Gazette Daily News Podcast, May 12

Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa enabled device to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?

If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes.

We just can’t seem to get away from the frost for long.

According to the National Weather Service there will be areas of frost in the Cedar Rapids area before 8 a.m. It is otherwise predicted to be sunny with a high near 64 degrees and a calm wind. Wednesday night the temperature will drop to a low of 43 degrees with the winds remaining calm.

According to an Associated Press report, a judge ruled Monday the public will be able to watch the trial of the man charged with killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts.

Judge Joel Yates said in the order that due to COVID-19 protocols the public and news media will not be allowed inside the courtroom when the trial of Cristhian Bahena Rivera starts next week. But Judge Yates acknowledged intense public interest in the case and said news outlets can broadcast the proceedings live on the internet or television.

Rivera is expected to stand trial beginning Monday in Davenport for first-degree murder in the death of Tibbetts, 20, in July of 2018 who disappeared while she was out for a run in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. Rivera later led authorities to her body, which had been dumped in a cornfield.

The City of Cedar Rapids is gearing up to spend three years reviewing traffic stop data to help promote equity in policing, City Manager Jeff Pomeranz told the Cedar Rapids City Council on Tuesday.

CR Research Group LC — the same entity that has reviewed traffic stop data in several other Iowa cities — will review unanalyzed city traffic stop data as part of a proposed three-year agreement spanning 2021 through 2023. The City Council-approved fiscal 2022 budget, effective July 1 through June 30, 2022, provides $30,000 for the analysis.

The independent group conducting the analysis will be led by Chris Barnum, director of the master's degree program in criminal justice at St. Ambrose University in Davenport and a specialist in racial disparity in police traffic stops.

Iowa ranks third worst in the country for problem “puppy mills” that breed and raise their dogs in “inhumane and unsafe conditions,” according to a report issued this week by the Humane Society of the United States.

The Humane Society’s annual “Horrible Hundred” report uses state and federal inspection reports, undercover investigations and complaints from the public to identify problem dog breeders that allegedly fail to provide their dogs and puppies with adequate care.

Iowa ranks third with 11 problem “puppy mills,” according to the report. This is the eighth straight year that Iowa has ranked close to the top of the list. Missouri was ranked first, with 21 dog-breeding businesses identified by the society as problematic, while Ohio was ranked second with 16.

The Iowa Ideas 2021 virtual conference will be here before you know it, and we would like you to be our guest on the house. The Gazette is providing free access to this two-day gathering with more than 50 sessions- filled with thought-provoking local, and national speakers-- all ready to engage you on a variety of important and timely Iowa-issues. Join us October 14th and 15th for this can’t miss, idea-exchange experience. Learn more and register for at iowaideas.com.