Gazette Daily News Briefing, May 10
This Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, May 10
On Wednesday we will get one more pleasant, sunny day this week without the threat of rain. According to the National Weather Service, it will be partly sunny with a high near 78 degrees and a light wind. There will be a chance of rain that appears in the early morning hours on Thursday.
In-state undergraduate students across Iowa’s three public universities could face a 3.5 percent tuition increase in the next academic year under a proposal the Board of Regents will consider later this week.
Given the campuses have different base rates, that percentage increase amounts to:
$305 more for University of Iowa resident students, totaling $9,016 a year;
$304 more for Iowa State University resident students, amounting to $8,982;
$285 more for University of Northern Iowa resident students, bringing the base rate to $8,396.
The suggested increases, if approved, are below last year’s across-the-system increases of 4.25 percent — which came on the heels of a pandemic-plagued academic year and a $7 million state funding reduction in the 2021 budget year.
Heading into the legislative session that just concluded, regents in September asked the state for a $32 million increase in general education appropriations, citing a market "heavily influenced by inflation, competition for quality talent, and labor shortages.“
The money allocated from the budget by state lawmakers, however, fell far short of this request, leading to the university proposal attempting to bridge the gap with the increase to tuition.
As investigators look into whether dozens of student athletes at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University violated the law or collegiate rules by betting on sports, the state board that regulates gambling said Tuesday that the integrity of sporting events involving those two universities is not currently called into question.
The UI and ISU on Monday confirmed investigations into sports betting by dozens of student athletes across several sports, including both schools’ football and men’s wrestling teams, which would violate NCAA rules and subject them to discipline.
In a statement Tuesday, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, which administers the state’s gambling and betting laws, said it does not now possess any evidence to call into question the integrity of those two schools’ sporting events.
The statement appears to indicate the commission has not seen evidence that any UI or ISU student athletes placed bets on games in which they competed.
However, the UI said Monday its investigation also includes potential criminal conduct, although it did not elaborate. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, which investigates and enforces those state laws, Tuesday confirmed its involvement in the “ongoing investigation.”
An Iowa City man, who was set to have a trial next week on attempted murder and robbery charges, cut off his GPS ankle monitor over the weekend and authorities Tuesday confirmed he fled to Jordan.
Ali Younes, 19, charged with attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree theft, used Jordanian travel documents and boarded a Royal Jordanian Airlines flight Saturday in Chicago, according to Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith, University of Iowa police and federal authorities.
His mother and father are accused of helping him. They each have been arrested and charged with escape from custody — felon, which is a Class D felony.
Alfred Younes was arrested Tuesday by the Omaha Police Department’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit and the Omaha Airport Authority while he was attempting to board a flight in Omaha, Neb., with his destination set for Amman, Jordan. He will be extradited to Johnson County to face charges.
