Cedar Rapids fire officials say they’ve located a victim on the Cedar River. It’s not yet clear where the victim was recovered, but the announcement was made around 11:30 a.m. Presumably, the victim in question is a 28-year-old man who apparently drowned on the river , just south of the Cedar Rapids roller dam. That man, who [...]

Knee replacement surgeries at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and other hospitals across the country, including the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, soon could be handled by a specialized operating room team as the result of a data-sharing project among health systems throughout the U.S. aimed at improving health care and lowering costs. [...]

Fire crews responded to a fire Friday afternoon at 3307 Mohawk Road NE, north of North Liberty and the Sandy Beach area. The home sustained heavy damage from the fire, according to the homeowner, who was home at the time of the fire. the fire may have begun in the kitchen, the homeowner said. The [...]

Authorities say a former Waterloo teacher accused of having sex with a student is expected to change his plea to guilty. Black Hawk County prosecutor Linda Fangman said that a plea change hearing is scheduled June 4 for 26-year-old Brett Messenger, of Waterloo. He’d pleaded not guilty in January, after his arrest on a charge [...]

“We’re making progress” is the oft-repeated mantra of leaders of the Iowa Legislature as they head into a third week of overtime in a game of legislative chicken. You’ll have to take their word, because the progress, if there is any, isn’t happening in public. That’s not a problem, according to Senate Majority Leader Mike [...]

The idea of a longer-term commitment in Afghanistan is being greeted skeptically by President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats in Iowa. “I have serious concerns about that,” said Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, while in Davenport on Wednesday. A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Loebsack said U.S. security needs will continue to necessitate operations in [...]

Dr. Earl Rose, the medical examiner in Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, has died at age 85. Rose’s wife, Marilyn, said he died Tuesday at Oaknoll retirement community in Iowa City. She says he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and then developed dementia. The Des Moines Register first reported Rose’s [...]

The Cedar Falls School District is using a Department of Justice grant to buy 43 security cameras for three school buildings. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that the school board approved an $88,770 bid from a vendor to supply the cameras. The federal grant of just under $70,000 must be matched by the school district. [...]

Iowa first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses produced two winners and one big loser – the Republican Party of Iowa. Initial results showed Mitt Romney won the January caucuses by eight votes , but after the results from more than 1,700 individual precinct caucuses were certified, Rick Santorum was the winner by 34 votes . “We have to look at those mistakes, acknowledge [...]

Eastern Iowa authorities say a 77-year-old Jackson County man died after a tractor flipped and pinned him underneath. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responded to the call in rural Spragueville a little before 4 p.m. Thursday. Deputies say Richard Ganzer was trying to move a fallen tree when his tractor flipped. They say [...]

Nearly a dozen Malcolm Price Laboratory School supporters gathered outside a Schindler Education Center lecture hall this morning to express their displeasure with the Board of Regents’ decision to close Price Lab. Regent Katie Mulholland and other UNI College of Education alumni are on campus today as part of the university’s first “Alumni in Residence” [...]

Human remains discovered by children riding their bikes in rural southeastern Iowa could be those of one of two missing women from Mount Pleasant, including a 24-year-old mother who vanished last year amid suggestions of foul play, investigators said Monday. Investigators are looking into whether the remains are those of either Jackie Leigh Douthart, who [...]

A Dubuque businesswoman is asking to withdraw her guilty plea to charges that she destroyed a wetland while developing a campground. Sixty-five-year-old Elaine Kelly pleaded guilty last week to one felony count of violating the Clean Water Act, taking responsibility for discharging pollutants into a wetland while building the Hoot Owl Hollow Campground and RV [...]

Scott Dochterman from The Gazette and Jay Knoll from KCRG-TV9 hosted a live chat Tuesday, offering help in filling out your NCAA men’s basketball bracket questions.

Replay the “bracketologists” here.

The Iowa House passed a sweeping education reform package on a largely party-line vote late Tuesday morning, requiring more student testing, calling for the expansion of charter schools and keeping a controversial third-grade retention program in place. The House also rejected some key components in Gov. Terry Branstad’s reform proposal, such as requiring prospective teachers [...]

It appears we’ll be seeing plenty of above-normal temperatures — even record-breaking — for the next several days. Record highs will likely be falling across the area today, according to the KCRG-TV9 First Alert Storm team, as a strong area of high pressure continues to push warm air our way. Most locations will be into [...]

A 10-year extension of a 1 percent local-option sales tax is on the ballot today in parts of Linn County that did not approve a 20-year extension last year. WHO VOTES METRO AREA: Five contiguous cities in the Cedar Rapids metro area — Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Robins and Fairfax — vote under state law as one [...]

Vice President Joe Biden will speak about efforts to create manufacturing jobs at an event Thursday morning at Iowa State University in Ames. The White House released an advisory this week announcing that Biden would speak at Iowa State. He will talk about President Barack Obama’s proposals designed to help businesses that create manufacturing jobs [...]