Gazette Daily News Briefing, April 18
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, April 18.
Tuesday will start with frost but clear into a pleasant day. According to the National Weather Service there will be widespread frost in the Cedar Rapids area, mainly before 10 a.m. After that it will be sunny with a high near 62 degrees, with a calm wind.
A Tiffin man was arrested Sunday and charged with breaking into and causing “extensive damage” to parts of Veterans Memorial Stadium, home of the Cedar Rapids Kernels, over the weekend.
Andrew Joseph Reynolds, 23, is charged with first-degree criminal mischief and third-degree burglary.
According to a criminal complaint, Reynolds was captured on video surveillance breaking into the stadium and vandalizing the front offices and suites, and bouncy ball dispensing machine. He also broke the front window of the gift shop and stole several bags of merchandise, the compliant said.
Reynolds appears to have recorded himself running the bases in the stadium at the time of the break in, and posted it to Snapchat. Someone reported the video to Kernels’ staff, and they were able to identify him in video surveillance at the stadium.
The Senior Center will stay at its downtown Iowa City location — unless the City Council overrules a survey’s finding — as staff continues to work toward renovations under the center’s facility master plan.
After collecting nearly 1,000 responses, a public input survey showed 73 percent of respondents support keeping the Iowa City Senior Center at its current location, 28 S. Linn St.
The Senior Center asked for feedback last year through a short survey and community input sessions on what improvements and renovations to prioritize, as well as if the current location is the best option for seniors.
The 220-room, seven-floor Marriott Hotel on Collins Road in Cedar Rapids is going up for sale starting May 2.
The starting bid for the hotel auction is $3.2 million with bidding running through May 4.
Jeff Berkman, of real estate agency Hodges Ward Elliott, confirmed the hotel is for sale but did not provide further information.
The online listing points out it is “the only full-service Marriott hotel in the market and one of only three Marriott-affiliated hotels” in Cedar Rapids. The hotel is located next to Collins Aerospace, which the listing also states “generates a consistent flow of demand.”
The $14 million hotel opened in 1988 as the Collins Plaza and Convention Center. It became the Cedar Rapids Marriott in 2004, which included a renovation of guest rooms and a redesign of the ballrooms, meeting rooms and public spaces.
