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A police officer had to taser a man after he tried to grab a gun from the officer’s holster early Friday morning. Steve Dilts, 52, address unknown, had crashed his car with a semi truck near the Highway 30 exit while traveling northbound on Interstate 380 when officers met him at around 3:50 a.m. Sgt. Joe Clark said that Dilts matched the description of a man who had entered the Blairs Ferry Road Walmart earlier that morning and stole a set of ...

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The chairman of the University of Iowa psychology department said faculty are thrilled about an apparent break in the 2004 animal-rights vandalism of UI labs. UI Professor Alan Christensen said that the conspiracy charge filed Thursday in an act of “animal enterprise terrorism” is a welcome development. The indictment of Scott DeMuth, 22, of Minneapolis, does not specifically say the charge stems from the UI incident, but the time frame matches, as does the indication that the underlying event happened in Johnson ...

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Cedar Rapids police said Thursday they are using “dummy cars” to catch thieves stealing items from vehicles. Joseph Harper, 23, who has no address, was arrested Tuesday while trying to break into such a car at the McLoud Run parking area, according to Sgt. Cristy Hamblin. The parking lot is along a recreation trail near Center Point Road in northeast Cedar Rapids. Hamblin said 10 thefts from vehicles have been reported in the 3200 to 4200 blocks of Center Point Road NE ...

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UPDATED: An arson investigator will be looking for clues this morning after fire destroyed one house and damaged two others in flood-ravaged Czech Village in Cedar Rapids on Thursday. No one has been injured in the blaze, which was reported around 5:42 a.m. in the 10 block of 19th Avenue SW, police said. Firefighters remained on the scene at 8 a.m., extinguishing hot spots on the vacant houses. None of the houses, at 54, 56 and 60 19th Ave. SW, had power ...

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About 50 customers the southeast quadrant lost power when a delivery truck struck a utility pole and brought down power lines Thursday. The delivery truck, from K&A Delivery Service of Urbana, was pulling over around 9:30 a.m. to deliver a washing machine at 1022 19th St. SE when the accident happened. The driver, Kevin Stallman, 44, of Urbana, hit the wooden pole with the front corner of the truck. “The truck was leaning a bit, and the pole was leaning (toward the ...

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The family of John Skalsky Jr. was rejoicing Wednesday, celebrating that he was alive and that his aunt had found him lying along the railroad tracks near this Benton County community. Now comes the hard work of recovery for the 22-year-old who survived being injured and lying in the open for more than three days, with temperatures in the 30s and 40s and light rain falling Tuesday and Wednesday. Skalsky, who lives in Blairstown with his fiancee, went missing Saturday night. He ...

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Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. For Linn and Benton county emergency management agencies, failure is not an option. At 8:30 a.m., Linn County emergency planners got a call that there was a fire at the Duane Arnold Energy Center just north of Palo. As the drill went on, the 45 people at the agency’s office learned that the fire had caused a steam leak outside the plant. They would have to evacuate 18,000 students from area public schools. To make things ...

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Residents of the University of Iowa owned Parklawn Apartment building were evacuated when an alarm went off around 11 a.m. after a small fire broke out in a kitchen area. The Iowa City Fire Department responded to 447 N. Riverside Dr. to a report of an automatic alarm, and upon arrival there was smoke found in the hallway of the south wing of the building. The first unit to arrive found the door to apartment S205 hot to the touch and black ...

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A preliminary hearing on Dec. 8 was set this week for Mary Kathryn Moravek, 51, of Mechanicsville, accused of attempting to extort $1 million from Muscatine-based Iowans for Tax Relief. Gary Koos of Bettendorf was appointed as her attorney during a hearing Tuesday at the Muscatine County Courthouse. Moravek is free of a $5,000 surety bond. Moravek had accused Cloyd “Robbie” Robinson of Cedar Rapids, who was a lobbyist for the taxpayers’ group, of illegal campaign contributions. She was arrested after meeting ...

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Sholom Rubashkin says he had no intention of fleeing the county and leaving his family and the Jewish community while he awaits a federal trial on immigration charges stemming the May 2008 raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville. “I’m man enough to stay,” he said. “I never thought about leaving and have never ran away from a fight.” Rubashkin, 50, testified today at a detention hearing in a federal courtroom in Cedar Rapids. He is seeking to be released on ...

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An attorney says the Department of Human Services illegally placed a 5-year-old child in foster care based on a document signed by the father who has no parental rights. Attorney Natalie Cronk of Iowa City said DHS violated the law when it took the child away from her mother, Jessica Wilbur, 20, of Guernsey, after her non-custodial father, Robert Nino of Iowa City, who has been convicted of assault with intent sexual abuse, made child abuse allegations against Wilbur’s mother. He then ...

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Police arrested a mail carrier after she was found drunk inside a residence while on the job in Marion earlier this month, authorities said Tuesday. Kristine A. Pflughaupt, 46, of Marion, was charged with public intoxication Nov. 3 after she was found sitting on the kitchen floor of a house at 260 Sixth Avenue, eating leftover noodles from Marie O’Kelly’s refrigerator. Marion police Lt. Steve Etzel said Pflughaupt entered the home through an unlocked front door. She apparently was intoxicated when she ...

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Two people who appeared before a federal grand jury this morning were arrested after they refused to testify. Carrie Feldman, 20, and Scott DeMuth, 22, both from the Minneapolis area, were jailed for civil contempt. After their appearances before the grand jury, the two were brought into open court. The two had refused to testify in the secret proceeding. They then were offered limited immunity for their testimony in order to compel them to talk, but they still refused. That led to ...

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Two Iowa City roommates racked up numerous drug charges after a drug raid by police Monday. Police executed a narcotics search warrant at the residence of Nicholas T. Mays, 26, and Kalsy A. Williams, 21, at 2124 S Riverside Dr., around 8 p.m. Monday and found more than 40 grams of crack cocaine, more than an ounce of marijuana, about 26 tabs of ecstasy, $12,000 cash, a scale, packaging materials and other items used in the sale of drugs, according to ...

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UPDATE: A man with a knife robbed the Quiznos sandwich shop near Lindale Mall late Monday, police said. Officers responded around 8:45 p.m. to the reported robbery at the store, 4850 First Ave. NE. Employees told police the man demanded money and they opened the cash register for him. No one was injured. The suspect got an undisclosed amount of cash and ran west from the store, police said. Witnesses described him as a black male, about 6 feet tall, wearing a ...

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Law enforcement officials in Johnson County are renewing a push to open a gun range. The range could save deputies and officers a lot of driving. Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek says right now, his deputies and officers in other agencies must drive to Cedar Rapids for target practice. The sheriff says they have to make quite a few trips to stay sharp. "Every sworn officer has to qualify two times a year," Pulkrabek said. "We have the special and tactical teams that ...

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Police say a Burlington woman managed to get out of her car that was stuck on some railroad tracks just before it was hit by a freight train. Police say 26-year-old Emily Ertz drove her car around a construction sign near the railroad crossing Monday evening. Authorities say the sign had been blown over. Ertz's car hit a dip on the tracks, causing the air bags in her car to deploy. Police say Ertz couldn't drive her car off the tracks, and she ...

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The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in locating John S, Skalsky Jr., missing since Saturday afternoon. Skalsky, 22, told relatives about 7:30 p.m. Saturday he was catching a ride with an acquaintance from Blairstown to Norway but never arrived at his destination. He’d earlier told family members he was going to walk between the two towns, possibly along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Air and ground searches have failed to turn up any sign of Skalsky, Sheriff Randall ...

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A state report shows the increase in Iowa's prison population is easing. The report issued Monday forecasts that by 2019, the state's nine prisons will hold about 9,000 inmates, up about 8 percent from current numbers. In the past two decades, Iowa's prison population soared by more than 150 percent. The state built new prisons, in Clarinda, Fort Dodge and Newton. According to the study, fewer people are being sent to prison because of felony convictions and drug convictions. Sen. Eugene Fraise (FRAY'-zee), a ...

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Four members of a hunting party were rescued by other hunters after their boat overturned Monday in Johnson County, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies were called to the Hawkeye Wildlife Area off Swan Lake Road about 5:15 p.m. after a caller reported his friends needed help after their boat overturned. While deputies were on their way to the area, located west of Interstate 380 northwest of North Liberty, Stephen Schultz called the sheriff’s office to report he’d found the party, whose ...

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Landlords in Iowa City may be asked to help the city respond to public safety concerns. Among the ideas City Council members expressed interest in at a work session Monday night were requiring landlords to attend training courses and conduct background checks on tenants. Another concept receiving support was having at least one police officer dedicated to working with juveniles and doing more to clean up graffiti. Staff will research the ideas and bring back information to the council at an undetermined date. The ...

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Police say a Cedar Rapids man and two of his nephews were caught stealing copper from a flood-damaged home. Officers went to 925 Fourth St. SW around 11 a.m. Sunday to check out a report of suspicious activity. Lamont Jones, 38, was in the basement of the uninhabited home, along with DeMarcus Jones, 19, and Daquan Jones, 14. All three were taking copper piping, police said. “It was a family affair,” said Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, a police spokeswoman. DeMarcus Jones tried to run ...

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Police are looking for two men suspected of robbing the occupants of a Marion apartment Thursday night. According to police reports, two men knocked at the door of 3270 Eighth St., #8, just before 10 p.m. Thursday. When the occupants of the apartment, Brandon Hansen and Brittany Tyler, answered the door, the men forced their way inside. One of the men displayed a handgun, but no one was hurt. The men left with a television, cell phone, keys and cash, Marion ...

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A delegation from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is scheduled to tour and inspect a prison just across the Iowa-Illinois border today as part of a White House proposal to move some terror suspects now detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials said Sunday. At news conferences in Moline, Ill., and Chicago, Gov. Pat Quinn called the Obama administration’s interest in the Thomson Correctional Center a “great, great opportunity for our state.” The village of Thomson is near the Mississippi River, about 15 ...

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One person was killed Sunday in a crash northeast of Iowa City. The crash happened around 6:25 p.m. Sunday at 340th Street and Utah Avenue. The Iowa State Patrol reports that Richard Casey, 20, of North Liberty, drove his northbound car into a ditch along Utah Avenue, got back onto the road, then came to rest in a ditch on the opposite side of the road. The car then caught on fire. Casey was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinincs. A ...

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