Trish Mehaffey

Cedar Rapids firefighters spent 25 hours last weekend working to control a massive blaze of large cardboard bales at a disposal and recycling business on the city’s southwest side.

A North Liberty man, who was convicted in Black Hawk and Johnson counties for sexual assaults and robbery, pleaded Thursday to kidnapping and robbery charges in an attempt to sexual assault a woman in Linn County in 2023.

A former UI machine shop manager who diverted thousands in production from the university to his own similar business was granted a deferred judgment and three years probation. He previously pleaded to first-degree theft and first-degree fraudulent practice.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said this year, in preparing for the next legislative session, his office has set priorities for changes they’d like to see. He hopes to work with legislators to address the state’s groping laws, invasion of privacy crimes, and rules about examination of public records.

An Iowa City woman, already charged with providing sex acts to massage parlor clients, is now charged with tampering with a witness. She is accused of trying to influence a victim and his wife not to testify against her.

A woman said a Cedar Rapids man, who should have been a “role model and protector” was instead, the person who repeatedly sexually abused her over a two year period when she was 14 and 15 years old. He was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison on Tuesday.

A Cedar Rapids woman, who was intoxicated, faces up to 16 years in prison for unintentionally causing the death of a motorcyclist in a head-on crash on Cottage Grove Avenue in October 2023. She pleaded to a lesser charge.

A judge on Friday convicted an Iowa City man of robbing and trying to kill a woman on the University of Iowa campus in April of 2022. Ali Younes faces up to 60 years in prison.

A former IT director received probation and a deferred judgment Thursday for enticing who he believed was a girl under 16 and sending her pornographic photos, video and “hundreds” of messages in a pursuit to have sex with her.

The U.S. Marshals Service in Virginia arrested a man Wednesday wanted on several charges of sexual abuse in Linn County.

A Cedar Rapids man convicted in a 2015 shooting, has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for trafficking meth near a school in southeast Cedar Rapids.

A Cedar Rapids man was sentenced to over 7 years for possessing gun after he had previous conviction for distributing heroin.

A mother, during a sexual abuser’s sentencing, said there is “no pain greater” for a parent than knowing their child was harmed, especially by someone they trusted and treated as family. “You didn’t just break the law — you broke hearts and you broke trust.”

The city’s housing and nuisance manager pleaded last week to a lesser charge for forging a receipt for pet medications to an insurance company. He received deferred judgment Tuesday.

A judge will announce his verdict in December for Ali Younes, who is accused of robbing and trying to kill an Iowa City woman on the UI campus in 2022. He faces up to 60 years in prison.