DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican legislators sent Iowa’s governor a bill early Wednesday that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy, propelling the state overnight to the front of a push among conservative statehouses jockeying to enact the nation’s most restrictive regulations on the procedure.
Critics say the so-called “heartbeat” bill, which now awaits the signature of anti-abortion GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds, would ban abortions before some women even know they’re pregnant. That could set up the state for a legal challenge over its constitutionality, including from the same federal appeals court that three years ago struck down similar legislation approved in Arkansas and North Dakota.
Backers of the legislation, which failed to get a single Democratic vote in either Iowa chamber, expressed hope it could challenge Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established women have a right to terminate pregnancies until a fetus is viable. Conservatives say an influx of right-leaning judicial appointments under President Donald Trump could make it a possibility.
“Today we will begin this journey as Iowa becomes ground zero, now nationally, in the life movement,” Sen. Rick Bertrand, a Republican from Sioux City, said during floor debate.
Erin Davison-Rippey, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said in a statement Iowa Republicans “do not care how much taxpayer money will be spent on a lawsuit … or how many families may choose to go elsewhere because Iowa is no longer a state where they are safe to live and work.”
PHILADELPHIA — Two black men arrested for sitting at a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anything settled with the world’s biggest coffee-shop chain Wednesday for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free college education.
Separately, they reached a deal with the city for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.
The men portrayed the twin settlements as an effort to make sure something positive came out of the April 12 incident, which touched off a furor around the U.S. over racial profiling.
“We thought long and hard about it, and we feel like this is the best way to see that change that we want to see,” said Donte Robinson, one of those arrested. “It’s not a right-now thing that’s good for right now, but I feel like we will see the true change over time.”
Business partners Robinson and Rashon Nelson, both 23, were led away in handcuffs and accused of trespassing last month after the manager of a Starbucks in the city’s well-to-do Rittenhouse Square neighborhood called police, saying the men refused to buy anything or leave. After spending hours in jail, they were released and no charges were filed.
PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. — An Air National Guard C-130 cargo plane crashed onto a busy highway moments after taking off from an airport in Georgia on Wednesday, narrowly missing people on the ground but killing at least five National Guard members from Puerto Rico.
An orange and black fireball rose into the sky after the plane crashed onto state highway 21, about a mile from the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, around 11:30 a.m., authorities said.
The huge plane’s fuselage appeared to have struck the median, and pieces of its wings, which spanned 132 feet, were scattered across lanes in both directions. The only part still intact was the tail section, said Chris Hanks, a spokesman for the Savannah Professional Firefighters Association.
“It miraculously did not hit any cars, any homes,” Effingham County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Gena Bilbo said. “This is a very busy roadway.”
Motorist Mark Jones told the Savannah Morning News that he saw the plane hit the road right in front of him.
CLEVELAND — Passengers on a Southwest Airlines plane first heard a loud pop and then scurried away when they saw a jagged crack in a window that forced the jet to land in Cleveland on Wednesday.
Some on board thought back to just two weeks ago when a jet engine blew apart and broke a window in a deadly accident aboard another Southwest flight.
“It made you nervous because something like this just happened,” said passenger Paul Upshaw of Chicago, who was about two seats from the window. “We didn’t know if it was going to crack open.”
There were no reports of injuries after Flight 957 heading from Chicago to New Jersey landed safely Wednesday after making an abrupt turn toward Cleveland while over Lake Erie, according to tracking data from FlightAware.com.
Some of the plane’s 76 passengers told The Associated Press that the crew quickly checked the window near an emergency exit and handled the situation smoothly.
From Associated Press