Gazette Daily News Podcast, January 5

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, January 5.

The weather will be chilly and windy on Wednesday. According to a forecast from the National Weather Service it will be partly sunny and cold in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 8 degrees Wednesday. Wind chill values will be as low as 15 degrees below zero with a wind of 15 to 25 mph gusting as high as 40 mph. The low Wednesday night will be -3 degrees.

It’s been more than three years since the infamous “newbo evolve” festival brought headliners including Maroon 5 and reality TV stars to Cedar Rapids along with a financial disaster, resulting in jilted vendors and an unpaid $1.5 million bank loan. On Tuesday, federal authorities announced two men who headed the event face charges of fraud.

According to documents filed in U.S. District Court, former GO Cedar Rapids president and chief executive officer Aaron McCreight, 46, now of Dothan, Ala., and former GO Cedar Rapids finance director Doug Hargrave, 54, now of Puyallup, Wash., each face one count of bank fraud.

Court documents accuse McCreight and Hargrave of a scheme to defraud a bank — Bankers Trust of Iowa — by making misrepresentations about the festival’s ticket sales, projected revenue, projected expenses and the amount of loss that McCreight and Hargrave expected the event to generate.

If convicted, McCreight and Hargrave each face up to 30 years in federal prison, a fine and supervised release following any prison terms. A judge hasn’t set first appearance dates for them yet.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she will present an agenda to the Iowa Legislature that includes state income tax cuts, plans to address workforce issues and reforms to K-12 education policy.

Legislative Republican leaders pledged to present a tax cut plan that will be both significant and, in their words, sustainable. They have stated a moonshot goal of taking advantage of the current budget surplus to help them in their goal to eliminate the state income tax, but concede this may not be totally doable this session.

Anyone seeking details on any of those plans will have to stay tuned. Specifics were scarce Tuesday, when Reynolds and legislative leaders participated in the Iowa Capitol Press Association’s annual legislative preview forum at the Iowa Capitol.

Reynolds, who faces re-election in 2022, said she plans to unveil her self-described “bold and historic agenda” next Tuesday during her annual Condition of the State address to the Iowa Legislature.

The 2022 session of the Iowa Legislature begins next Monday.

An Iowa City man was arrested and jailed after police say he shot his landlord, who was at his residence to fix a plumbing problem last month.

Carter Wolf, 24, is accused of firing through his bedroom door at least six or seven times in the direction of the landlord, according to a Johnson County criminal complaint. The victim was struck by multiple bullets and needed immediate surgery and hospitalization.

Police say the landlord of the residence in the 400 block of E. Fairchild Street in Iowa City had made arrangements to fix a plumbing issue at the house on Dec. 21.

He later proceeded upstairs to knock on a bedroom door to gain access to plumbing, which is when Wolf fired his weapon. Wolf’s door was not the door the landlord was knocking on, according to police.

Police say Wolf admitted to firing his gun through his closed door in the direction of the victim, and that he never saw the victim before shooting.

Support for this podcast provided by New Pioneer Food Co-op. Celebrating 50 years as Eastern Iowa’s source for locally and responsibly sourced groceries with stores in Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids; and online through Co-op Cart at newpi.coop.