After months of controversy, the state’s laying plans to build a new crime lab. The State Medical Examiner threatened to quit, and many county medical examiners would have, too, if lawmakers hadn’t reversed course and provided the money to come up with an architect’s drawing and choose a site for the a new public safety building, which would include a crime lab. Representative Chuck Gipp, a republican from Decorah, says the current lab space is too cramped.Gipp says 58 employees are now working in a space designed for 33. He says it’s in desperate need of expansion.The legislature committed eight million dollars to start the building project.
