Gazette Daily News Briefing, February 20 and February 21
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday Feb. 20 and Sunday Feb. 21.
The weather this weekend should be interesting.
For starters it will be a lot warmer. According to the National Weather Service there will be a high of 25 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Saturday, a high of 32 degrees on Sunday and even high temperatures approaching the 40s on Monday and Tuesday. However, it will still be mostly cloudy all weekend, and on Sunday there will be a decent sized snow storm, with 2 to 4 inches of snow predicted. Because we totally needed one more day of snow shoveling before everything melts.
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson said Friday she will vote against the COVID-19 relief bill making its way through Congress if it includes a hike in the federal minimum wage to $15. Such an increase “will hurt Iowa businesses and cost Iowa jobs, and that’s not something I can support right now given the pandemic,” the Marion Republican said during her weekly call with reporters.
Hinson said she supports the bill’s direct payments to those out of work and to businesses and K-12 schools dealing with the pandemic, but she said she doesn’t support sending additional money to state governments.
The Iowa Cannabis Co. has obtained a license to manufacture medical marijuana products at 5137 18th Ave. SW, the former site of Star Food Service Equipment & Repair in Cedar Rapids.
Iowa Cannabis is connected with Cannabis & Glass, a large recreational marijuana store in Spokane, Wash. ” Aaron Boshart, director of operations for the company, told The Gazette in December 2019 profits from the Washington state stores help support Iowa operations.
Iowa currently has strict marijuana laws compared to many states, so medical marijuana manufacturers have struggled to make a profit here. However, companies are showing interest in obtaining operations to stake claims in the case of more lax rules in the future.
A Marion man whose first-degree murder conviction was overturned last year will be retried Nov. 2 for his former girlfriend’s fatal stabbing in 2017.
The retrial for Gregory Davis, 30, was set during a short case management conference Friday. Sixth Judicial District Judge Sean McPartland and attorneys in the case agreed last month to postpone the retrial until later in the year because of concerns about the pandemic.
Davis claimed insanity or diminished responsibility in the fatal stabbing of the woman, who was stabbed 26 times Sept. 28, 2017. Davis won a retrial based on confusing instructions given by the judge to the jury which may have made the jury think they could only apply the insanity defense to some of the charges and not to others.,
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