From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s Supreme Court has heard arguments about abortion restrictions Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law in 2020. Many of the conservative justices deciding the case have replaced predecessors who affirmed four years ago that the state constitution guarantees women the right to have abortions. Abortion providers filed a lawsuit challenging the law passed by the Republican Legislature and signed by the GOP governor in June 2020 that required a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion. A judge struck down the law in June 2021, citing a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court decision that declared abortion a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A man who said he shot another Waterloo man last year in self-defense has been convicted of first-degree murder. The Courier reports that a jury convicted 29-year-old Stephen Devon Phillips on Wednesday in the killing of 30-year-old Terrell Bernard Flowers on May 15, 2020. Phillips took the stand during his trial last week, saying Flowers had knocked him to the floor during a fight, strangled him and then stood over him with a gun before Phillips pulled his own gun and shot Flowers. But investigators say the shooting followed an earlier argument between the two and that Phillips had threatened to carry out a shooting. He faces a mandatory term of life in prison when he’s sentenced at a later date.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – President Joe Biden has approved requests for a federal disaster declaration for Nebraska and Iowa after a line of destructive thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across the states in mid December. The designation allows segments of the two states to access federal funding for emergency work and the repair or replacement of damaged facilities. The declaration covers 25 counties from south-central to east-central Nebraska and 25 counties across Iowa. At least 45 tornadoes were confirmed in the Dec. 15 storms that crossed the Great Plains and Midwest amid unseasonably warm temperatures, with Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota taking the brunt of the damage.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The number of coronavirus-related deaths in Iowa climbed past 9,000, even as hospitalizations continue to decrease in the state. The state on Wednesday reported a total of 9,085 deaths from the virus, including 137 since the latest report Feb. 16. Officials do not indicate when the deaths occurred. Since Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered the discontinuation of the state’s COVID-19 dashboard earlier in February, the health department has reported significantly less data on its website. Iowa’s overall death rate, at 283 deaths per 100,000 people, ranks 30th in the nation. Federal data shows 345 people are hospitalized in Iowa with COVID-19, the lowest level in about six months.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A Coralville man has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and other counts for a fatal 2020 crash police say he caused while under the influence of illegal drugs. The Gazette reports that 32-year-old Bryce James Wagehoft pleaded guilty last week to reckless vehicular homicide and being a habitual offender in the April 2020 death of 43-year-old Dawn Elaine Detweiler Stout, of Cedar Rapids. Wagehoft also pleaded Monday to a third offense of operating while intoxicated, driving while barred and possession of drug paraphernalia. Investigators say Wagehoft was speeding when he passed another vehicle on a rural road near Palo and hit Detweiler’s vehicle, killing her. Police say a toxicology report showed Wagehoft had amphetamines, marijuana and opiates in his system.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police have announced a second arrest in the 2020 shooting death of a Des Moines woman. Police said in a news release that 31-year-old Derrick Glenn Smith Jr. was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder and intimidation with a dangerous weapon in the killing of 33-year-old Catherine Bobbitt. Police believe Smith shot Bobbitt on April 3, 2020, as she drove a vehicle just blocks southwest of the Drake University campus. Police say Smith was arrested after being released from a hospital where he was treated for wounds from a Sunday shooting in downtown Des Moines. Another suspect, Antonio Markez Hodges, was also charged last year with murder in Bobbitt’s death. He faces trial in June.
