AMES, IA (IRN) – Ames police have released the cause of death for a 21-year-old Iowa State University student who was found dead in a sorority parking lot in January. Officers were called to Delta Delta Delta sorority on January 2 when a caller reported a college-aged female was found unconscious in a parking lot. 21-year-old Olivia Chutich was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy determined the cause of death was accidental and caused by acute alcohol intoxication and hypothermia.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A man shot by a Cedar Rapids police officer died Tuesday, three days after he was spotted running from a motel after a stabbing that left a woman dead. Police identified Arnell States, 39, of Cedar Rapids as a suspect in the early Saturday stabbing of two women. He was shot by an officer as he ran from a Rodeway Inn.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa Senate Republicans re-introduced a Religious Freedom Restoration bill that’s been shelved in several previous legislative sessions. Critics say the bill is another piece of legislation that allows discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Republican led Iowa Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would put restrictions on absentee voting in Iowa. House File 590 would cut Iowa’s mail-in and in-person early voting from 28 to 19 days. The bill would also limit requests for an absentee ballot to 70 days prior to an election and prevent county auditors from sending ballot request forms to voters unless requested. Democrats say it’s voter suppression. County auditors oppose the bill.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – An Iowa State Senator is receiving criticism after reciting a Muslim prayer at the statehouse earlier this month. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat, said she received derogatory messages on social media after she recited a Muslim prayer written by a Drake University student at the statehouse on Feb. 8. She said she recited the prayer because the Des Moines metro is very diverse religiously.