Police have identified the victims of that downtown Waterloo shooting incident early Saturday morning. 22-year-old Da’Curious Burkett of Waterloo and 28-year-old Takeya Hogan-Camp of West Des Moines died of gunshot wounds. Six others, all in their 20s and early 30s, were treated for gunshot wounds to the leg or hands. They were Jayvon Sanford, Raymond Lindsey, Shontavis Keller, Davon Biddle, and Natiria Whitaker, all of Waterloo, and Daquaylan Smith of Rock Island. Police are still investigating this incident.
The state’s General Fund will wind up with a larger surplus for the fiscal year than the previous year’s total, according to the governor’s office…despite the economic impact of the pandemic. Gov. Kim Reynolds said that the budget surplus for fiscal year 2020 will be $305.5 million…that’s $16.5 million more than last year. Dave Roederer, the director of the Iowa Department of Management, said his office will continue to watch for potential impacts of the ongoing pandemic on the current year’s budget. He says Iowa has cash reserves of more than $770 million on hand.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration has announced $574 million in emergency relief funds for 39 states and Puerto Rico. Iowa is scheduled to get $14.49 million to help repair roads and bridges after the August 10 derecho.
An early Wednesday morning garage fire destroyed a car in Cedar Rapids. Officials responded to the 800 block of 7th Street southwest just after 3 o’clock in the morning. Crews said a fire in the engine of a car spread to the front of the garage. No one was hurt. Firefighters saved the garage and its contents from major damage.
Cedar Rapids Police received multiple calls about gunshots in the area of 16th Street and 1st Avenue SE just before 8:30 Tuesday night. Officials said a person was walking in the Hy-Vee parking lot when two other people approached and assaulted him. One of the two later turned and fired several shots at the victim. Police were unable to find the victim at the scene, but said he later walked into a hospital and received treatment. The victim was not hurt by the gunshots, but also did not cooperate with officers.
The woman who broke into the Independence West Elementary School will spend a decade in prison. 22-year-old Autumn Christine Meiborg was sentenced by a Buchanan County judge to 10 years in prison on a charge of criminal mischief in the first degree, a Class C felony. She was also ordered to pay $1,000. Meiborg broke into the school in April and caused extensive damage to the inside of the building. She was caught after school district officials looked at surveillance video and were able to identify Meiborg as the criminal.
A new report from Child Care of America finds that Iowa lost half of their licensed child care providers this year. As of July, Iowa has a little over 800 in the state, down from around 1,600 last year. Nationally, the report found that attendance and enrollment remain significantly lower than at the beginning of the year. 17 of 32 states that submitted data for the report lost more than 25 percent of their child care capacity. In addition, as of July of this year, 35% of child care centers and 21% of family child care programs remain closed across the U.S.
The Marion Police Department is investigating reports of impersonation…a man is claiming to be with the city and without consent or authorization, the man is painting over green and pink designation applied to trees. It’s believed he’s driving a gold colored sedan. Anyone with information should call the Marion Police Department.
Andre Richardson has been sentenced to 75 years in prison, with the chance for parole, in connection with the deaths of two Cedar Rapids teens in May 2019. Richardson accepted a plea agreement in June, which found him guilty of two counts of second-degree murder and six other related counts. Matrell Johnson and Royal Abram, both 18, were killed during the shooting outside the Iowa Smoke Shop in Cedar Rapids. Richardson said on the day of the shooting, he saw a Facebook post and though the person in the picture had previously shot at his home. Families of Johnson and Abram were present in court on Wednesday and showed some signs of forgiveness.
The murder trial for a Cedar Rapids man accused of killing another man over a pack of cigarettes has been moved to next year. The first degree murder trial for 37-year-old Jermaine Walker was to have started November 2nd, but will now start January 25th. Walker is accused of shooting and killing 31-year-old Wayne Jones of Cedar Rapids last November. Authorities say Walker was at a party smoking other people’s cigarettes when Jones called him out for being cheap…leading to the shooting.
A 21-year-old Davenport man charged with killing a woman as she was leaving a civil rights protest will remain in jail after a judge Tuesday denied Parker Belz’s request to be released,. He’s charged with first-degree murder in connection with the deal of Italia Marie Kelly. She had joined a protest on May 31st over the death of George Floyd but was leaving because the gathering was becoming unruly. She was shot in the back. Belz has entered a plea of not guilty and has been held in custody without bond since his arrest in June.
State public health officials have warned a Cedar Rapids man that if he keeps purporting to be an Emergency Medical Services provider, he could face felony charges. The Iowa Department of Public Health revoked Eric Hansen’s EMS certification in 2016 after incidents going back to 2011 in which Hansen falsely identified himself as a paramedic or Emergency Medical Technician and provided medical services to patients without authorization. On September 1st, the agency sent Hansen a cease and desist letter after seeing an interview with our coverage partners at TV9 in which Hansen is talks about providing medical services to residents at a Cedar Rapids apartment complex after the August derecho. State law says anyone who acts as an emergency medical care provider without certification, or who operates an emergency medical service program without authorization, is guilty of a Class D felony. Hansen told media outlets this week he performed medical services after the derecho because he has training in the field and because his low-level care would free up ambulance companies for life-threatening emergencies.
