CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police say they’ve arrested a man suspected of setting a Cedar Rapids apartment fire that injured him and four others, including a firefighter.
Station KCRG reports that 24-year-old Dallas Tullis, of Cedar Rapids was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree arson, assault on a police officer, assault causing injury and interference with official acts.

Investigators say Tullis set the fire Thursday morning that destroyed the apartment complex. Police say he was found near the scene and taken to a hospital for injuries. Police say he assaulted an officer and a security guard at the hospital.

He has since been release and booked into the Linn County Jail. A 65-year-old male suffered life-threatening injuries and is still hospitalized. Two other adults also suffered injuries and were treated and released.

As the number of Democrats running for president grows, the 2020 hopefuls fanned out across several early-voting states over the weekend and met with voters in some of the states that will have an early say in determining the nominee. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sherrod Brown of Ohio were in South Carolina, site of the South’s first primary, drawing diverse audiences in the state where the primary electorate is largely composed of minority voters.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont made Brooklyn the official launch site of his second run for the White House, saying his campaign is tailor-made to defeat President Donald Trump. In Iowa, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts courted voters. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota was scheduled to attend the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an event where politicians traditionally poke fun at the press and other politicians.

Trump spoke to a gathering of conservatives in suburban Maryland, where he mocked Democrats for their framework to combat climate change and said House lawmakers pushing to expand their investigations of him are “sick.”

Sanders will hold a rally in Council Bluffs 6:30-p.m. Thursday, March 7th, in the Exhibition Hall at the Mid-America Center, 1 Arena Way. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is encouraged. Entrance is provided on a first come, first served basis. The Iowa City event will be co-sponsored by University of Iowa Democrats and the local chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America. Similar rallies are planned for Iowa City and Des Moines later next week.

Calling Trump the most dangerous president in modern U.S. history, the Vermont senator said that his campaign is built to defeat Trump. Sanders pledged to fight for “economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice.”

BOONE, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa-based grocery store chain is again participating in an annual fundraiser to fight muscular dystrophy, ALS and related muscular degenerative diseases. Fareway Stores throughout Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota are participating in the MDA Shamrocks program running through March 16.

Under the program, customers can buy paper shamrocks along with their grocery purchases for $1, $5 or more. The money collected goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The association says the MDA Shamrocks program the nation’s largest St. Patrick’s Day fundraising program.

The money raised helps fund research and provide individuals with life-enhancing programs and support services. That includes multidisciplinary care at the MDA Care Center at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University is set to receive a $3.5 million gift to transform biomolecular research and make the school into a leader in advanced electron microscopy technology. The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine announced the grant earlier this week.

The grant will enable the purchase of a state-of-the-art cryo-transmission electron microscope equipped with a direct electron detector. Cryo-EM technology generates images of delicate biomolecules by bombarding frozen cellular, viral, nucleic acid or protein samples with electrons. The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists for developing the technique.

The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in Iowa, with assets of more than $325 million and annual grant distributions of nearly $16 million.

Democratic presidential hopefuls are introducing themselves to voters in some of the earliest states that will weigh in on their campaigns to take on President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Candidates are fanning out in South Carolina and Iowa today (Saturday), spending time with voters in two of the states that hold the earliest balloting next year. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sherrod Brown of Ohio are in South Carolina, site of the South’s first primary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts plans to court voters in Iowa.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is scheduled to attend the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an event where politicians traditionally poke fun at the press and other politicians. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is making Brooklyn the official launch site of his second run for the White House.

Trump plans to speak to a gathering of conservatives in suburban Maryland, where he is expected to emphasize the White House’s political message that Democrats are rallying behind what his team is calling the policies of “socialism .”