Gazette Daily News Briefing, April 26
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, April 26.
The frost returns! But it will be a prelude to a sunny day. According to the National Weather Service there will be widespread frost between 5 and 9 a.m. Otherwise it will be sunny, with a high near 59 degrees. On Wednesday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 38 degrees.
A Linn County jury Tuesday found a Cedar Rapids man guilty of voluntary manslaughter — not first-degree murder — for killing 22-year-old Emily Leonard last year by beating her repeatedly with a metal rod.
The jury found Arthur Flowers, 62, who faced a life sentence under the first-degree murder charge, guilty of the lesser crime and facing up to a 10-year term in prison.
Evidence showed Leonard was struck multiple times in the head with a metal rod or pole found on Flowers’ front porch at his southeast Cedar Rapids home. Blood found on the rod matched Leonard’s DNA.
The repeated blows caused multiple skull fractures and a large tear in her scalp, as well as other bruising, cuts and other broken bones.
Flowers didn’t present any witnesses in his defense, and the jury deliberated about five hours before reaching a verdict.
According to Iowa law, voluntary manslaughter is when someone causes the death of another person “solely as the result of sudden, violent, and irresistible passion” as a result of being provoked.
The Cedar Rapids school board has approved a lease agreement with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance for City View Community High School to be located at the Alliance.
The school board approved the lease agreement Monday in a 5-1 vote, with member Dexter Merschbrock opposing the decision. Member Jennifer Neumann abstained from voting. Her husband, Doug Neumann, is the executive director of the Alliance.
Under the agreement, the school district will put $600,000 into the Alliance building to remodel a portion of the space to be used as a high school. The cost of the project will come from the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, one of the primary revenue sources for funding school infrastructure and equipment repairs, purchases and improvements.
More than 105 incoming ninth and 10th-graders already are enrolled in City View Community High School, which officials say will provide students with more hands-on experiences than the traditional school model.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for re-election in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” he began when he was sworn into office and to set aside their concerns about extending the run of America’s oldest president for another four years.
Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic rivals.
Americans must not find the age argument that compelling, as the leading Republican candidate according to polling is 76-year-old Donald Trump. If this lead holds until the Republican nomination, it would set the stage for a rematch nobody seems to want but still are keen on voting for.
