A fire damaged an apartment complex at 1620 Seminole Ave. NW in Cedar Rapids early Wednesday morning. Fire crews were called to the complex just before three in the morning after a smoke detector went off in apartment 6. The fire was quickly put out, but not before it caused an estimated $50,000 in damage. The apartment unit was vacant but other tenants in the building were forced out of their homes. No one was hurt but the cause of the fire is under investigation.

 

The city of Cedar Rapids has proclaimed April 8-12 as "Work Zone Awareness Week." "Everybody has families and wants to get back to them," says Cedar Rapids Lead Street Supervisor Brian McLeod. The Iowa Department of Transportation reports 652 work zone crashes happen every year; 200 of those result in injury. In Cedar Rapids alone, there were 280 crashes in work zones between 2008-2018. Mr. McLeod says they average one a year where a driver isn't paying attention and drives into wet concrete or a construction site. He says while construction crews are always aware of what's going on around them, they have a job to do - which doesn't leave much room to focus on the traffic passing by. "For the most part, we're in there to do a job so we concentrate on getting that done," he said. That's why work zone awareness, which means any crew working on the street, is most vital for drivers. The proclamation urges drivers to slow down, avoid distractions, and follow all work zone signs. Read the full story here.