Gazette Daily News Briefing, August 12 and August 13
Welcome to the weekend!
This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Saturday, August 12th, and Sunday, August 13th, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures on Saturday will be mostly sunny with a high near 89, cooling to a low around 63 Saturday evening.
Sunday will be Partly sunny, with a high near 86 and a 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm before cooling to 63 Sunday night with showers and a chance of thunderstorms.
Making sweet corn sweeter is on the plate of Iowa State researchers
Summer is the smell of cut grass, weekend barbecues and — especially in Iowa — the taste of sweet corn, which few people know better than Alan Myers.
An Iowa State University professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology since 1987, Myers has made it his mission to make sweet corn sweeter.
The most recent USDA-funded sweet corn research, run through the University of Florida, offered scientists $8 million to — among other things — develop new breeding tools, improve early-season tolerance and determine factors driving consumer preference.
The $800 million in American sweet corn grown annually accounts for about 1 percent of the country’s corn production — which is dominated by field corn. Sweet corn consumption has been trending down for decades.
Sweet corn is being celebrated this weekend at the annual St. Jude’s Catholic Church Sweet Corn Festival in northwest Cedar Rapids, where volunteers have shucked some 18,000 ears of corn to prepare.
Festivities include carnival rides, entertainment, games and food — including, of course, hot buttered ears of sweet corn.
Chuck Grassley: ‘It’s about time’ for Hunter Biden special counsel
Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Friday he welcomes the appointment of a special counsel for the investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son, but said he has reservations about the person selected for the post due to concerns about political bias in the U.S. Justice Department and the appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware as the special counsel.
Weiss, a U.S. attorney appointed by former President Donald Trump, was already leading an investigation into Hunter Biden about alleged unpaid federal taxes and an alleged gun possession crime. A plea deal between the prosecution and Hunter Biden’s attorneys fell apart last month when a judge rejected the deal.
“I have some questions about Weiss doing it, because Johnson and I sent all of this material we had … in regard to the payments that were made to Hunter Biden, and we don't know what they did with them," Grassley said.
Republican candidates flock to Iowa State Fair’s opening day
For the next 10 days, the Iowa State Fairgrounds will be the center of the battle for the Republican nomination for president.
The fair is virtually mandatory for anyone running for president as a Republican, a chance to meet voters from across the state, sample various foods on sticks and exhibit the retail politicking vital to winning support in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
Four candidates visited the fair Thursday, and a dozen more, including Democrats and a Libertarian, are expected to visit later.
Former Vice President Mike Pence drew the largest crowd Thursday at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox, where he implored several dozen people that it was time to “restore a threshold of civility in public life.”
California radio talk show host Larry Elder kicked off Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “Fair-Side Chats” at JR’s Southwest Pork Ranch. The chats will be a series of discussions Reynolds will be holding throughout the fair with most presidential candidates.
After flipping burgers and chops at the Iowa Pork Tent, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum brought his focus on energy, economy and national security to the Soapbox stage.
While he wasn’t scheduled for any stage events until Friday, Perry Johnson, a Michigan businessman, was at the fair Thursday morning touring livestock barns with U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, the Republican who represents central Iowa in Congress.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, joined Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart on Thursday to critique the Republican candidates who would be at the fair over the next several days.
Walz said Biden and Democrats have worked to improve lives and lower costs for Americans, while Republicans are debating “culture war” topics and restricting personal freedoms.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
