Tuesday Morning Read: Personhood bill, Top Chef Iowa City, Iowa beats Wisconsin

Top Chef Downtown Iowa City - With 24 establishments showing off their best entrees, desserts and cocktails, the night was a chance for food fans to eat their way through bite-sized portions before voting on who would take home the title of Top Chef. But in the end, only a few could win. The People's Choice winners were Sweet & Treats for top dessert, Sam Abba of The Mill for top mixologist, Wesley Ward of High Ground Cafe for top barista and Baroncini for top entree. Read the full breakdown of the competition here.

Personhood Bill Moves Forward - An Iowa bill that effectively could ban abortions by declaring that life begins at conception cleared a major hurdle Monday, passing through a Senate subcommittee before this week's funnel deadline. The legislation — which women's health organization argue will have far-reaching and unintended consequences — would make it so that life is 'protected from the moment of conception … and accorded the same rights and protections guaranteed to all persons.' Read about the bill's next steps here.

Iowa tops Wisconsin - Trailing by four points to Wisconsin with 7:47 left in the fourth quarter, Lisa Bluder called a timeout. The Iowa women's basketball head coach was not happy with her team's half-court offense and for good reason. A nine-point halftime lead was gone, shots weren't falling and while there was ball movement, shooters weren't getting open. Senior guards Ally Disterhoft and Alexa Kastanek looked frustrated. This wasn't how either wanted their last home game to go. But then, in the timeout, something clicked. Read the rest of how Iowa edged Wisconsin here.

Funding Cuts - The Board of Regents months ago sent the state a summary of how potential cuts to its base funding — starting with a takeback of resources in the current budget year — could impact Iowa's public universities, warning of possible student aid cuts, employee furloughs and layoffs, program eliminations and tuition hikes. 'Should the aforementioned reductions come to fruition, it will significantly impede the progress being made to meet the goals established in the strategic plan,' according to Iowa State University's portion of the Board of Regents fiscal impact statement provided Dec. 30 to the Iowa Department of Management. Read more about the reactions and process related to budget cuts here.

Quotable - 

Grocers are so eager to get out of the recycling business that, more than once, a Hy-Vee lobbyist invited those in favor of the bill to speak and asked them questions.

One lawmaker wondered just who was running the subcommittee hearing on House Study Bill 163 — grocers or legislators?

'I'm starting to think the lobbyists are in charge of the meeting,' said Rep. Andy McKean, R-Anamosa, who was attending Monday but not a subcommittee member.

'We're having a good discussion,' replied Rep. Ross Paustian, R-Walcott. He and two other subcommittee Republicans backed the bill. Read more about the bottle bill here.