UPDATE: An Iowa Interstate Railroad train heading west out of Durant struck a pickup at a private crossing Monday morning, injuring three people. A railroad spokesperson said the train was traveling approximately 40 miles per hour when it hit a vehicle at the crossing on private property around 8:18 a.m..  The vehicle was exiting the [...]

UPDATE: Firefighters checked for gas levels Friday morning in downtown Cedar Rapids after a large gas line was punctured. Crews responded just before 10 a.m. to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Second Street SE, near the flood-damaged public library. Battalion Chief Brian Gibson said workers using a skidloader there clipped a 4-inch gas main, [...]

Police have requested that a warrant be issued for the arrest of a man who left a woman who was injured when he crashed his motorcycle. Around 3:40 p.m. Thursday, police responded to motorcycle crash in the 3400 block of Towne House Drive NE, near Twin Pines Golf Course. Police said Catrin T. Rhodes, 30, [...]

The man suspected of killing his wife and fleeing to South Dakota earlier this month told investigators he “lost it and blacked out” during an argument in their Greene home. Thomas J. Petersen, 39, of Greene, now faces a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the June 4 stabbing death of his wife, Judy [...]

A veteran Linn County sheriff’s deputy who pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident while off-duty has resigned. James Crawford, 50, of Anamosa, resigned Thursday in the midst of an internal investigation about the incident, Sheriff Brian Gardner said Monday. Crawford had been a deputy in Linn County for 27 years. Marion police [...]

Dexter Meeks’ death Sunday morning marks the sixth straight year for a homicide in June or July in Cedar Rapids. Meeks, 22, known to friends and family as “Big Ham,” was shot inside an apartment building at 211 15th St. SE, police said. It is the second homicide of 2011 in Cedar Rapids, and continues a [...]

Firefighters were still on scene more than seven hours after an overnight fire at a lumberyard in Fredericksburg. The blaze, reported around 11:50 p.m. Thursday, damaged part of Superior Building Center/Fredericksburg Lumber, 125 S. Jefferson Ave. No one was injured, according to published reports. Deputies shut down Highway 18 to protect fire hoses stretched across [...]

UPDATE: Authorities say a pickup that caught fire late Wednesday, destroying a garage and damaging a home in northwest Cedar Rapids, was subject to an open recall for fire danger. The fire, which started in the engine compartment on the driver’s side of the 1999 Ford F-150 and was reported around 11 p.m. Wednesday, was [...]

Firefighters were called to All State Steel,  31 41st Ave. SW, at 10:19 p.m. Tuesday for a truck fire and possible explosions heard by callers. Fire crews arrived to find a flat-bed truck fully involved with fire.  A Dumpster immediately in front of the truck was also on fire. The truck, owned by Todd Ostwinkle [...]

An 11-year-old Cedar Rapids girl was struck by a car Wednesday morning, and the driver left the scene, police said. Officers and an ambulance responded around 6:50 a.m. to Arrowridge Apartments, 5125 Johnson Ave. SW, to meet the girl shortly after the incident happened. The girl told police she was struck while she was standing in a parking lot near the [...]