Gazette Daily News Briefing, February 10
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, February 10.
It will be sunny Friday, and a bit colder than we've been enjoying recently, but not too bad for February still. According to the National Weather Service there will be a high near 29 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. Friday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 18 degrees.
A jury was selected late Thursday and opening statements will begin Friday for a Chicago man accused of firing multiple rounds at a Linn County sheriff’s deputy while fleeing a convenience store robbery in Coggon.
Stanley L. Donahue, 38, is charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of false imprisonment, willful injury, attempt to elude, disarming a peace officer, trafficking in stolen weapons and possession of a firearm as a felon.
The prosecution thought testimony might start Thursday afternoon but jury selection took longer than expected.
Gazette reporter Trish Mehaffey will provide live coverage from the courtroom starting with opening arguments at 9 a.m. Friday.
The trial is expected to go into next week.
Iowa House File 175, a bill that adds black bears to a list of “fur-bearing animals” that are protected and managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, passed in the House 90-5.
The bill would make it a crime to hunt black bears without following regulations set out by the state.
The bill, proposed by Rep. Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville, aims to protect the potential resurgence of the species in Iowa. Black bears originally are native to Iowa, but the state has not had a viable population for over a century, according to the Iowa DNR.
There have been more than 40 black bear sightings in Iowa since 2002, according to the agency.
“This indeed is to protect black bears that migrate to Iowa or remigrate to Iowa,” Jacoby said. “...This gives them a protected status until the DNR has time to review any hunting or trapping seasons that might be appropriate.”
Two years after prisoners tried to break out of the Anamosa State Penitentiary by bludgeoning a nurse and correctional officer to death, the state plans to transfer out some of the most dangerous prisoners there and decrease the prison’s security rating.
The Anamosa facility currently holds both medium- and maximum-security level inmates, but “the majority” of inmates designated as maximum security will be moved to the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison — which becomes the state’s only maximum security prison, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.
The Corrections Department did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking clarification about how many inmates will be transferred and when, and whether the move is related to a safety review of Iowa’s prisons conducted after the Anamosa escape attempt — a report that, except for a summary and timeline, has not been made public.
