Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 16
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for November 16, 2023.
It will be our last day above 60 degrees for a while Thursday. According to the National Weather Service there will be increasing clouds in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 67 degrees. It will also be breezy, with winds of 15 to 20 mph gusting as high as 35 mph.
We should still have highs in the 50s on Saturday and Sunday, but it appears that next week will begin the slide into colder temperatures.
A judge Wednesday sentenced 18-year-old Jeremy Goodale to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for his role in killing his high school Spanish teacher with a baseball bat.
District Judge Shawn Showers said this wasn’t a “typical” murder case — noting the brutal nature of the killing.
66-year-old Nohema Graber, a teacher at Fairfield High School, was killed in 2021 by Goodale and Willard Chaiden Miller. Both students were 16 at the time of the killing.
Showers, who considered all the juvenile factors required in sentencing a teen, said there were mitigating factors in the case, including Goodale’s genuine remorse, which was unlike “your co-defendant” – referring to Chaiden Miller. He also said Goodale’s plea of guilty and acceptance of responsibility also was a mitigating factor.
State education officials will not provide Iowa school districts with a list of library materials now prohibited under new K-12 book restriction rules, despite calls and suggestions for it to do so by school librarians and administrators and a state board member.
The Iowa Board of Education voted Wednesday to move ahead with proposed rules seeking to clarify restrictions under a new state law that prohibits books and curriculum in K-12 schools that contain descriptions of sex acts. The law also prohibits the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade.
The law passed solely by the Republican majority also requires school administrators to alert a student's caregiver if a student wants to use pronouns that differ from their sex assigned at birth.
Iowa cornerback and special teams standout Cooper DeJean has suffered a significant lower-leg injury in practice and will miss the rest of the season, the team confirmed Wednesday evening in a news release.
“This is truly heartbreaking for Cooper,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said in a statement. “He has played extremely well and is a real playmaker on our team. We will all support Cooper during his recovery, which will continue into the new year.”
DeJean, an Associated Press midseason All-American, has widely been projected to be a first-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft should he choose to forego his senior season.
