From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
2024 ended with historically low crime numbers in Cedar Rapids, according to a report the city’s police department released yesterday. According to the report, crime is down in nearly every metric the department tracks. That includes shot-fired incidents, which is down almost 60 percent compared to the five-year average. Violent crime was also down in 2024 compared to the five-year average. Only one homicide was reported last year; that’s a big drop from 8 homicides seen the year before. Some areas did see increases–retail theft is up almost 57 percent over the five year average, and fraud and scams are also rising.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is said to have met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida with other Republican governors Thursday night. She made the announcement on her Facebook page Thursday afternoon. It’s her second meeting with Trump in two months. Trump had criticized Reynolds after she endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis when he ran for president last year. She would later endorse Trump after he won the Republican nomination.
Four years after it was first filed, an Iowa civil rights group is dropping its lawsuit over a state voting reform law passed in March 2021. Iowa’s polls now close an hour earlier on Election Day, the early voting period is 9 days shorter, and there are now tighter restraints on absentee voting. LULAC Iowa sued, claiming the law was “fatally unconstitutional.” According to voter data from 2020 and 2024, the changes to the law haven’t made a significant change in voter turnout, with roughly 76% of registered voters taking part in 2020, and 74% of Iowa voters turning out in 2024.
Iowa’s 2025 legislative session starts Monday with Republicans holding supermajorities in both the house and senate. Republican leaders say their top priority is to pass property tax reforms.
Iowa has joined the list of states now enrolled in the government testing of the nation’s raw milk supply. This testing is specifically for tracking the ongoing spread of bird flu. The virus reached a few herds in Northwest Iowa in the summer. The spread of bird flu has not affected the nation’s milk supply yet. But by Iowa and 27 other states testing it, this keeps an eye on roughly 65 percent of the nation’s milk supply.
