Gazette Daily News Briefing, January 5
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for January 5, 2024.
According to the National Weather Service it will be cloudy on Friday in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high near 35 degrees. The low will drop down to 27 degrees, with a small chance of snow overnight.
Perry High School was terrorized by a school shooting early Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, on the first day of classes in the new year, a 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and a hand killed a sixth grader and wounded five others. Police found the teen, later identified as Dylan Butler, dead of what they believe to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
An Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation official said Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger was among those hurt in the shooting.
Authorities released no information on what they believe Butler’s motive was, as they continued to investigate as the chaos subsided.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, two friends of Butler and a mother told a reporter that Butler was a quiet person who had been bullied for years.
At a town hall meeting at Kirkwood Community College Thursday morning, U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson was asked about the shooting and whether she would support sensible gun laws.
Hinson said had not been briefed on the shooting, yet, but that “anyone who even threatens this kind of violence has true hate in their heart.”
“These are horrific tragedies and anyone who decides to go to school, a grocery, any public event with this kind of hate in their hearts is an absolute monster, and I think if we could legislate away this kind of hate we would have done it by now,” Hinson said. “I think there is a balance to be had here between protecting our Second Amendment rights in this country, which I've been a firm supporter of, and making sure that we can actually hold the bad guys accountable.”
She said her focus would be on making sure law enforcement has the resources to respond to and prevent such incidents.
With the Iowa Caucuses just over a week way, the race for Republican candidates in Iowa still appears to be a Donald Trump’s race to win, based on polls of likely Caucus goers.
That means all the drama leading up to the vote appears to be on who will get the remaining bragging rights of coming in second place.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is facing backlash from Iowa conservative leaders for telling a New Hampshire crowd that its primary voters have the opportunity to "correct" the results of the Iowa caucuses.
“We have an opportunity to get this right," Haley said at a campaign event Wednesday in New Hampshire. ”You know how to do this. You know, Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it. … And then my sweet state of South Carolina brings it home. That's what we do.“
Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, has gained momentum in the Granite State, surpassing GOP primary rival and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis there.
Haley and DeSantis are also neck and neck in Iowa based on polling numbers.
Predictably, DeSantis’ Iowa allies jumped on Haley’s comment.
“I trust Iowans to make their own decisions. No ‘corrections’ needed!” Reynolds, who has endorsed DeSantis, tweeted on X.
Iowa Christian evangelical leader Bob Vanderplaats, who also endorsed DeSantis for president, posted to X that Haley's remarks “are very telling regarding her status in Iowa” and that it is an “admission of getting beat" in the Iowa caucuses.
A spokesperson for Haley’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request from the Gazette to comment about the remark.
