WALCOTT, Iowa (KCRG) – Officials have released the names of the people killed in a head-on collision along Interstate 80 in Scott County on Friday night. Brina Anderson-Yoder, 23, of Cedar Rapids, Jessica Carr, 34, of Fresno, Calif., and Tameka Paney, 46, of Rock Island, Ill., were killed when two four-door vehicles collided on Friday, according to the Iowa State Patrol. Officials said that the vehicles crashed head-on in the inside lane of eastbound Interstate 80 on Friday at around 11:15 p.m. The collision occurred near mile marker 284, which is near the Walcott exit. Based on the circumstances of the crash, troopers were unable to determine which direction the vehicles were traveling. Paney was the driver of one of the vehicles. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to a nearby hospital after the collision. An investigation into the crash is ongoing.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — High inflation and construction cost spikes are prompting city officials to study the impact of growing expenses on its permanent flood control system. As originally envisioned, the city’s massive infrastructure project of flood gates, levees and pump stations is estimated to cost $750 million over an approximately 20-year time span — a figure already adjusted for inflation from the initial $550 million estimate. But City Manager Jeff Pomeranz recently said during a City Council session on the fiscal 2024 budget that the city will have to assess how the economy has affected costs to build the flood control system. The inflation rate currently sits at 6.4 percent — roughly double the long-term average of nearly 3.3 percent — but it has hit highs of about 9 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Public Works Department and other divisions of the city are drafting a plan that will be submitted to the council, likely within the next six months, Pomeranz said.
SUMNER, Iowa (AP) — A lengthy police standoff near a high school in a small Iowa town ended when a man took his own life. Authorities in Sumner, Iowa, say Police Chief Dan Wegg was called to a home around 7:30 a.m. Friday and found 58-year-old Sharron Kuhlmann with several gunshot wounds. A standoff ensued with 65-year-old Bruce Kuhlmann. Classes at nearby Sumner-Fredericksburg High School were called off. The Bremer County Sheriff’s Department says Bruce Kuhlmann fired several shots into the air. Police negotiated with him for more than four hours before an Iowa State Patrol tactical team entered the home. Officers with the tactical team found Kuhlmann dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sharron Kuhlmann was hospitalized in stable condition.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is visiting Iowa, introducing himself to expectant audiences of Republicans ahead of a likely 2024 presidential bid. DeSantis was making appearances in Davenport and Des Moines on Friday, marking his first trip to the leadoff voting state as anticipation over his expected White House campaign builds. In Davenport, reaching out to the party’s conservative base, he declared Florida is “where woke goes to die.” With the Iowa caucuses less than a year away, Republicans in the state are ready to take a harder look at DeSantis as a rival to former President Donald Trump.
