Gazette Daily News Briefing, July 26
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, July 26.
Wednesday may start with rain, but it will end up sunny and hot, hot, hot. According to the National Weather Service there will be a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mostly before 9 a.m. After that the clouds will gradually part until it is sunny, with a high of 96 degrees and a heat index as high as 105. On Wednesday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 72 degrees.
Linn County has agreed to pay an Oelwein man who was beaten and seriously injured by two inmates inside the county jail last year an $85,000 settlement of his federal lawsuit.
Ethan Palmer dismissed his suit last week against Sheriff Brian Gardner, jailer Pete Wilson and others in the sheriff’s office.
According to the lawsuit, Palmer asserted that on May 27, 2022 in retribution for reporting and assisting in an investigation and prosecution of Justin Michael Buehler, he was severely beaten by inmates Johnny Blahnik Church, and Gregory Sills, while in custody in the Linn County Jail.
On Jan. 7, 2019, Palmer gave federal agents information that Buehler regularly sold meth to other employees at Pries Manufacturing in Independence, according to the suit. Later that month, Palmer made controlled purchases of meth from Buehler to assist in the investigation.
Buehler was convicted and sentenced to 30 years for distributing methamphetamine.
Palmer was treated at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for extensive injuries, including facial trauma, an orbital fracture, broken nose and teeth and a fractured knee.
A Cedar Rapids man, who a federal prosecutor called a “menace to the community” for operating a shop to sell synthetic marijuana that netted over $1.3 million in 18 months, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in federal prison in a case put on hold for a decade after he fled the country.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Chatham said Mohammad Al Sharairei, 47, knew the substances he was selling were “poison,” displayed in colorful packages attractive to kids. He was “brazen” because even after law enforcement seized some of his merchandise in 2013, he continued to distribute synthetic marijuana.
This case has been pending nearly a decade because Al Sharairei, after being charged, agreed to plea in 2014 but he and his wife, Melissa Al Sharairei, fled the country.
Al Sharairei remained a fugitive until he was extradited from Brazil. According to U.S. marshals, he and his wife were arrested in Sao Paulo in February 2019 on a local charge, and turned over on the federal warrant in January 2022.
Both the Hawkeye and Cyclone athletic programs in the new budget year are anticipating earning record-breaking revenue. However, the biggest bump may come from Iowa women’s basketball, which is projected to triple the revenue of last year in the upcoming season.
In total, UI Athletics is expecting to generate $140.3 million in revenue, 9 percent over last year’s record-setting $129 million.
Iowa State University Athletics, which also generated a record $106.1 million last year, in the new budget year expects to bring in $111.5 million — thanks to strong anticipated ticket sales, philanthropy and multimedia revenue.
Following the national rise of Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeye women’s trip to the NCAA Championship game, UI expects women’s basketball to generate roughly a million more dollars than it did last year, more than tripling its expected revenue.
