Gazette Daily News Podcast, July 7

There will again be a chance for rain on Thursday, but the likeliest chance looks to be early Friday morning. According to the National Weather Service it will be cloudy with a high near 81 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. There will be a 30 percent of showers and thunderstorms after 11 a.m. but it will become most likely from midnight until 4 a.m. on Friday. The low is predicted to be about 69 degrees with cloudy skies.

An Iowa City man is facing a charge of terrorism and two charges of possession of explosives for two incidents in Iowa City, including one Tuesday at the GuideLink Center.

Additional charges against Nezzy Underscore Conway, 23, are expected by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa City Police Department, according to a Wednesday news release from the sheriff’s office.

Conway is charged with possession of incendiary or explosive device with intent, a felony, after bringing “incendiary materials with an attached fuse” to the GuideLink Center, which serves people in mental health or substance abuse crises.

Law enforcement responded to the incident at the GuideLink Center, 300 Southgate Ave., on Tuesday morning. Conway physically assaulted staff members there, authorities said. When officers arrived, he began to attack them and was detained.

Conway left a backpack at the center. The Johnson County Metro Bomb Team removed the “suspicious package,” which included incendiary materials with an attached fuse, authorities said. A search warrant was conducted at Conway’s home at the Capitol House Apartments, 320 S. Dubuque St. in Iowa City. Some of the building’s occupants were evacuated and later allowed back in.

Items in Conway’s residence were consistent with the incendiary materials found at the GuideLink Center.

A project to expand and update the passenger terminal at The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids is set to receive another $20.4 million in federal funding, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Thursday.

That makes a total of nearly $49 million in federal funding dedicated this year to the airport project. The latest batch of funding comes from the federal infrastructure law and is part of $1 billion that is being awarded to 85 airports across the country, federal officials said.

Eastern Iowa Airport officials said the terminal upgrades will include additional jet bridges, expanded concourse space, more concessions and amenities and a continued transition to a geothermal ventilation system.

Iowa Republicans came out of the June primary elections with a big advantage in registered voters.

Compared with July 2021, Republicans in the state have gained about 20,000 voters while Democrats have lost about 15,000.

According to the most recent voter data from the Iowa Secretary of State, 681,871 Iowans are registered as Republicans and 597,720 are registered as Democrats. Independent and third-party voters account for 570,364 registered voters. Republicans outnumber Democrats in Iowa by more than 84,000 voters, the highest lead the party has commanded in more than two years.