that oversees the medical cannabis program.

Governor Kim Reynolds says the board has the medical expertise to guide policy decisions, but the governor is hinting she might go farther than the 90-day, four-and-a-half gram T-H-C limit the board has recommended. “We’re going to continue to work on the language and see what that looks like,” so those conversations are still taking place, so I’m not going to draw a line in the sand right now while we’re continue to work with the House and the Senate to come to some resolution.”

Representative Klein says the matter will not come up for a vote in the full House until it’s clear what the governor will approve. “What I’ve requested is a public statement of actual position rather than signals and not being 100% clear with us,” Klein says. “…That’s part of the reason we didn’t get a bill done last year was we didn’t know her position. There wasn’t clarity. We worked with the best intentions, thought we had a good piece of legislation, she disagreed, but we didn’t know that until the veto.”

Governor Reynolds says she expects some sort of resolution will be hammered out before lawmakers adjourn the 2020 legislative session. “Now, is everybody going to be happy with it? Probably not, but it’s like everything else, if it’s progress I think we should take a look at that, consider that as somewhat of a win and then continue to look at it down the road,” Reynolds says. “But we have a process in place. We have a board in place. We asked them to weigh in. They’ve done that and now the legislature and my office — I — will take a look at that and make a recommendation going forward.”

(Radio Iowa) — A 40-year-old woman from Webster City has been arrested and faces four felony charges for 263-thousand dollars worth of alleged misspending at the Webster City Chamber of Commerce. Leah Mulholland was a financial and administrative assistant for the Webster City Chamber of Commerce. A special investigation by the state auditor’s office was released last July.

Leah Mulholland

It concluded Mulholland overpaid herself by about 190-thousand dollars over a four-and-a-half year period. Auditors believe Mulholland used the Chamber of Commerce’s money to pay her personal cell phone bill and cover 27-hundred-dollars worth of hotel bills in Webster City.

Mulholland was arrested Wednesday. She’s charged with ongoing criminal conduct, first-degree theft, unauthorized use of a credit card and forgery.