This is Zack Kucharski with The

Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Thursday, August 4th.

A quick check of the weather from the

National Weather Service: Sunny, with a high near 85. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, low around 64 and light winds.

Now to what’s making news:

The closure and cleanup at the Cedar Rapids downtown library is expected

to last into September, library officials announced Wednesday. The closure

comes after a small July 27 fire in a light fixture in the library commons

area. Smoke soot is being cleaned-up throughout the interior of the 100,000

square-foot building.

The library is

still working through the investigation and insurance claims, library director

Dara Schmidt said Wednesday. All items in the library -- including the carpet —

will be wiped down and cleaned while the facility is closed.

Reopening the

lobby area for hold pickups is her next priority during the library’s temporary

closure. The library extended book due dates and holds, but patrons still can

return materials to Hiawatha and Marion Libraries or one of the book drops at

metro-area Hy-Vee stores instead.

Schmidt said the

library’s 82 employees have been reassigned to work in the west-side Ladd

Library, outdoor and vehicle outreach programs and at a cooling and computer

center located across the street at Waypoint.  

+++

A parents group is suing the Linn-Mar Community School District,

superintendent and board members over its new policies to protect transgender

students from discrimination. The lawsuit asserts that the policy violates parents’

rights to consent and students’ rights to express a different opinion.

Parents Defending

Education is identified in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court as

a grassroots organization that includes “parents, students and other concerned

citizens” with a mission to prevent the “politicization of K-12 education.”

The group

contends the Linn-Mar policy passed in April allows children to make

fundamentally important decisions about gender identity without parental

involvement and hide those decisions from their parents.

According to the

30-page petition, the parents group filed it to “protect parents’ rights to

raise their children and students’ rights to freedom of expression.”

Linn-Mar district officials didn’t immediately respond to an email and

phone message seeking comment.

+++

. Reflecting the Cedar Rapids school board’s decision to remove police

from the city’s middle schools, the Cedar Rapids Police Department has proposed

additional changes to the agreement for school resource officers that account

for the reduction from seven to five officers.

With the start of

the 2022-23 school year fast approaching, the Cedar Rapids City Council and

school board have yet to approve the same contract outlining terms of the

program that will station police officers this year at Kennedy, Washington,

Jefferson and Metro high schools and Polk Alternative Education Center, but

take them out of Cedar Rapids middle schools.

While Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said he accepts the

district’s decision to pull SROs from the middle school, it said it’s not

logical to expect the five remaining officers to do the work that seven did

previously.

The city said that diversion outcomes will be less likely to

happen at junior highs without SROs, Jerman said. Instead, patrol officers, who

have different training experience and expertise than the SROs...

This is Zack Kucharski with The

Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Wednesday, August 3rd.

A quick check of the weather from the

National Weather Service: showers and

thunderstorms are likely, especially midday. Otherwise, partly sunny with a

high of 88. Winds from the west 10 to 15 and 20 mph gusts. 60% chance of rain.

For tonight, a 20 percent chance of

showers and thunderstorms before 9 p.m. Otherwise, gradual clearing with a low

around 63 degrees. West winds will swing to the north after midnight.

Now to what’s making news:

Facing

increasing pressure from Democrats and veterans advocacy organizations, the U.S. Senate passed a bill late Tuesday

expanding health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed

to toxic burn pits.

The

Senate passed the measure, 86-11, with Iowa Republican U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst

and Chuck Grassley voting in favor. Ernst, a combat veteran, had previously

objected with some other Republicans to a budget provision in the bill, which

briefly blocked its passage.

Democratic

President Joe Biden has pushed for the legislation and is expected to sign the

bill into law.

Tuesday’s

vote ended a brief stalemate when the process derailed after some Senate

Republicans including Ernst made a late attempt last week to change a budget

provision in the bill and blocked it from advancing, infuriating veterans

advocacy groups. A key voting bloc in the Nov. midterm elections, the advocacy

groups ramped up the political pressure over the last five days on GOP

lawmakers to act.

+++

A

Cedar Rapids man faces four counts of attempted murder and other charges

following an alleged road rage incident Tuesday afternoon that resulted in

shots being fired as the cars traveled southbound on Interstate 380.

Deryan Sims, 33, of Cedar Rapids, is accused of four counts of

attempted murder, four counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon,

intimidation with a weapon, reckless use of a firearm and carrying weapons in

the commission of a crime in connection with the incident.

Police

received a call around 2:10 p.m. Tuesday from a passenger in a car involved in

a road rage incident on southbound Interstate 380. The incident began in the

area of Center Point Rd. NE and 32nd St. NE.

Investigators

say Sims pointed the gun at a vehicle with two adults and two kids inside and

fired the gun twice during the incident. One of the bullets struck the front

end of the car, police said. No one was injured.

Police

recovered the gun and ammo during a traffic stop.

The

driver of the car Sims was driving in, Kelly Theisen, 40, of Cedar Rapids, was

charged with driving on a suspended license. The investigation remains ongoing,

and Sims will make an initial appearance Wednesday in Linn County District

Court.

+++

And finally, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced Tuesday his

office has joined a nationwide task force of state attorneys general working to

cut down on illegal and unwanted robocalls used to scam seniors and defraud

consumers nationwide.

The bipartisan group has issued 20 civil investigative demands to

20 gateway providers and other entities that are allegedly responsible for...

This is Zack Kucharski with The

Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Tuesday, August 2nd.

According to the National Weather

Service, we will see gradual clearing in the Cedar Rapids area today after a

cloudy start through

mid-morning. It will be hot, with a high near 94. Winds from

the south 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Then tonight, it will be

partly cloudy, with a low around 80.

++++

A former softball coach at Solon High School and Clear Creek Amana

High School, made an initial appearance in Johnson County District Court Monday

accused of sexually abusing a student 15 years ago.

James White, 58, of North Liberty, faces two counts of

third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual exploitation by a school

employee. He is being held in the Johnson County Jail on a $40,000 bond.

A woman, who was student of his during the 2006-07

school year and was coached by him on the softball team, went to police in

March to report the abuse, according to criminal complaints.

The woman, who was 15 when White was her teacher and coach, told

police she was groomed by White and they had a sexual relationship. White, then

43, is accused of calling the then 15-year-old and asking her to meet him on a

gravel road in rural Johnson County, according to the complaints. He reportedly

gave her directions and asked her not to hang up the phone the whole time she

was on her way there.

In another instance, White reportedly invited her over to his

house while his wife, who also was a high school softball coach, was out of

town coaching in a state softball tournament.

White was ordered to have no contact with his accuser.

He posted a $40,000 surety bond and was released from jail Monday, court records

show.

White worked as a teacher and softball coach at CCA for several

years before he left in 2012 to coach at Solon High School. He coached softball

at Solon until 2017, then returned as an assistant baseball coach for the 2021

and 2022 seasons. His contract at Solon ended earlier this summer, according to

Solon School District Superintendent Davis Eidahl.

In 2017, White was named the National

High School Coaches Association coach of the year.

White also coached various sports at CCA High School

and CCA Middle School during the last few years. He resigned from CCA in June,

according to the school district.

++++

The driver who exchanged gunfire with two Cedar Rapids Police

officers early Saturday after being pulled over for erratic driving has been identified

as 23-year-old Brandon Lee Nelson of Cedar Rapids, the Iowa Division of

Criminal Investigation said Monday. Investigators say Nelson was westbound on

Glass Road in Cedar Rapids just before 4 a.m. Saturday when police tried to

pull him over. Nelson and two Cedar Rapids police officers exchanged gunfire.

The officers, who were not injured, have not yet been identified, but are on

leave pending the outcome of the DCI’s investigation. Nelson was taken to

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics following the shooting but is expected

to be released soon. Nelson has multiple prior convictions for eluding

police in Linn County, online court records...

Welcome to the weekend!

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31.

Temperatures will inch up this weekend, but will still remain quite pleasant. It’d be a good idea to get out and enjoy the weather before the heat returns with a vengeance next week. On Saturday it will be sunny with a high near 86 degrees.On Saturday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 62 degrees. On Sunday it will be sunny again with a high near 87 degrees. A light wind from Saturday will increase just barely up to 5 to 10 mph on Sunday. On Sunday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 70 degrees.

A federal class-action lawsuit brought by youth basketball players who were potential sex abuse victims of former Iowa Barnstormers basketball coach Greg Stephen reached a settlement Friday that will establish a fund of over a $1 million for the athletes.

Guy Cook, lead attorney for an unnamed former Barnstormers Basketball of Iowa player who filed the suit in 2020, said the fund will be established for select former youth athletes affiliated with the Barnstormers and coached by Stephen from 2005 through 2018, and “fell victim to Stephen’s illicit acts of secretly procuring nude images of players.”

The settlement is pending court approval. The trial was set to start Monday in U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Iowa in Davenport.

Stephen, 44, of Monticello, was sentenced in 2019 to 180 years in federal prison. He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count each of possession of child pornography and transportation of child pornography.

A Cedar Rapids man accused of killing a woman April 10 at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge likely will face updated charges because a man seriously injured that night died late last week.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said 31-year-old Marvin Cox, of Cedar Rapids, who was shot in the head, died from his injuries Sunday, July 24, and criminal charges against Timothy Rush, 32, will be updated.

Rush is accused of fatally shooting Nicole Owens, 35, his girlfriend and mother of his 1-year-old daughter, and of shooting and seriously injuring Cox, who had been on life support since the shooting.

Marie Mulkey, Cox’s mother, told The Gazette after the shooting that she had been spending every day with her son in the hospital.

The other man charged in the shootings, Dimione Walker, is accused of fatally shooting Michael Valentine, 25.

10 people were shot in total by the two gunmen.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department has identified the man killed in a stabbing Wednesday as 52-year-old Christopher Anson.

Police were called Wednesday afternoon to the 1500 block of Fifth Avenue SE, where they found Anson, of Cedar Rapids, on the floor of an apartment building common area with a stab wound in his chest.

Police began CPR, but Anson was declared dead at the...

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, July 29.

The great weather continues! According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 82 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Friday. On Friday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 59 degrees

Thanks but no thanks.

This appears to be the answer from the Cedar Rapids School Board after the City of Cedar Rapids offered to pay for two officers that the board voted to remove from the district’s  middle schools in a recent approval of the contract.

Cedar Rapids school board president David Tominsky said Thursday the board is not considering changing its decision on a contract for school resource officers in schools after the mayor offered for the city to pay for two of the officers to work in middle schools.

“The board has examined the School Resource Officer program comprehensively, made a data-driven decision, and voted earlier this month on a path forward,” Tominsky said in an email to The Gazette. “After review of the mayor’s letter, no board member will be changing their vote.”

Board members said the decision was not based on funding, but rather on a racial disparity in student arrests. This said, there will still be officers in other schools in the district.

The city of Cedar Rapids hopes to receive a $50 million boost for flood protection under a bill that passed the U.S. Senate Thursday.

Senators voted 93-1 to pass the 2022 Water Resources Development Act. The biannual packages authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out water resources projects and includes key measures secured by Iowa Republican U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley to update Cedar Rapids’ flood system and a levee in the Des Moines area.

The bill could unlock federal dollars for flood protection on the east side of the Cedar River — which would allow the city to accelerate work on other segments of the system.

A year after Mercy Iowa City announced plans to exit its four-year affiliation with the statewide MercyOne health network and integrate into a larger health care system, the only community hospital in Iowa City is ending its unsuccessful search and sticking with MercyOne after all.

In an email to Mercy Iowa City employees Thursday, Acting President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Trachta acknowledged “significant changes that could not have been anticipated” during the search for a partner that would help put the hospital on a better financial path.

In the email, Trachta also announced Dawna Miller, Mercy Iowa City’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Judy Andronowitz, vice president and chief operating officer, are leaving.

While Mercy Iowa City is focusing internally on improving performance and staffing, the hospital has engaged consultant Insight Health Partners to assess its financial and strategic operations, Trachta said Thursday.

An assessment of the 194-bed hospital will take about 60 days and engage leaders, colleagues and providers in meetings and evaluation activities to give feedback for the campus’ future.

Mercy Iowa City has been struggling to find financial footing for years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged the healthcare industry. Numbers show that Mercy Iowa City did not bounce back as well as other local hospitals as pandemic conditions improved.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, July 28.

Thursday will start with a slight chance for showers, but if you don't get up especially early you can pretend that never happened. According to the National Weather Service after 7 a.m. it will be mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 81 degrees. On Thursday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 58 degrees.

The debate over school resource officers appears like it will continue awhile longer.

The city of Cedar Rapids is offering to fully fund two additional school resource officers to do work at Cedar Rapids middle schools after the school board voted earlier this month to remove those officers.

In a letter to the school board — obtained by The Gazette — dated Tuesday and signed by Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell, the two additional school resource officers could start their day at the Cedar Rapids Police Department to serve middle schools.

These additional officers would bring the total number of police in Cedar Rapids schools back up to seven, where it had been.

It remains to be seen whether this will move the needle for the Cedar Rapids School Board. Part of the reason the board voted to remove the officers are statistics showing that there is a racial disparity in the way students are disciplined when resource officers are present.

Tests have confirmed a brain-eating amoeba was present in a southwest Iowa lake where a Missouri resident was sickened last month.

That person, who swam at Lake of Three Fires State Park in the last two weeks of June, died of the parasitic infection July 7.

Several state agencies completed testing of the water at Lake of Three Fires, 25 miles east of Clarinda, and confirmed the presence of Naegleria fowleri amoeba that can cause a rare and often fatal brain infection.

Now that testing is complete, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will reopen the beach at Lake of Three Fires, which has been closed since July 8. The beach will be posted with signs warning swimmers of the presence of the parasite in the water and the risk of infection.

The state does not plan to test other recreational waters.

Swimmers can reduce their risk by keeping their head out of the water and using nose clips or plugging their nose when going underwater. 

Iowa saw the number of new COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the past week, reporting 5,924 new cases in the past week, up 12 percent from the previous week’s 5,301 new cases. This continues the upward trend in cases in July after cases in June hovered at under 4,000 a week.

Experts believe that a highly contagious version of the omicron variant now dominant in Iowa and the rest of the nation is leading to the increase in cases.

As of Wednesday, 84 Iowa counties — including Linn and Johnson — are experiencing “high” COVID-19 community transmission, compared to 78 counties last week.

In one bit of good news, hospitalizations for the disease went down slightly this week now at 249, from last week’s 256. There were also far fewer deaths from the disease, with 23 new covid deaths reported.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, July 27.

We'll have another mild summer day Wednesday, with a bit less sun. According to the National Weather Service the day will start mostly cloudy in the Cedar Rapids area, then gradually become sunny, with a high near 84 degrees. Then the clouds will return Wednesday night, with a 30 percent chance for rain heading into Thursday morning. The low will be about 66 degrees.

While not a silver bullet, legislation to increase the retirement age for commercial pilots will incrementally help as airlines contend with labor shortages that have caused them to trim flight schedules and drop regional service, Eastern Iowa airport officials say.

Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley joined a group of fellow Republican senators Monday to introduce a bill that would raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age to 67 from 65 in a bid to address a pilot shortage that has fueled flight cuts.

Pilot unions and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have pushed back on the idea of raising the mandatory retirement age over safety concerns. Pilot unions and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have pushed back on the idea of raising the mandatory retirement age over safety concerns. 

With an aging pilot population and heavy use of early retirement packages during the COVID-19 pandemic, one recent study projects North America will be short 12,000 pilots by 2023. Meanwhile, nearly 14,000 licensed pilots in the nation will reach the mandatory retirement age over the next five years and be forced to retire.

The Iowa Utilities Board issued an order Tuesday granting electric generating certificates for the Duane Arnold Solar projects near Palo — as long as Linn County supervisors agree.

State regulators will issue the certificates for the two separate projects after NextEra, the company pursuing the projects with Duane Arnold Solar LLC and Duane Arnold Solar II LLC, has filed and the board has accepted a final, unappealable decisions to be made next month by the Linn County Board of Supervisors.

The certificate is a permit that authorizes a company to operate a public facility within an area and is typically for public utilities or similar entities.

The Duane Arnold Solar I project proposes to use 316 acres of an 857-acre area to place photovoltaic solar arrays capable of generating up to 50 megawatts of energy. The Duane Arnold Solar II project would use 815 acres of a 1,780-acre area to place solar arrays capable of generating up to 150 MW and a 75-MW, four-hour battery energy storage facility.

NextEra, which has operated in Iowa since 1999, said in June it plans to invest $800 million in the solar project, including $50 million paid to landowners over the project’s 30-year life span.

The company has 11 wind projects in the state. The Palo site — near the decommissioned Duane Arnold nuclear plant — would be its first solar project in Iowa, though it has them in 27 other states.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, July 26.

The heat will probably return soon, so let's enjoy this mild weather while we can this week. According to the National Weather Service it will be partly sunny with a high near 80 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. Tuesday night there will be a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Besides that, it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of around 67 degrees. The wind will be calm all day. 

Why did the shooting at Maquoketa State Park happen? It is a question that for now has investigators stumped.

As they look for any connection between the family and the suspected shooter, they say they have uncovered little to establish a motive, noting they have not turned up any connection between Anthony Sherwin and those they say he killed at Maquoketa Caves State Park. Sherwin was later found dead in a wooded area of the park from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

What police have said is that Sherwin, 23, of the Omaha suburb of La Vista, had no criminal history before the attack, and investigators said he appeared to target the victims at random. Sherwin’s parents, who had been camping with their son, expressed incomprehension that he would carry out such an attack.

Cecilia Sherwin told the Omaha-World Herald Sunday that she believes her son went to help the family after hearing gunshots. She said their family does not accept the version of events described by police.

In addition to Sherwin, Tyler Schmidt, 42; his 42-year-old wife, Sarah Schmidt; and their 6-year-old daughter, Lula Schmidt, all died in the attack.

Personal information from staff at the Cedar Rapids Community School District may have been included in data stolen earlier this month in a cybersecurity breach, a memo from the district reveals.

The stolen data potentially included staff members’ full names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account and routing numbers, and medical information including diagnosis and treatment information or health insurance information, according to a letter mailed to staff — obtained by The Gazette — dated July 22.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District has 3,500 employees.

All authorized access to district networks has been disabled and an investigation is being conducted by the district with external cybersecurity professionals, according to the letter.

Hobby Town owners Niels and Musetta Christiansen plan to close their hobby shop at 3655 First Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids, with all merchandise, equipment and fixtures for sale and regular prices discounted up to 50 percent.

The Town and Country Shopping Center shop will hold a private sale starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, then open to the general public at 9 a.m. Thursday. according to a news release sent by Retail Sales Pro, the Florida-based company hired to facilitate the sale.

Inflation and rising rent costs were cited as the primary reasons for closing the retail venue.

The store sells a variety of hobby items including remote control cars, trains and airplanes, along with games, rockets, models, puzzles, kites, paint, parts and tools.