Gazette Daily News Podcast, August 2nd
This is Zack Kucharski with The
Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Tuesday, August 2nd.
According to the National Weather
Service, we will see gradual clearing in the Cedar Rapids area today after a
cloudy start through
mid-morning. It will be hot, with a high near 94. Winds from
the south 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Then tonight, it will be
partly cloudy, with a low around 80.
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A former softball coach at Solon High School and Clear Creek Amana
High School, made an initial appearance in Johnson County District Court Monday
accused of sexually abusing a student 15 years ago.
James White, 58, of North Liberty, faces two counts of
third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual exploitation by a school
employee. He is being held in the Johnson County Jail on a $40,000 bond.
A woman, who was student of his during the 2006-07
school year and was coached by him on the softball team, went to police in
March to report the abuse, according to criminal complaints.
The woman, who was 15 when White was her teacher and coach, told
police she was groomed by White and they had a sexual relationship. White, then
43, is accused of calling the then 15-year-old and asking her to meet him on a
gravel road in rural Johnson County, according to the complaints. He reportedly
gave her directions and asked her not to hang up the phone the whole time she
was on her way there.
In another instance, White reportedly invited her over to his
house while his wife, who also was a high school softball coach, was out of
town coaching in a state softball tournament.
White was ordered to have no contact with his accuser.
He posted a $40,000 surety bond and was released from jail Monday, court records
show.
White worked as a teacher and softball coach at CCA for several
years before he left in 2012 to coach at Solon High School. He coached softball
at Solon until 2017, then returned as an assistant baseball coach for the 2021
and 2022 seasons. His contract at Solon ended earlier this summer, according to
Solon School District Superintendent Davis Eidahl.
In 2017, White was named the National
High School Coaches Association coach of the year.
White also coached various sports at CCA High School
and CCA Middle School during the last few years. He resigned from CCA in June,
according to the school district.
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The driver who exchanged gunfire with two Cedar Rapids Police
officers early Saturday after being pulled over for erratic driving has been identified
as 23-year-old Brandon Lee Nelson of Cedar Rapids, the Iowa Division of
Criminal Investigation said Monday. Investigators say Nelson was westbound on
Glass Road in Cedar Rapids just before 4 a.m. Saturday when police tried to
pull him over. Nelson and two Cedar Rapids police officers exchanged gunfire.
The officers, who were not injured, have not yet been identified, but are on
leave pending the outcome of the DCI’s investigation. Nelson was taken to
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics following the shooting but is expected
to be released soon. Nelson has multiple prior convictions for eluding
police in Linn County, online court records show.
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strike in Afghanistan this weekend killed Ayman
al-Zawahri, who helped Osama bin Laden plot the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
on the United States and ensured al-Qaida survived and spread in the years
after. President Joe Biden on Monday announced the killing of 71-year-old al-Zawahri,
delivering a significant counterterrorism win just 11 months after American
troops left the country.
After the years of quietly assembling the suicide attackers,
funds and plans for the Sept. 11 attack, Zawahri ensured that al-Qaida survived
the global manhunt that followed to attack again.
On the run after 9/11, al-Zawahri rebuilt al-Qaida
leadership in the Afghan-Pakistan border region and was the supreme leader over
branches in Iraq, Asia, Yemen and beyond. With a credo of targeting near and
far enemies, al-Qaida after 9/11 carried out years of unrelenting attacks: in
Bali, Mombasa, Riyadh, Jakarta, Istanbul, Madrid, London and beyond. Attacks
that killed 52 people in London in 2005 were among al-Qaida’s last devastating
attacks in the West, as drone strikes, counterterror raids and missiles
launched by the U.S. and others killed al-Qaida-affiliated fighters and
shattered parts of the network.
Around sunrise Sunday, Al-Zawahri came outside on
the balcony of a house in Kabul, Afghanistan, and apparently lingered there, as
U.S. intelligence had noted he often did. On this day, a U.S. drone fired two
Hellfire missiles at the al-Qaida leader as he stood, according to U.S.
officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the strike.
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And finally today….Kinnick Stadium on
the University of Iowa campus will host high school football later this month
for the first time in 50 years.
Iowa City High announced Monday its season-opening football game
against Iowa City Liberty will be played under the lights at Kinnick on Aug.
26, and has been dubbed the “Clash at Kinnick.”
City High was 10-2 last season and made it to the
Class 5A state semifinals, while Liberty is coming off a 3-6 season.
Kinnick Stadium’s high school football history includes hosting two
state championship games in 1972, the first year the Iowa High School
Athletic Association conducted football playoffs. Cedar Rapids
Jefferson beat West Des Moines Dowling in the 4A final, while Cedar Rapids
Regis fell to Harlan in 3A. Kinnick also was the site for all four state
championship games in 1973 and the 4A and 1A title games in 1975
