From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
Book publisher Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit against Iowa as a result of its new parental rights law. The law bans books depicting sex scenes and requires administrators to notify parents if students wish to go by a different gender identity. The lawsuit seeks a court order to block enforcement of the book ban provision, claiming the restriction violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The plaintiffs are the Iowa State Education Association, teachers, a student, a librarian and four authors including John Green and Jodi Picoult. The ACLU of Iowa filed a similar lawsuit earlier this week in federal court.
The man arrested in connection to a deadly shooting in Cedar Rapids last month has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. Court documents say 28-year-old Darnell Bays surrendered to police and admitted to shooting Michael Hodges, Jr. in a car. Police say Bays told them he was there to deliver marijuana to Hodges, but that conflicts with what Bays’ cousin told them.
The driver of a Keokuk County hayride that crashed near What Cheer last month is denying claims of negligence against him. Investigators say Daniel Brubaker was driving the pickup truck that was pulling a trailer when it went into the ditch, throwing almost 30 children from the trailer. One family has filed a lawsuit, saying their 12-year-old daughter received “life-altering injuries.” Brubaker has not been charged criminally at this time.
Several Eastern Iowa counties are reporting more high-speed police chases. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says its deputies have responded to 14 high-speed chases this year. That’s double the 7 they saw last year and up from four 5 years ago. Johnson County says its deputies are seeing the same thing. Deputies in both counties say the surge in high-speed chases and reckless driving started with the pandemic. It could be due in part to more teenagers taking part in a trend called car-hopping– stealing cars from driveways and taking them on joyrides.
