WATERLOO (KXEL) – The Independence Day holiday season will be quieter after action taken Tuesday. The Waterloo City Council unanimously passed a new fireworks ordinance on Tuesday without discussion. Councilors suspended the rules to approve the ordinance a second and third time, as well, putting it into effect immediately. The ordinance now allows fireworks to be set off only on Jul. 4 from noon to 11 p.m. The council can designate additional days of usage in a particular year if those dates are adopted between Jan. 1 and Mar. 1. Previously, fireworks could be exploded within the city on Jul. 3, 4 and 5.
From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
A crime scene investigator is to take the stand this morning in the on-going murder trial of a Cedar Rapids man accused of killing his parents and his sister. Jurors in Alexander Jackson’s murder trial watched his initial interactions with police yesterday. It’s important because he says an intruder killed his father Jan, mother Melissa, and 19-year-old sister Sabrina in June of 2021. Prosecutors are trying to show there is no evidence of an intruder at the home, and it was Alexander who shot the three and shot himself in the foot.
A northern Iowa man will spend decades in prison for the death of a toddler. A judge handed down a 50-year sentence to Jhonny Suarez Rivera in Hampton. Rivera pleaded down from First Degree murder to child endangerment. Investigators say he was the only person watching the child when the child suffered blunt force injuries.
State lawmakers are considering a school choice voucher measure that would change how some public education dollars will be distributed. Governor Kim Reynolds’ plan would allow parents to use a 75-hundred dollar taxpayer funded Educational Savings Account for private school tuition and other education related costs. The move quickly passed through a Senate subcommittee. A House subcommittee heard testimony yesterday.
COVID-19 is likely to be the third leading cause of death in the nation last year. That’s according to data from Johns Hopkins University. It trails heart disease and cancer. Early data shows significantly fewer deaths in 20-22 than there were in the first two years of the pandemic. The preliminary data shows more than 267 thousand people died of COVID-19 last year.
An outbreak of COVID-19 cases is cancelling tonight’s Hawkeye men’s basketball game. They were supposed to play Northwestern at Carver Hawkeye Arena but the team says a number of Northwestern players tested positive for COVID-19. Tonight was also supposed to be the “Chris Street Remembrance” Day in Iowa City. The Hawkeye basketball star died in a car accident 30 years ago this week. An hour-long, Chris Street special documentary that was scheduled to debut on the Big Ten Network following the game will now follow the Ohio State vs. Nebraska game tonight.
