DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – One of Iowa’s Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold Iowa’s strict abortion law will be on your November ballot. The law bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected, which doctors say is usually around six weeks of pregnancy. In late June, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that the law could take effect.

Iowa Supreme Court Justices, unlike federal, are not a lifetime appointment. They go up for retention votes every eight years.

Typically, there’s not much drama involved. This time, one of the justices voted to allow Iowa’s strict abortion law to take effect. That could become a factor in whether he stays on the bench.

Rekha Basu, a retired columnist for the Des Moines Register says she’s voting to remove Justice David May. “It’s horrifying for a group of women members, male dominated members, of the Iowa Supreme Court to decide what rights a woman or a girl has over her own body,” Basu said.

Basu says the court ruled against the will of the people. “The majority of Iowans, more than 60%, believe in a woman’s right to choose abortion so it goes against the will of the people of Iowa,” she said.

But Alan Ostergren, a conservative attorney, says Iowans should keep May on the bench. “This is a justice who did his job and decided this case fairly and objectively based on what he in good faith thought the law required,” Ostergren said.

While most of the attention in this election will be on national races, Ostergren says people should pay attention to this one. “We need to have the court able to make hard decisions. Decisions that not everybody will necessarily agree with because they’re making decisions based on the law, not based on public polling,” he said.

Basu takes a different view.

“If they say there should be no politics with the court system, why is there a retention election in the first place? That’s provided for under Iowa law. If you think someone is qualified to be a Supreme Court justice based on what their rulings have been, then you vote yes. If they’re not qualified, then you vote no. What makes that political?,” she said.

If voters end up deciding to remove May, a state commission will submit names of potential justices to Governor Reynolds. Then, Reynolds will make the final decision of who takes the seat.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

The big league Cubs were off yesterday, but the Iowa Cubs – or the Iowa Oaks, as the throwbacks indicated – played themselves a thriller to fill in the space.

With Iowa down a run in the 6th inning, Matt Shaw tied things up with a long bomb to straight center:

He just hits the ball SO HARD. That’s 106.6 mph off the bat and 418 feet for a guy who is listed at 5’9″, 185 pounds. Built like fullback, hits like a beast.

Shaw, 22, had the briefest of adjustment periods upon being called up to Iowa this summer, and now he’s cruising like always. I’m as confident as ever that, in time, he’s going to hit in the big leagues. The question is where he’ll play defensively, and how well he can develop at that position.

Anyway, so the I-Cubs later fell back behind by the bottom of the 9th, trailing by a run. But a Moises Ballesteros single that moved James Triantos to third, followed by a Darius Hill sac fly tied the game and sent it to extra innings.

There, in the 11th, pinch-hitter Chase Strumpf called game:

I love all walk-off wins, not only for the excitement of the play, but just to watch the players enjoy the moment as much as they do. Unreserved joy.

(Bonus note on that front: Kevin Alcántara was out there celebrating without an obvious limp, so hopefully whatever happened to him earlier this week was not too serious?)

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – While lawsuits from Republican lawmakers work its way through the courts over eminent domain, things could also be changing in the legislature.

Iowa landowners who don’t think private companies should be allowed access to their land found hope with legislators in the Iowa house who tried to ban it. But those property owners were frustrated with the Republican senate leadership who blocked the bills.

The proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline would run through one of Pat Mennenga’s fields in Clarkesville. “We have 120 acres that the pipeline has been proposed to go through from north to south,” she said.

Mennenga doesn’t want it. “We want to preserve our land the way it was given to us and we want to keep it that way. We’re not in favor of a pipeline,” she said.

This week, a group of nearly 40 republican lawmakers filed lawsuits in state and federal court aiming to stop the pipeline.

State Rep. Helena Hayes said, “Our group initially started with 19 legislators but has since doubled in size reflecting the growing concern among senators and representatives here in Iowa.”

The lawsuits are the newest way to try and stop the pipeline. Lawmakers in the Iowa House voted to reign in the use of eminent domain, but Republican leaders in the Senate never brought the bills up for a vote.

State Sen. Kevin Alons said, “The way that politics, the rules are established and the way the hierarchy works in the Senate and both chambers, leadership has quite a bit of control over what advances and what doesn’t.”

State Rep. Charley Thomson of Charles City says he sees changes on the horizon.

Thomson says many of the new Republican candidates running for the state Senate are opposed to the project. “There’s not a lot of support for this outside of people who are financially interested. There are a few rather muted supporters in the legislature but I think that’s disappearing,” he said.

Thomson says public opinion is on their side and growing. “As more public opinion shifts in to our favor, it’s going to be harder and harder for the Senate to not act on this. I think the Senate’s going to be compelled to at some point,” Thomson said.

Mennenga says she now has hope regardless of what happens with the lawsuits. “I’ve become very hopeful in the last six months. Just listening to some of our representatives and some of the other landowners and I know a lot of ‘em have ideas of how they are going to stop it,” she said.

Summit contends that by lowering carbon emissions, it makes ethanol production more sustainable and can increase demand.

“Summit Carbon Solutions in confident in the Iowa Utilities Commission’s thorough review process. Our project represents a significant opportunity for farmers and ethanol producers to access new markets, such as sustainable aviation fuel, by lowering ethanol’s carbon intensity score. With current economic challenges, including corn prices falling below production costs, this pipeline will help grow markets and support the long-term viability of our farmers and rural communities, contributing to economic growth and American energy independence.”

Summit also says they’ve signed voluntary agreements with around 75% of affected landowners.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.