From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
A jury has convicted an Iowa man of 2nd degree murder in a nearly 40 year old cold case. Barbara Lenz disappeared from Woodbine in 1989, and her body has never been found. Jurors found Robert Davis guilty of killing Lenz. He was charged in the cold case last March, 36 years after her death. Davis is set to be sentenced in May.
Rural healthcare in Iowa is one step closer to gaining more funding. The bill to create the Rural Health Transformation fund passed the House unanimously. Iowa received $209 million this year from the federal government to improve state rural healthcare systems. It will support Gov. Reynolds’ Healthy Hometowns program, which focuses on rural areas facing gaps in care, including cancer treatment.
Parents will get a chance tonight to hear the latest plans to re-align Cedar Rapids Schools. The proposed changes would create elementary buildings that would teach pre-kindergarten through fourth grades, middle schools that would teach fifth and sixth graders, intermediate schools that would teach seventh and eighth graders, and keep the three high schools. The public open houses start at 6 tonight at each of the high schools.
An Iowa man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after a deadly crash involving a horse-drawn buggy. Jacob Wright pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident leading to death and failing to assist the victim. Investigators say he crashed his vehicle into the back of a buggy last November, throwing 16 year-old Elmer Borntrager from it. Borntrager died in the crash.
Commercial truck drivers in Iowa will soon have to prove they can speak and understand English to operate in the state. The bill coincides with a federal law requiring truck drivers read and speak English. The Iowa bill would fine drivers up to $1,000 and could sentence them to up to a year in jail. Trucking companies could face fines ranging from $3,000 to $10,000. If signed into law, it would take effect in March 2027.
