HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) – A man died after a crash involving two vehicles in Hiawatha Tuesday evening. The man was identified as 52-year-old Tommy Thomas. Hiawatha police said the crash happened at about 6:46 p.m. at the corner of N 12th Ave. and Lyndhurst Drive. Thomas was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died. Thomas was a maintenance tech at Cornell College. Investigators said the driver of the second vehicle initially left the scene but was later found. Those close to Thomas have told KCRG-TV9 that road rage likely played a role in what happened. TV9 has asked Hiawatha Police for comment on that factor, but they’ve declined, saying the crash remains under investigation.
WEST UNION, Iowa (KCRG) – The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is urging residents to keep the area clean after they said a man threw numerous bags of garbage and other items in the ditch. The sheriff’s office said that on March 31, Christopher Loren-Ray Zeurcher, 32, of West Union, was charged with 29 counts of depositing or throwing litter on the highway, with fines totaling nearly $4,600. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the sheriff’s office shared pictures of the litter, saying multiple people called to report seeing box springs, beds and numerous bags of garbage in the ditch on Echo Valley Road and Imperial Road. Officials ordered Zuercher to return to the scene to remove the garbage under deputy supervision.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Police are investigating a shooting at a Des Moines apartment building that left one person dead and three others hospitalized. Officials said it happened at around 11:35 p.m. Tuesday at the Riverview Apartments in the 1400 block of Southeast 1st Street. When police arrived, they said they found two people with gunshot wounds inside the apartment. Both were taken to the hospital. One of them died. Just before midnight, a third person with a gunshot wound arrived at a local hospital, and then a fourth arrived at a hospital just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday. Investigators determined both people were injured in the same shooting incident. Police said there is no ongoing danger to the neighborhood where the shooting happened. The incident remains under investigation. Police said this is the city’s first homicide of 2024.
DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Television Iowa Capitol Bureau) – The More Options for Maternal Support, or MOMs, program was created in 2022, but the state couldn’t find an organization qualified to run it. Wednesday, House lawmakers passed a bill allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to administer it directly. State Rep. Michael Bergan of Winneshiek County says the MOMs program is designed to help promote healthy pregnancies. But Democrats take issue with state money being sent to crisis pregnancy centers, who they say discourage women from getting abortions. The bill already passed the Senate, so it now goes to Governor Kim Reynolds’ desk.
