Gazette Daily News Briefing, January 22 and January 23
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, January 22 and Sunday, January 23.
Another cold weekend with some snow is on the way. According to a forecast from the National Weather Service, there will be a chance for snow in the morning on Saturday and a chance for snow in the evening on Saturday. The morning snowfall will likely be less than a half inch, while the evening snowfall could be as much as 2 inches. Expect temperatures in the teens for most of Saturday. On Sunday it will calm down a bit, with an increasingly tranquil wind, sunny skies, and a high near 18 degrees.
A Cedar Rapids police reserve officer who fired three shots at a vehicle being driven at him last December will not face charges, the Linn County Attorney’s office announced Friday.
Reserve Officer Scott Fruehling, who has been employed with the department since September 1994, tried to stop a vehicle at 8:36 p.m. Dec. 17 on 32nd Street NE. A short chase ensued to the 1600 block of Center Street NE, where the car finally stopped, blocked by road construction. When Officer Fruehling got out of his vehicle to speak with the driver, the driver turned the car 180 degrees and drove at him, knocking Fruehling to the ground.
The driver was eventually identified as 26-year-old Eddie Ayers III. Ayers was arrested on multiple charges on January 14.
Lance Cpl. Gabe Heefner has “progressed a lot” since arriving two months ago at a rehabilitation hospital in Chicago, his father told the Gazette this week, after the Marine was shot in a bizarre incident last year while driving along an Iowa City street.
Nile Heefner said his son’s healing progress over time had likely plateaued, but a cranioplasty surgery Thursday may “jumpstart his recovery.” Doctors have told the family that after an artificial skull plate is put in, there can be significant improvement in the patient.
Last October, the 20-year-old Marine was shot in the head while driving on Highway 6 near Sycamore Street. Police said the round was fired by a man who was shooting a pellet gun at a squirrel in his yard, but missed and hit Gabe instead. Gabe crashed his car after being shot and was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where his family said he was “fighting for his life.”
Gabe, the oldest of three children, was in town visiting his grandparents when he was injured.
Iowa City resident Philip Olson is accused of violating city code by discharging a pellet gun within city limits. Iowa City police said that three days after the shooting, Olson came to the department to say he had heard about the incident and “admitted to shooting from inside his house at the squirrel and missing” at that time.
Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness previously told The Gazette she wanted to charge Olson with reckless use of a firearm but a “loophole in the law” prevented the more serious charge. An air rifle or similar gun is not considered a firearm or dangerous weapon in Iowa, which makes it hard to prosecute, Lyness said.
A Marion nursing home has been cited for more than two dozen health care violations and is accused of being so short-staffed the residents have not received food or medicine as scheduled.
One resident of the Silver Oak Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Marion died at the home after a fall last Thanksgiving.
The alleged physical abuse of another resident wasn’t reported to the state as required by law, and some temporary employees have reportedly arrived for work and immediately walked out after seeing how short-staffed the facility was.
The facility has been cited for 25 separate federal regulatory violations. It is now facing a state fine of $12,500, which could be cut to $8,125 if the owners agree to forgo an appeal.
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