Gazette Daily News Briefing, October 18
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for October 18, 2023.
There will be a 20 percent chance of rain for much of the day on Wednesday. Otherwise it will be partly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 67 degrees. On Wednesday night it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of around 50 degrees.
A Cedar Rapids man, who just completed his federal sentence for running a large marijuana trafficking ring, was transferred into state custody after being charged Tuesday in the fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley in 2018.
Andrew Thomas Shaw, 34, was charged in Linn County District Court with first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. A warrant was issued last year, while he was still serving his federal sentence in prison.
Shaw is accused of aiding and abetting Drew Wagner, 38, and Johnny Blahnik Church, 36, formerly known as Drew Blahnik, both already convicted in Bagley’s slaying, between Oct. 1, 2018 and Feb. 20, 2019, according to the complaint. He also is accused of hiring them to kill Bagley, 31, of Walker, which they did and were paid for the crime, the complaint states.
Wagner, during the trial for Blahnik Church testified how he and Blahnik Church carried out Bagley’s killing on behalf of their mutual drug dealer, Shaw, as revenge because Bagley robbed Shaw of money and drugs and beat him up in one incident.
If convicted, Shaw faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Iowa's all-Republican U.S. House delegation kept to the party line Tuesday and voted for U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan for speaker even as 20 House Republicans voted for others in protest and denied him the gavel in the first round of voting.
Jordan, R-Ohio, the far-right co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, won the vast majority of Republican votes for speaker in the first vote but was not able to reach the majority vote necessary to become speaker. The House will reconvene at 10 a.m. Iowa time Wednesday to hold another speaker vote.
"I support (Jim Jordan) for Speaker," Rep. Ashley Hinson, who represents Northeast Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, said Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. "We spoke last week about our shared conservative priorities and the needs of Iowans, and I am confident he will advance both."
Without a change in rules, the House cannot pass legislation or budget appropriations until a speaker is elected, and a stopgap funding bill passed last month expires Nov. 17.
Cedar Falls community leader and small-business owner Sarah Corkery announced Tuesday she will seek the Democratic nomination for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, setting up a potential challenge to Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson of Marion.
The district includes Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Waterloo and Grinnell.
Corkery, a first-time candidate and two-time breast cancer survivor, said she is running to expand access to affordable health care, lower prescription drug costs, strengthen gun safety laws and help farmers modernize their business.
