Gazette Daily News Briefing, February 21
This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Monday, Feb. 21st - Presidents Day.
According to the National Weather Service, we’ll have a mostly cloudy day in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high near 45. East wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. And a chance of drizzle after 4 p.m. Then tonight, a chance of drizzle before 7 p.m., then rain between 7 and 2 a.m., followed by freezing rain. The low is expected to be around 27. Little or no ice accumulation expected.
Fire crews battled a large apartment fire in downtown Cedar Rapids into early Sunday morning. Cedar Rapids firefighters responded to the fire at the Geneva Tower just after midnight. The building primarily houses elderly and disabled residents. Firefighters arrived as heavy smoke and flames were visible from the ninth floor and spreading to the 10th, according to the fire department. The fire also damaged the 11th and 12th floors. All residents in the building were evacuated as the department used high-rise ladders and fire suppression systems. The firefighting operations were stopped around 3 a.m. One resident of the senior-housing building was transported to a specialty treatment center for smoke inhalation and possible heat-related injuries, according to a news release. A number of other residents were taken to hospitals for smoke exposure and other medical issues. No injuries to firefighters were reported, and multiple area departments helped put out the fire.
A man was killed in a head-on crash early Saturday morning when a pickup crossed the centerline and collided with his car south of Hazleton, according to a Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office news release. At 2:35 a.m., 31-year-old Ronald Landals, of Perry, was driving a northbound Pontiac G5 on Highway 150 near 140th Street when a southbound Chevrolet Silverado driven by 27-year-old Brian Goedken, of Independence, crossed the centerline and collided with the car, according to crash investigators. After striking the Pontiac, the pickup collided with a northbound Ford Police Interceptor driven by Mitchell Franck, 26, of Fairbank, an off-duty Buchanan County sheriff’s deputy who was traveling behind Landals’ vehicle. Landals was pronounced dead at the scene, and a passenger in the car was airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City with serious injuries. Goedken and a passenger in the pickup were transported to UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids with non-life-threatening injuries. Franck was transported to Buchanan County Health Center in Independence with minor injuries.
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🎹 Podcast music: “World” by Emily McGlothlen
