Friday Morning Read: Prep for 2018 Leg. session, city election spending update, no more summer financial aid at UI

Runoff Spending - Four candidates in a runoff for two seats on the Cedar Rapids City Council spent more than $60,000 in the month leading up to Tuesday's election, according to campaign finance disclosure reports released on Thursday.

Candidates were required to disclose financial information to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board five days before the election. The candidates — Brad Hart and Monica Vernon in the mayoral race and Justin Shields and Ashley Vanorny in the District 5 race — raised a combined $61,995 and spent a combined $63,192, according to the reports. Read more about the financial disclosure here.

Testing Alcohol at Parties - One sorority and one fraternity out of 26 eligible University of Iowa Greek chapters have asked to hold parties with alcohol this weekend — as part of a test of new, strict guidelines around such events in the future.

The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is planning to host a party from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Iowa City. The Chi Omega sorority is planning its event from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday at the Rapid Creek Cidery in Iowa City.

Both organizations, per the proposed formal and date party policy, had to provide the university with a guest list — Phi Kappa Psi expects 200 attendees, and Chi Omega is planning for 300, according to information provided to The Gazette from the university. Read more about what this means for fraternities and sororities moving forward.

No More Summer Aid - The University of Iowa, in response to deep cuts in state aid, is dropping a popular summer-school financial aid program aimed at helping students graduate on time.

Administrators on Thursday announced that after the 2018 summer session, the institution will discontinue its Summer Hawk Tuition Grant program, which began offering undergraduate summer school grants in 2014. Read more about this grant and what ramifications this decision may have.

2018 Legislature Preview - Legislative leaders from both political parties expect to face another tough state budget when they convene in January, but top majority Republicans said Thursday they believe they are in a position to cut taxes and commit substantial long-term funding for water quality improvements next year.

Senate President Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said tax reform will be the top priority of the 2018 legislative session — set to begin Jan. 8 — with Republicans planning to revamp Iowa's corporate and individual income tax system for the first time in more than two decades. Read more about the upcoming session here. 

Iowa - Nebraska TV Ratings low - Often in television, it isn't the product as much as it is the platform.

Iowa has been known to brag just a little bit when the Hawkeyes-Nebraska Black Friday games have gotten good TV ratings compared to other games that day. Which is fine, you use whatever is at your disposal to enhance your image.

Last year, for instance, the Nebraska-Iowa game had a 2.4 rating and was seen by 4.169 million people. The TCU-Texas game in the same time slot was viewed by only 986,000 people. Read more here.