From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa House Republicans have approved a bill that prohibits transgender girls from participating in girls sports moving the direction of about 10 other Republican-run state legislatures in passing the controversial measure. Opponents say the bill which passed on party lines 55 to 39 is discriminatory and state-sanctioned bullying of transgender children while supporters say it’s the only way to protect girls from being dominated in sports competition by males who identify as females. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has supported the idea. The Iowa Senate has not yet voted on its slightly different version of the measure.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Investigators in Cedar Rapids are working to determine what sparked a fire at an apartment tower that left two people with serious injuries and seven others who were taken to hospitals for observation. Fire officials reported that the fire broke out early Sunday morning in an apartment on the ninth floor of the Geneva Tower and spread to higher floors. Several apartments in the floors below the fire also suffered water damage as fire crews doused the flames. Firefighters and police worked to evacuate the tower from the seventh floor up. The 12-floor tower provides income-based housing mainly to the elderly and adults with disabilities.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been charged with child endangerment in a case that saw one young child shoot another inside an Iowa City apartment last year. The Gazette of Cedar Rapids reports that 36-year-old Christopher Horras has been charged with once count of misdemeanor child endangerment and one count of felony child endangerment. He’s also charged with a count of making a firearm available to a minor. Police say Horra left a loaded gun in his bedroom on Nov. 7 and left two children unattended while he went to another area of the house. Police say the children found the gun, and one accidentally shot the other. Accessible court records don’t give the ages of the children or Horras’ relationship to them.
TREYNOR, Iowa (AP) — A plan by MidAmerican Energy to build a large wind farm in southwestern Iowa is drawing opposition from some community residents. Iowa Public Radio reports that MidAmerican is seeking to build a 400 megawatt capacity wind farm capable of providing power to about 144,000 Iowa homes. The project, dubbed the Silver Creek Wind Farm, would see between 90 to 140 wind turbines erected in northern Mills and southern Pottawattamie counties. But opponents in the township of Silver Creek and nearby Treynor are speaking out against the project. More than 850 people have joined a Facebook group titled “Say NO to the Silver Creek Wind Farm.”
AMES, Iowa (AP) — A 39-year-old Iowa man died after being stabbed, and his roommate has been charged with first-degree murder. Ames Police said Sunday that Maccarone Declements died after he was flown to a hospital Saturday with stab wounds in his upper torso. Officers were called to the home where the stabbing happened shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday, and they found both Declements and the suspect there. Police arrested 39-year-old Robert Lyon, of Ames, after the stabbing. He was initially charged with attempted murder but the charge was upgraded after Declements died. Police did not immediately release any additional details about what led to the stabbing.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three people were injured in a shootout in Des Moines early Sunday. Des Moines Police said the victims said someone in a car driving by fired at them around 2 a.m., and a friend who was with them shot back at the car. KCCI reports that officers found one woman with a gunshot wound near Wells Fargo Arena, and she was transported to a hospital. Two other victims with gunshot wounds showed up at a different hospital a short time later. Police said all three victims are expected to survive. The person who shot back at the car was unhurt and is cooperating with investigators.
