Gazette Daily News Briefing, December 14
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, December 14th.
You can briefly end your hibernation on Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service there will be rain in the very beginning of the day in the Cedar Rapids area, but this will eventually give way to sunny skies and a high of 48 degrees. On Wednesday night it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of around 28 degrees.
Former University of Iowa President Willard “Sandy” Boyd died Tuesday at the age of 95.
Boyd was widely loved on campus and was instrumental in the university becoming what it is today. During Boyd’s tenure as the UI’s 15th president from 1969 to 1981, undergraduate enrollment exploded threefold from 8,400 to 25,100. Buildings that either opened or were planned on his watch nearly doubled the campus’ size — including Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the Dental Science Building, College of Nursing, Bowen Science Building, Lindquist Center and Hardin Library for Health Sciences, according to the UI Office of Strategic Communication.
The UI Hospitals and Clinics saw its footprint swell under Boyd, who collaborated with then-UIHC Director John Colloton on a then $500,000 plan to upgrade the facility.
He also had a formative impact on Iowa athletics, along with the athletic directors he hired: Bump Elliott and Christine Grant. Coaches hired under his tenure include Dan Gable, Hayden Fry and Lute Olson. He was also part of the renaming of Iowa Stadium to Kinnick Stadium, initially suggesting the name Kinnick-Slater Stadium.
The sprinkler system, smoke detectors and fire hydrants at a Marengo recycling facility were not working or had been disabled before an explosion and fire last week that injured about 15 people, authorities said.
The State Fire Marshal and local law enforcement are interviewing people who worked at C-6 Zero to learn what sparked the fire that took more than 200 firefighters to extinguish as the neighborhood around the plant was evacuated.
One of the questions officials are asking: Why weren’t the sprinklers working?
“I can confirm there were two fire hydrants on site that were not functioning,” Marengo Police Chief Ben Gray said. “There was no activation of indoor fire suppression system and I will confirm we are investigating that.”
Iowa Administrative Code requires all “life safety equipment” including alarm and sprinkler systems to be “in operable condition at all times” for structures where they are required. Failure to do this can result in criminal charges, said Ron Humphrey, special agent in charge of the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
A Cedar Rapids woman convicted of a lesser charge in the fatal stabbing of her boyfriend in 2020 will not serve any additional prison time because she already served 891 days — almost 2 1/2 years — leading up to her trial.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Kevin McKeever on Tuesday sentenced Jacqueline Holmes, 38, who originally was charged with first-degree murder, to up to five years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. However, he said that based on the law she had served enough time before her September trial, and he was discharging her.
Holmes, following more than five days of testimony and a day and half of deliberations, was found guilty of unintentionally causing the death of boyfriend Tremaine Williams, 35, on March 4, 2020 after stabbing him in the shoulder.
A retired Illinois law and psychology professor, who consults and testifies in cases involving domestic violence, said during the trial that Holmes was a battered woman and suffers from its effects. She said Holmes told her about three men who physically abused her, including Williams.
