From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
Two men were taken to the hospital after a house fire Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. It happened near the intersection of N Street and 12th Avenue Southwest. Police rescued one of the victims inside the home before firefighters got there. Firefighters got the second person out of the house. Two police officers were also taken to the hospital to be evaluated. They’re back on the job. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Jury selection is underway in the trials for three eastern Iowa men. Jeffrey Dodds is accused of sexually assaulting a child in 2022. Dodds co-owned “Simple Abundance Child Care” in Coralville with his wife at the time. The daycare has since closed down.
The jury is also being chosen in the trial against 18-year-old Keyun McGowan. He’s charged with one count of first degree murder and two counts of first degree robbery. Police say he shot and killed Cristian Upah last May.
And in Waterloo, 50-year-old Luttreal Allen is charged with second degree murder in the death of 71-year-old Ibrahim Lagumdzic in March of 2022. Police say Allen beat him to death.
A group of state senators, students and teachers opposing legislation to make it easier to arm teachers and staff rallied at the State Capitol. It’s already legal for schools to do this under state and federal law. But some Iowa schools say it’s hard to find an insurance company which will allow it. The bill makes it easier to arm teachers, and give them legal immunity. One speaker was a teacher and graduate of Perry High School, where a shooting there killed two people and hurt several others in January. It’s not clear when the state Senate will take up the bill.
Just more than half of Iowans polled say they oppose allowing health care providers to opt out of providing services that go against their ethical or religious beliefs. The latest Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa Poll finds 51 percent oppose, while 46 percent are in favor. A bill was introduced in the Senate that would have allowed health care providers and insurers to exercise “a right of conscience” and be protected from legal action or termination. There’s already a state law protecting health care workers who decline to perform or assist in an abortion.
