Local News

Johansen has taken his final bike ride

During three glorious months in Florida last winter, Trudy and Cole Johansen put 463 miles on their bikes and then 1,008 miles more over the summer when they returned home to Cedar Rapids.

Their final ride in August, right before Cole's surgery for lung cancer, was on their favorite wooded trail south of town to Ely.

“It's very hard for me to believe that I will never get to ride bikes with him again,” Trudy wrote to friends two weeks ago. “Our 1,000 miles last August will be our last.”

On Jan. 13, as the couple prepared to pack bags for their fourth trip to Florida, doctors told them that the cancer had not been stopped as first thought but instead had spread throughout his body.

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Prospect Meadows gets 3 major gifts

The Prospect Meadows Ball Fields project has received $1.2 million in three major gifts from local companies, it was announced Thursday during a press conference at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Perfect Game USA of Cedar Rapids has pledged $600,000, Hall & Hall Engineers of Hiawatha has pledged $400,000 and Transamerica of Cedar Rapids has pledged $300,000.

The Prospect Meadows group plans to build 17 fields on 121 acres of land in northeast Marion, at the intersection of Highway 13 and County Home Road.

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Nelson, Beyer named to Shrine Bowl

Matt Nelson of Xavier and Tristan Beyer of Prairie have been selected to play in the 2014 Iowa Shrine Bowl on Saturday, July 26 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Nelson, a defensive end, will play for the North squad. Beyer, a linebacker, will play for the South in the 41st annual game. A total of 92 players will participate in the event.

Metro girls get break in pairings

All of the Metro girls basketball teams can breathe a sigh of relief now. None of them will have to face top-ranked Iowa City High in the Class 5A regional tournament next month.

They don't have to get past No.6 Waterloo West on the way to the state tournament, either.

The kindly postseason pairings were announced Monday. The Metro teams did not get a free pass to Des Moines, but there don't seem to be any matchups that would call for a major upset on the part of the local clubs.

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