Gazette Daily News Podcast, October 3

Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily News podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa enabled device to "enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying "Alexa, what's the news?" If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes or wherever else you find your podcasts.

This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Monday, October 3rd.

Today it will be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high near 75, according to the National Weather Service. Winds from the southeast 5 to 10 mph. Then tonight, a low around 48.

A 16-year-old girl was taken to a hospital for minor injuries early Sunday after a woman driving an SUV crossed a center line in northern Linn County and crashed head-on into the car the girl was driving. A Linn County Sheriff’s Office news release said at 12:17 a.m., 50-year-old Julia Gharib of Marion, was driving a Toyota 4Runner south on Highway 13 near the Linn Delaware Road intersection when she crossed the center line and collided with a northbound Chevrolet Malibu driven by 16-year-old Ava Bockenstedt of Manchester. Bockenstedt was transported by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids for minor injuries. The release did not specify whether Gharib was injured. Both said they were wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash. Gharib was charged with operating while intoxicated and improper use of lanes.

A white Cedar Rapids man followed a man from a gas station to the man’s workplace in Hiawatha and fired two gunshots at him Friday because of the man’s race, according to a criminal complaint. 31-year-old Joshua Barnhart had followed the man from Casey’s on 32nd Street NE in Cedar Rapids to Midland Concrete in Hiawatha, where the man works. Barnhart then got out of his vehicle, pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired two shots at the man before fleeing. Barnhart eluded officers until they used stop sticks on his vehicle. According to the complaint, Barnhart said he had targeted the victim because of his race. Barnhart has been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to inflict serious injury with violation of individual rights, and going armed with intent, all felonies; assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, an aggravated misdemeanor; and eluding, a serious misdemeanor. He is being held on $500,000 cash-only bond.

A man was seriously injured in a house fire Saturday night in northwest Cedar Rapids. Around 11:30 p.m., the Cedar Rapids Fire Department was dispatched to 1730 11th St. NW for a report of a single-family house fire. Officials said in a news release that flames were visible from the front of the house when crews arrived. While searching the two-story house, firefighters found an unresponsive man in a first-floor bedroom, according to a Facebook post by International Association of Fire Fighters Local 11. He was pulled from the home and taken to UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital with serious injuries. No others were found in the home but several pets died in the fire, according to the release.

–

🎹 Podcast music: “Dubstep” by Emily McGlothlen