Gazette Daily News Podcast: Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Featured Stories

– The Eastern Iowa Airport will pay $1.1M to buy property with PFAS in groundwater

– Northern Iowa faculty seek end to general fund support for athletics

– Iowa man arrested in fatal stabbing of a Nebraska priest

Episode Transcript

You are listening to The Gazette’s Daily News Podcast on Tuesday, December 12, 2023. This is this podcast where you get quick bites from the latest headlines coming out of The Gazette newsroom. I'm Bailey Cichon filling in for Stephen Schmidt.

Eastern Iowa Airport will pay $1.1 million to buy a property with PFAS contamination in the groundwater. This agreement resolves after two years of negotiations after property owners learned that the water from their well had PFAS level 3.5 times more than a lifetime limit set by the federal government at that time. PFAS stands for per-and polyflourinated substances. PFAS can be found in man-made chemicals, like the firefighting foam firefighters at EAstern Iowa Airport used to contain fuel fires. On Monday, the Airport Commission unanimously approved resolutions to buy 3400 Walford Road from Paul and Nikki Hynek, who will continue to rent a house on the property. The couple agreed not to hold the airport liable for the PFAS contamination. According to the purchase agreement, the airport paid to ahve a new, deeper well drilled on the property last year. The airport also supplied bottled water to the Hyneks for two years. For the full story, read the article by Erin Jordan at thegazette.com. Find a link n the episode description.

Union faculty members at Northern Iowa University are seeking to end general fund support for athletics. According to reporting by The Gazette’s Vanessa Miller, UNI has given nearly $4.3 million of the campus’s general university funds to athletics in the 2023 budget year. This was almost $1 million more than planned. In fiscal year 2022, UNI sent $3.5 million to athletics, which adds up to $7.8 million in total over the past 2 years. Now, faculty is urging UNI Athletics to become self-supporting like its counterparts at University of Iowa and Iowa State University. 

United Faculty President and jouranlism professor Christopher Martin said the millions of dollars funneled annually to athletics would help the university’s mission. Quote, “On the academic side, we’re really just cut to the bone. We have so many faculty lines that we need to have filled and replaced.” end quote.

Spokesman Pete Moris said although UNI administrators agree that academics, student success and faculty are key to UNI’s mission, athletics play an important role in driving applications, admissions and donations. Moris said UNI administration hears its faculty members and quote, “one of the ongoing directives for our athletics department is to generate more revenue and to identify additional opportunities for our athletics department to be more self-sustaining.” end quote. Find the full story at thegazette.com or at the link in this episode description.

An Iowa man has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a Nebraska priest. 43-year-old Kierre L. Williams, of Sioux City, was arrested on charges of homicide and using a weapon to commit a felony. According to reporting from the Associated Press, a 911 call was placed around five Sunday morning about an attempted break-in at Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska. When oficers arrived, they found Rev. Stephen Gutgsell injured and a suspected attacker inside the church. Gutgsell was taken to an Omaha hospital where he died from his injuries. Gutgsell pleaded guilty in 2007 to theft by deception for embezzling $127,000 from an area church. He was sentenced to probation, ordered to pay restitution and reassigned to a new church. Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson told WOWT-TV that authorities do not believe Gutgsell’s death and his criminal history are related.

Finally, a look at today’s weather on Tuesday, December 12, 2023. Today will be mostly sunny with a high of 32 and a low of 20. Tomorrow, temperatures will climb to a high of 40 and drop to a low of 21. Expect partly cloudy skies. 

Thank you for listening to The Gazette’s Daily News Podcast. I’m Bailey Cichon.