MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (KCRG) – The 3-year-old girl who was rescued from a house fire in Marshalltown on Monday has died, firefighters said in an update Wednesday. Firefighters found the girl unconscious on the second floor of the house in the 500 block of East Church Street in Marshalltown on Monday afternoon. She was flown to UIHC in Iowa City in critical condition. Officials have not released the girl’s name, but confirmed she died early Wednesday morning. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. No additional details have been released at this time.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The mother of a man shot and killed almost two years ago testified in court on Wednesday. Denzel Wilson is charged with first degree murder in the death of Kenyauta Vesey-Keith. Vesey-Keith’s mother said she knew of Wilson’s gang affiliation and feud with her son. The shooting happened in June 2023 outside a bar called “Poppa and Tommyz” in the 1300 block of 1st Avenue Southeast in Cedar Rapids. The prosecution says Vesey-Keith’s death was the result of tension between gangs after he was acquitted of murder in 2018. Vesey-Keith’s mother said she had been calling and texting with him right before the shooting, saying she didn’t feel like her son was safe that night. However, Jalen Jackson, one of the men who was with Wilson on the night of the alleged shooting, also took the stand Wednesday. Jackson said Wilson did not seem afraid. Before the trial started on Wednesday, the judge accepted Wilson’s written guilty plea to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. That charge is dropped from this case.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG/Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A bill to provide tuition waivers and stipends to students with maximum scores on certain standardized tests moved ahead Tuesday with support from subcommittee members. House File 154 would require state universities to waive tuition and fees and offer a $5,000 per-semester stipend to students who receive the highest possible marks on the college readiness tests offered by ACT, Inc. and the College Board, also known as the ACT and SAT. In order to maintain the waived costs and stipend, the bill states students “must make satisfactory academic progress toward graduation.” Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, chaired the subcommittee and was joined by Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis and Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport. Iowa Board of Regents State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson said waivers and stipends would be new for universities to offer students, as usually those who score highest on standardized tests receive full-tuition scholarships, and the board would hope to see state support for the costs of this endeavor. Collins said he sees this bill as a “return to merit” for Iowa’s higher education system after the Legislature banned diversity, equity and inclusion offices at state universities. He added he was willing to look at ways for the state to help universities with these scholarships and stipends and to allow standardized tests outside of the ACT and SAT to be eligible under the legislation. The bill will move to the House Higher Education Committee for further consideration.
DECORAH, Iowa (KCRG) – The Decorah North eagles have laid an egg. The Raptor Resource Project said Decorah North Female (known as “DNF”) laid her first egg of the season on Tuesday. According to the post, this egg came a little earlier than DNF’s first egg last year, which arrived on Feb. 15. The Raptor Resource Project says the eagle usually lays a second egg about 36 hours after the first, so they’re expecting another egg on Friday.
