CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Firefighters responded to reports of a fire at a home in the 3700 block of Blue Mound Dr. NE in Cedar Rapids shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Officials on the scene tell TV9 no one was injured in the fire, and that the fire was under control by 4 p.m. Investigators say the fire happened after a home owner put ashes that were not fully extinguished into a YARDY near the garage. The YARDY caught fire, which extended into the garage. Officials say wind carried the fire from the garage into the neighboring home – causing extensive damage there. Roads around the neighborhood were temporarily blocked.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI/KCRG) – Des Moines Police found two 3D-printed guns and are now investigating the possibility that a distributor could be making untraceable weapons in Des Moines for criminal reasons. Police found the guns at a Wednesday morning shooting located at Easton Boulevard. During the shooting, a 16-year-old was arrested after shooting a man, who was is expected to make a full recovery. The teenager is facing willful injury and attempted murder charges. What is concerning police about the incident is the weapon the teenager used, a 3D-printed gun. This is the first time the Des Moines Police Department has connected a 3D-printed gun to a crime in the city. 3D guns are hard to trace because they don’t have any serial numbers for sellers to track. Police believe the teenager did not make the gun. However, the weapon was crafted locally. Police are working to discover who made the guns and gave them to the teenager.
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (KCCI/KCRG) – The Marshall County Board of Supervisors is taking action against the mall’s owners more than five months after electricity was cut to the Marshalltown mall. Back in November, the mall’s ownership team, Kohan Investment Group, didn’t pay its utility bill. The resulting power outage is still ongoing. Since then, the supervisors have been using the mall as a storage space for courthouse files, but now they’re leaving. “We’re getting out of the mall, and we’re not going to utilize them for storage and have any rent issues with the mall again,” the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Jarret Heil, said. However, the board hasn’t paid its rent for several months. Heil also claims that the mall has become an eyesore in the city thanks to Kohan Retail. “We’re not going to write that check to the mall to pay for that rent because they’re not fulfilling their end of the bargain,” Heil stated. Since the outage began, six businesses have left the mall. Once all the files are digitized, the county has decided to leave the space. KCCI reached out to Kohan Retail Investment Group concerning the mall but have not yet heard back.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) -The eastbound I-80 entrance ramp at the West Branch interchange is now closed for construction crews to work on the new eastbound I-80 alignment. Drivers will follow a detour west on I-80 to the Herbert Hoover Highway/Cedar/Johnson County Road F-44 to access eastbound I-80. Work is expected to last until mid-November of this year.
