Gazette Daily News Briefing, June 4th
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, June 4th.
Your Thursday will feature some more hot and humid weather, with a chance of thunderstorms Thursday night. According to the National Weather Service, it should be mostly sunny for much of the day in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high of 88 degrees. Then, after 7 p.m., there will be a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. This chance for rain will continue into the early morning hours on Friday.
Iowa legislators returned to session Wednesday, and they remained as divided as ever, even on how seriously to take infection of the coronavirus. In a jarring juxtaposition of values, many Democrats debated wearing masks or face shields, while most Republicans spoke sans protection, beyond hand sanitizer and some social distancing. A Republican, Jeff Shipley, mocked the lawmakers taking precautions while talking with supporters about his stance against mandatory coronavirus vaccination, saying that “this virus isn’t even killing anybody.” Meanwhile, on the same day, legislation supported by Iowa’s business industry that would place a cap on the extent businesses could be sued as a result of an employee contracting COVID-19 passed out of a House committee.
6 more people were reported as dying from coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 566 deaths since the discovery of the disease in the state in early March.
Debate in this accelerated legislative session will continue on Thursday.
Almost 1,000 protestors gathered in Iowa City Wednesday night to protest for law enforcement reform and racial justice similar to many protesting across the nation after the death of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest by Minneapolis police officers on May 25th. The protests were mostly peaceful Wednesday night, but as hundreds of protesters remained into the early morning hours Thursday, attempts by protesters to block Interstate 80 were dispersed by law enforcement using tear gas and flash bang grenades. The interstate highway was temporarily closed by the Iowa Department of Transportation as protesters approached.
Earlier on Wednesday, the three remaining officers not yet charged in Floyd’s death were arrested and charged with being accessories to his murder. Officer Derek Chauvin, who was shown on video placing his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes during the arrest as Floyd told officers he could not breathe, has now been charged with second-degree murder. All four officers had been fired already prior to being charged.
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