Gazette Daily News Podcast, November 30

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the last day of November, Tuesday, November 30.

As last days of November go, Tuesday’s weather should be pretty nice. According to a forecast from the National Weather Service it will be partly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 51 degrees. On Tuesday night there will be a 50 percent chance for rain, mainly after 1 a.m., with a low around 37 degrees.

Tiffany O’Donnell raised three times as much as her opponent Amara Andrews, in the last month running up to tonight’s runoff election that will decide the city’s next mayor.

Voters earlier this month narrowed a four-way race to just the two top vote-getters, knocking incumbent Brad Hart out of the running. O’Donnell, who earned the most votes of the four but not enough to win the job outright, raised $64,520 since the last reporting period, according to campaign disclosure reports filed Monday. That exceeds the $20,262.47 Andrews raised in the runoff cycle.

The election has stoked political divisions as O’Donnell, a registered Republican, has emphasized the need to keep the part-time mayoral role nonpartisan, while Andrews has campaigned as a Democrat. Andrews has said one’s political party ties are an indicator of values and judgment. Both candidates have used firms for various campaign services aligned with their respective parties.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The Cedar Rapids teenager accused of killing his parents has entered not guilty pleas to two counts of first-degree murder in arraignment documents filed Monday.

Ethan Alexander Orton, 17, was charged as an adult in the killings of Misty Scott Slade, 41, and Casey Orton, 42, in their home at 361 Carnaby Dr. NE in the early morning hours of Oct. 14.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges, but has not waived his right to a speedy trial. A trial date was not immediately set Monday afternoon.

After receiving a 911 call around 2 a.m. Oct. 14 for suspicious noises coming from the residence, Cedar Rapids police reported they arrived at the Orton house and found the accused sitting outside, covered in “what appeared to be blood.”

According to a criminal complaint, Orton told officers he had stabbed both his parents, but then turned to an ax when his mother was still alive.

According to reporting from the Associated Press, a federal judge Monday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states including Iowa. These states together had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement.

The court order said that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid had no clear authority from Congress to enact the vaccine mandate for providers participating in the two government health care programs for the elderly, disabled and poor.

The preliminary injunction by St. Louis-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp applies to a coalition of suing states that consists of Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Similar lawsuits also are pending in other states.

Iowa has five state-run health care facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding: the Iowa Veterans Home, the Cherokee and Independence Mental Health Institutes, and the Glenwood and Woodward Resource Centers

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