From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is reaching out to Republican as well as Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee leaders as he works to gain GOP support for his Supreme Court nominee. Biden met Tuesday at the White House with the top members of the panel that will get the first crack at the nominee – Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois and Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Winning Republican votes will be a challenge in a Senate that has been bitterly divided over the past three confirmations. Confirmation of Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement will be a test for Biden after much of his policy agenda has run aground.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A former lottery computer technician serving a 25-year prison sentence for ongoing criminal conduct by rigging computers to win lottery jackpots for himself, friends and family will be released from an Iowa prison on parole after serving nearly five years. Eddie Tipton was granted release by the Iowa Board of Parole on Jan. 20 and will be allowed to live in Texas, a board document says. Tipton pleaded guilty in 2017 and was ordered to repay restitution to Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma. He appears to owe the four states about $1.6 million and could be ordered to prison in Wisconsin if he fails to pay the $400,000 he owes the state by September 2026.
KEOSAUQUA, Iowa (AP) – A 24-year-old Iowa woman has been sentenced to five years in jail for a crash that killed a Missouri man. KTVO-TV reports Paris Wahl Bickham, of Birmingham, Iowa, was accused of driving drunk during the Jan. 4, 2019, crash that killed 22-year-old Gavin Hannah, of Memphis, Missouri. Police say Hannah was a passenger in Bickham’s car when it went off a road and plunged into the Des Moines River near Keosauqua in southeast Iowa. Bickham pleaded guilty last month to serious injury by vehicle. The original charge of homicide by vehicle while operating under the influence was dropped in exchange for the plea.
APPLETON, Wis. (AP) – A man convicted in a fatal shooting at a suburban Appleton mall was sentenced to 40 years in prison. The sentencing Tuesday in Outagamie County Circuit Court came a year after 18-year-old Dezman Ellis shot and killed Jovanni Frausto during a dispute about a girlfriend at the Fox River Mall’s food court. A bystander, Colt Lemmers, was injured. Ellis, of Oshkosh, fled the mall in a car with friends and was arrested days later in Iowa. Ellis had earlier entered no contest pleas to second-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless endangering safety. WBAY-TV reported that Frausto’s family pleaded with Judge Mark J. McGinnis for a stiff sentence. The victim’s father, Julio Aponte, said the crime continues to haunt the family.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says companies in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri will pay fines for tampering with emission controls in vehicles. The EPA on Tuesday named the companies as Banghart Diesel Performance of Wahoo, Nebraska, and Black Widow Diesel of Center Point, Iowa, both diesel repair shops; and Voodoo Diesel, an online retailer based in Raymore, Missouri. The EPA said the companies sold devices that rendered emissions controls in vehicles inoperative. As part of the settlements, all three companies agreed to demolish their inventories of the devices and agreed to stop selling or installing them. The companies will also pay civil penalties of $86,000.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A judge in Cedar Rapids has sentenced an eastern Iowa man to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to hitting a couple with his sport utility vehicle. Judge Ian Thornhill sentenced 32-year-old Bret D. Klima, of Urbana, after he pleaded guilty to one count each of homicide by vehicle-operating under the influence and serious injury by a vehicle. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports the judge gave Klima 25 years for the vehicular homicide and five years for the serious injury charge. The sentences will be consecutive for up to 30 years. He also was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution. Klima was arrested after the death of 50-year-old Kimberley Anne Swore, of Center Point, and injury of her boyfriend, 46-year-old Jack Greenhaw, of Vinton.
