CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – On Monday, the Cedar Falls City Council will consider John Zolondek for appointment as Fire Chief. Zolondek has been part of the Cedar Falls Public Safety Department since 2007. He graduated from Saint Ambrose University and holds a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice. He previously served as a POC Firefighter, Public Safety Officer, Investigator, Lieutenant, Captain, and is currently the Acting Fire Chief. John Bostwick retired as Cedar Falls Fire Chief after serving 42 years in the city’s fire department.
POLK COUNTY, Iowa (KCCI) – A Polk County District judge has once again spared Pieper Lewis from prison. Lewis, 18, a sex trafficking victim from Des Moines who was 15 when she killed her alleged rapist, faced up to 21 years in prison for violating the probation she was on after entering a plea of guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and willful injury in that case. Instead, District Judge David M. Porter on Wednesday ordered her back on probation. Porter previously sentenced Lewis to probation in September 2022 for killing 37-year-old Zachary Brooks of Des Moines. He called that her “second chance” and told her she wouldn’t get another. On Wednesday, Porter said that in sending her back on probation, he is continuing that second chance. He said that if she violated her probation again, she would face harsher penalties. Lewis’ story has gained national attention in recent years, with some arguing that she shouldn’t have been convicted of killing the man she said raped her repeatedly and she shouldn’t owe the $150,000 in restitution to the family of Zachary Brooks she was ordered to pay. During Wednesday’s hearing, Lewis’ probation officer recommended Lewis go to prison, while Polk County Attorney Kimberly Graham recommended Lewis continue probation. Porter deferred a 20-year prison term in her initial sentencing, opting to order her to serve her five years of probation at Fresh Start Women’s Center in Des Moines. On Wednesday, months after Lewis violated those terms by escaping from the facility, Porter revoked that deferment and then suspended the sentence, placing her back on probation.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Next week, changes are being made to Johnson County Meals on Wheels recipients. Starting Monday, deliveries will be made 3 times a week instead of 5 due to a lack of volunteers. Those receiving meals will receive a warm meal on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and a frozen meal Monday and Wednesday for the following day. Melissa Wahl is the director of Community Health and Nutrition. She said they currently have 90 volunteers to serve meals to 150 clients. She said during the summer months many of their volunteers take vacations, which can leave them shorthanded. Wahl said the decision to make the change wasn’t an easy one. The meals being delivered are more than just food, it’s a second set of eyes on vulnerable members of the community.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Iowa’s News Now)–The U.S. House voted to pass President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal Wednesday evening. With 314 votes to 117, lawmakers were able to secure the bill’s passage to the Senate. All four of Iowa representatives voted for the agreement, which has until Monday, June 5 to get to the president’s desk. According to the treasury department, that’s the earliest the U.S. could run out of money to pay its bills. It is not yet clear when the Senate will vote, but they only need 60 votes to pass the measure.
