Gazette Daily News Briefing, September 29
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for September 29, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area on Friday with a high near 82 degrees.
According to reporting from the Associated Press a government shutdown seems more likely than not as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy rejected Senate legislation on Thursday that would fund the government through November while dealing with House Republicans members who are divided on any potential alternative.
The impasse in congress comes just days before a federal shutdown that would halt paychecks for many of the federal government’s roughly 2 million employees.
In a sign of deepening resistance to assisting Ukraine, more than half of House Republicans voted against providing Ukraine $300 million in military aid, though the money was approved on a bipartisan 311-117 vote.
The House’s most recent movement on the appropriations legislation won’t keep the government from shutting down, but House leadership hoped the progress would persuade enough Republicans to support a House-crafted continuing resolution that temporarily funds the government while boosting security at the U.S. border with Mexico.
A state board determined Thursday that state campaign laws were not violated when Cedar Rapids school district officials used school resources to help collect signatures to get a bond referendum placed on the ballot this fall. However, board members nonetheless expressed their disapproval.
Leaders on the state oversight board criticized Cedar Rapids Community School District officials’ activities, and made plans to express as much in a letter to school leaders while also researching ways the board could more forcefully address similar actions in the future.
Earlier this month — while signatures were in the process of being collected — a complaint was made to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, asserting that district officials violated state law when they used school resources to produce literature encouraging the public to sign the petitions.
The complaint highlights emails sent by the district that encouraged people to sign the petitions, informed them where the petitions could be signed and described the various projects the district would undertake if the bond is approved.
Students in the Iowa City Community School District will get to explore courses in career and technical education as early as sixth grade as the district transitions from a junior high to a middle school model by fall 2024.
Iowa City school officials are creating curriculum that aligns with Iowa’s career and technical education service areas — in addition to traditional course offerings such as science and math — to prepare to move sixth-graders into schools with seventh- and eighth-graders.
Middle school is a critical time for students to begin exploring career pathways and developing career-related skills, said Lucas Ptacek, Iowa City schools’ executive director of secondary schools, in a presentation to the school board Tuesday.
Career development education at this age helps students identify their strengths and interests, adds relevancy to their academic classes and eases the transition to high school by supporting more informed educational choices that align with a students’ career goals, according to market research by Hanover Research cited at the board meeting.
