Gazette Daily News Briefing, June 24
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, June 24.
Back below 90 we go for the final day of the work week. According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly sunny with a high near 86 degrees on Friday in the Cedar Rapids area. There will be increasing clouds Friday with a low of 69 degrees. There will be a good chance of rain early Saturday morning.
Warmer temperatures will return on Saturday and with that will come storms, but the push and pull will result in even cooler temperatures afterward.
Iowa Democrats argued Thursday the state offers a path to victory for long-shot candidates and opportunities for meaningful conversations with rural Americans and Iowans from every walk of life as they made their pitch to hold onto their place at the front of the party’s presidential nominating calendar.
State party officials presented proposed changes for caucuses to the Democratic National Committee’s Rules & Bylaws Committee in Washington in an effort to hold onto their first-in-the-nation status.
Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Ross Wilburn told committee members Iowa presents a “unique opportunity” for presidential candidates to connect with voters distributed across urban, rural and suburban areas in a “presidential swing state” where a majority of congressional districts are competitive.
The DNC rules committee voted in April to reopen the presidential nominating window, forcing all interested states — including the current early-nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — to apply for a spot.
Iowa has long drawn criticism for being a first in the nation presidential contest given the state’s lack of diversity and confusing caucus setup. The party hopes that the proposed changes to the state’s caucus might help the state keep its traditional spot at the front of the line.
According to the Associated Press, the United States Senate easily approved a bipartisan gun violence bill Thursday, setting up final approval of what will be Congress' most far-reaching response in decades to the nation's run of brutal mass shootings.
After years of futile Democratic efforts to curb firearms, 15 Republicans joined with them as both sides decided inaction was untenable after last month’s rampages in New York and Texas. It took weeks of closed-door talks but senators emerged with a compromise embodying incremental change intended to stop more bloodshed. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst split votes, with Grassley voting no and Ernst voting yes.
The $13 billion measure would toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people judged to be dangerous. It would also fund local programs for school safety, mental health and violence prevention.
Iowa’s Keegan Murray was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the fourth pick in Thursday’s NBA draft.
Murray, from Cedar Rapids Prairie, became the highest NBA draft pick ever from Iowa. Fred Brown went sixth in 1971. Murray is the Hawkeyes’ first Top 10 pick since Ronnie Lester in 1980.
Murray joins a team that hasn’t reached the NBA playoffs since 2006. They went 30-52 this season.
Kings GM Monte McNair said Murray was an easy choice at No. 4.
“Ultimately,” he said, “after sitting in the room with my front office staff, our whole staff, our scouting department, our analytics department, (it) became unanimous that Keegan Murray was the best player available, and we jumped at the chance to select him.”
