Gazette Daily News Podcast, October 28

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, October 28.

Rain is on tap for Thursday. According to the National Weather Service there will be a high chance for showers for much of the day, with a high of 51 degrees. On Thursday night the low temperature, interestingly enough, will only drop to 47 degrees, a sign of a slightly warmer Friday that will also probably have less rain.

Iowa’s COVID-19 numbers have received their weekly update, and it was reported that 117 more Iowans died of COVID-19.

All of these deaths occurred in September and October, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. 100 deaths were reported the previous week. Statewide, the COVID-19 death toll now totals 6,965 since March 2020 when the virus first appeared in Iowa.

New case numbers were roughly the same as the week before, with the under 17 age group again leading the way for most new cases.

With COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 expected to gain federal approval by next week, state and local health officials are preparing to administer shots to thousands of young Iowans in the coming weeks.

The Iowa Department of Public Health anticipates the approximately 284,000 Iowans in that age group can start receiving shots by the first week in November, pending an emergency use authorization. Vaccine experts are meeting over the next week to offer final recommendations on the two-dose coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech.

In anticipation of a surge in demand for the shots, federal officials have already purchased enough pediatric doses for the estimated 28 million Americans who will become eligible.

A judge has upheld the firing of former Cedar Rapids police Sgt. Lucas Jones, saying the termination was supported by evidence of dishonesty and violation of departmental policies.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Christopher Bruns, in an Oct. 5 ruling, said Police Chief Wayne Jerman’s finding — that Jones was dishonest about an Oct. 30, 2016, traffic stop and that he had violated two departmental policies — is supported by substantial evidence and Iowa law.

The firing was later affirmed by the city’s Civil Service Commission after Jones appealed his termination.

The reason given for firing Jones was that he had been dishonest when confronted about having his microphone turned off during a traffic stop.

According to the Cedar Rapids Police, a pattern of Jones turning off his microphone while in the field was discovered during an internal investigation into the shooting of a Black motorist named Jerime Mitchell. Jones shot Mitchell during a Nov. 1, 2016, traffic stop near Coe College after stopping Mitchell for having a light out on his pickup truck’s license plate. Mitchell was paralyzed in the incident and successfully sued the city for damages.

After much speculation of how the pandemic would affect Iowa’s high-profile university athletic programs — with deficit projections prompting the University of Iowa to cut sports programs — final numbers for the fiscal 2021 budget reveal losses were steep but less than first feared.

Instead of the expected $60 to $75 million shortfall UI Athletics Director Gary Barta last August cited in eliminating men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s gymnastics and men’s tennis, UI Athletics ended the budget year June 30 with a $42.9 million deficit, according to a new Board of Regents report. That is on the low end of Barta’s revised deficit prediction from last October

Barta has previously said that even a reduced deficit wouldn’t be enough to save the men’s sports cut by the department. Although, it should be noted, that after losing a Title IX lawsuit from members of the women’s swimming and diving team, that program has been reinstated and the athletic department also discovered enough resources to start a new women’s wrestling program.

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