GOVERNOR KIM REYNOLDS SIGNS LAW BANNING HANDHELD USE OF CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING

DES MOINES, IA – Iowa is joining 30 other states with a “hands free” law. This summer, drivers will have to put their phones down when they’re behind the wheel.

It’s taken years to finally get this bill passed. Governor Kim Reynolds signed it Wednesday morning.

Peter Bengston’s daughter Ellen was killed while riding her bike outside of Charles City in 2020.

“As a father, you’d do anything to trade places with her on that bike ride that day. She had her whole life in front of her. She was 28 years old. Her high school yearbook identified her as a person who would probably most likely cure cancer,” he said.

Bengston says the man that hit Ellen was trying to buy a boat while reading social media when the accident happened. He never got justice.

“Even though he admitted he was using his phone, that he wasn’t touching his phone, the law on the books said you can’t convict him. And so he walked free for mowing down my daughter,” he said.

Angie Smith understands his pain. Her dad, Roland Taylor, was driving on an antique tractor in Clay County when he was killed.

“A person in a pickup was on their phone, doing multiple items on their phone. And they hit him and killed him instantly,” she said.

Both hope the new hands free law protects other families’ relatives.

Here’s how it works:

You can’t hold your phone when you’re behind the wheel. You need to have it in “hands free” mode, or use voice activated features. The law takes effect in July. Officers can then start handing out warnings. In January, the tickets start and the fine is $100.

“This is an epidemic beyond compare for public safety. We need to do something about it and this legislation gets us closer to it,” Bengston said.

This law won’t bring back Smith’s dad, but she says it couldn’t have been signed into law on a better day. Governor Kim Reynolds signed it two years to the day of the accident.

“There’s not a better way we could have honored Dad today. Dad was always about giving and if this saves one life, he would have been so proud,” she said.

Outside of Charles City, a “ghost bike” in Ellen Bengston’s memory has been installed where she was killed. Her dad hopes there won’t be any more installed along Iowa roads.

Governor Kim Reynolds says that after Minnesota enacted a similar law, the saw a 31% reduction in crashes in the first year and a 25% reduction in the second year.

According to the Iowa DOT’s crash data, distracted driving crashes have gone up by 43% over the last decade.

 

LONNA CARROLL TRIAL CONTINUES IN HUGHES COUNTY AS MORE WITNESSES TESTIFY TO THE MONEY TRAIL

PIERRE, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Wednesday was the second day of Lonna Carroll’s embezzlement trial.

Carroll is accused of stealing more than $1.7 million from accounts entitled to kids enrolled in Child Protection Services.

The money trail and supervision of Carroll’s work were discussed heavily on Wednesday as more witnesses were called to testify.

Agent Matt Glenn from the Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Investigation showed the court a series of images of the storage unit that Lonna Carroll rented, which had boxes of personal items, much of it clothing.

Many boxes in this storage unit included receipts of what she had bought, going back all the way to 2016.

These receipts came from stores such as LOFT, MACY’s, Maurice’s and AL’s Oasis.

The witness following Glenn, April Pontrelli, who works for the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Abuse & Neglect Unit, went through a detailed report showing that at one point, Carroll’s retail purchases were around the same amount as her annual income.

The information came from her Wells Fargo bank account.

“There’s some issues associated with timeframes and also the documents and following the money trail, when did that happen, when did certain events happen,” Lonna Carroll’s Defense Attorney Timothy Whalen said.

While the prosecuting party focused on this money trail, Whalen continued to grill state officials including Social Services CPS Division Director Pamela Bennett, about why Carroll had so much access to the Department’s Family and Child Information System and why Bennett never did a spot analysis into all of the irregularities.

“That’s an issue in this case because it started back in 2010 and it allegedly ended in 2022 so you have that big timeframe of approximately 2022,” Whalen said.

The Attorney General’s Office says there’s a strong chance the case ends on Thursday, a day earlier than scheduled.

 

BALLOT GROUP SUES STATE OVER SHORTER PETITION CIRCULATION WINDOW

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Seth Tupper / South Dakota Searchlight) – A ballot question committee is suing South Dakota’s top election official over a new law that shortens the window for petition circulation by three months.

Dakotans for Health filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court against Secretary of State Monae Johnson.

“This new law is just another effort to silence the voices of South Dakotans and deny them the right to make decisions that impact their lives,” said Dakotans for Health Chairman Rick Weiland in a news release.

South Dakota’s Republican-dominated Legislature approved the legislation earlier this month, and Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden signed it into law last week. The law moves the filing deadline up from May to February for petitions seeking to place citizen-initiated questions on the ballot during general election years.

“It also imposes additional challenges,” Dakotans for Health said, “including harsher winter conditions and decreased voter interest due to the far-removed election date.”

Dakotans for Health is seeking a court order blocking the enforcement of the law, and the payment of its attorney fees and costs.

The law affects initiated measures, which need petition signatures from 17,508 registered South Dakota voters to make the ballot, and initiated constitutional amendments, which need 35,017 signatures. State law says no signatures may be collected more than 24 months preceding the general election.

Dakotans for Health has been active in numerous petition drives, including two last year: a constitutional amendment that would have reinstated abortion rights and an initiated measure that would have repealed the state sales tax on groceries. Voters rejected both measures.

The main sponsor of the new law, House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, helped lead a legal challenge last year against the abortion amendment. The case was scheduled for trial after the election, but the lawsuit was dismissed after voters defeated the amendment.

Hansen sent a statement in response to a message Tuesday from South Dakota Searchlight.

“Disputes over the validity of petition signatures should be decided before the election takes place — not after,” the statement said. “Amending this deadline is a common sense way to give voters the certainty to know exactly what will be on their ballot before they go to vote while still allowing over a year to gather petition signatures.”

Hansen’s legislation was one of numerous bills legislators considered to restrict citizen lawmaking. Among those that passed was a resolution that will send a question to the 2026 ballot asking voters to raise the approval threshold for constitutional amendment ballot questions from a simple majority to 60%. Lawmakers also passed but failed to override Gov. Rhoden’s veto of a bill that would have required constitutional amendment petitions to have signatures from every legislative Senate district in the state.

 

SENATOR MIKE ROUNDS CO-SPONSORS BILL TO KEEP AM RADIO IN NEW VEHICLES

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Todd Epp / Northern Plains News) – South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds has joined a bipartisan effort to ensure AM radio remains available in all new vehicles, citing the medium’s importance for rural communities and emergency communications.

Rounds is among 60 senators now co-sponsoring the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would require automakers to maintain AM radio capability in new vehicles at no additional cost to consumers.

“I grew up listening to KCCR on 1240 and KGFX on 1060, especially when I delivered newspapers throughout the Pierre area. It made the time go by quick!” Rounds said in a 2023 news release when he initially co-sponsored the legislation. “Free AM broadcast radio has been an important resource for decades. Whether someone is in their car or tractor, AM radio is a valuable tool to share local news and emergency information.”

The bill, originally introduced by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has now reached a critical threshold with 60 co-sponsors – enough to overcome a potential filibuster in the Senate, according to a statement from Markey’s office. Sens. Markey and Cruz reintroduced the legislation in January 2025 as the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025. It had 62 co-sponsors, including Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, DFL-Minn.

“AM radio is a lifeline for people across the country for news, sports, and especially emergency information,” Markey said in a press release last month. “Tens of millions of listeners across the country have made clear that they want AM radio to remain in their vehicles. Our AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act heeds their words and ensures that this essential tool doesn’t get lost on the dial.”

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has been a vocal supporter of the legislation. In October 2024, Jackley joined 11 other attorneys general in urging Congress to pass the bill.

“Hurricane Helene, like the severe weather we see in South Dakota, has demonstrated again the importance of AM Radio as a vital communication device that provides life-saving information to our citizens,” Jackley said in an Oct. 4, 2024, news release. “AM Radio is important in rural states like South Dakota where people can turn to for severe weather updates and emergency information along with local news and sports.”

In June 2023, Jackley joined with counterparts in 16 other states to encourage Congress to pass the legislation. “AM radio serves an important role in rural states such as South Dakota,” Jackley said at the time, according to Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.

South Dakota U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson was among more than 100 lawmakers who signed a letter to automakers in May 2023 expressing concerns about the removal of AM radio receivers in vehicles. The letter highlighted the need for rural Americans to access AM radio, given limited internet and cell phone connectivity.

Several major automakers have already begun removing AM radio from their vehicles, particularly electric models. BMW, Mazda, Volvo, Volkswagen, Tesla, and Ford are among the manufacturers that have either eliminated or announced plans to phase out AM radio from their newer vehicles, according to a March 2023 statement from Markey’s office.

Manufacturers typically cite electromagnetic interference as the primary reason for removing AM radio from electric vehicles. “Electric motors can interfere with AM radio signals, causing undesirable static noise during broadcasts,” The Hill reported last year.

However, automakers and tech industry groups have recently stepped up their opposition to the mandate. In a joint letter to Congress, the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA), Consumer Technology Association, Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and TechNet argued that “requiring manufacturers to use a particular technology will slow innovation and reduce consumer preference.”

“Requiring the installation of analog AM radios in automobiles is an unnecessary action that would impact EV range, efficiency, and affordability at a critical moment of accelerating adoption,” said Albert Gore, executive director of ZETA, in a statement to Reuters. “Mandating AM radio would do little to expand drivers’ ability to receive emergency alerts.”

The Consumer Technology Association compared the mandate to requiring outdated technology in a statement to The Washington Post.

“Mandating AM radio would be like mandating CD or cassette players in new vehicles,” CTA said. “This outdated and counterproductive measure will stifle innovation and impose unnecessary costs on automakers, ultimately increasing prices for consumers.”

John Bozzella, president and CEO of Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and other industry leaders, warned in their letter that “to accommodate analog AM radio, certain carmakers may need to scrap advanced safety features.”

According to the bill text, the legislation would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require all new vehicles manufactured or imported for sale in the United States to include AM broadcast radio receivers at no additional cost. It would also provide small vehicle manufacturers at least four years after the Department of Transportation issues the rule to comply. The measure would also require automakers to inform consumers, during the period before the rule takes effect, that their vehicles do not maintain access to broadcast AM radio.

“NAB applauds the Senate Commerce Committee for rapidly advancing the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act with overwhelming bipartisan support,” Curtis LeGeyt, NAB president and CEO, said in a statement. “In just one week since its introduction, this legislation has already gained nearly half of the Senate as co-sponsors and cleared a key committee, demonstrating the broad recognition of AM radio’s vital role in keeping Americans informed and safe.”

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington also weighed in on the agency’s website.

“The Commission should not be shy about asking auto manufacturers to serve the public interest by continuing to serve AM radio listeners,” he wrote.

The National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Board of Directors issued a warning in a public statement.

“Failure to approve this critical AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act will allow automakers to eliminate access to critical information to the people we serve,” they said. “Rural and urban residents should not be forced to subscribe to an unreliable data stream for urgent information.”

FEMA Integrated Public Alert & Warning System Program Manager Manny Centeno has emphasized that AM radio is the backbone of the nation’s public warning system. Nearly 80 AM radio stations across the country are Primary Entry Points for emergency alerts distributed by FEMA and the National Weather Service, covering approximately 90% of the U.S. population.

The bill now awaits further action in the Senate.