Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 5
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, November 5.
Remember Thursday’s weather? Well add a little more wind and a warmer evening and you’ve got Friday. According to the National Weather Service the high in the Cedar Rapids area will be around 55 degrees. A wind of 10 - 15 mph could gust as high as 25 mph. On Friday night it will be mostly clear, with a low around 40 degrees.
Two 16-year-old Fairfield students face murder charges in connection with the death of a high school Spanish teacher at the school they attended, authorities said Thursday.
Willard Noble Chaiden Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale, both 16, are accused of killing Nohema Graber, whose body was found Wednesday in a Fairfield park not far from the high school.
They are accused of killing Graber, 66, who had taught at Fairfield High School since 2012. It was not disclosed whether she had been the teens’ teacher.
Fairfield Police said they were able to arrest Miller and Goodale after someone who knew them shared social media posts that contained details of the murder. A motive for the murder has not been released.
A defiant Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday promised “immediate” legal action over a Biden administration rule requiring larger businesses to have their employees get COVID-19 vaccinations or face regular workplace testing.
Reynolds released a statement promising to challenge the new federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule on vaccines for employees of companies employing 100 or more.
Under Thursday’s directive, workers at larger businesses will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or face regular testing. According to U.S. Labor Department guidance, workers who choose the testing option may have to bear the cost, as well as being required to wear a face mask on the job beginning Dec. 5.
The Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday evening unanimously approved the updated iteration for a development near Hickory Hill Park, that is backed by the Friends of Hickory Hill.
The updated proposal for rezoning the 48.75-acre plot northeast of the park is scaled back from previous plans, and devotes nearly three times more land to the city park.
Hickory Trail Estates, a senior living facility, would be built on 8.85 acres at the southeast corner of the plot. The facility would have 120 continuing care retirement community units with a total of 134 beds.
Residents have opposed previous plans for the project, proposed by Axiom Consultants and Nelson Development, that included single-family homes. The third iteration of the proposal was ultimately rejected by the Iowa City Council.
The most recent proposal does not include the single-family housing.
A 41-year-old former immigration lawyer facing theft charges in Colorado is being held in the Johnson County Jail in Iowa City, accused of fabricating a positive COVID-19 test from the University of Iowa in an attempt to avoid a mandatory court appearance in Colorado.
Emily Elizabeth Cohen was booked at 3:08 p.m. Tuesday on a detainer from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, shortly after she tweeted that the Colorado court system “just had me arrested alleging I lied about having COVID. Tweeting from cop car.”
Cohen is scheduled for a 10-day trial in Boulder County in Colorado starting Dec. 6 for 11 felony theft counts stemming from allegations she collected tens of thousands in fees from immigrant families before losing contact with them without producing visas or work permits, according to the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper
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