Gazette Daily News Podcast, November 2

The great weather continues! According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 76 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Wednesday. On Wednesday night it will be partly cloudy, with a low of around 53 degrees.

Two Iowa teenagers killed their high school Spanish teacher last year after being frustrated over a bad grade. Prosecutors made the claim Tuesday in court documents that for the first time reveal a possible motive for the murder.

According to reporting from the Associated Press, the documents were filed ahead of a hearing Wednesday where a judge will hear arguments on whether to suppress any of the evidence against Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale, who are charged with murdering high school Spanish teacher Nohema Graber in Fairfield on November 3, 2021.

In a police interview, Miller described the frustrations he had with the way Graber taught Spanish and over how the grade in her class was lowering his GPA.

“The poor grade is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber, which directly connects Miller,” court documents filed by Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown said.

Miller initially denied any involvement in Graber’s disappearance but “later stated he had knowledge of everything but did not participate,” according to court documents. He told police that the real killers — a “roving group of masked kids” — forced him to provide his wheelbarrow to help move her body and to drive her van from the park.

Miller’s defense attorneys are seeking to invalidate four search warrants and suppress evidence from Miller's home, comments he made to police and information taken from his cellphone, and the social media platform Snapchat.

With more than a year of construction to go on a new 38,500-square-foot, two-level Hawkeye wrestling practice facility, the University of Iowa is moving to officially name it after a family that made the $7 million lead gift.

The “Goschke Family Wrestling Training Center” will honor Doug and Ann Goschke — Iowa natives who split their time between Iowa and Florida.

Officials said the facility — which originally was expected to cost $17.3 million before inflation and an expanded scope for the new women’s wrestling team drove the price up to $31.6 million — will be funded entirely by gifts. The current Carver Circle campaign has raised nearly $27 million in gift commitments to date.

Construction adjacent Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where the wrestling teams compete, began in summer 2022 and is scheduled for completion in spring 2024.

Teamsters Local 238 signed a new three-year agreement with Archer Daniels Midland Tuesday, averting a strike at the multinational food processor’s facility in Cedar Rapids.

The union’s previous contract with ADM, based in Chicago, had expired at midnight. The new agreement was effective immediately.

Jesse Case, secretary-treasurer of local 238, said in a statement the new agreement includes an immediate 6 percent across-the-board raise for the first year, a $5,000 ratification bonus, 40 hours of sick leave, eight additional hours of personal leave and “additional premium pay for many classifications.”

The ADM facility employs 450 workers with an additional 200 to 300 skilled-trade contractors also on site.