|
Vilsack in CR, Maquoketa today
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is in Iowa today highlighting how agriculture is helping to create jobs and grow the economy. He also plans to discuss the Food, Farm and Jobs Bill.
He is speaking this morning at the Hurtsville Interpretive Center in Maquoketa and at 3 p.m. will be at Iowa Hall at Kirkwood Community College, 6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW in Cedar Rapids.
|
|
Backpocket Brewing tap room open
Backpocket Brewing, a new microbrewery under construction in the Iowa River Landing in Coralville, opened its tap room over the weekend.
The tap room features a variety of beers as well as a brick oven pizza. The brewing area will remain under construction, with Backpocket beers being brought in from the original McGregor brewpub. Beer production at the new location is scheduled to begin in July. The tap room has indoor seating for 100 with and additional beer garden in the works that will include a grilling station, fire pit and yard games.
The brew house, manufactured by Braukon of Munich, Germany, is a 33-barrel (more than 1,000 gallon) brewing facility incorporating the latest sustainable design features. The brew house is the "heart" of a brewery, and will be the largest in Iowa.
The Coralville plant will be an expansion of Backpocket Brewing's current brewing operations at Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery in McGregor.
The new production plant will allow Backpocket to expand its packaging options to also include bottles. The company projects that Backpocket will produce 7,000 to 8,000 barrels of beer in its first year with the total capacity of the facility at about 25,000 barrels.
Backpocket will be distributing throughout eastern and central Iowa initially, and has growth plans to provide its beers across the state of Iowa and regionally.
|
|
Fry Fest announces American Pickers guest
Fry Fest organizers have announced Frank Fritz from the TV show "American Pickers" will be on hand at the Sept. 7 event at the Coralville Marriott.
Fry Fest is a celebration of "all that is Hawkeye" at the start of the University of Iowa football season.
At 10 a.m., Mr. Fritz will open the event's World Largest Hawkeye Tradeshow & Tailgate Party with an autograph session. He will also be part of a new addition this year, the Hawkeye Collector's Showcase. He will address fans with a collector's discussion and share his personal story about how he became involved in collecting.
More details are available at www.fryfest.com.
|
KGAN / KFXA HEADLINES  News items provided by KGAN/KFXA
Cedar Rapids police say a neighborhood dispute turned violent when a 42-year-old man pulled out a gun and shot and wounded his neighbor. Police say the shooting happened at the end of an argument between Joseph Pham and 39-year-old Brian Wilson on Saturday evening. Police say Pham shot Wilson in the torso and then returned to his home. Wilson was taken to St. Luke's Hospital for treatment. Police said no update was immediately available on his condition Sunday morning, and hospital officials say Wilson was not listed as a patient in their public directory Sunday. Pham was arrested on suspicion of three counts of attempted murder because other people were at Wilson's home at the time of the shooting. Pham remained in the Linn County Jail on Sunday.
Iowa City authorities say the mother of a 20-month-old boy and her boyfriend are responsible for the boy's death in April. Iowa City police say both 18-year-old Mireya Balderas and 20-year-old Jorge Perez told investigators that they had hit Marcus Balderas before. And Mr. Perez told police he had tossed the boy in the air and dropped him. Paramedics were called to a mobile home on April 30th when the boy had trouble breathing. Officials found that the boy had broken ribs, multiple bruises on his body, internal injuries, and bleeding in his head. Mr. Perez is charged with two counts of child endangerment resulting in death while Balderas faces one count of the same crime. Both remain jailed.
A September trial has been scheduled for a 42-year-old man accused of theft connected to transactions at his Cedar Rapids vehicle dealership. Edward Polaco has pleaded not guilty to three counts of theft and one of ongoing criminal conduct. Authorities say Mr. Polaco didn't forward tax, title and license fees he obtained from 32 customers who bought vehicles from his dealership, Family Auto Center. Authorities also say he took in two trade-ins and sold them to other customers without paying off the loans still owed on the vehicles. The trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 4. The dealership closed in April.
KGAN WEATHER
CBS 2 FirstWarning Weather -- A cold front brought us some much needed rain early this morning but now the rain is moving out the area. We will keep mostly cloudy skies this morning but will see clearing skies by early afternoon. Temperatures today will warm into the mid 80s and the wind will be breezy from the west at 10 to 20 mph. You can probably open the window back up tonight. We will see mostly clear skies and temperatures in the lower to mid 50s. Cooler air will return to the state behind the front for Tuesday and Wednesday as highs drop back into the mid to upper 70s with mostly sunny skies.
|
