Richland plans memorial for girl killed in explosion

Members of a southeast Iowa community want to build a playground in memory of a girl killed in an explosion last year. Six-year-old Ashley Usovsky was one of seven people who died at her parents’ Richland home on Labor Day weekend. Park Board member Krista Allsup says the new playground would be a fitting memorial.Allsup says the community plans to raise the 45-thousand dollars needed for the playground by selling a cookbook.It’s been nearly a year since the explosion, but Allsup says the community is still trying to deal with the loss.Investigators believe a severed gas line at the Richland home led to the deadly explosion.