Gazette Daily News Podcast, April 7

Catch up with Tuesday’s news and Wednesday’s weather forecast.

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, April 7.

So it was supposed to rain on Tuesday, but one of you must have rolled a natural 20 on your avoid rain check and it mostly skirted our area. We won’t be so lucky on Wednesday, if the predictions are to be believed.

According to the National Weather Service there will be a chance for showers and thunderstorms all day Wednesday in the Cedar Rapids area. The chance for rain will start at 10 percent in the beginning of the day and at 90 percent Wednesday night. A high temperature near 69 degrees is expected..

Three years after the state agreed to pay $125,000 to Iowa State University’s former Title IX coordinator over claims the university failed to provide her the support she needed to do her job, the state is doubling the impact of that dispute by signing a similar settlement with the Iowa State student who sued first.

The State Appeal Board on Monday unanimously agreed to a $125,000 settlement with Emily Black, who in 2017 sued the state and its former Title IX coordinator Robinette Kelley for mishandling her sexual assault report in 2013 by failing to properly investigate it and provide equal protection.

Black’s lawsuit accused Kelley of negligence in finding insufficient evidence to warrant bringing student misconduct charges against her accused attacker and in closing the case in 2014.

Former coordinator Kelley, who filed a lawsuit against Iowa State just hours after Black, accused the university of failing to provide her the necessary authority to do her job – asserting she found an assault had occurred but received pushback from campus administrators and police.

Drivers eager to get back on the road more than a year into the pandemic will face the steepest summer gasoline prices in three years, according to a U.S. government report.

Prices at the pump will average $2.78 a gallon from April to September in the United States — more than 30 percent higher than last summer.

While COVID-19 will continue to affect petroleum markets this summer, more vaccinations combined with U.S. fiscal stimulus will support the economic recovery and drive demand growth, the Energy Information Administration said in its annual Summer Fuels Outlook report on Tuesday.

Campers at Iowa's state parks this year will pay a few more dollars a night to put up a tent or park their recreational vehicle, with the largest increases coming at state parks with the most visitors and amenities.

Authorized by the Iowa Legislature in 2018 to set its own fees, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has raised camping fees for the first time in more than 20 years.

Under the four-tier pricing structure, out-of-the-way parks that get fewer visitors won't have a rate increase. But larger parks that draw visitors from across the state and from bordering states will have nightly fees 25 to 55 percent higher.

Cedar Rapids police have identified the man stabbed to death in a hotel room over the weekend. 33-year-old Victor Huerta was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Huerta and 39-year-old Victoriano Dias-Barrera had gotten into an argument in a room at the Residence Inn, at 1900 Dodge Rd. NE. The argument escalated when Dias-Barrera armed himself with a knife and stabbed Huerta once in the chest.

Police have indicated that Dias-Barerra and Huerta knew each other prior to the incident.

Luka Garza award season has ended with almost all the awards. As a result, Garza is the consensus national men’s basketball Player of the Year.

Garza, the Iowa senior center from Washington, D.C., received the last major Player of the Year honor Tuesday when he was named the winner of the John R. Wooden Award. He is the first Hawkeye to win the Wooden Award since its inception in 1976. It is presented by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The voters are a panel representing all 50 states.

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