SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – Two people who worked for a Sioux City hotel have been accused of a scam using guests’ credit cards. KCCI-TV reports they overcharged guests’ credit cards at the Howard Johnson hotel in downtown Sioux City. They’d then force refunds and split the money. The total stolen was more than $32,700. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa’s “fetal heartbeat” law — the most restrictive abortion limit in the country — violates the Iowa Constitution and may not be enforced, a state judge ruled Tuesday. The judge ruled “a woman’s right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy is a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution.” The decision is a major victory for backers of legal access to abortion. But anti-abortion advocates have vowed to continue fighting the issue in higher courts. BURLINGTON, IA (IRN) A woman was allegedly set on fire by another woman at the apartment they shared in Burlington. KCRG-TV reports 51-year-old Deborah Powell is charged with domestic assault, willful injury and reckless use of fire. The victim told police they were arguing, and Powell sprayed her with rubbing alcohol and set her afire. She’s recovering in a burn unit. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A man allegedly stole a pickup and crashed it intentionally into a homeless shelter in Des Moines, according to KCCI-TV. No one was injured, and 59-year-old Timothy Jones is in jail. CLINTON, IA (IRN) – A Clinton woman is out more than $100,000 because she fell in love. WQAD-TV reports she fell for a man online, and he took almost everything she had. Her “mystery man” told her he loved her, and promised her he would double her money. Broken-hearted, and just flat out broke, she has filed for bankruptcy.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Senator Joni Ernst says she turned down Donald Trump’s request to run as his vice president in 2016 because of family concerns. Cityview, a Des Moines alternative newspaper, reports the information was revealed after Ernst and her former husband, Gail Ernst, settled their previously contentious divorce. She says it was a sacrifice she made for her husband, who wasn’t fond of her political career. The Des Moines Register reports court documents show that years before her divorce, Ernst was assaulted by her husband after she confronted him about his alleged affair with their daughter’s babysitter. STORM LAKE, IA (IRN) – A man and child died after the vehicle they were in broke through lake ice in northwest Iowa. KCCI-TV reports first responders were sent to Storm Lake a little before 6 p.m. Sunday after receiving a report about the vehicle. The emergency workers went onto the ice, found the man and three small children and took them to shore. The man and one of the children were pronounced dead later at a hospital. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – California Senator Kamala Harris will be in Iowa in one week, following her announcement Monday that she is running for president in what is already a crowded Democratic field. Harris will take part in a town hall event with CNN at Drake University in Des Moines on Monday. That will make Harris the eighth Democrat to schedule an Iowa stop in January. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A proposal at the Iowa statehouse would bar schools from scheduling extra-curricular activities and classes on the night of the presidential caucuses in an effort to boost turnout. Sen. Robb Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said he introduced the bill to encourage participation in the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest in Iowa. CEDAR FALLS, IA (IRN) – As the partial government shutdown approaches one month in length, UNI is giving federal workers a break. KWWL-TV reports any federal government employee can get two free tickets to the Panther athletics event of their choice, through the end of January.

WOODWARD, IA (IRN) – The former business manager at Woodward-Granger Community Schools who improperly paid herself more than $212,000 received a suspended prison sentence Friday, placing her on probation. The Des Moines Register reports Melissa Lee Lantz, 35, wrote payroll checks to herself using an electronic signature from the school board president. FOREST CITY, IA (IRN) – A man accused of shooting at a school bus with a pellet gun was sentenced to probation Friday. Martin Sherman Tindall, 33, entered an Alford plea to intimidation with a dangerous weapon. Police say he fired a high-power air rifle at a Forest City school bus shattering one of the rear windows. No one was hurt, but the pellet was found in a student’s hair. An Alford plea means Tindall did not admit guilt but conceded he could be found guilty at trial. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – About a dozen residents of a southside Des Moines apartment building were displaced Sunday night after a fire broke out on the third floor. KCCI-TV reports there were no injuries. SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – A Sioux City manufacturing plant is closing and roughly forty jobs will be eliminated. The Sioux City Journal reports that Prince Hydraulics employees were told Friday to pack their belongings and leave, with no prior notice. They were told the work would move to other locations. Prince Hydraulics has been operating in Sioux City since 1941. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The longest-running kennel club in Iowa let all breeds of dogs strut their stuff this weekend. WHO-TV reports the 77-year-old Central Iowa Kennel Club held its annual all-breed dog show at the state fairgrounds. Over 900 different dogs representing 150 different breeds competed.

WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – A man arrested following a standoff Friday had only recently been out of jail after shooting a Cedar Rapids police officer in the face in 1998. KWWL-TV reports Mitchell Langel was taken into custody Friday after police responded to a call from a woman reporting an assault. Langel was recently released from prison on probation. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police charged a man Friday with attempted murder in connection with a shooting at an East Village bar. KCCI-TV reports 28-year-old Des Moines resident Mario Duprie Hutchinson is charged with attempted murder. He shot another man in the face. The victim is expected to recover. POLK COUNTY, IA (IRN) – Friday Last snow created headaches on Iowa roads. In a weather-related crash, an Iowa State Patrol car was struck by another vehicle on Interstate 80 east of Mitchellville. There were no injuries. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A Clinton firefighter, injured during an explosion at a Clinton ADM facility, is improving. Firefighter Adam Cain was seriously hurt when a blast rocked the property while he worked to knock down flames in an ADM silo, January 5. Another Clinton firefighter, Lt. Eric Hosette, was killed during the explosion. His body was laid to rest last week.

MUSCATINE, IA (IRN) – An eastern Iowa man who tried to organize the killings of witnesses from behind bars so they couldn’t testify against him has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. The Muscatine Journal reports that 38-year-old old Justin Lee DeWitt was sentenced Friday for three counts of attempted murder. While he was incarcerated, Dewitt tried to coordinate the murders of three witnesses so they couldn’t testify. Dewitt spoke twice to someone he thought had a connection to a contract killer, but the contact was really an undercover officer. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A major winter storm battered much of the state Friday into this morning, causing road conditions to deteriorate and making travel nearly impossible. Officials with the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for almost all of Iowa. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Snow is going to take a back seat to the brutally cold temperatures moving in. The City of Des Moines has opened up several warming shelters. The designated areas include Southridge and Merle Hay malls, six public libraries, Central Iowa Shelter and Services, and the Bethel Mission. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa swore in Gov. Kim Reynolds Friday for her first elected term as Iowa governor — the first woman elected to that position. Sen. Charles Grassley and newly elected members of Congress Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne came from Washington to attend the inauguration. After Reynolds was sworn in, she delivered an inaugural address focused on the image of her beloved state as “one big small town.”