DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday that she’ll seek to end most abortions in the state by turning to the courts. She’ll ask them to relax the legal standard used to evaluate restrictions and to reverse a decision that halted a ban as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. That law bans abortions once cardiac activity can be detected. A state court judge found the 2018 law unconstitutional under previous Iowa Supreme Court rulings. However, the high court on June 17 reversed previous precedent which would allow the law to be considered under a lower legal threshold.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Two separate shootings hurt two people on Tuesday night in Cedar Rapids. This is according to Cedar Rapids police. The first shooting happened in the area of Park Avenue and 16th Street Southeast at 6:45 p.m. Police said one person had non-life threatening injuries. The second shooting happened on the 1100 block of C Avenue Northwest at 7:44 p.m. Police said one person in this shooting also had non-life threatening injuries. Police would not release any other information on either of the victims. There are no arrests so far in both cases. Police would not say whether or not the two shootings may be connected.
BUCHANAN COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – A former deputy charged with extorting a driver during a traffic stop back in February has pled not guilty to the charges he’s accused of. Court documents say that 37-year-old Kint Bentley stopped a vehicle for speeding when he was a deputy for Buchanan County. Bentley is accused of asking the female driver to show him her breasts and implied he would withhold issuing a citation if she did. The female victim reportedly recorded the interaction during the traffic stop. Bentley reportedly continued soliciting photos from her via text message after the traffic stop concluded. On February 7th, 2022, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office requested the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation look into the matter due to a conflict of interest. On February 8th, Bentley was terminated. Bentley has been charged with Extortion, Non-Felonious Misconduct in Office, and Accepting a Bribe.
BRANDON, Iowa (KCRG) – The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said it rescued a man who had gotten lost in a wooded area after the sun went down, but then arrested him when it was found he had an active arrest warrant. In a news release, the sheriff’s office said Garrett Spence, 32, of Cedar Rapids, called 911 after getting lost in the Koutney Pond/Hoffman Woods area at around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. That’s in the 1600 block of 330th Street and along I-380 east of Brandon. Spence told the dispatcher he had gone to the area to fish, but got lost when the sun went down. He also said his phone battery was nearly depleted, so he lit a fire near a creek to help first responders find him.Sheriff’s deputies used a drone to locate the fire and a K9 deputy to help locate the man. Deputies said Spence was found tired, but uninjured. After speaking with Spence and finding that he had an active arrest warrant, deputies took him into custody. The arrest warrant is out of Linn County for a charge of second degree sexual abuse. Spence was later transferred to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
