DES MOINES – Iowa Republicans passed a bill in both state legislative chambers that removes gender identity from the state’s civil right’s act on Thursday. The Iowa House and Senate passed Senate File 418, with five Republicans breaking from their party to oppose the measure, according to the Des Moines Register. The bill was fast-tracked this week, passing committees and subcommittees in the last few days, over the protests of hundreds of Iowans at the Capitol. Democrats, who are in a significant minority in both chambers, argued the law would remove protections for transgender Iowans. Republicans argue the gender identity language was discriminatory towards women. IOWA – Strong winds with gusts up to 50 mph possible today across the state. Paired with the warm and dry conditions, fire danger will be high in the afternoon. Burning should be avoided in and near the Red Flag Warning, which encompasses nearly all Iowa counties along and south of U.S. Highway 20. DES MOINES – A Des Moines-metro high school is dropping football from its offerings. WHO-13 reports Hoover High School will no longer offer the sport directly this coming fall season, citing low participation. Des Moines Public Schools has confirmed those who attend Hoover and still want to play football can do so with Roosevelt. Hoover previously dropped football in 2022 when they couldn’t find a head coach.

DES MOINES – This week, the final defendant in a multi-Indictment, 17-defendant gang investigation involving the Only My Brothers street gang was sentenced to federal prison. All had previously pled guilty or been found guilty following a jury trial. The OMB members were charged with various crimes in federal court, including RICO conspiracy, fentanyl distribution, possessing machineguns, straw purchasing firearms, firearms trafficking, and illegally possessing firearms. According to public court documents, OMB engaged in a wide range of criminal activity for three years, including attempted murders, at least 30 gang-related shootings, the distribution of over 22 kilograms of fentanyl, as well as a number of convenience store armed robberies in the Des Moines metro.IOWA – Through the Safe Haven Law, two baby girls, born February 8 and February 12, are now in the care and custody of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and will be placed with foster families until permanent placement is determined. This brings the overall total to 76 infants since the law went into effect more than two decades ago. Iowa’s Safe Haven Act is an option for parents in crisis who determine they cannot care for an infant up to 90 days old. Designated safe havens are locations like hospitals and police and fire stations. ANKENY – A licensed bounty hunter was arrested in Ankeny as he’s being accused of impersonating a police officer on multiple occasions. WHO-13 reports 30-year-old Dustin Joseph McGee acted as if he was with law enforcement while searching for a fugitive who had failed to appear in court. McGee allegedly presented a fake search warrant to a homeowner in Johnston during the search. That person told Ankeny police that a member of McGee’s team admitted they were bounty hunters. McGee is accused of searching a Des Moines residence a few days later in a vehicle that had sirens mimicking a police car. He also allegedly searched an Ankeny resident seven times in search of the fugitive.

IOWA – An annual report has once again shown Iowa has one of the highest rates of cancer in the United States. It continues to have the second highest age-adjusted rate of new cancers diagnosed and is one of only two states with a rising age-adjusted rate of new cancers, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry. The state has just over 171,000 survivors of the disease, or 5.4% of the population. BOONE – Two people were charged for the alleged killing of a Boone man earlier this year. WHO-13 reports 21-year-old Zoe Anderson and 19-year-old Abraham Guhnics face first degree murder charges. Ames Police found 25-year-old Parker Stoneburner with a gunshot wound on January 18th. Nineteen-year-old Destiny Skurdal has already been charged with murder and first degree burglary in connection to the incident. IOWA – A Des Moines Register report shows that most of the students who have benefitted from Education Savings Accounts were already attending a private school before receiving taxpayer funds. More than half of the 11,000 new enrollees into the program in its second year were attending a nonpublic institution in the previous academic year. The Iowa Department of Education report shows as private school enrollment has grown by 3,000 students annually in the two years since the law was passed, public school attendance has declined by nearly the same amount.

DES MOINES – An Iowa House subcommittee and committee both advanced a bill removing gender identity as a protected class. WHO-13 reports House Study Bill 242 was approved at both levels by party-line vote, with Republicans in favor of the changes and Democrats opposed. The Iowa Capitol was filled with protestors during both sessions. An advocacy group claims Iowa would become the first state in the nation to roll back civil rights protections after they had already been passed. NORWAY – An arrest was made after an hours-long standoff in eastern Iowa Monday. KCRG-TV reports the Benton County’s Sheriff’s Office was called to a house in Norway, confirming gunshots were fired in the residence. After just over 15 hours, deputies and a SWAT team conducted a search warrant and arrested Nathan Varese. He faces several charges related to drugs, firearms, and interference with official acts.URBANDALE – As the Iowa Legislature debates how the two bodies that govern high school athletes sort out organizing conferences, one school has decided to stay put in their own league. Urbandale High School voted narrowly 3-4 to reject a bid to join the Little Hawkeye Conference, and instead stay in the Central Iowa Metro League on Monday. Urbandale is the smallest school in their current conference, competing regularly against both Waukee schools, both Ankeny Schools, Valley, Johnston, and Dowling — seven of the ten largest enrollments in Iowa. The school board’s ongoing process prompted several other schools to consider how conferences are formed around the state.

NEW MARKET – A teenager was killed in a fiery crash in southwest Iowa early Sunday morning. The Iowa State Patrol reports 19-year-old Jase Michael Wilmes of New Market was traveling on a rural road and lost control of a Ford F350. The report details the truck struck multiple trees and vaulted, and then overturned and caught fire. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.IOWA CITY – An Iowa City woman was killed when she was hit by a fire truck Sunday morning. An Iowa State Patrol report indicates a Pierce Fire Engine was leaving a medical call and struck 99-year-old Evelyn Bothmer. The pedestrian was declared dead at the scene. Several Iowa City agencies assisted with the response. IOWA CITY – A U.S. Senator touring Iowa partially blames the state’s Democratic party for losing its first-in-the-nation status with the Iowa Caucuses. The Des Moines Register reports former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told a crowd in Iowa City that the way the state’s party leaders handled the results of the 2020 caucus was one of the factors in losing the opportunity to select a presidential preference before the other 49 states. Sanders and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg were nearly even in the results, but issues with reporting prevented a call from happening soon after the vote count.