From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
Cargill workers in Cedar Rapids are now manning the picket lines after their contract with the Company expired at Midnight Monday night. Teamsters say the Company has not offered a contract its rank and file workers would find acceptable. About 100-workers are affected by the strike.
A teenager has been arrested in Cedar Rapids in connection with the shooting death of a mail carrier in Chicago this past summer. 48-year-old Octavia Redmond was shot while on her route on the city’s south side in July. The Chicago Police Department says it arrested a 15-year-old in connection to her death in Cedar Rapids yesterday. He was extradited to Chicago and was charged as a juvenile with first-degree murder.
A Dubuque woman has been charged with drinking and driving in connection to a crash that sent a 5-year-old to the hospital. It happened Monday afternoon near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Northwest Arterial. Officials say 33-year-old Jayme Hulsey and another woman were both trying to drive through yellow lights. Hulsey was charged with Operating While Intoxicated. The child was seriously hurt in the accident.
Workers were briefly evacuated yesterday afternoon from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids after smoke poured from a piece of industrial machinery. Cedar Rapids firefighters cooled the equipment and ventilated the building. One worker was sent to the hospital for a medical evaluation. Firefighters say they had the situation under control within 20 minutes.
American Pickers star Frank Fritz has died. Fritz died last night at his home in the Quad Cities, surrounded by friends–including his co-star Mike Wolfe. He left the show in March 2020 and had been hospitalized after a stroke in July 2022. Fritz was born in Davenport and worked across the Quad Cities area. American Pickers debuted on the History Channel in 2010. Fritz was 60 years old.
The North Liberty Community Pantry broke ground on its new facility Tuesday. It will be about three times the size of the current pantry. Those operating the pantry say they’ve seen a large uptick in demand over the last two years, serving 70 percent more families and distributing more than twice their usual amount of food. It’s expected to be finished next summer.