IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Former Iowa City School superintendent Matt Degner has resigned from the district. The school board accepted his resignation Tuesday night in a 5-2 vote. Board members Mitch Lingo and Audrey Moeller voted against accepting it. Lingo removed the resignation from the consent agenda ahead of the meeting, but board members did not discuss the item Tuesday night. Degner resigned as superintendent in June as the scope of the district’s financial crisis was coming to light. He had since served as the district’s executive director of secondary schools. The district is working to cut millions of dollars from its budget and could have to close schools as a result of the financial crisis.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Cedar Rapids Fire Department says no one was hurt after a fire in a storage unit on Tuesday night in Southwest Cedar Rapids. The department says it responded to the 2800 block of 16th Avenue SW at 11:36 p.m. Crews arrived to find heavy flames and smoke coming from a storage unit. There was no one inside the unit but the renter was on the scene. Crews were able to put out the fire and had to force open a neighboring unit due to the extension of the flames. The unit suffered heavy fire damage and other units had smoke damage. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says a 17-year-old male suffered non-life-threatening injuries after going off the road Tuesday night. The single-vehicle crash happened shortly after 10:30 p.m. at the intersection of Hoosier and Linn Ridge roads. Emergency responders learned that the Anamosa teen was driving northbound on Hoosier road and failed to stop at the stop sign of the T-shape intersection. His truck left the road and stopped in the ditch north of the intersection. The teen was the only person in the truck and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. He was also cited for failure to stop for a stop sign.
LEE COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – Construction in Iowa of the nation’s largest steel plant took another step forward yesterday (Wednesday). The Lee County Board of Supervisors and Mesabi Metallics approved a term sheet setting the framework for local tax and community benefit payments. The board also passed a resolution supporting the plant, which was a key requirement for Mesabi getting an incentive package with the Iowa Economic Development Authority. TV6 reports the benefits included in the agreement for Lee County and the surrounding area includes up to $10.5 million in payments during development and construction to help offset demands on county services, a guarantee of at least $112 million in new assessed property value before Mesabi receives any tax rebate, and Mesabi will pay Lee County $50 million over 20 years in lieu of additional property taxes.
