Gazette Daily News Briefing, January 24
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, January 24.
It'll be another calm winter day Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly cloudy with a high near 32 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. On Tuesday night there will be a 20 percent chance of snow after midnight. Otherwise it will be cloudy, with a low of around 24 degrees.
A state-funded private school financial assistance package costing $345 million a year was making its way late Monday to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk, where her signature would seal her top legislative priority into state law.
After more than five hours of debate, the bill passed the Iowa House on Monday evening. The chamber was considered the final potential stumbling block for the proposal; the Senate was debating the bill but was widely expected to pass it.
Reynolds will sign the legislation into law Tuesday, her office said, during national School Choice Week.
The House, which did not have enough votes to pass similar proposals each of the past two years despite its Republican majorities, passed the governor’s new, much broader proposal with a 55-45 vote. Only Republicans voted to support the bill, and nine Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
Applause broke out among House Republicans after the vote.
The proposal, which will be phased in, eventually would make nearly $7,600 in state funding available to every Iowa student who attends a private school.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, an 18-year-old man was charged with murder in Monday's killing of two teenagers at an alternative educational program for at-risk youth in Des Moines.
Police said Preston Walls of Des Moines is charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the Monday shooting at Starts Right Here. Two teenagers — an 18-year-old male and a 16-year-old male — were killed in the attack.
The program's founder, 49-year-old William Holmes — a rapper who goes by the stage name Will Keeps — was injured.
Police said Walls was on supervised pretrial release on a weapons charge and had removed an ankle bracelet 16 minutes before he went to the school outreach program with a gun and confronted the two student victims. Police said Walls and the two students all had gang affiliations and were in opposing gangs.
The newest elementary school in the Cedar Rapids Community School District — opening fall 2024 — will be named Trailside Elementary School.
Trailside Elementary, under construction at 2630 B Ave. NE, will replace Arthur and Garfield elementary schools as part of the district’s facility master plan. The name was unanimously approved by the Cedar Rapids school board Monday.
Arthur Elementary Principal Jennifer Nurre and Garfield Elementary Principal Joy Long visited each classroom in their schools to get student input on the name.
There were 80 student and staff submissions and 16 submissions from the community. After gathering name submissions from students, staff and families, the list was narrowed to six names.
Staff at Arthur and Garfield elementary schools voted on the final six names to come up with Trailside Elementary.
