Gazette Daily News Briefing, May 3
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, May 3.
We'll get sunny weather without the wind on Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 65 degrees. A calm wind of 5 to 10 mph will blow during the day. On Wednesday night it will be clear, with a low of around 42 degrees.
Two men were transported to a hospital early Tuesday because of a fire in the Geneva Tower apartment building downtown.
According to a Cedar Rapids Fire Department news release, an automatic alarm dispatched firefighters at 2:43 a.m. to the 12-story building at 310 Fifth Ave. SE. There also were reports of smoke on the seventh floor.
Firefighters found the apartment where the fire started and were able to extinguish the blaze and prevent it from spreading to other floors or apartments.
Fire crews searched and removed seventh-floor residents until the smoke was ventilated out of the building. One person was displaced from their apartment.
The fire remains under investigation.
There has been one incident of eluding police nearly every two days since January in Linn County, where a driver won’t pull over when an officer attempts to conduct a traffic stop and then typically takes off on a high-speed chase.
In looking at just one period from April 16-24, there were six eluding incidents, Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said. He has been reviewing these cases because he noticed the spike last month during his routine of filing criminal complaints each morning.
“The results were alarming, and the data was insightful,” Maybanks said. “We are on pace to charge more eluding offenses than we did in 2021 and 2022, despite increases in penalties for repeat offenders and unyielding prosecution of violators.”
While looking at previous years, he found 97 eluding charges were filed in 2020, 111 in 2021 and 112 last year. This year, based on the 44 charges so far, the office estimates it is on pace to file 129 eluding cases
.In reviewing the cases to find out why drivers flee, Maybanks said one offender told officers “I was stupid.” Another said he was late for work. And one driver didn’t have an excuse and told police “This is awesome.”
More low-income Iowans would become eligible for state assistance to cover child care expenses, but they also would be required to work more hours to remain eligible for the program under legislation being advanced in the Iowa Legislature.
The Iowa Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would increase the eligibility threshold for state assistance for child care costs from 145 percent to 160 percent of the federal poverty level.
The 160 percent threshold equates to a household income of $48,000 for a family of four.
The bill also increases by four hours, to 32, the number of combined hours of work or education that a participant must engage in to be eligible for the program.
