Showers high 35 low 34 wednesday partly cloudy high 34 low 27 included heart ache, frustration, and triumphs that will affect eastern iowa well into 2016. Our editors picked the top 9 well also reveal what you, the viewer chose, later in this newscast. But we start our countdown at number 9 9n the list. Kcrg tv nines Dubuque Bureau chief Katie Wiedemann revisits a random and violent attack that shocked a city and prompted on the warmmorning of september first, nancy krapfl, a 66 yearold church secretary, was doing what she loved. She had just gone out for a morning routine walk. Police s sy nearby Traffic Cameras caught 19 year old Helmon Betwell approach krapfl, knock her out and then drag her lifeless body off camera to the top of the steps of a vacant apartment building. From next door, william davis, witnessed the attack. After that flurry of punches, he sat on her. He dropped his pants and he sat on her. Police say betwell told them he picked krapfl at random and he did it because he had Nothing Better to do. Officers arrested betwell just 15 hours later. As a family were grateful that hes behind bars. News of the attack and krapfls death caused great concern across the dubuque community. Its scary that a human being can do this to another human being. Especially someone whos the following week, hundreds of people gathered at st. Josephs church in farley to celebrate krapfls life. Her brother, rev. Gary krapfl l livered the homily. Y. These kinds of things dont happen in dubuque, iowa. The krapfl family called for peace in the community, safer streets and more Public Safety measures. We would h he for this tragedy to be all for naught. In october, the City Council Approved a planano spent a half millili dollars to install more than almost 100. Security cameras and dozens of led lights. Betwells trial is scheduled to begin in march. In dubuque, Katie Wiedemann kcrg tv9 news. The Iowa Caucuses dont come until 2016. But the president ial candidates dominated much of 2015. Kcrg tnines chris earl has number r ght on our list. Picking a prprident here in iowa. Twice this year, trains derailed the first movements in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses actually came back in the spring on the republican side when, as the field was approaching more than a dozen candidates, some of the republicans from the south said they wouldnt dump money and resources into the iowa straw poll in ames. By june, Republican Leaders in iowa cancelled the straw poll with a unanimous vote. When the republican field hit 1616 candidatete some b ban to drop off. Rick perry left in midseptember. Wisconsin Governor Scott walker was an early favorite in the polling but, after one poll showed him at 0 nationally, he left the race. Bobby jindal followed in midnovember, dropping the field to 13. For much of 2015, donald trump and ben carson traded first place in iowa polls and then. Ted cruz found his grgrve. Decec 10pm what were seeing every day is that conservatives are uniting behind our campaign, that they are looking not for a Campaign Conservative who talks a good game on the campaign trail but a consistent conservative just last saturday, trump was in cedar rapids confident that he will win iowa, even as cruz has won more recent polls. 27 41 if im wrong, im wrong. But i think that were going to win iowa and i iwa is very important to me. The 2016 democratic field featured all 5 candidates in cedar rapids back on july 17. Yet that trimmed back to 3. Around labor day, Bernie Sanders bumped ahead of hillary clilion in some polling of Iowa Democrats before the former secretary of state pushed ahead her iowa stops didnt touch on other democrats but almost always focus on republicans. Oct 1717mt vernon you know w million americans now depend on the Affordable Care act for their health care. But in the last five years republicans have voted to repeal it 50 times. I am not going to let the republicans rip up obamacare and throw it away. Now with h weeks left until the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, will the leads hold . That wont be answered but plenty of political ads will try to sway you for february 2nd. Twice this year, trains derailed and ignited fires. One carrying ethanol in northern Dubuque County and one carrying oil forced parts of galena, illinois to evacuate. Kcrgtv9s brea love shares our number 7 story in our countdown. The dangers on the ils. The first derarament happened fourth in northern Dubuque County. Cars carrying ethanol bursinto flames along the mississippi river. The remote location meant t refighters had to sisily let the fire burn itself out. To let it burn out. Ive been down to as far as you can get with a vehicle. Its actuay another half mile using atvs and gators and snowmobile to get to the rest of it testing showed very litttt ethanol leleed into the river. Then on march 5th, almost exactly one month later, a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded near galena. The toxic smoke could be seen for mimies. Bnfs went door to door letting residents know of the nearby danger. One couple expecting a baby made sure to evacuate. Were seven months at this point a a weve had no problems and wed like to keep in that way. A bike path was the only way to get to the site, so the fire burned for 3 days. Crews began testing the water and air quality immediately with 24 hour safe. Both derailments had tanker cars prone to leaks and fires in derailments. On april 18th, the us s department t transportatio n created new orders for all trains hauling crude oil and flammable liquids. They include slowing trains down to 40 Miles Per Hour when passing through urban areas. Requiring mmhanical inspections and wheel checks before trains depart. Breaove, kcrgtv9 news. Early this year governor branstad revealed his new plan for iowas medicaid program. Privatization. The number six story on our list sounded simple. But implementing the change was another matter. Specificalal, the governor proposed selecting up to four private Health Care Companies to manage the system that provides medical coverage to almost 600 thousand disabled and low income iowans. The change would begin on j juary first, 2016. Branstad said the move would modernize the four point two billion dollar system and save the state 51 million months alone. Critics questioned those savings, but branstad defended the estimate. The department of Human Services has shared with me the spreadsheet and the criteria and the approach that they used. I think that we acted in an appropriate way, and we feel confident, just as 25 other states haveeen able to move forward with this. In august, e state selected four outofstate companies to manage medicaid. But as the january first start date moved closer, concerns develeled about the slow papa of althcare providers signing up with the four management companies. When weve contacted larger Health Care Systems in the state, des moines m mro hospitals, theyve indicated they havent signed contracts with any of the mcos. And fears grew among patients emselves. One dubuque woman wondered if her son would continue to get the care he eded. He has had some serious and significant medical issues that we nearly lost him. So we have a lot of concern about what physians will be available to us. Medicaid patients had a decemberr 17th deadline sign up with a management company, not knowing if their providers had also signed up. Unfortunately the patients right now are in a definitional state of uncertainly. Some of the providers, quite frankly, theres the possibility that some of the providers may not participate or perhaps not participate fully with all the plan offerings. Many people simply wanted the state to slow down the process. Tt federal government t nally stepped in, forcing iowa to hold off on privatization until march first at the earliest. The providers to sign up and give participants more time to understand their choices. Were not even half way through our countdown of the top stories of 2015. Still to come, an International Drug smuggling ring and a very controversi hire. Federal raids in cedar rapids hey this holiday, u. S. Cellulars giving you 15 gigs of data for just 70 but i wanted a pony. [ gasps ] youre getetng data. Ponysized data . U. S. Cellular sized data. 15 gigs of good, strong data you can actually use because it works in the middle of anywhere. Id like 100 youre getting 400 in promo cards yes switch to u. S. Cellular and get 15 gigs of data for just 70. Federal raids in cedar rapids uncovered an international gugusmuggling ririg. Agents charged four people for secretly shipping guns to the middle east. Kcrgtv9s Jill Kasparie shares our number five story of the year. People who knew the defendants couldnt believe what happened. If you meet any of them generally the response if they asked you how they are theyve very nice people. It just seems uncharacteristic all around federal agents arrested ali herz, his son adam herz, alis brother bassem herz, and his wife, sarah zeaiter, during raids at four locations in cedar rapids including pizza daddy on 1st avenue southeast. It was six in the morning, i went to hyvee on first avenue, looked across the street and saw a black truck, saw about 13 people in kevlar and big automatic riffles, so thats not normal for us in cedar rapids. Federal prosecutors say the family hid guns and ammunition in crates of Construction Equipment bound for lebanon. Authorities say the scheme started in late 2013. The four defendants face a slew of federal charges including firearms conspiracy and money laundering. They all pleaded not guilty. Their trial is scheduled for april. In cedar rapids, Jill Kasparie, kcrgtv9 news. The search for the next university of iowa president ended in protests with the hiring of businessman bruce harreld. Kcrg tv nines Sarah Mccarthy explains why staff and students may keep this controversy going into 2016 and beyond. Bruce harrelds first public interaction with h udents and staff included several tense interactions like this. 10p fourth ui president ial candidate 09 01 15 are you a performance artist . W . Nevermind. No, why do you ask . I was just wondering if you were putting us on. Four president ial candidates held forums like this. 430a fourth ui prez candidate sotvo 09 02 15 maybe, in fact, i have some role to play and i might be of th. I think its complplely legitimate foror you to ask what the hell is this guy doing here . The state board of regents chose harreld for the job just two days later. 6p ui president ial announcement pkg 9 3 15 introducing bruce rreld the next presisint. Clalaing a decision faculul, students, and staff overwhelmingly disagreed with, sparking protest. 6p ui harreld first day pkg 11 02 15 chanting after protest. 5p regents protest sotvo 10 21 15 the board of regents, as i i understand it, conducted a search that wasnt open or fair, the other candidates didnt have a chance. A study from the American Association of universititprofessors says the s ste board of regents acted in bad faith during the process. Calling the search manipulated and engineered. The regents respondeddefending their choice. 6p regentntreaction pkg 09 09 15 its about moving the university of iowa forward in a dynamic way and making the u of i a better place and thats the vision we saw in bruce harreld. For harreld, coming into the job in the midst of controversy isnt easy, but hes since received some support. 10p ui sotvo 11 11 15 if i hadnt gotten so much support from so many other members of the faculty, administratn , even alumni outpouring, it would be harder. Harreld will hold his First Public Forum since becoming president of the university on february 23rd. Sarah mccarthy, kcrgtv9 news. Three stories are left in our countdown. Including one story that made every iowan cheer. Countdown. It started with reports of a gunman at t ral ridge mall. In the end, one woman was dead and her alleged killer in custody. Heres kcrgtv 9s mark carlson. Quickly turned horrific o ojune 12, 2015. Nats jcomm shots at the mall, shots at the mall investigators say former mall Security Guard Alexander Kozak left the mall that night after resigning his s st. They say he returned with a gun and shot and killed 20 yearold andrea farrington, a Childrens Museum employee who had been working at a welcome kiosk near the food court. Sinaiaiolonsanchez witness everybody was grabbing their children, their wallets, whatever they had in their hands and they just got out, everybody was going in their cars, piling as many people as they could in there and just getting out. Witnesses were terrified. Jeff c cew saw it all. Jeff carew witness i heard gunfire and out of the corner of my eye i saw the girl her knees buckle, she collapsed and i pushed my girlfriend behind the cooler and told her to get down and people were running and screaming and i stepped out past the cooler and i watched the guy walk away that had shot her and then i just jumped out and tried to could. Farrington was pronounced dead a short time later at the hospital. Troopers caught her alleged killer about an ho later on i80 near the illinois boarder. Two days later friends, family and complete strangers gathered to mourn farringtons Death Outside the Childrens Museum. Miriam mead victims friend i think k n just one word she was just really spunky and just everything that goes along with that, she was positive and happy, she was just alive. Kozak has plead not guilty to a first degree murder charge and is scheduled to go on trial in april. Since the shooting hes remained behind bars on a 10 Million Dollar bd. In coralville, mark carlson, kcrg tv nine news. 2015 started with many hawkeye football fans wanting the university to fire coach kirk ferentz. Now things areuch rosier for ferentz and the hawkeyes after going 12 and oh in the regular season. Kcrgtv9s Josh Christensen relives the number 2 story of the after a rough end to the 2014 season, some fel 2015 was a crucial year for the future of coach kirk ferentz. C. J. Beathard became the new starting quarterback after jake rudock transferred to michigan. But beathard showed his leadership right away leading the hawkeyes to an unddeated non Conference Season with wins over illinois state, iowa state, pittsburgh and north big ten opener against 14th ranked wisconsin. It wasnt a pretty gaga, but the hawkwkes held on to win 106 and took home the hearltand trophy for the First Time Since 2009. On november 21st, iowa clinched the Big Ten West Division title with a win over purdue and climed up to number 4 in the College Football playoff rankings. The hawkeyes ended the regular season with a win at nebraska to finish 120 and 4for4 in their trophy games bringing back the heroes gaga trophy. They remained at number 4 in the College Football playoff ranking. Its a dream come true. But we set out in the beginning of the season to win thats what weve done. Weve taken it one week at a time and weve accomplished our goal. I just told them that im really not sure what to say because ive never been around a team that was 120. A little bit speechless on that, but its just an unbelievable accomplishme nt. It was onto indianapolis for the big ten championship. Iowa faced Michigan State. The hawkeyes battled to the very end, but it was Michigan State coming back to win 1613 handing g wa its f fst loss of the season. We gave it everything we got. Just execute a little better i think, maybe. We werent quite there with our details like we had been this whole season. Despite the tough loss, the hawkeyes gained respect across the nation and earned a berth to the rose bowl against stanford. Its their first rose bowl in 25 years. Its a championship level game between the pac12 and the g ten. Its going to be a very competitive game between two great teams. Its a huge opportunity for this program. We havent been there in a while and its going to be excitinin it means a lot. Coming in here for championships , and the rose bowl is a championship. And you can bet there will be a ton of black and gold in the stands on new years day, Josh Christensen tv9 sports. The top story of 2015 is still to come. And well also reveal what you, the viewers, thought were theheop stories of 2015. Stay with tv 9. Weve reached the end of our list o o the top stories of 2015. Ononeptember sixth, a 15 year old died after another teenager shot him. Touched a nerve in the community. Forums, task forces and committees formed d response to better understand what led up to this death, and what needs to change so it doesnt happen again. It was the sunday before labor day when Aaron Richardson left his home in cedar rapids forhe last time. 44 18 i noticed he started getting dressed. I asked why are you getting dressed . He told me hed be right back, that he had something to handle. Richardsons friends had been trash talking a rival group what some called a gang on facebook and thugh texting. The tenenon led them to redmond park to meet face to face. 6p redmond shooting pkf 9 7 15 21 44 11 he said someone was going to put him in a body bag, i didnt know what that meant so i asked him and he said soeone was going to kkl him. That premonition came true. Richardson took a bullet to the stomach, and tried to get help at a nearby house on 16th street southeast. 9 3651 it was about six shots, then i heard a kid scream. I looked out my window, he came running past my house, and he fell at my neighbors house. They came running out and held him. His body looked so lifeless. It was very scary and a very sad moment. He died after rgery. Days later a aamily brought robert humbles to the Cedar Rapids Police station. Prosecutors charged the Kennedy High School freshman with first degree murder. He was just 14 years old. The youth of the victim and perpetrator horrified and galvanized the Community People hosted vigils , launched antiviolence committees , and held half a dozen forums. 10p arrest in cedar rapids 15 year old 9 10 15 it greatly saddens me that a 15 year old child has lost his life, and a mother has lost his son and will never have him back. It saddens me that a 14 year old now identified as being involved and arrested and charged with this very heinous crime. On cember 8, robert humbles took pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, reckless use of a firearm and going armed with intent a sentence of 25 years in prison. Even though his case was in adult court, humbles is considered a youthful offender which means hell be in a juvenile detention facility until he turns 18. Then a judge will decide if hell go to adt prison or reenter socieie on probation. A legal conclusion to a difficult societal situation. The loss of one young person at the hands of another, something that is avoidable, according to the vivitims brother. 21 49 46 theres people whove been in my face trying to get me in a gang, i told them no. I dont know what my brother chose, but i wish he wouldve came to my s se and said no. I wish other children wowold do that. Its nototorth it. We asked you, the viewers to rate the top stories of 2015. Heres your top 5 at number five ishe story you just saw on the shooting g ath of a 15 yearoldld in cedar rapids. Then, the bird flu outbreak in iowas poultry flocks at three, the man who stabbed and killed his ex girlfriend in the marion hyvee parking lot. Followed by the Coral Ridge Mall shooting. And the viewers choice for the top story of 2015 is the hawkeye footballs 12 and oh season thanks for joiningngs tonight and throughout 2015. We hope you had a great year. Merry christmas and happy new year from all
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