Gazette Daily News Podcast, June 30

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, June 30.

It will be mild and muggy again Wednesday with a chance for rain. According to the National Weather Service there will only be a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Cedar Rapids area, with the weather calming Wednesday night. Another similar weather day Thursday, we will likely have a pleasant, and rain free, July 4th weekend to look forward to.

Iowa Lottery officials say they are on track to smash all of their annual records, having already surpassed $417 million in sales of instant scratch and lotto products with a month still left in the current fiscal year.

The lottery's previous best sales year was in fiscal 2019 when the operation's nearly 2,400 retail outlets sold $390.8 million for the full 12 months.

The total may be an anomaly, however, as officials attributed the success of the lottery to housebound Iowans looking for a release during the dark days of the pandemic.

The Iowa City Downtown Historic District is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The official designation was made on May 27.

Listing in the National Register of Historic Places is an honorific designation with economic benefits, such as eligibility for tax credits. The National Register does not protect properties from demolition, nor does it regulate changes made to a building.

Since 2017, the city of Iowa City has been working with architectural historian Alexa McDowell of AKAY Consulting on an update to the city’s historic survey of the Downtown. Progress on this project is ongoing, but the national designation came as a result of this work.

The Iowa City Police Department is investigating a drive-by shooting that injured one person Monday.

Officers responded to a 911 call around 10:59 p.m. Monday for a report of a woman who had been shot in the 700 block of Michael Street.

Witnesses reported the woman was struck in a drive-by shooting as she was sitting in her vehicle in the nearby parking lot. Police said the woman was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Police say they do not believe the shooting to be random, and said there is no further danger to the public associated with this shooting.

One of the inmates charged with killing an Anamosa prison officer and a registered nurse in March waived his right for a jury trial Tuesday and a judge will decide his verdict.

Michael Dutcher, 28, filed a written waiver to have a bench or non-jury trial and also confirmed that decision to 6th Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover during Tuesday’s hearing in Linn County. The bench trial remains set for Aug. 3 in Jones County District Court.

A few weeks ago, the other inmate charged in the killings, Thomas Allen Woodard, 39, who has a trial set for Sept. 21 that was already moved to Linn County, asked the court if the trial could be moved again to different county because there also may be conflicts in Linn, considering jurors who live close to the jail may be exposed to media accounts of the slayings.

The two inmates are accused of killing correctional officer Robert McFarland, 46, of Ely, and nurse Lorena Schulte, 50, of Cedar Rapids, during what authorities said was a failed attempt to escape from the Anamosa State Penitentiary on March 23.

The Iowa Ideas 2021 virtual conference will be here before you know it, and we would like you to be our guest on the house. The Gazette is providing free access to this two-day gathering with more than 50 sessions- filled with thought-provoking local, and national speakers-- all ready to engage you on a variety of important and timely Iowa-issues. Join us October 14th and 15th for this can’t miss, idea-exchange experience. Learn more and register for the event at iowaideas.com.