From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – One person died and another was in critical condition Sunday after a shooting in Cedar Falls. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Cedar Falls Police said two Mason City men were arrested after the shooting that was reported shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday. Officers found a man with a gunshot wound, and he was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. A short time later, two other men with gunshot wounds arrived at the hospital in private vehicles and one of them also had life-threatening injuries. One of the injured men died, and one of the other two men was taken to another hospital in critical condition. The third man was treated and released.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa woman is grateful the state Board of Parole reversed its decision to give early release to the man who fatally shot her son in 2017 after a judge clarified that he sentenced the man to serve 24 years in prison. Shafona Jones told The Gazette in Cedar Rapids that she’s glad Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness followed up with the judge after the parole board granted Lamar Wilson, 28, work release in September. Wilson was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and several other charges in the August 2017 shooting on Iowa City’s pedestrian mall that left Jones’ son dead and two others injured. Wilson didn’t deny firing the gun, but he argued he fired the shots in self-defense.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is warning eight school districts to reinstate mask mandates or potentially face lawsuits. ACLU of Iowa announced Friday that it has notified eight of 10 school districts involved in a federal lawsuit against Iowa’s ban on mask mandates that they are violating a recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling. Two of the 10 districts – Des Moines and Iowa City – kept their mask mandates after the ruling. The other eight – Ankeny, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Decorah, Denver, Johnston, Linn-Mar and Waterloo – have modified or dropped their mask mandates.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Republicans have released three plans to cut taxes in Iowa and all share the common themes of phasing in a flat personal income tax and eliminating taxes on retirement income at a cost of billions of dollars to state revenue. Democrats and some progressive groups argue the changes would primarily help high-income residents and risk future budget problems, but Republicans respond that the state is simply taking in too much money and should return it to taxpayers. Gov. Kim Reynolds was first to release her plan, which also cuts taxes on corporations. The Senate’s plan also cuts corporate taxes but the House’s proposal does not.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected a Black man’s argument that he was denied his right to an impartial jury because of a flawed process that excluded Black people and resulted in only white jurors. It is the second time the state’s high court heard an appeal from Kenneth Lee Lilly, who was convicted by an all-white jury in a county with a 3% Black population. He’s serving a 25-year sentence for helping a relative rob a southeast Iowa bank in 2016. He alleged that, by using voter and driver’s license registration lists to pick jury pools, Iowa is unfairly excluding a fair number of potential Black jurors. The court says such systems are routinely used in many states and have not been proven to limit participation.
PLEASANT HILL, Iowa (AP) – Court documents indicate that an Iowa couple accused of starving a son who has special needs will take plea deals in the case. Richard Joe Ryan and Jennifer Ryan, of Pleasant Hill, were charged in April with first-degree kidnapping and neglecting a dependent. Investigators said the couple’s teenage son weighed only 78 pounds when he was taken to a hospital last year. KCCI-TV reports new court documents indicate Richard Ryan will be sentenced April 1 after agreeing to plead guilty to reduced charges. Court documents also show Jennifer Ryan will agree to a plea deal on April 1.
