Gazette Daily News Briefing, August 21
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for August 21, 2023.
It’ll be hot again Monday. According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly sunny on Monday with a high near 94 degrees. On Monday night it will be partly cloudy, with a low of around 73 degrees.
Cedar Rapids police and fire personnel recovered a body from the Cedar River on Sunday afternoon.
According to a city news release, police and firefighters received a report of a body floating in the river around 2:30 p.m.
Responding officers found a man’s body floating along the west bank of the river between the Ellis boat ramp and I Avenue boat ramp. Firefighters used a boat to recover the body just before 3:30 p.m.
Officials don’t yet know the identity of the dead man. An investigation is underway.
A section of sidewalk on Third Avenue in downtown Cedar Rapids was closed Saturday morning after bricks fell from the facade of a four-story building and landed on the sidewalk.
The falling bricks landed adjacent to the Granby building, 218 2nd St. SE, according to a news release from the city of Cedar Rapids. The incident was reported at approximately 7:25 a.m. Saturday, shortly before the Downtown Cedar Rapids Farmers Market opened. No injuries were reported, according to the city.
Using a Cedar Rapids Fire Department ladder truck, crews inspected the building’s exterior and removed other loose materials. The city’s Buildings Services Department was notified. A preliminary inspection indicated the bricks fell from the facade.
A Cedar Rapids man was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Leo Christopher Kelly, 37, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on seven offenses, including obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, and six misdemeanors.
According to court documents and evidence presented during Kelly’s May trial, Kelly was one of the few rioters who breached the Senate Chamber. While there, Kelly ascended the Senate Dais, leafed through sensitive documents and took photos of them, the DOJ reported.
Kelly’s video showed him joining other rioters in challenging police, the news release states.
Judge Royce C. Lamberth sentenced Kelly to 30 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. Kelly must pay $7,000 in restitution and fines.
