Gazette Daily News Podcast: Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Stories referenced in episode
– Iowa City bus ridership is up 44% since going fare free
– A bar in Cedar Rapids offered free beers until Iowa scored. Then the team got shut out.
– Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 11 years for child porn
Episode Transcript
You are listening to the Tuesday, December 5th, 2023 edition of the Gazette's Daily News podcast. I’m Bailey Cichon filling in for Stephen Schmidt.
This is the podcast where we give you quick bites from headlines coming out of The Gazette newsroom.
Iowa City's bus ridership is up 44% since going fare free in August. The city reports that Iowa City transit has had 45,009 more passenger trips this October than in October 2022. Iowa City decided in June to use pandemic relief money to launch a two-year pilot program of fare free operations. The city's goal is to double ridership during the program but Transportation Director Darian Nagle-Gamm said the city is not yet on track to meet that target.
Nagle-Gamm said the increase in ridership benefits everyone quote, “Each trip on transit reduces traffic congestion reduces greenhouse gas emissions, improves air quality frees up parking spaces and helps connect people to job opportunities which improves the overall economic status of the community. Taking transit also improves public health as customers walk or bike to and from bus stops.“ End quote. You can read the full story by Erin Jordan online at thegazette.com. Follow the link in this episode description to get there.
This college football season a bar in Cedar Rapids offered free beers until Iowa scored. Then the team got shut out on Saturday X-Golf Cedar Rapids, an indoor golf facility and sports bar located near Edgewood Road and highway 100 offered endless free beers during Iowa football games until the Hawkeyes scored. The Washington Post reported that the bar served over 100 free beers during Iowa's big 10 championship game against Michigan. The promotion went viral on social media getting a shout out from ESPN and bringing in a few heckling phone calls from Michigan fans.
A Cedar Rapids man who participated in an online chat group where adult men solicited sexually explicit photos and videos from a 13 year old girl was sentenced to over 11 years in federal prison.
50-year-old Jason Dean Anderson previously pleaded guilty in US district court to one count of accessing child pornography including a depiction involving a minor under the age of 12.
In 2021 and 2022, Anderson participated in a Snapchat group where men sexually exploited the girl. Anderson admitted to requesting the girl take and post sexually graphic photos of herself. Law enforcement encountered Anderson in 2012 after authorities discovered he was having sexually explicit conversations online with a 17-year-old girl who lived in a facility for people with intellectual disabilities. Prosecutors said he had been talking to the 17-year-old for two years and had requested she send him sexually explicit photos of herself. U.S. District Judge CJ Williams sentenced Anderson to 135 months in prison and five years of supervised release following his prison term.
Now, let's take a look at today's weather in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Today will be partly cloudy with a high of 38 degrees and a low of 21. Tomorrow will also be partly cloudy with a high of 41 degrees and a low of 22 degrees. Enjoy the above zero temperatures while you still can, Iowa.
Thanks for listening to the Daily News Podcast. I'm Bailey Cichon.
