CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Cedar Rapids School District is shutting down all of the domes at their middle schools effective immediately after additional evaluations were done on Monday. It comes after the district shut down the east dome at Taft Middle School back on October 11th. One of the wooden beams at the dome showed major signs of deterioration. School was not in session on Monday, and the district says that gave Raker Rhodes Structural Engineering along with Terracon Testing Agency, Solum Lang Architects, and McComas-Lacina Construction time to further inspect the wooden beams at all of the domes at Taft and Harding Middle Schools. In a letter to parents, the district says the crews were able to determine “deterioration on several more of the support beams” and they recommended the closures. They say they will stay closed until repairs are made, and students and staff will be safe. The district says for Taft, that will now impact the gym, as the prior closure already impacted their cafeteria. But at Harding, this will now affect their cafeteria, kitchen, performing arts classrooms and gym. It has also forced 7th grade boys’ basketball games to cancel for both middle schools on Tuesday. The district is now trying to get portable buildings to help with situations at Taft. The district is working to rearrange classrooms at Harding.
BENTON COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – At the beginning of the month, members of the Benton County Board of Health received a notice their positions were being eliminated effective immediately. These board members are the ones who have jurisdiction over the action taken in an environmental or health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. One member who’s served on it for a decade says this came out of nowhere. The first notice was sent to each of the five board members dated October 3rd. Board members sent a follow-up email to the Benton County Board of Supervisors asking what the reason for their termination was. After a week they received another letter that didn’t give an explanation other than to cite the Iowa Code that allows the Board of Supervisors to appoint and terminate Board of Health members. Now, Benton County has now been without a single member on its Board of Health for 20 days. All five of those board members received letters saying their positions were being terminated effective immediately. Those members say they went back through all the open records they could find to see where their termination was voted on but couldn’t find anything.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A Cedar Rapids man is facing multiple charges after police say he hit and strangled a woman while she was driving on the interstate with two kids in the backseat of the vehicle. In a criminal complaint, police said Raylon Jones, 33, is charged with two counts of Domestic Abuse Assault and two counts of child endangerment. The incident reportedly happened on I-80 near Dubuque Street in Iowa City just before 2:30 p.m. on August 8. Police said Jones was the passenger in a vehicle driven by his wife when they started arguing. The argument reportedly escalated until Jones hit the woman and grabbed her neck, strangling her and telling her he was going to kill her. Officers said Jones let go as the woman nearly lost consciousness while driving. She reported having trouble swallowing and having shortness of breath. Investigators said she had visible injuries to her face and neck. There were children 2 months old and 14 months old in the backseat while all of this happened.
MILLVILLE, Iowa (KCRG) – One person has died after a tractor rollover crash in rural Millville on Sunday. The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office said it happened at about 3:15 p.m. on Noble Road near Hill Street. Investigators said the tractor was pulling a manure spreader, heading northwest on Noble Road, when the driver lost control, going into the ditch and overturning. The driver of the tractor was pronounced dead at the scene. The name of the driver has not yet been released.
