OTTUMWA, IA (IRN) – An Ottumwa family is looking to raise funds to attend the trial of a man accused in their daughter’s murder. Eighteen-year-old Tierra Stansberry of Ottumwa was one of five people who died in an arson fire in Los Angeles in 2016. Three other Ottumwa natives also died in that fire. Johnny Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, was arrested and charged with setting the fire to the abandoned building after an argument. His preliminary hearing starts March 19th in and the Stansberry family wants to be there. They have started a GoFundMe page to help with traveling costs from Iowa to California.
DES MOINES, IA (IR) – Arguments began today in a lawsuit to permanently block parts of Iowa’s new abortion law. The law was signed by former Gov. Terry Branstad last year. It bans the procedure after 20-weeks of pregnancy, and requires a three-day waiting period for women wanting an abortion. The Iowa Supreme Court is hearing the argument today.
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Gov. Kim Reynolds promised more money in the pockets of Iowa’s middle-class families Tuesday while unveiling a new tax reform plan. Reynolds’ tax reform plan would cut personal income taxes by 23 percent, resulting in $1.7 billion of relief over six years. Reynolds said the new plan will provide immediate relief to small business owners through a 25 percent income deduction.
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A bill that private and homeschool supporters are behind moved forward in the legislature Tuesday. Currently, public schools get about $6,500 per year for each enrolled student. The bill to establish an Education Savings Account would allow parents who send their children to non-public schools to use $5,000 a year for education costs. Tom Ahart, superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools says the bill would seriously impact the public schools, and that, “Funneling public money into a private institution that follows a different set of expectations, different set of guidelines, and does not have a publicly elected board…flies in the face of public school tradition in the state of Iowa.”
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A bill to reinstate capital punishment in Iowa will not advance this legislative session. The bill would have allowed for capital punishment for crimes like murdering a peace officer and first-degree murder involving kidnapping or rape.
IOWA (IRN) – U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is not the highest-rated politician in Iowa. The latest Des Moines Register poll shows 49 percent of Iowans approve of Grassley’s job performance, but 51 percent indicate approval for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. The results mark the first time ever that Iowa’s other U.S. senator has rated higher in an Iowa Poll than Grassley, a seven-term Republican first elected in 1980.