Gazette Daily News Podcast, May 9

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This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Monday, May 9th.

Today, expect partly sunny skies, with a high near 85, according to the National Weather Service. Breezy, with a southeast wind around 25 mph, and gusts as high as 40 mph. Then tonight, a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 66. Winds from the south, 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts are possible in thunderstorms.

Crews continued searching Sunday for a city of Cedar Rapids Water Division employee whose fleet truck was found submerged a day earlier in the Cedar River not far from where he was working. Authorities said that 54-year-old Erik Spaw of Cedar Rapids was working a Friday evening shift at the Northwest Water Treatment Plant, at 7807 Ellis Rd. Early Saturday, water division staff reported he had not returned to the J Avenue Water Treatment Plant after working most of his shift at the northwest plant. His own vehicle was found in the parking lot at the J Avenue plant, but the Utilities and Fleet Departments determined the last known location of Spaw’s assigned fleet vehicle was near Ellis Road NW. Crews found the city truck submerged in several feet of water about a mile upstream from the Edgewood River bridge. When the truck was brought to shore, though, there were no occupants found inside. Teams were using sonar-equipped boats and drag lines Sunday to search the site and downstream in the river.

Differences over a hard line on when to send U.S. troops to Ukraine and over ethanol policy were among the few contrasts to emerge during a televised debate Saturday night between the Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate in Iowa. Mike Franken, a retired three-star admiral in the U.S. Navy from Sioux City, was the only candidate to establish a scenario under which he would send U.S. troops to Ukraine to assist in the country’s defense against Russia’s military invasion, which is in its third month. Abby Finkenauer, a former congresswoman and state legislator from Cedar Rapids, and Glenn Hurst, a physician from Minden, both said the United States should support economic sanctions on Russia and provide assistance like weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but should not devote U.S. troops. Finkenauer, Franken and Hurst are vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination in Iowa’s 2022 U.S. Senate campaign. The incumbent is Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is running for an eighth six-year term. He also faces a primary challenge, from Sioux City lawyer and state legislator Jim Carlin.

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🎹 Podcast music: “New Day” by Emily McGlothlen