From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
A jury finds Renard Winfield Jr. guilty in the murder of an Iowa City man who was shot to death in his car outside an apartment building. Prosecutors argued Winfield was seeking revenge when he went on a dating app, pretended to be a woman, and lured Tommy Curry to the location where he was shot and killed. Prosecutors say the bad blood between the two men dates back four years ago when Winfield was shot during a fight with Curry. Winfield’s first degree murder charges carried a life sentence with it.
Linnn County is quickly working to make sure all of its American Rescue Plan Act funding is allocated by year’s end. Money funded programs like Safe Home, which gave eligible residents and landlords financial assistance for home repairs, including lead, pest control, and other fixes. Not all of the $600,000 was spent. Now the county must allocate the excess money by the end of the year with a plan to spend it by the end of 2026.
The Iowa City School board is moving forward with new restrictions on student’s use of cell phones. The district will ban cellphone use in classrooms but allow it between classes and during lunch periods. The district is also setting up penalties for students who break the rules. The new policy takes effect in Iowa City schools January 21.
A North Liberty woman is facing charges after police say she left her children alone in an apartment before it caught fire. Brittany Airhart is charged with neglect or abandonment of a dependent person. A criminal complaint says Airhart left her 3-year-old and 5-year-old alone on November 11, and a small fire in the living room led to an evacuation of the building. Police believe one of the children turned on a fireplace, sparking clothing nearby. The children were not injured.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it’s received a record-breaking number of reports of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease in deer. So far this year, the DNR has received roughly 2,500 reports of deer likely to have died from EHD, which can kill deer within days, but is harmless to humans. This mean 2024 overtook last year’s outbreaks as the second largest outbreak since 2012.
