Author Archives: Spencer Willems

About Spencer Willems

I covered breaking news on the night beat in Eastern Iowa for Gazette Communications/SourceMedia Group News in early 2010.

Inattentive driving leads into a back-hoe

Atkins– Benton County authorities say that a lack of attention was behind a two vehicle crash on Highway 30 just west of the Linn-Benton county line. A 22-year-old Mount Vernon man was headed east on Highway 30 when he rear-ended … Continue reading

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Area man sends food to Haiti

CEDAR RAPIDS—Dustin Lee found some time between running his two businesses and raising his three daughters to send a few meals to Haiti. Well, 249,480 meals to be exact. The 35-year-old businessman started the Cedar Rapids chapter of Kids Against … Continue reading

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I-JOBS, FEMA help pay for first county construction project following flood

CEDAR RAPIDS—Lt. Gov. Patty Judge got her hands dirty at a groundbreaking ceremony early Wednesday afternoon at the site of the new Linn County Community Services/Options of Linn County building. The hard hat was complimentary, but the shovel cost $5 … Continue reading

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Severe weather causes outages throughout Linn County

CEDAR RAPIDS– Officials from Alliant Energy say that severe winds and lightening are the causes behind multiple outages that have left more than 4,200 Linn County residents without power. The city of Mount Vernon and its 2,500 residents are without … Continue reading

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Child playing with matches starts fire

CEDAR RAPIDS– Alvernia Franklin was watching two children on the ground floor of her 2928 Meadowbrook Drive SE home when she smelled smoke and heard smoke detectors sounding from the second floor. Franklin, 84, promptly got the five-year-old girl and ten-month … Continue reading

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Crash sends woman, child to hospital

CEDAR RAPIDS– Police officials say that a three year old child and a young woman were injured in an afternoon car crash at 19th Street and F Avenue NW. The crash occurred at around 2:45 p.m. The child was riding … Continue reading

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Second OWI case for man involved in woman’s death

SWISHER– After serving less than a year in prison for killing a 35-year-old woman from behind the wheel in 2002, a Swisher man was picked up for drunk driving again on Thursday. Galen J. Ludvicek, 52, was arrested around 1:50 p.m. at Derby Avenue and 140th St. … Continue reading

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Gunshots follow fight in southwest Cedar Rapids apartment complex

CEDAR RAPIDS– Only forty minutes after a sizable fight broke out at 9:10 p.m. at an apartment complex off of Westdale Lane, a suspect in a car fired multiple gunshots in the parking lot and sped off. Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Jeremy Paulsen said … Continue reading

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No one injured in Guttenberg barn fire

Guttenberg– Firefighters were able to save a barn from a fire at around 8:05 p.m. Thursday. One wall of the barn at 35044 Jolly Ridge Road started on fire due to radiant heat coming from a fire pit about 15 feet … Continue reading

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Cedar Rapids lieutenant is now a general

An officer in the Cedar Rapids Police Department just got promoted, but not in Cedar Rapids. Lt. Steven Feldmann became the Army’s newest one-star general in a Friday afternoon ceremony in Rock Island, Ill. Brig. Gen. Feldmann, a Hopkinton native, … Continue reading

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