CHICKASAW COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – Close to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Office took a call concerning Kaden Ray Wilken, an 18-year-old who had been missing since Sept. 27. The Chickasaw County Medical Examiner went to the scene and confirmed that Kaden Ray Wilken had been found dead. The Medical Examiner has asked for an autopsy from the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny. Foul play is not suspected in Kaden Ray Wilken’s death.
FAIRFAX, Iowa (KCRG) – The Linn County Sheriff’s Office has released the identity of the pedestrian who was killed in a crash in Fairfax on Friday night. Terry Vaske, a 49-year-old man from Cedar Rapids, died on the scene after being struck by a vehicle at the Casey’s General Store on Williams Boulevard. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the crash. The driver of the vehicle appeared to be uninjured, according to officials, but went to a local hospital for precautionary reasons.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Cedar Rapids firefighters responded to a report of a fire in the 1600 block of E Avenue NW. At the scene, crews found a fire coming from the first floor on the west side of the building. The firefighters entered the home through the front door and found the fire in a first floor room. They quickly extinguished the fire. No one was at home during the fire, however the occupants have been displaced. The home has water, fire, and smoke damage on the first floor. The fire is under investigation.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – On Friday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a provision that requires students and staff to use a person’s preferred pronouns and respect a gender identity or face discipline. Linn-Mar passed a policy in April 2022 that would allow students to create a gender support plan that, among other things, requires staff and students to address a child by a new name or gender identity pronouns, change the child’s name on government documents, use the restroom and locker room matching the child’s gender identity, and participate in sports programs that match their gender identity. A parental advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit in response, claiming the policy violates the rights of students who hold beliefs about biological sex by forcing them to affirm the beliefs of administrators and fellow students. In May 2023, Iowa lawmakers passed a bill, later signed into law, which made most of the Linn-Mar Policy moot, as it requires schools to alert parents if their child wants to use a new name or new pronouns, requires students to choose the bathroom of their birth gender, and requires schools to remove any literature that includes “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.” On Friday, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the parental advocacy group lawsuit, blocking a remaining provision that would require students and staff to use a person’s preferred pronouns, saying that it “violates the First Amendment rights to free speech of students who do not support or agree with a gender identity change.”
