Gazette Daily News Podcast, June 15

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, June 15.

Sadly Tuesday will be another day with no rain. But, unlike some recent days, it’ll be a nice day to be outside in the sun.

According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 86 degrees on Tuesday. On Tuesday night it will be mostly clear, with a low around 58 degrees.

After data from Iowa’s Department of Human Rights showed that Black students in the Cedar Rapids district are far more likely to have allegations of criminal wrongdoing made against them than are white students, the Cedar Rapids School District told the school board Monday night that the district will update the program that currently assigns uniformed Cedar Rapids police officers to seven schools.

This will not necessarily mean the officers will be removed from the schools entirely, but that the district is committed to making changes after listening to students and looking at data. Not only did data show that the allegations are more common against Black students, when surveyed, Black students noted that they felt they were treated differently by law enforcement in the schools compared to their white counterparts.

Washington Prime Group has filed for bankruptcy protection that lets it stay in business while it sheds some of its nearly $3.5 billion in debt.

The real estate investment firm that owns several malls, including Lindale Mall in northeast Cedar Rapids, filed a Chapter 11 petition late Sunday in Texas and expects its mall operations to continue “uninterrupted” while it reorganizes. Lou Conforti, Washington Prime Group’s chief executive and director, said in a statement that the bankruptcy filing allows the company to “right-size its balance sheet and position the company for success going forward.”

State Sen. Rob Hogg, a Cedar Rapids Democrat who has been in the Iowa Legislature nearly two decades, announced Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022.

Hogg, 54, a lawyer and author of a book on climate change, has been in the Iowa Senate since 2007. His current term expires in January 2023. Previously, he served in the Iowa House from 2002 to 2006. Hogg said in a statement about not running again that there are several younger candidates who would like to get started in politics, and he doesn’t want to stand in their way.

Higher than normal temperatures and lower than normal rainfall are starting to take a toll on Iowa crops as drought and unusually dry conditions cause rivers to dwindle.

“Early planted crops are starting to show moisture stress, and the short-term forecast shows only minor chances of precipitation,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in a statement Monday.

According to a weekly crop report issued Monday by Naig’s department, Iowa’s corn condition rated 63 percent as good to excellent —14 percentage points below the week before. Soybean condition rated 61 percent as good to excellent — 12 points worse than last week.

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