Gazette Daily News Podcast, August 31

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, August 31.

After thunderstorms pass through overnight, there will be a chance for thunderstorms Tuesday morning, but the likelihood is not particularly high. According to the National Weather Service there will be a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Otherwise it will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 81 degrees. On Tuesday night it will be mostly clear, with a low around 58 degrees.

The U.S. Education Department announced Monday it’s investigating five Republican-led states including Iowa that have banned local school boards from enacting mask requirements in their districts, saying the policies could discriminate against students with disabilities or health conditions.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights sent letters to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. Those states have barred schools from requiring masks among all students and staff.

In her reply, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a similar statement to what her administration has said earlier, saying she will fight against a federal masking mandate and accusing President Joe Biden of trying to pick fights with states to change the subject from bad news he has received about Afghanistan and border security.

A 40-year-old man who was shot over the weekend near an apartment building in southwest Cedar Rapids is dead.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department said Jose Florentino Ramirez Landin, 40, was shot multiple times near an apartment building at 4012 21st Ave. SW.

Officers and emergency personnel responded about 11:30 p.m. Saturday after a 911 caller reported hearing multiple gunshots and seeing someone down on the ground.

Police said Landin was declared dead at the scene.

Based on the preliminary investigation, police said Landin was in a parking lot with other people when a vehicle with more people arrived. A short time later, gunfire was heard. Investigators are still working on gathering evidence but have enough of a picture of the event to determine that that shooting was targeted and not a random attack on Landin.

Collins Aerospace, the largest employer in Cedar Rapids, will acquire digital flight-tracking platform FlightAware, it announced Monday afternoon.

FlightAware will be part of Collins Aerospace’s Cedar Rapids-based avionics division. FlightAware will remain based in Houston, Collins Aerospace spokeswoman Pam Tvrdy-Cleary said.

“FlightAware’s flight tracking and data platform, the largest in the world, has the potential to deliver new capabilities and innovations across our entire business,” said Dave Nieuwsma, the head of Collins Aerospace’s avionics division, in a news release.

FlightAware, founded in 2005, uses data from air traffic control systems and its own monitoring stations in 195 countries to provide global flight-tracking data, according to its website.

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