Gazette Daily News Briefing, March 27 and March 28
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday March 27th and Sunday March 28th.
So the weekend won’t be rain free most likely, but at least it will get a bit warmer. According to the National Weather Service, there will be a good chance of rain showers before 4 p.m. on Saturday in the Cedar Rapids area. Otherwise it will be cloudy with a high of 62 degrees, with a mostly gentle wind of 5 to 10 mph. On Sunday it will be sunny, with a high near 54 degrees.
A Cedar Rapids woman was convicted Friday of kidnapping and repeatedly beating a 15-year-old girl, who endured what a doctor described at “torture” for more than nine months in 2019.
A jury found Mary Jane Jackson Thomas, 47, guilty of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree kidnapping and two counts each of willful injury causing serious injury, willful injury causing bodily injury and going armed with intent.
Jackson Thomas faces life in prison without parole on the first-degree kidnapping conviction.
Jackson Thomas, originally from Micronesia, in a videotaped police interview played for jurors Thursday, admitted that she repeatedly slapped, scratched, bit and struck the teen with a hammer and extension cord, but she didn’t admit to kidnapping — confining — the teen against her will.
The woman, in the police interview, blamed the teen for being “bad” as the cause for the abuse.
The teen, also from Micronesia, is now 17, and she testified that one night she went to Cedar River Bridge and contemplated suicide to escape the beatings, but instead went to the Cedar Rapids Police. A physician’s assistant who examined her injuries testified that she took the rare step of photographing them, because the old and new wounds were so numerous she had no other way to describe them.
Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley on Friday said shifting funding for mental health care services from local property taxes to the state’s general fund is more complicated than just the funding mechanism.
Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, said House GOP lawmakers feel the discussion should include not just the funding but also how that money is spent by providers.The Republican-led Iowa Senate this week approved legislation that would, in phases, shift the funding for the state’s regional mental health care system to the state. Those services are now funded by local property taxes.
Grassley listed Medicaid and tax increment financing as other state-funded programs where he believes state lawmakers do not have sufficient input in how funding is spent.
The Ely Fire Department and other Iowa fire and emergency service crews will hold a procession through Ely Saturday to honor Robert McFarland, a lieutenant with the volunteer fire department who was killed at his job as a correctional officer Tuesday at Anamosa State Penitentiary during a failed prison escape.
The procession will start at 1 p.m. on State Street/Ely Road and turn right on Rock Island Drive. Fire crews will take a left onto Pacific Street, followed by another left on Banner Valley Drive. The procession will pass the Ely Fire Station and continue to Dows Street, where it will turn left toward downtown. The final turn will be right onto State Street.
This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? CorridorCareers.com is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at CorridorCareers.com.
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