Daily News Podcast: Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne German is retiring. This comes after his police officer certification expired after turning 66 earlier this year. Jerman will retire once Cedar Rapids City Council signs off on his severance agreement. Jerman has been on paid administrative leave since March 9 after Iowa Law Enforcement Academy inquired about Jerman staying with Cedar Rapids as a civilian employee. For more details read the story by Marissa Payne: https://www.thegazette.com/local-government/cedar-rapids-police-chief-to-retire-after-he-aged-out-of-certification-and-reached-severance-agreeme/
Iowa City Schools will cut teaching staff over the next two years. Reductions will include 18 elementary teachers and 9 junior high and high school teachers. These cuts will save almost $2.5 million and were prompted by the expiration of pandemic funding. Three district-level administrator positions will be reduced to save $2.3 million. Meanwhile, the fiscal year 2024 budget will increase to accommodate planned facility projects. Read about those in Grace King's story "Iowa City schools reduce staff as pandemic funding expires" on thegazette.com. https://www.thegazette.com/k/iowa-city-schools-reduce-staff-as-pandemic-funding-expires/
Finally, some Eastern Iowa officials are concerned Iowa offenders are being released from prison too soon--either before their sentence allows or before inmates received treatment in prison. The Gazette's Erin Jordan reports that there have been at least two Eastern Iowa cases in which mistakes were caught by someone outside of the prison system. This story includes a detailed look at the work of the Iowa Board of Parole and changes coming as a result of the massive government reorganization bill signed Tuesday by Governor Kim Reynolds. This bill puts all decision-making authority with the state Corrections Department. For the full story, read "Paroled too soon?" by Erin Jordan.
And now a look at today's weather. Today will be partly cloudy with a high of 78 and low of 46.
