Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 22
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for November 22, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny Wednesday in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 46 degrees. On Wednesday evening it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 31 degrees.
The super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to the airwaves in a pair of ads that feature Reynolds encouraging voters to support DeSantis.
The ads are part of a seven-figure ad buy in Iowa from Never Back Down. They are the first to feature Reynolds making a direct-to-camera pitch for DeSantis, who she endorsed for the Republican presidential nomination this month following months of public discord with the GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump.
That feud continued Tuesday with Trump releasing a video on social media noting that Gov. Reynolds has gone from one of the most popular governors in the country to one of the least popular. He then suggested Reynolds must have been promised a position by DeSantis to back someone so far back in the polls.
Recent polls of likely Iowa caucus goers show DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley jockeying for a distant second place behind Trump. According to an average of polls by FiveThirtyEight, Trump has nearly 45 percent of support of Iowa Republicans, while DeSantis has 17.5 percent and Haley has around 15 percent.
A former softball coach at Solon High School and Clear Creek Amana High School pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting a teenage student about 17 years ago.
James Anthony White, 59, of North Liberty, charged with two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee, pleaded guilty in Johnson County District Court to one count of third-degree sexual abuse and enticing a minor away with intent to assault.
White, during the plea hearing, admitted to sexually assaulting the victim when she was 14- and 15-years-old, from January 2006 through December 2007. He also admitted to enticing away the victim with intent to commit assault.
District Court Judge David Cox said, as part of the plea agreement, the 10- and five-year prison sentences will run consecutively but will be suspended and White will receive probation. The sentencing judge will determine the length of probation.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said the victim had been consulted about the plea agreement and had agreed to it.
The woman, who was a student of White’s during the 2006-07 school year and was coached by him on the Clear Creek Amana softball team, told police about the past sexual abuse incidents in early 2022, according to a criminal complaint.
She told police she was 15 when White was her teacher and coach, and said she had been groomed by White and they had a sexual relationship.
White was a teacher and softball coach at Clear Creek Amana for several years before leaving in 2012 to coach at Solon High School. He coached softball at Solon until 2017, then returned as an assistant baseball coach for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
His contract at Solon ended the summer of 2022, according to the Solon School District.
