From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s governor is taking the rare step of rejecting two nominees for an open judgeship, saying a judge who chaired the nominating commission tainted the process by favoring one candidate and opposing others. Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a letter Thursday to the District 2b Judicial Nominating Commission that it’s only the second time in Iowa history that a governor has taken such a step. She noted that she is normally required to appoint judges from the list of nominees submitted by the nominating commission within 30 days. But she said the commission’s chairman, Judge Kurt Stoebe, acted inappropriately Oct. 12 when the commission met to interview several candidates for a district judge vacancy and recommended two nominees. She’s ordered the commission to restart the process.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A man who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for rigging computers to win lottery jackpots for himself, friends and family is suing Iowa, claiming he was pressured four years ago to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit. Eddie Tipton filed documents starting the lawsuit from prison in January 2020. He wants the court to halt all restitution he’s been ordered to pay until a trial is held. A lawyer from the Iowa attorney general’s office asked a judge to dismiss Tipton’s lawsuit as frivolous. Tipton in 2017 accepted a plea agreement and was ordered to repay $2 million in ill-gotten winnings from lotteries in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A company Iowa hired to review state prison security problems didn’t disclose that a subsidiary settled a Mississippi lawsuit alleging a questionable relationship with a consultant and a corrections official imprisoned over corruption allegations. The Des Moines Register reports that the situation has prompted criticism from a watchdog group and the top Democrat on the legislative subcommittee that oversees the Department of Corrections’ budget. CGL Companies didn’t disclose its $750,000 settlement in 2018 of lawsuit in which the Mississippi attorney general alleged racketeering by subsidiary CGL Facility Management. The Iowa Department of Corrections said the lack of disclosure isn’t a problem because it sees the two companies as separate.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An appellate court ruling has upheld a drug seizure in a case that raised questions about when police can seize drugs in pat-downs. The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Court of Appeals found that a district court judge had erred in ruling that the evidence uncovered during a search of Earnest Hunt Jr. was inadmissible. At issue was the “plain-feel exception,” which allows officers to seize anything found during a weapon pat-down that is “immediately apparent” to the touch to be contraband without a warrant. The district court ruled it didn’t apply. But the appellate court found that the officer didn’t need to pinpoint the specific type of drug to rely on the exception.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police say a 15-year-old boy who was killed in Des Moines was attempting to rob the 21-year-old man who shot him. Police said Thursday that another 15-year-old boy who also was involved in the attempted robbery has been charged with one count of first-degree robbery. Authorities are attempting to have him tried as an adult. The shooting occurred Sunday morning, and the boy who was shot died Tuesday at a local hospital. Police said Thursday that the teenager who died was armed with a handgun and the other teenager was armed with a knife when they attempted to rob the man, and he fired a shot.
SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) – Plans to relocate an Iowa cemetery that is surrounded by a brickmaker’s industrial complex have been scrapped. Established in 1854, the Woodbury Township Cemetery in Sergeant Bluff has reached its capacity of 1,200 graves, and there’s nowhere to expand. In August, Brickworks North America had offered a 10-acre site for a new cemetery with space for 5,600 graves. The Sioux City Journal reports that the company also offered to pay to develop the new cemetery and move the graves. But it was more costly than originally thought and some families didn’t want the graves moved. Instead, Brickworks and the city agreed to a land exchange in which the company will give the 10-acre site to the city for a new cemetery and the city will give the brickmaker a road.
