CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) — A motorcyclist led Cedar Rapids police on a high-speed chase Wednesday evening.  KCRG reports that at approximately 7 p.m., police attempted to pull over a pickup truck and motorcycle traveling on Highway 100 after witnessing them taking videos of dangerous motorcycle stunts. The driver of the pickup truck stopped, but the motorcyclist continued to drive down the highway in an attempt to elude officers. The motorcyclist led police on a high-speed chase that ended in the 7700 block of 18th Street SW.

An airplane owned by the Iowa State Patrol tracked the motorcyclist and led police officers to the motorcyclists’ hiding spot. The plane also tracked the speed of the motorcycle, revealing the motorcyclist was driving at 177 mph while driving on Highway 100 and Highway 30.

Kyle Ward (Linn Co. S/O booking photos)

The motorcyclist, identified as 19-year-old Kyle Aidan Ward, was arrested and charged with felony eluding 25 mph over the speed limit, eluding 25 mph over the speed limit/2nd or subsequent offense, careless driving, speeding, disobeying a traffic control device, improper passing, failure to display registration plate, and improper tires. His bond was set at $7,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) — Officials with Cass Health in Atlantic, today (Thursday), announced the winners of the photo contest have been chosen, and that most of the artwork is installed. Ann McCurdy, CCHS Director of Marketing and Communications, said “We are thrilled by the positive response from the community! We had more than 90 individuals participate, with more than 300 photos submitted. We have more than 35 canvases already displayed in our hallways, and we are expecting a few more to arrive soon. We also received several beautiful winter images, which we will put on display this December.”

One of the winning photos submitted by Colby Euken. (Courtesy Ann McCurdy)

The winning entries were submitted by the following:

Amanda Hall
Amayi Walker
Amy Nelson
Angela Turner
Ann Clinton
Ashley Skow
Aubree Williams
Breanna Russell
Caitlin Nelson
Christine Hass
Colby Euken
Dana Larsen
Derek Henry
Dianna Blake
Dolly Bergmann
Julie Holmes
Kaley Young
Kari McMartin
Kate Wheatley
Kathy Somers
Katie Nichols
Kelly Knudson
Kolton Hewlett
Kylee Wessling
Lydia Rouse
Mallory Kirchoff
Nancy Croghan
Nathan Robinson
Paige Bintner
Ruth Glines
Sandy McCurdy
Savannah Cameron
Steve Olsen

Honorable mentions were also given to photos submitted by Sue Hunt, Taylen Abarr, and Bob Lane. The winning photos can be viewed in the hallways near the Cass Health Pharmacy, Radiology, and Rehab Services, and an online gallery of the winning photos can be viewed under the Community tab at casshealth.org.

(Carroll, Iowa – KTIV) – A western Iowa man who was driving a tractor involved in a fatal accident earlier this Spring near Carroll, is facing homicide charges. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 51-year-old Troy Bluml, of Carroll, is charged with two counts of homicide by motor vehicle and one count of serious injury by motor vehicle.

The charges stem from an April 14, 2025, crash between a tractor and an SUV, that resulted in the deaths of the SUV driver, 17-year-old Elvin Murillo Castro and his 55-year-old Pedro Murillo Castro. Another passenger, 24-year-old Carlos Murillo Castro, was seriously injured in the collision that occurred at around 10:40-p.m. April 14^th, southwest of Carroll.

According to court documents, a tractor, driven by Bluml, was traveling east on 220th Street when it didn’t stop at the intersection’s stop sign at Hawthorne Drive. The Hyundai Santa Fe SUV was heading north on Hawthorne Drive when it was hit on the driver’s side by the tractor. The State Patrol reported the tractor left the scene of the crash.

Authorities found Bluml at his home in Carroll the following day, and placed him under arrest for leaving the scene of a fatality accident. A continuing investigation resulted in Bluml being charged with homicide by motor vehicle.

Blum turned himself-in to the Carroll County Jail on Wednesday, June 11th, and was booked-in on the latest charge.

(Radio Iowa) – For the first time since last October, parts of Iowa saw high temperatures in the 90s on Wednesday afternoon. Meteorologist Jim Lee, at the National Weather Service, says Des Moines hit 95 degrees and the heat generated a lot of turbulence in the air.“We did have a round of severe thunderstorms across parts of northern and northeastern Iowa. A lot of wind damage, a little bit of hail, in a swath from around Estherville to Waterloo roughly,” Lee says. “We had a lot of reports of trees down, some power lines down, a few places where limbs fell on homes, things like that.”

Lee says the forecast is calling for the chance of more storms later today. “We do think there will be some more scattered thunderstorms this afternoon and evening,” Lee says. “For most of the state, severe weather is unlikely, but there could be some more severe thunderstorms up in the north, more or less the same kind of area as yesterday.”

The extended forecast shows a chance of showers for wide sections of Iowa both Saturday and Sunday.

(Radio Iowa) – A nonprofit pharmacy with urgent care is set to open in Cedar Rapids, the first in the area to serve primarily low-income families. Stacie Eastman, development director for Eastern Iowa Health Care, says the pharmacy may better serve those patients under a bill Governor Kim Reynolds’ signed into law Wednesday. It would allow patients to pick up covered medications from a pharmacy of their choosing, rather than being limited to certain pharmacies by pharmacy benefit managers, or P-B-Ms.

“This really allows people as well to be a little bit healthier, too,” Eastman says, “because we have the opportunity then for people to be able to get what it is that they need in a quicker manner, rather than having your company decide, ‘Yeah, you can have that medicine but now you have to wait for it to be mail-ordered.'” Nearly 70 percent of Eastern Iowa Health Care’s existing patients have earnings below the federal poverty line, and 61 percent are on Medicaid. Eastman says the new pharmacy will help to fill the gap left by another one in the area shutting down. “We know that there’s a huge group of people already who are really looking forward to using our services so that we can start to work on them getting healthy again,” she says, “and our pharmacy not only is going to be open to everybody in just our neighborhood, but it’s open to our whole community as well.”

The health care provider has not operated a pharmacy until now.

(Onawa, Iowa) – Boaters and anglers along the Missouri River in both Iowa and Nebraska, are being asked by law enforcement to be on the lookout on the shores and backwaters, for a missing boater. The Monona County Sheriff’s Office posted a notice on social media Wednesday (June 11th), with regard to a Monona County man who was involved in a boating accident May 24th, and is still missing. Anyone seeing articles of clothing or other evidence of the missing boater – whose name was not released – is asked to contact the Monona County Sheriff’s Office at 712-423-2525.

(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents facilities committee has approved the start of the modernization of the University of Iowa Hospitals with an estimated cost of more than three BILLION dollars. University of Iowa vice president Rod Lehnertz says the first project will change the entrances in preparation for the construction of a new medical tower. “It does also include some road work, site work, utility work that will advance our site to enable it for construction of the tower project,” he says. He says this project will cost 72-point-five million dollars and is funded by U-I Healthcare earnings. Lehnertz says the proposed tower will accommodate projected future patient growth and improve the patient experience by increasing inpatient and surgical capacity, and reducing the number of semi-private patient rooms.

“The target for the project is a one-point-five BILLION dollars. There would be an additional estimated two-point-two BILLION dollar cost for new equipment for the tower. University of Iowa Healthcare C-E-O Brad Haws says they talked with a consultant about the best way to deal with the aging facilities. One way is to move the entire medical campus. “That occurred at the University of Colorado, they moved from a downtown Denver location out to a former military base and they moved the whole thing, research, teaching and the clinical delivery system,” Haws says. “And and that doesn’t happen very often, as you might imagine. But when you get into aging facilities like we have and like a lot of academic centers have where the buildings are 50 plus years old, you have to kind of make a decision.”

Haws says other schools with medical campuses like Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, Kansas and the University of Pennsylvania have decided to add on to what they have. “What most of these places have decided is because of the co-location of teaching research and the patient care that splitting those apart actually becomes less efficient and something that they really can’t do,” he says. “And the analogy that was given to me was you don’t often see an airport build a second airport, you do see is terminals added.” Haws says they will know more about the scope and cost of the project in November as some of the issues with federal funding are sorted out.

The full board of Regents will vote on the first work at their meeting today (Thursday).

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man for Assault while displaying a Dangerous Weapon (ADW), Wednesday evening. Authorities say 36-year-old Brian Keith Yochum, Jr., of Red Oak, was arrested at around 5:30-p.m. in the 1400 block of Forest Avenue. Yochum was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

DES MOINES, June 11, 2025 – The Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI), in partnership with MidWestOne Bank, Wednesday, announced the winner of the 2025 Coolest Thing Made in Iowa competition: the CP770 cotton picker, manufactured by John Deere in Ankeny.  The CP770 Cotton Picker was introduced in 2021 and is a leader in cotton harvesting technology. The picker is larger, faster, and more efficient than previous models. In addition, the model features smart tech that offers guidance to farmers in the fields.

Sixty-nine products were nominated for this year’s competition, representing manufacturers from 51 Iowa communities. After an initial public voting round and a head-to-head bracket-style tournament, four finalists emerged to compete for the title. More than 93,000 votes were cast throughout the contest, demonstrating the pride Iowans have in the products made in their state.

JD CP770 Cotton Picker

One of the products that made it into the Top Four, was The Moose Fireplace Grill – The Moose Fireplace Grill , which is manufactured in Red Oak.

This is the second year of the Coolest Thing Made in Iowa contest. The Vermeer ZR5-1200 self-propelled baler won during the first year in 2024. The Iowa Association of Business and Industry says the contest is successful and plans to bring it back next year.