Gazette Daily News Briefing, October 9 and October 10
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, October 9, and Sunday, October 10.
This weekend could be the last one in a while with highs in the 80s, as temperatures are looking to be dropping significantly in the week to come.
According to the National Weather Service, clouds will gradually increase as the day goes on Saturday, with a high near 80 degrees. Despite the cloud cover, there will be no rain projected for the Iowa vs. Penn State game.
There will be some rain predicted for Sunday, with a 20 percent chance of showers, increasing to 40 percent overnight into Monday. When not raining, it should be mostly cloudy on Sunday with a high near 82 degrees.
A judge Friday extended his order preventing Iowa officials from enforcing a law that bans local school districts from implementing mask requirements until a federal lawsuit challenging the law can be heard.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt previously had issued a temporary restraining order preventing Gov. Kim Reynolds and Department of Education Director Ann Lebo from enforcing the law that Reynolds signed in May.
The order entered Friday issues a preliminary injunction that continues to prohibit the state from enforcing the law until the court case can be decided. Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday pledged again to fight against the ruling.
At least two dozen Iowa school districts have implemented mask requirements since Pratt's initial order Sept. 13.
Eastern Iowa’s two largest school districts — Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, representing more than 30,000 students — last month reinstated a mask mandate for students, staff and visitors.
With football season in full swing, Iowa sports betting nearly doubled in September, with wagers exceeding $210 million, giving the state a half million-dollar payout.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission reported Friday that the sports betting handle increased 94 percent from $108.4 million in August.
The surge was fueled, in part, by the betting on the annual Cy-Hawk football game as well as a full slate of college and National Football League games.
The September numbers broke Iowa’s single-month record of $161.4 million set during college basketball’s March Madness, according to the commission’s monthly report.
A bail bondsman and the man he was trying to take into custody were injured Friday evening in Cedar Rapids as the bondsman shot the man who struck a bondsman with his car.
Police were called at 4:48 p.m. Friday to the Dairy Queen at Wilson Avenue and Bowling Street SW for the report that someone had been shot.
There they learned that two bail bondsmen had attempted to take Richard Dean Hamilton, Jr., 40, into custody, as he was wanted on failure to appear warrants related to drug charges, police said. During this attempt, one of the bail bondsmen shot Hamilton, although police did not say why this happened or who did the shooting.
Also unclear as of this recording was what happened when Hamilton attempted to escape, as one of the bondsman was struck by a vehicle as he drove away. Hamilton was later located by officers assigned to the PCAT team at a residence in the 2200 block of D St. SW. Both Hamilton and the bondsman were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
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