Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 8
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for November 8, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly cloudy Wednesday with a high near 55 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. On Wednesday evening the sky will gradually become more clear, with a low of around 36 degrees.
There were mixed results with local bond elections on Tuesday night.
Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly defeated a $220 million bond referendum that would fund improvements to schools in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, leaving officials to find other ways of addressing needs they say won’t disappear despite the failure.
According to unofficial results, about 38 percent of voters in the district were in favor of the measure — far short of the 60 percent needed to pass it. There was an almost 24 percent voter turnout for the school and city elections in Linn County, with some voters turning up at the polls to vote only on the Cedar Rapids bond referendum.
Ely voters also soundly rejected a $7 million bond referendum for a new Community Center — a facility that would have housed City Hall, the public library and recreational services.
The new facility, proposed to be built where City Hall currently sits at 1570 Rowley St., off State Street, was intended to be more noticeable for residents and visitors, accessible to trails and other amenities.
One bond that made it through with the voters’ seal of approval was a $43 million general obligation bond issue that will fund construction of a swimming pool and wellness center in the College Community School District that will be operated by the YMCA.
The measure passed with 65 percent support, according to unofficial results.
We have results of all the other area city council, mayoral, and school board elections on thegazette.com. Election results also will run with additional analysis in the Thursday print edition of the Gazette.
An East Dubuque man was shot Tuesday by a Delaware County Deputy who was attempting to take the man into custody after the fatal shooting of a Fareway employee in Monticello.
Monticello police responded to the Fareway Meat and Grocery Store at 7:29 a.m. Tuesday for a report of a shooting. There they found a Fareway employee who had been shot.
The employee, Aaron McAtee, 48, of Monticello, was taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where he died, according to a news release from the Monticello Police Department.
McAtee had been outside the store near the loading dock when he was shot, in what police believe was a random act of violence, the release states.
Investigators identified Nathan Russell, 38, as a person of interest in the shooting, and he was located by a Delaware County Deputy in Hopkinton. The deputy attempted to take Russell into custody, but Russell failed to comply with directions and the deputy shot him, according to the release.
Russell was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics with gunshot injuries. The deputy has been placed on leave pending the investigation of the officer-involved shooting.
