Gazette Daily News Podcast, Jan. 18

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Support 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.

Linn-Mar High School senior Kayla Purchase and staff member Janessa Carr were recognized Monday with the Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris “Who Is My Neighbor?” award for the ways they are following in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by doing “courageous” work in their community.

Purchase was selected for her work toward racial equity and efforts to help her neighbors after the Aug. 10, 2020, derecho. She was nominated by her next door neighbor, Denise Bridges.

When the derecho hit, Bridges watched the student clear trees to make a path through their neighborhood and raise money for people who needed a hotel room. In May 2021, Purchase helped lead a social justice rally at Linn-Mar High School and told about her experience as the only Black student in her fourth-grade class.

Carr, a student assistance counselor at Linn-Mar High, Carr was selected for the award for her work toward building a better community in Marion.

She helps students facing inequality at Linn-Mar High School through the Marion Alliance for Racial Equity. The alliance, which Carr co-founded in 2020, is a community-based organization working to amplify the voices of people of color and dismantle systems of oppression so all people can feel a sense of belonging and thrive in Marion.

Carr also is a staff leader of the Linn-Mar High School Social Justice Club, which is for any student who has felt marginalized, including students of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students.

She was nominated for the “Who Is My Neighbor?” award by fellow Marion Alliance for Racial Equity member Ana Clymer.

Sports wagering in Iowa exploded last year, topping $2 billion, and as the state’s share of the pot has grown so has interest in spending that tax revenue.

Nearly $13 million has been generated by the 6.75 percent tax on sports betting since it began in the state in 2019. Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley recently suggested it’s time to start a conversation about spending it.

House State Government Chairman Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, and ranking Democrat Rep. Mascher of Iowa City, both mentioned using sports betting revenue during their remarks at the committee’s first meeting of the 2022 session.

Kaufmann said he would like to direct sports wagering revenue to the counties that are not home to one of Iowa’s 19 licensed casinos. He believes there will be bipartisan support for legislation he’s drafting to direct funding to first-responder services, especially fire and ambulance, as well as other community improvements such as youth sports facilities in those counties.

Mascher would like to see the revenue spent on mental health. She wants to continue to appropriate money to support the state Department of Public Health’s Gambling Treatment Program. Lawmakers appropriated $300,000 in fiscal 2020 and $1.75 million in fiscal 2021 to the program. Another $1.5 million was appropriated to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the Sports Tourism Program.

Mascher is concerned that gambling addiction and related problems will rise since the state has made it so easy to place wagers from smartphones and home computers.

Two correctional officers were assaulted by an inmate Saturday night at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville.

According to a Monday news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections, one officer was working his post in one of the facility’s living units around 8 p.m. when an inmate approached him and started assaulting him.

A second officer attempted to apprehend the inmate, who then punched that officer. Other staff arrived and apprehended the inmate.

The first officer was taken by ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he was treated and released. The second officer was treated at the Coralville prison.

The alleged assault is under investigation.

According to the National Weather Service’s Quad Cities’ bureau: