Week in Iowa

ADULT COURT: A judge ruled last week that two Fairfield juveniles — Willard Noble Chaiden Miller, 16, and Jeremy Everett Goodale — will be tried in adult court in the November slaying of their Fairfield High School Spanish teacher, Nohema Graber, 66.

The two are charged with first-degree murder, accused of attacking Graber as she was walking in a Fairfield park and concealing her body beneath a tarp. The attorneys representing them asked that their cases be heard in juvenile court.

But 8th Judicial District Judge Shawn Showers, in his rulings, said there is not enough time for rehabilitation in the juvenile court system and that probable cause exists to charge the two with premeditated murder.

Goodale’s trial is set for Aug. 23, and Miller’s trial is set for Nov. 1.

COUNTRY CLUB PROJECT: Five members of the Cedar Rapids City Council on Tuesday tabled consideration of a Cedar Rapids Country Club expansion project to give the club more time to address neighbor concerns.

Four of the council members determined they had conflicts of interest and did not join in the discussion or vote on the project.

The council vote delays the club’s plans to expand over seven residential lots and potentially vacate the Fairway Terrace SE right of way so it can develop a tennis complex and courts, expand the club’s parking lot and modify the driving range.

TROOPER SLAYING: Final arguments are scheduled for Monday in the first-degree murder trial of Michael Thomas Lang, 42, accused in the April 2021 slaying of Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, 51.

Lang shot Smith as law enforcement officials were attempting to arrest Lang, who’d assaulted a police officer earlier in the day

Prosecutors said officers gave Lang plenty of opportunity to surrender before entering Lang’s house in Grundy Center. Lang’s attorney told jurors the trooper’s death was tragic but did not amount to murder.

They said

"Yeah, guys, we're not really looking to taste memories of the Dust Bowl here." — “Saturday Night Live” actor Mikey Day, playing a Blue Bunny employee, in a skit spoofing the Iowa-based ice cream maker.

"I want my own AG (attorney general), please. And I need a state auditor that’s not trying to sue me every time they turn around; focus on your own office." — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, said in a video posted by a WHO TV Channel 13 News

“She wants a lap dog. Keep your watchdog here.” — State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, in a tweet responding to Reynolds

Odds and ends

SOFA LAWSUIT: A legal dispute is unfolding in Polk County District Court over who owns the sofas in the Iowa governor's mansion in Des Moines.

The nonprofit Terrace Hill Society Foundation is suing the Terrace Hill Commission, the state agency responsible for maintaining the mansion in Des Moines, over ownership and control of the furnishings and other items at Terrace Hill.

The foundation says it has received hundreds of donated items in the past 50 years and worked closely with the commission to place items and artifacts in the mansion, built in 1869. It accused the commission of “seizing control of the collection” in recent years.

CRYPTO IN IOWA: The Grundy County Board of Supervisors on Monday voted 4-1 to not rezone land to allow construction of the second cryptocurrency mining site in the county — mainly because the proposed site was too close to Wolf Creek Park.

They told the MIningStore’s CEO, J.P. Baric, they weren’t opposed to the expansion but wanted a different location.

The current cryptocurrency site — a Quonset hut stacked with computers — is one of the first, if not the first, such site in Iowa. It operates next to the Grundy County Rural Electric Coop power station and uses more electricity than all of the residential customers in Grundy Center, the county seat of 2,800 population.

The company wants to expand to five more locations in Eastern Iowa, capitalizing on wide-open spaces, low property taxes and cheap electricity.

The water cooler

DOG GONE: The Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque will close this month after 41 years. By year's end, there will be only two dog tracks left in the country.

J-HAWKS WIN NATIONAL ACADEMIC TITLE: A team from Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School won the Division 2 National Academic Decathlon. Teams from the school have won 22 consecutive state academic decathlons, which test student knowledge in 10 areas.

BEER & DEERE: John Deere and Anheuser-Busch have partnered to put out a limited-edition run of green beer cans, which feature machinery and the Deere company logo. For each case sold, both corporations will donate $1 to Farm Rescue, a nonprofit that assists farm and ranch families who experience a major illness, injury or natural disaster.

More in the news

PEARL HARBOR BURIAL: Seaman 1st Class David Tidball, who died aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Independence.

Tidball graduated from Independence High School in 1938 and enlisted in the Navy in the summer of 1940. His remains were identified through DNA.

NO ABORTION BILL: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said she does not expect abortion-related legislation to be passed during the current legislative session, which is close to adjourning.

Reynolds told reporters state officials plan to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this summer on Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion, and then determine a path forward in Iowa.

PROM PARTY SHOOTING: Three Iowa teenagers were shot and injured after uninvited guests showed up to an after-prom party in Des Moines. Police said about 200 people were at the party before the shooting was reported around 12:30 a.m. last Sunday. Two 18-year-old boys and a 17-year-old girl were wounded.

JAN. 6 ARREST: A 41-year-old central Iowa man faces charges alleging he took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. Chad Heathcote, of Adel, is charged with two federal felonies. In charging documents, an FBI agent said witnesses came forward after Heathcote bragged in social media postings about being at the Capitol that day, and he was identified in photos shown in television reports.

Gazette Des Moines Bureau