A federal judge has denied an Iowa drug kingpin’s requests to delay his execution, which is scheduled for Friday. U.S. District Judge Leonard Strand wrote Tuesday that he would not intervene to delay Dustin Honken’s execution date due to the coronavirus pandemic. He said the Bureau of Prisons was in the best position to weigh the health risks against the benefits of carrying out the execution. Strand also denied Honken’s motion to declare his execution void due to an alleged procedural error by the government. He affirmed the executive branch’s power to set the date for executions.
A federal appeals court has temporarily halted a judge’s order that the Dakota Access Pipeline be shut down in three weeks. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday issued an “administrative stay” of the judge’s order. But The Bismarck Tribune reports that the appeals court said its order “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits” of the case. The stay will remain in place until the appeals court rules on whether developer Energy Transfer can keep oil flowing while the court decides its appeal of the shutdown order.
Two Latino advocacy groups sued the state of Iowa Tuesday over a law that prohibits county election officials from using information readily available in the voter registration database to fill in any information missing from a voter’s absentee ballot request. The law approved by Republican lawmakers in the final hours of the legislative session last month requires county election officials to contact the voter directly by phone, email or mail to confirm any missing information. Supporters say it’s a voter fraud protection measure. The League of United Latin American Citizens and Majority Forward say in their lawsuit that it’s unconstitutional.
Investigators have identified a jailed sex offender as a “person of interest” in the disappearance of a 10-year-old Davenport girl who vanished last week. Henry Dinkins has not been charged in the disappearance of 10-year-old Breasia Terrell but Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski says he may have information about her whereabouts and merits further investigation. Dinkins is being jailed on a charge of violating sex offender registration requirements. Sikorski said that anyone who has information regarding Dinkins’ whereabouts between July 9 at 10 p.m. to noon on July 10 should contact police immediately.
