CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa DCI says it completed investigation into an officer-involved shooting in Cedar Rapids that killed a suspect. David Vanderhamm called 911 asking for an officer to respond to a home on 31st Street Northeast during the evening of April 6. Then, a second caller asked for a welfare check on Vanderhamm at that location. When officers arrived, they say Vanderhamm pointed a weapon at them even after commands to put it down. The officers fired, killing him and hurting the second caller. The injured man is currently in a rehab facility recovering. The DCI report will now be sent to the Attorney General before going to the Linn County Attorney’s Office.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to announce a lawsuit challenging a new emission standard for heavy-duty vehicles. Bird denounced the rule saying that an electric truck mandate would “devastate Iowa’s trucking industry.” Bird also joined a 24-state-led coalition in denouncing a rule that would require trucking companies to reduce emissions. That rule would leave it up to the companies for how they would meet those new standards (hybrid, electric, more efficient diesel, etc.).
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – On Tuesday, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting federal assistance for farmers whose properties were damaged by severe weather on April 26. The President had authorized a “Major Disaster Declaration” earlier Tuesday, aimed at assisting Iowa small business owners and homeowners affected by the storm, but this new request from Reynolds and Naig is specifically aimed at assisting farmers. In their request, Reynolds and Naig seek eligible assistance for the following eight Iowa counties: Clarke, Harrison, Mills, Polk, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, and Union.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – At the Iowa Environmental Protection Committee’s next meeting on May 22, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will present a litigation report in which they ask the Attorney General to seek penalties relating to a March 11, 2024 fertilizer spill in Montgomery County. The Iowa DNR announced approximately two weeks later that the spill resulted in nearly all the fish being killed in a 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna River to the Missouri border. New Cooperative notified the Iowa Department of Natural Resources following the spill that approximately 1,500 tons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer (32% solution) had discharged into a drainage ditch. Officials say the release occurred due to a valve left open on an aboveground storage tank overnight. The fertilizer then traveled from the drainage ditch into the East Nishnabotna River. According to the Iowa DNR’s litigation report, Iowa Code states that those liable for polluting water of the state are in violation of state law and should be liable to pay restitution for injury caused to a wild animal due to the pollution.
