CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (KCRG) – A suspect died following a standoff with Cedar Falls police Tuesday afternoon. Police responded to a report of an assault in the 700 block of West Ridgeway Avenue at 1:17 p.m. Officers made contact with 57-year-old Chad Burmahl, who approached the door with a handgun before fleeing back inside. Officers continued to communicate with Burmahl during the standoff. When officers entered the residence, they found Burmahl dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Cedar Falls SWAT and the Black Hawk County Drone Team also assisted at the scene.
DEWITT, Iowa (KWQC) – A Cedar Rapids man has been arrested on a federal warrant for illegal possession of a machinegun, according to Clinton County deputies. Around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office and the DeWitt Police Department were contacted by the United States Marshall’s Office about a person wanted on a federal warrant believed to be in DeWitt, deputies said. A federal warrant was out for Clyde Bell, 20, of Cedar Rapids on illegal possession of a machinegun, deputies said. Based on an investigation, a search warrant was obtained for an apartment at the Pheasant Run Apartment Complex, deputies said. Bell was found inside an apartment and was arrested.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – A newborn baby girl will be placed with a foster family after someone surrendered her through Iowa’s Safe Haven Act, according to Iowa Health and Human Services. The baby was born March 6, Iowa HHS said. Officials did not disclose where the girl is from. She is the 80th infant surrendered since the Safe Haven program began more than two decades ago. Iowa’s Safe Haven Act allows parents in crisis who determine they cannot care for an infant up to 90 days old to surrender the child at designated locations, including hospitals and police and fire stations. Iowa HHS works to place surrendered infants in an approved foster home while awaiting permanent adoption.
DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch/KCRG) – Home insurance rates in Iowa increased 28% in the past year, making Iowa the state with the third-highest average rate increase in the nation, a report released Wednesday from Insurify shows. Insurify predicts rates across the country will continue to increase in 2026, and it pins the increasing frequency of severe weather events as a key contributor to insurance price increases, which on average have risen nearly three times as fast as inflation since 2021. The average cost of home insurance in Iowa, at $2,802 per year in 2025, remains below the national average. But the report predicts that could change considering the average cost of home insurance in Iowa has gone up by 54% in the past two years. The virtual insurance agency projects the average annual premium for a single-family home in Iowa will increase 4% by the end of 2026. The report said because of the increase in severe weather across the country, insurers are changing their structures to “shift more financial risk to homeowners” with provisions like hurricane deductibles in certain areas or insuring roofs at cash value, rather than replacement value, in areas prone to hail storms.
