Gazette Daily News Briefing, October 9
This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Mon., Oct. 9 — Indigenous Peoples Day.
According to the National Weather Service, Cedar Rapids, Independence, Manchester, Vinton and Anamosa are included in a frost advisory issued for Monday morning. The advisory is in effect from 1 to 9 a.m. Then, temperatures in the area are expected to warm to about 59 degrees under sunny skies. The weather service said the advisory is generally north of Highway 30, but “patchy frost is possible” farther south down to the Interstate 80 corridor. Then, overnight, expect widespread frost, mainly after 5 a.m., with a low around 33.
A Halloween display which seemed to mock inmates was removed Friday from the front entrance of Anamosa State Penitentiary, after state prison officials were alerted. A woman who was visiting her son over the weekend contacted The Gazette because she was offended by the display at the front of the prison, an entrance that visitors use when arriving to see loved ones and friends. The display featured a large cage and inside was a headless scarecrow figure, holding a pumpkin head, and dressed in an orange prison jump suit. The display included a sign — shaped like a pumpkin — that read, “Doing 30 years in the pumpkin patch.” Iowa Department of Corrections Director Beth Skinner said in a statement to The Gazette. “I want to apologize to visiting family members who saw it and for the poor judgment that led to this incident. It was inappropriate and insensitive, and it does not represent the values of our department.”
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blamed President Joe Biden and his administration after Hamas militants launched the deadliest attack in decades on Israel, citing a $6 billion transfer to Iran that administration officials insisted had yet to be spent. DeSantis and Trump, who are running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, both stopped in Cedar Rapids over the weekend. Trump delivered a speech to about 2,000 people Saturday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Cedar Rapids Convention Complex in downtown Cedar Rapids. DeSantis spoke Sunday to a crowd of a few hundred supporters at Refuge City Church in Cedar Rapids as a guest for a meet-and-greet organized by Never Back Down, the super PAC backing him for the GOP nomination.
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🎹 Podcast music: “Journey” by Emily McGlothlen
