Gazette Daily News Briefing, October 2
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for October 2, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area Monday with a high of 91 degrees. The low will come in at around 63 degrees.
All schools, day care and athletic activities are canceled Monday for staff and students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District because of a social media threat.
In an email to families and staff Sunday evening, district officials declared an all campus closure for the safety of all students and staff. More information will be provided to the public Monday afternoon, according to the email.
An investigation into the threat is being conducted by the Cedar Rapids Police Department, state public safety agencies and the FBI.
Staff who work at the Educational Leadership and Support Center — the district’s offices — are still expected to report to work Monday.
Staff working in school buildings — including administrators, teachers, secretaries, custodians and daycare workers — are not allowed to enter the buildings.
Late Friday evening a pedestrian was killed when he was struck by a vehicle in Fairfax.
Terry Vaske, 49, of Cedar Rapids, died at the scene of the crash in the area of Casey’s General Store, 65 Williams Blvd., Fairfax, at about 9 p.m. Friday, according to a news release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver who struck Vaske has been identified as Theresa Ludeking, 63, of Norway. Ludeking was not injured in the crash, but did go to a hospital as a precaution.
Less than 24 hours before his civil fraud trial in New York, former President Donald Trump spent his Sunday afternoon in Iowa.
Trump was first at a rally that overfilled the Bridge View Center in the blue-collar Wapello County seat of Ottumwa, and later for a small-scale visit with Iowa farmers at a rural Mahaska County farm between Oskaloosa and Pella.
The farm setting leaned into Trump’s focus on agriculture policy during this trip. He repeated long-held claims of how great he was for Iowa farmers on agriculture and trade policy, and railed against electric vehicles of all kinds.
Trump also highlighted, as he often does in Iowa, the $28 billion in federal aid to farmers that he approved as president in order to offset losses they experienced while his administration renegotiated international trade agreements.
