Gazette Weekend News Update, May 2 and May 3
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of May 2 and May 3.
The weather forecast for this weekend is remarkably uneventful, in the best possible way.
According to the National Weather Service, Saturday in the Cedar Rapids area should see partly sunny skies with a high near 74 degrees. It will be somewhat windy at times, with a 5-10 mph wind sometimes gusting as high as 20 mph. Saturday night will be mostly cloudy with calmer wind and a low of 52. Sunday will be sunny with a high near 75 and calm winds. Sunday night it will be partly cloudy with a low around 49.
A Cedar Rapids woman who was shot and killed Friday morning was later determined to be pregnant, and as the man who police say shot her was arrested, this fact was reflected in the charges he now faces. Police responded at 4:40 a.m. Friday morning to an apartment building at the 1600 block of 30th St. NW for the report of a shooting. There they found one woman, 25-year-old Asia Grice, dead at the scene. Another woman there was transported to the hospital for treatment of a non-life threatening injury.
The man police identified as the shooter was 26-year-old Johnnie Osborne IV. He was arrested three hours later after he was spotted at the Rodeway Inn in southwest Cedar Rapids. Osbore was charged with first-degree murder and the nonconsensual termination of a pregnancy.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday acknowledged that on the day the state decided to phase out some restrictions on businesses and religious gatherings intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus in 77 counties, the state also reported the highest number of cases so far in one day at 739 new confirmed to have the disease. Reynolds went on to confirm that due to a backlog of testing at the State Hygienic Lab in Coralville that will hopefully be caught up with over the weekend, the numbers could rise dramatically higher again in the next few days.
Reynolds attributed the increased number of positive cases to the increased amount of tests being conducted this week, and it was clear from the numbers provided from the state the amount of testing has increased. What Reynolds was less clear about what was creating the backlog, how many tests were involved, and what the status was of the Test Iowa initiative created with a $26 million partnership with a Utah tech company, Nomi Health. Nomi Health has received scrutiny recently for the results of its work on a similar project in Utah.
So far in Iowa 7,885 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. 170 people have been reported as dying from the disease.
A 30-year-old Cedar Rapids business has closed its doors for good as the economic impact of the pandemic continues to be felt. Spielman’s Event Services shut down Friday in the wake of the state banning large gatherings such as weddings, graduation ceremonies and parties and corporate events.
The owner of the business told the Gazette that there have been some interested buyers, but COVID-19 has also created uncertainty around the loans needed for such a purchase to take place.
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