Gazette Daily News, January 30 and January 31
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday Jan. 30 and Sunday Jan. 31
If I may offer a brief editorial on the weather before we begin: Black ice on wood steps is no joke. Also, as a related editorial comment: Ouch!
Moving beyond my personal pain, let’s get to the collective pain in our rears. There will be some more nasty winter weather this weekend. According to the National Weather Service, it will kick off with freezing rain in the Cedar Rapids area Saturday morning, slowly turning from freezing rain to full on rain as we hit the day’s high of 34 degrees after noon. It will also be windy all day, with a 15 mph gusting as high as 25 mph. Then, Saturday night, expect rain and snow, with snow coming after 8 p.m. There is predicted to be between 2 to 4 inches possible.
Then for Sunday, more snow likely, primarily before noon. There will be a high of 33 degrees afterward with cloudy skies. Wind guests will again be in the 20 mph range, but snow accumulation is expected to remain around a half inch.
A shootout last year at the Sunset Village Mobile Home Park in Hiawatha that left three men injured and a fourth man dead will not lead to major criminal charges.
After authorities investigated the chaotic events around the May 30, 2020, gunfight, Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden announced Friday the killing of Joshua Lathrop, 31, was justified under Iowa’s “stand your ground” self-defense law.
Only one charge — of illegally carrying a gun — will be filed against one of the combatants. The altercation may have stemmed from Tyler and Terrone Bell — who are twins — searching the mobile home park for two unknown men who allegedly attacked Tyler Bell’s girlfriend, the findings indicated.
Witnesses said the brothers were searching the park, yelling they were “gonna get somebody,” and Terrone Bell was visibly armed. Witnesses said that Lathrop confronted the Bell brothers and punched one in the face, and that is when the shooting began.
“All four principle participants in the altercation, Terrone and Tyler Bell, Truman Harris and Chad Harris, freely and voluntarily spoke to investigators about their role in the shooting incident,” Vander Sanden said in his findings. “None of them requested the assistance of an attorney. The three who fired weapons, Terrone Bell, Truman Harris and Chad Harris, adamantly claimed they did so to defend themselves or to defend another person.”
On Friday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a requirement that K-12 schools offer the option of 100 percent in-person learning to all students beginning in February, even if districts are not operating completely in-person during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Reynolds also used the event to pitch for a Republican effort to institute a new voucher system in the state’s K-12 education system. After receiving angry public feedback, there is some concern that there are not enough votes in the Republican controlled legislature to pass the bill due to concerns about the long term ramifications it might have on the state’s education system.
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