The speed limit drops to 55 miles per hour at the Diagonal Drive exit on Interstate 380 in northeast Cedar Rapids, where speed cameras capture violators. Photographed Friday, Nov. 5, 2010, in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — Now at more than three years since the Cedar Rapids traffic cameras first went live, some elements remain true year after year.

• Keep the speed under 67 on I-380 and you will avoid a $75 surprise in the mail weeks later.

• Millions of dollars flow into the police department each year from the traffic citations.

• People still flood police with letters when they receive a citation.

“Some of my favorites are from out-of-state that say, ‘I will never come to Cedar Rapids again,’ which is fine, it’s their right,” said Sgt. Cristy Hamblin of the Cedar Rapids Police Department, as she held a box of letters from drivers. “I have to remind them that other cities in the state of Iowa have the cameras.”

Yet the cameras in Cedar Rapids, especially since the first I-380 cameras were actively tracking drivers and issuing tickets, have drawn the most scorn as well as the most revenue of the 283,266 citations issued from February 2010 through March 31, 2013.

Frank and Ruthann Brekke of Rochester, Minn., were driving through Cedar Rapids on March 22 and, weeks later, a speeding citation from I-380 hit their mailbox.

“My husband was furious,” Ruthann Brekke wrote, in an email. “He was going to protest it, but what proof did we have? In the end, we sent in our $75 and he wrote a note on there stating that this is unconstitutional in most states, and not very good for Iowa tourism.”

The Brekkes were clocked in a highly profitable stretch of road, the northbound lanes of I-380, north of downtown.

$18 million dollars. Just on I-380 citations alone.

That is the approximate total of money issued in citations by the cameras on I-380, both at the J Avenue/H Avenue locations as well in the southbound lanes at the S-curve and the northbound lanes of I-380 and Diagonal Drive.

An extensive data analysis by The Gazette/KCRG-TV9 reveals 85.8 percent of the violations come from speeding on I-380.

The threshold to receive a speeding citation from the I-380 cameras remains at 67 miles per hour, 12 over the speed limit of 55 where the cameras are.

“Just imagine if we reduced it to five (over),” Hamblin said, who said that if the threshold was set up 62 or 63 instead of 67, she would agree with those who say the cameras are only in place for revenue. “The fact remains we have still not had a fatality in the S-curve since these cameras were put into place.”

Who gets citations?

Two years ago, the cameras clocked a total of 104,542 drivers for 2011. By 2012, the numbers reveal drivers hit the brakes more often, dropping the total to 95,748.

Iowa drivers still take the majority of the citations but, from 2011 to 2012, those numbers dipped substantially. In 2011, 64 percent of violators had vehicles registered in Iowa. Last year, that fell to 61.1 percent. Analyzing 2011 and 2012 are the only true “apples to apples” comparisons as those are the only full calendar years with the cameras on active status.

However, violators from Linn County still make up a healthy percentage of the violators. In 2011, 29 percent of the citations went to Linn County drivers. That edged up to 30 percent last year.

This finding reveals a certain percentage of local drivers who, presumably, travel under the cameras with more frequency are not slowing down as much as drivers from elsewhere. A look at the Johnson County violators supports this, as the percentage of drivers from that neighboring county fell from 6.2 percent of the citations issued in 2011 to 5.9 percent in 2012.

People in Linn County are still getting tagged while others are remembering to slow down in Cedar Rapids.

“It still amazes me that people in Cedar Rapids or Linn County are still getting the violations,” said Hamblin.  “They know that they are there. We have never hidden them.”

The money flow

Duane Matthess just found a $75 citation on a red-light violation in his Cedar Rapids mailbox. He plans to pay it.

“I had no idea where I got it and no idea where it was until we opened it,” said Matthess about a recent citation from Edgewood Road and 42nd Street.

$45 of his $75 ticket will end up with the police department, with the remaining $30 going to GATSO, the company that installed and operates the camera.

Through March 31, the data shows that nearly $14.9 million dollars has been marked as “paid” since 2010. The Cedar Rapids Police Department gets $9.05 million after GATSO’s $30-per-ticket cut.

Hamblin said the department uses that revenue for things like updated rifles for officers, as well as traffic elements that people can see, including flashing yellow lights near school zones.

23 percent of the citations also ended up classified as “bad debt,” totaling more than $5 million dollars. One Cedar Rapids woman is listed with 186 unpaid citations that add up to nearly $16,000. Hamblin said the city uses a collection agency to try and track down the millions that have gone uncollected.

The patch of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim still adorns some Cedar Rapids Kernels uniforms. GM Doug Nelson said a seamstress will swap out a Minnesota Twins logo in the final weeks before the season opener. (Chris Earl/The Gazette)

In the dead of winter, the Cedar Rapids Kernels don’t have any players assigned for the upcoming season.  Yet walking around the bowels of Veterans Memorial Stadium, the emptiness of the locker and equipment rooms stands out.

Hardly any bats or baseballs can be found, as the Kernels are in the midst of an affiliate switch from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to the Minnesota Twins.  The Kernels made the move after serving as a Class-A affiliate of the Angels for 20 years.

Kernels General Manager Doug Nelson said it’s standard operating procedure for a departing parent club to haul the team’s supplies.  Nelson said he expects a truck from the Twins to arrive in late March at the stadium’s loading dock, complete with bats, balls and the necessary items to keep a team together.

Outside the locker room, the transition to the Twins is apparent in the signs.

“We are working hard on changing that ‘A’ to a ‘Twins’ logo except for a couple of signs that we have to wait for the warmer weather for,” Nelson said.

Blame It on the Weather

Will this switch be a jolt to reverse the team’s sliding attendance in recent years?

In April 2002, the new stadium opened as the fans followed, with the Kernels drawing an average attendance of 2,841.

In the dead of winter, the Cedar Rapids Kernels are selling seats and sponsorships, hoping an affiliate switch to the Minnesota Twins will reverse an attendance slide. The 2012 average of 2,320 was the team's lowest since moving into the new Veterans Memorial Stadium in 2002. (Chris Earl/The Gazette)

But as the newness of the stadium wore off, the turnstiles also tailed off with the 2012 average bottoming.  Last year’s average of 2,320 put the Kernels at 13th in the 16-team Midwest League, ahead of only smaller cities Clinton, Burlington and Beloit, Wis.

Nelson said a primary culprit for last year’s drop was from the skies.

“We can have the best promotion and a winning team on the field, but if it’s a 50-degree game-time temperature with a crosswind blowing across the field in the stadium, we’re going to struggle to sell tickets,” said Nelson.

The 14 people who run the Cedar Rapids Ball Club LLC, the team’s ownership group, know the focus for any successful minor-league operation is hardly the play on the field.  These teams sell the atmosphere of a summer evening under the sunshine.

It is that selling point that determines whether a team such as the Kernels meets the bottom line each year.

Nelson said the team’s revenue comes from about four primary sources, with three of them during each of the 70 home games.

Game Day Events – Nelson said money comes “about equally” from tickets, concessions and sponsorship opportunities.  The team is in the push for ticket sales and placing names on billboards throughout the stadium.

Once the season starts on April 4,  the focus then shifts to the game operations, often a 15-hour day, Nelson said.

Off-Day Events - This is a relatively new revenue stream for the Kernels.  Nelson said the stadium held 80 non-Kernels events in 2012, from local high school and college baseball to concerts and MMA fights.  Nelson said these events also make up about 25 percent of the team’s revenue.

Who Pays?

As for where the revenue goes, Nelson said there is no difference between the Angels and the Twins as a uniform agreement is in place regarding financial terms between major-league clubs and their affiliates.

Nelson said the Twins pay for player salaries, from the million-dollar draft picks to the player who signed for the $1,000 minimum, as well as two-thirds of the cost of the bats and balls.  At least, whenever the bats and balls do arrive.

The larger bills for the Kernels include $300,000 annually in rent to the city of Cedar Rapids.  Nelson said stadium maintenance and repairs can run “about $250,000″ a year, but the city can cover about one-third of that cost.

Other expenses include 12 full-time team employees, and 7 percent of each Kernels’s ticket sold is earmarked for Major League Baseball.

Twenty years ago, a renaissance hit minor-league baseball with teams building attendance.  Yet with the effects of a recession still lingering, club executives do stay in contact with other teams and leagues to find promotions and attractions that work.

Nelson said one new aspect could be a welcome surprise for fans the moment they walk in the door.

“You’re going to be handed a free roster and a free program because we learned from our other affiliates that they started doing this, and the reaction from the fans was fantastic,” he noted.

For a team with no players, no bats and a new affiliate, the optimism still abounds at Veterans Memorial Stadium.  Nelson said the Kernels’s 2013 season ticket sales already have reached last year’s level, and he attributes part of that to having the nearby Twins as a parent club.

Now his in-season plans hinge on adding attractive wrinkles to the simple formula for what works.

“The old adage,” Nelson said, “is good weather, cold beverages and fireworks are the secret to drawing attention in baseball.”

“I am for the moratorium and so are the 800 signatures I have with me,” said Robert Nehman, of New Albin, as the open forum for the first reading of the proposal was held at the Allamakee County Courthouse in Waukon, in Northeastern Iowa, on Thursday evening.

Over the hourlong meeting, though some 16 people offered their opinions, no one came out publicly against the moratorium, County Supervisor Larry Schellhammer said.

Schellhammer said the three-person board likely will take up the vote on the moratorium on Monday at its 11 a.m. meeting.

Last fall, a property owner near New Albin, along the Minnesota border, expressed interest in offering part of his acreage for use to mine silica sand.

The mining of this particular sand, commonly called frack sand, is part of the hydraulic fragmentation process. The sand is extracted from the ground and transported elsewhere for use in oil and natural gas production.

This silica sand carries a high market value as it is ideal for easing the process to pull the fossil fuels out of the ground.

The property owner’s application since has been withdrawn. But the initial intent has stirred reaction in Allamakee County who do not want sand mining.

“With the amount of sandstone in the area, there will be a huge rush for it,” Nehman said.

Reasons stated at the forum for supporting the moratorium and opposing the sand mine varied. Speakers noted concerns about what will happen to the mined areas once all of the sand is taken out.

Others mentioned health issues, such as dust particles in the air, while some pointed out having the mining industry could harm the county’s tourism industry.

A trail at the Prairie Park Fishery in southeast Cedar Rapids. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

Think back seven years, to the year 2005. The world was a different place.  Paying $4 a gallon to fill up a gas tank during the summer was unheard of.  Selling a home usually took no more than a fresh coat of paint and a few weeks of open houses, about the same amount of time many workers could find a higher-paying job.

Also at the time, political and economic leaders in the Cedar Rapids area offered up the “15-in-5″ Project, a list of 15 ideas that could become reality within five years.

Some of the 15 ideas are necessary for any successful community, such as high-end employment, accessible housing and effective, easily available education programs.  Others on the list may have been a stretch, even during those heady days, such as light rail transit between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett was still in the legislature when “15-in-5″ was crafted before the difficult years that followed.

“The economic crisis hit in 2008, and we’ve been in recession since that, and then to have the flood on top of that,” said Corbett.

When asked about keeping Cedar Rapids attractive to businesses amid an economic downtown and the devastating flood of 2008, Corbett said one important move was to show that the city valued the city.

“When it came to the infrastructure projects like the Convention Center, the library, the fire station and the investments we made to shore up the neighborhoods by putting housing back into the neighborhoods that were flooded, that sent a real key message to the business community that, if you’re willing to invest in yourself, you believe in yourself and, when you believe in yourself, others start to believe in you,” said Corbett.

The “Jobs Goal,” listed as the top project on the “15-in-5,” calls to add more than 1,000 manufacturing and food processing jobs.

Corbett pointed to the city working with Penford Products, on the west bank of the Cedar Rapids.  Recently, the city and the company reached a deal for Penford to expand.

“Those are manufacturing jobs,” said Corbett.  “Those are good paying jobs and you can go out and roll out the red carpet for businesses that aren’t here but the businesses that are here have been adding the jobs over the past year and they kept our unemployment rate to a level where a lot of medium-sized mayors around the country would be envious of.”

Another cornerstone element from the “15-in-5″ is the fourth idea, providing access to early childhood education throughout the area.

Chris Kivett-Berry, community project director with Linn County, is at the forefront on advocating for these programs, especially in the areas of the county where budgets are tight for parents.

“Early childhood development really is economic development,” said Kivett-Berry.  “Research repeatedly documents that children who have participated in early childhood care and preschool have a higher graduation rate, are more likely to go to college and have higher lifelong earning potential.”

Kivett-Berry said the recession has created a “perfect storm.”

“You have more people in poverty and more children in poverty, so fewer people are able to afford child care,” said Kivett-Berry.  “Less funding then comes in from the federal and state level so the availability of high-quality child care is also being reduced.”

The 2005 “15 in 5″ Project:

1.  Jobs Goal – We should establish a goal to retain, expand, and attract jobs that pay living wages and health benefits, such as a net addition of 1,000 manufacturing and food processing jobs over five years.

2.  Entrepreneurial Development Fund – We should establish a local $1 million-plus Entrepreneurial Development Fund to help promising new businesses that have a quality business plan with small grants of up to $20,000.

3.  Business Incubator – In partnership with the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and Kirkwood Community College, we should create a business incubator to provide a physical space for new businesses and non-profits using university research and technology or other public business assistance.

4.  Early Childhood Education – We should support the Birth to Five Initiative led by Linn County Community Empowerment to end the current waiting lists and to make low-cost, quality child care and preschool available to all families, especially those families with incomes less than 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.

5.  After-School Programs – To improve community safety and education, we should provide after-school programs – such as the “After School Academic Challenge and Enrichment Program” at Polk Elementary School – for every student who needs them, especially in our five core neighborhoods (Mound View, Wellington Heights, Oakhill Jackson, Taylor Area, and Northwest Area).

6.  Summer-School Opportunities – In partnership with area businesses, retirees, and colleges (e.g., Kirkwood, Mt. Mercy, and Coe), we should make summer-school remedial and enrichment programs available in reading, math, science, computers, foreign language, business, and vocational education.

7.  Student Community Service Goal – In partnership with area nonprofits and the Workplace Learning Connection, we should establish a goal that 50% or more of our high school students will participate in regular community service.

8.  211 First Call For Help – We should maintain and improve the 211 First Call For Help program, and the agencies that provide assistance through that program, to meet the basic needs of children, seniors, and others in need.

9.  Housing Improvements – We should identify and reduce by 50% or more the number of vacant and dilapidated houses in the five core neighborhoods (Mound View, Wellington Heights, Oakhill Jackson, Taylor Area, and Northwest Area).

10. Energy Conservation And Efficiency – We should establish a goal of reducing energy use per capita by 10% over 5 years, develop measures to monitor progress toward this goal, and encourage conservation and efficiency to achieve the goal.

11.  Highway 30 To Clinton And Ames – We should advocate a plan to expand Highway 30 to four lanes from Clinton to Ames for completion by 2015.

12.  Light Rail Transit To Iowa City – Given the potential for congestion on Interstate-380 and rising gasoline prices, we should develop and begin implementing a plan to establish a light rail line from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City by 2015.

13.   Joint Land Use Plan And Trust Fund For The Technology Corridor – We should develop a joint land use plan and environmental and recreation trust fund for Linn and Johnson Counties to identify, protect, and improve existing and future park land, recreational facilities, natural areas, agricultural land, and open space.

14.  Recreational Trail For Cedar Rapids, Iowa City & Amana – We should complete a recreational bicycle trail to connect Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Amana.

15.  Cedar Bend Project – We should complete the Cedar Bend project, including recreational use of the Cedar Bend Lake, extension of the Sac and Fox Trail to the Cedar River Trail, construction of a new Witwer Senior Center to house senior organizations and activities, construction of a new market space, and conversion of the existing landfill to public open space.

Crews lay bricks at the intersection of 6th Avenue and 11th Street in Marion. (Mark Benischek/The Gazette)

MARION – For the first weeks and even months of her business, Jeanne White could only watch from the front porch.

“It was really hard when it was going on,” said White of the constant construction on 10th Street in Marion.  “Forty-nine days for us when the street was closed off.”

White and two others operate McGowan House Artisans on the corner of 10th Street and 5th Avenue.  The multi-year Marion Corridor Project featured this summer’s opening phase, which left quite a few streets torn up in neighborhoods and in the heart of downtown.

While 7th Avenue (Business 151) has been largely untouched at this point, crews have dug up 6th Avenue, which is adjacent to the city’s public library and other municipal buildings.  Drivers spent the late summer and early fall getting force-fed into detours as parking spaces became scarce and the orange signs became part of the landscape.

City engineer Dan Whitlow said that because of the phasing of the project, plenty of detour changes have followed.

“We try and encourage people to come and see the businesses and, in that, we want people to stay out of the construction zone,” said Whitlow.  He added that 1100 block of 6th Avenue is the only closure and that this main secondary road through Marion should be open ”by the end of the month.”

Crews lay bricks at the intersection of 6th Avenue and 11th Street in Marion. (Mark Benischek/The Gazette)

The stretch of 6th Avenue, between 9th Street and 12th Street, features bricks instead of pavement and as the plans proceed, White said the result is striking — even with the weeks where her business was difficult to get to.

“It really is beautiful and we’re happy with it,” said White.  “We’re part of the Uptown Business Group and real happy to be here.”

Next year, however, drivers may not share in White’s sentiments.  The major road construction project will move a mile west, near Marion’s border with Cedar Rapids to include reworking the congested intersection of Blairs Ferry Road and Marion Boulevard, at the entrance to Thomas Park.

“That’ll be a nasty detour,” Whitlow admitted.

Four lived in Cedar Rapids and one lived in Coralville when the alleged incidents or convictions occurred.

An Oregon law firm releases the documents on Thursday. There are thousands of files on more than 1,200 suspected child molesters who were associated with the Boy Scouts of America throughout the 1960s to the 1980s.

Only two of the men were convicted of sex crimes, one was arrested but there is no record of charges and two were not charged or convicted. Follow up on these local men is difficult because the crimes or alleged crimes occured between 1967 and 1986, which is before Iowa Courts online database and before the Iowa Sex Offender Registry was mandated. None of the men are listed in courts online.

The rea men convicted according to scout files:

-Richard Lee Pollock, 38 at the time, was convicted of lascivious acts with a child in 1986. He sexually abused a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old boys, according to a Gazette article. Police said the incidents occurred between May 1 and June 30, 1985.

He was a single student at Kirkwood College when he was an assistant scoutmaster from April 1985 to Aug. 1985. The files contain court documentation of conviction and a newspaper clipping of the conviction.

-Charles Huettel, 41 at the time, was convicted of lascivious acts with a child in 1981. He sexually abused a 11-year-old boy.

He was married with four children when he was scoutmaster from May 1980 to February 1981. The files contain court documentation of conviction and a newspaper clipping. The file also stated the troop committee asked for Huettel’s resignation after several parents accused him of molesting their sons.

Travis Christopher, the executive director of the Hawkeye Area Council, which covers scouting for seven Eastern Iowa counties, including in Cedar Rapids, noted the detailed precautions are in place now to try and actively prevent such incidents.

“Youth protection is probably the most paramount of our tasks, especially with the new youth,” Christopher said.

He said the Boy Scouts of America has drawn praise for how the organization has handled abuse allegations and awareness in recent years.

“We look at things like educating our leaders, like no one-on-one contact with youth,” said Christopher.  “But also making sure we have ‘two-deep leadership’, where anytime you make sure you have at least two leaders.  A parent and a registered leader or two registered leaders.”

Links to Cedar Rapids cases:

https://oregonian.s3.amazonaws.com/boyscouts/0515.pdf

https://oregonian.s3.amazonaws.com/boyscouts/0417.pdf

https://oregonian.s3.amazonaws.com/boyscouts/0210.pdf

https://oregonian.s3.amazonaws.com/boyscouts/1131.pdf

https://oregonian.s3.amazonaws.com/boyscouts/1145.pdf

The analog radio console at the Hiawatha Fire Department is one aspect of the 911 service that will benefit from the surcharge as the station makes the costly switch to digital. (Kyle Grillot/The Gazette-KCRG)

MARION – A quarter is usually all you need to call from a payphone, but as cell phones replace landlines and technology upgrades loom, Linn County emergency responders are asking landline holders to pay an extra quarter every month.

In the right column of the back page of the November 6 ballot in Linn County, voters are asked to approve an E911 measure to “increase the monthly surcharge from the current rate of $.25 to $.50 on each telephone access landline”.

The increase would lead to an annual charge of $6 (up from the current rate of $3) for each landline in a home or business within the county.

Marion Police Chief and E911 Linn County Chairperson Harry Daugherty said, if the measure passes, the increased revenue would lead to updated equipment and techonology for response teams.

The 2012 request is not as steep as the $1 rate 58% of Linn County voters rejected in 2010.

Now Daugherty and the E911 board are pushing for the lower increase.  Daugherty wants county residents to think about a $.50 monthly fee for a landline and compare it with other counties.

“We’re the second lowest in the state,” said Daugherty.  “In Iowa’s 99 counties, 80% of them get $1 a month and we’re asking for 50 cents.”  Daughtery noted that Scott County does not have a landline tax but said that revenue is made up by having an operating casino in Davenport.

If voters reject the increase this time around, Daughtery said needed technology upgrades would not happen.

In 2010, Hiawatha Fire Chief Michael Nessage was very vocal in calling for support for that year’s landline rate increase.  Nesslage brought up a prime example of how new technology can assist emergency responders.  He said updated technology would allow Hiawatha and Cedar Rapids response teams to work off the same communication system when they are called out along the city boundaries at Blairs Ferry Road.

“There are a lot of other issues with this election that are overshadowing it,” Nesslage said with a chuckle.  “But it is important for people to understand it is just $3 and goes directly to support first responders and dispatching.  It doesn’t pay for salaries.  It does pay for equipment.”

View a Linn County Sample Ballot Here:

http://gis.linncounty.org/data/elections/election/2012_general/sb/1.pdf

Des Moines attorney Doug Gross, Steve Gray, board chairman of ImOn Communications, and Drew Skogman, vice president of Skogman Homes, address The Gazette's editorial board about their plan to bring a casino to Cedar Rapids in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, October 4, 2012. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

With both the Cedar Rapids City Council and Linn County Board of Supervisors on board, will the push for a new casino in the Cedar Rapids area gain enough support to be up for a referendum in 2013 and pass with a majority vote?

In a meeting last week with The Gazette’s editorial board, Steve Gray said extensive research of Linn County residents says the support is there.  Gray is leading a 22-investor local group that is looking to win a license for a casino that would open in the Cedar Rapids area by 2016.

Yet in November 2003, voters rejected a Linn County referendum for a riverboat casino, with nearly 53 percent of the 58,000 voters striking down the proposal.

“Nine years ago, it was a very broad coalition,” said David Osterberg, a UI professor, executive director of the Iowa Policy Project and a vocal opponent of a Cedar Rapids casino. Osterberg said the coalition of Democrats, like himself, and many social conservatives helped defeat the measure.

David Osterberg.

“My view of this is that it’s simply a tax on the poor and it’s going after addiction, the addiction of people who gamble,” said Osterberg.

The next step for the casino supporters is to gather the necessary volume of signature to qualify for a county-wide vote next year. A simple majority would be needed for passage.

On Wednesday, Linn County supervisor Brent Oleson said this attempt for a new casino has more stable financial support from the investor group as well as stronger support from the city and county governments.

Yet the main question that cannot be answered now is the proposed casino’s location.  The investor group said general sites have been surveyed, but not specific neighborhoods.  Amid the group’s hope for the downtown Cedar Rapids location is also the need to avoid positioning a proposed casino too close to existing casinos.

Casino options have also grown for Linn County gamblers since 2003.  Casinos in Waterloo, Riverside and Tama are now open, unlike nine years ago.

Gray said a Cedar Rapids-area casino would bring nearly 400 full-time positions and millions in tax revenue.  Osterberg said those benefits do not make up for the social cost.

“I understand that cities are pretty desperate for revenue,” said Osterberg.  “We don’t give them many good ways where they can collect revenue from their citizens.  Consequently, they’ll look for anything.  This is not a good deal.”

The plausibility of a downtown Cedar Rapids casino would also be different than most other major metro casino locations in Iowa.  In Des Moines and Waterloo, casinos are on the outskirts of the metro area.  Dubuque’s two casinos are along the Mississippi, but not in the heart of the downtown district.

In a state with relatively low unemployment, the presidential campaigns have spent their Iowa visits focused on plans for better-paying jobs and not simply more jobs.

Yet instead of the politics of manufacturing, a Davenport company is in the midst of an intense surge until Election Day. Its business is making signs — for display at political rallies and campaign office to supporters’ front yards and the sides of barns.

“Around six million this year,” VictoryStore.com founder and Chief Executive Officer Steve Grubbs said on the production floor when asked how many political signs his company of 80 workers would create and ship out.  “That’s a reasonable goal.”

The business started in 1997 as an online company, headquartered out of a shuttered elementary school in Davenport, and a few miles from the Quad City International Airport.

Robert Ragusi (left) and Spencer Glover work in one of the production rooms at VictoryStore.com. (Michael Griffith/The Gazette)

“What the Internet did was it allowed us to take what would have previously been a small, local printer and make it a nationwide printer,” said Grubbs.  “Because of our lost cost of business and how close we are to an airport, it makes it very advantageous to us.”

Grubbs said the company will “ship out 500 orders” each day to customers across the country.  Political races make up 60 percent of VictoryStore.com’s business, and signs for sheriff and city council contests fill the multiple buildings.

Grubbs also operates a separate business that advises Republican congressional candidate, but he pointed out  the building is full of signs representing all major political party candidates.

Even as he tries to move his business into non-political areas, Grubbs knows the political pull remains strong.

“The next round of elections will start three months after this election is over,” Grubbs said.  “Elections don’t stop in the United States so, somewhere, there is an election.”

Ken Borgerding, job site superintendent for the new junior/senior high school project in Independence, checks in with workers on Friday afternoon. Four months since breaking ground, school leaders say the $27.5 million project is on schedule to open in August 2013. (Michael Griffith/The Gazette)

INDEPENDENCE — The new Independence Junior/Senior High School includes space for a “safe room,” the first ever in Buchanan County.

On Friday, the district reported that FEMA will offer the Independence Community School District a $831,064 grant, including $733,292 in federal funds and $97,772 state funds, for the safe room, designed to “meet FEMA criteria and provide ‘near-absolute’ protection in extreme weather events, including tornadoes.”

“When this idea came up was a couple of years ago when the tornadoes were hitting in the Alabama region,” said Independence Community School District Board President Brian Eddy. “We thought if we had the opportunity to incorporate a safe room into this facility, it was something to consider.”

Superintendent Jean Peterson said the safe room will be built to handle extreme conditions.

“With that structure able to withstand 250 mph winds, that’s a very comforting thought,” Peterson said.

Peterson added that in a violent scenario, the safe room would be able to handle some of the 600 students and staffers inside the new facility.

“We will be able to lock that down for any reason, throughout the whole building,” Peterson said.

The current junior/senior high school building, which opened in the 1950s, lacks air conditioning. District voters in 2011 passed a $27.5 million bond to build a new school after failing to approve it in five previous referendums.

The outer shell of the new school is now in place and the rush is on to finish the roof before winter hits.

“The farmers know that people have had a hard time with the drought but it’s been perfect weather conditions for construction,” Eddy said. “In the last four months, they’ve made incredible progress and I think they’ve only missed one day because of rain.”

Iowa fans cheer on their team during the first half of their college football game against Iowa State Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

In the third football season of stricter alcohol guidelines in place around Kinnick Stadium, police cited more than 100 people on Saturday for various violations related to the annual Iowa State-Iowa football game.

The University of Iowa Public Safety Department reported a total of 140 violations, plus fifteen people taken to the Johnson County Jail under varying circumstances.

The breakdown for the citations:

• 117 for open container in public
• 22 PAULA (possession of alcohol under the legal age) citations
• 1 for open container in a motor vehicle

Two years ago, at the last Iowa State-Iowa game at Kinnick, law enforcement reported a similar amount of citations issued.  Both the 2010 and 2012 contests were at the later 2:30 p.m. kickoff time.

Some of the more noteworthy arrests:

• An 18-year-old Illinois man was wearing a “yellow security jacket” and standing on the sideline at Kinnick Stadium, attempting to appear as if “he was working on behalf” of the university.  Public safety officials reported the man’s alcohol level was recorded at .144.
• A 35-year-old man from Lost Nation was in the 200 block of East Washington Street at around 5 p.m.  when  an officer observed the man and a female “shoving each other”.  The report says the man then jumped in front of the officer’s squad car and said “take me to jail.”  The man refused a blood alcohol test.

Stephenie Meek picks up her son, Christian Meek, 15, on his first day back at Washington High School on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in Cedar Rapids. Christian's jaw was broken when he and other students were attacked last week on 20th Street SE while walking home from school. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

CEDAR RAPIDS –Eight days after police say two assailants attacked four students walking home from Cedar Rapids Washington High School, the most severely injured teen returned to class.

Christian Meek, 15, has been out of school since the Aug. 21 incident in the 300 block of 20th Street SE.

“It was a little bit rough but everybody was really friendly coming back,” Meek said after school Wednesday.  “Lots of cards and people being friendly.”

Meek spent two nights in the hospital with a broken jaw and nerve damage.  A second victim had multiple teeth knocked out, police said.

On Friday,  Keenan Baker, 16, and Tyrees Martin, 15, were each charged with willful injury, a felony in Iowa.  Investigators said on Tuesday they do not anticipate any further arrests in the case.

Meek said Wednesday the pain “isn’t that bad anymore” but he will have to eat food through a straw for weeks to come.  His mother Stephenie Meek said Christian is making solid progress in his recovery.

“He’s doing great, he really is,” she said.  “For the injury he received, the oral surgeon said the feeling is coming back in his face.”

Last week, she said doctors told her that her son might have lost nerve sensation near his mouth.

Stephenie Meek said she is very concerned if the suspects are released and what could happen next.

“When these kids gets out of whatever punishment they have, what’s next?” she asked.  “Are they going to be able to get away with it?  Do it to other kids?”

Reached by e-mail on Wednesday night, principal Dr. Ralph Plagman said this was a “good week” for the school community.

“The injured students are back and they will be okay, although they are not all completely healed yet,” Plagman wrote.  “And the alleged attackers are in the hands of the justice system.”

Christian Meek, 15, one of the Washington High School students attacked in the 300 block of 20th Street SE. Christian was hospitalized with a broken jaw.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Two teenage boys are in police custody and facing felony charges after investigators say they attacked a group of four high school students after class on Tuesday.

Police say Keenan Baker, 16, and Tyress Martin, 15, both of Cedar Rapids, are each charged with willful injury for their role in the severe beating of two of the four Washington High School students. Baker also is facing two additional counts of assault causing bodily injury.

Witnesses and the victims said at about 1 p.m. on Tuesday, four boys were walking in the 300 block of 20th Street SE, about a mile south of the school, when multiple males attacked them. Christian Meek, 15, suffered a broken jaw and has severe nerve damage near his mouth. He was subsequently hospitalized for two nights.

The other victim with serious injuries had multiple teeth knocked out. A third boy had a cut on his face and his black eye, and the fourth boy was not injured.

Charity Flood, 39, who lives next door, said she witnessed the last 30 seconds of the assault. She said a bigger boy, was “beating (one boy) relentlessly into the ground.” She said the assailants ran off to the north on 20th Street SE, and she called 911 at the boys’ request.

Flood said she has lived there for 17 years and has never seen this happen.

Several parents, who say they are concerned about the safety of children walking to and from school, have voiced outrage about the incident.

An hour before Friday’s arrests were announced, Cpt. Steven O’Konek of the Cedar Rapids Police Department acknowledged the prominence of the case.

“We don’t want the pressure of the press or anybody to influence the outcome of the case,” O’Konek said. “We know it’s important to the community but it’s important to us, too, but we ask the community to trust us that we are working the case as fast and as hard as we can.”

O’Konek said investigators did have “good cooperation,” but they kept a low profile in recent days to ensure a solid case.

“As interested as we are in making an arrest, we’re more interested in a successful prosecution,” O’Konek said.

Investigators are not releasing booking photos of Baker and Martin because they are juveniles, but did confirm the two are African-American. The two victims with the most serious injuries are white.

However, O’Konek said investigators do not believe the assault to be a hate crime and that, at this time, police believe the two groups involved had a connection before Tuesday’s attack.

Christian Meek’s mother, Stephenie said Friday she is glad police made the two arrests and hopes this will make the streets safer. She added she spent part of Friday buying soup and pudding as her son will have his jaw wired shut for the next two weeks.

Christian Meek, 15, one of the Washington High School students attacked in the 300 block of 20th Street SE. Christian was hospitalized with a broken jaw. (

Stephenie Meek says she usually picks up her son Christian from Cedar Rapids Washington High School — adding to the chaos her family has been through since Tuesday’s first day of school.

“I showed up at school and they weren’t there,” said Meek.  “I called his friend and his friend told me they were unconscious and I said, ‘what?’”

Police and witnesses say Christian Meek, 15, was walking with three other Washington students after Tuesday’s early dismissal when, in the 300 block of 20th Street SE, multiple males attacked the four boys. Christian and one other boy were severely beaten.

“I showed up on the scene and there were people everywhere,” said his mother. “They hit him so hard that it was like he kept skipping and saying the same thing over and over again.  He kept saying, ‘on the first day of school’ and then a pause and, then, ‘on the first day of school’.”

Stephenie Meek said her son has a broken jaw and a severed nerve that runs from his right cheek to just under his mouth.  A neighbor and witness to the attack, Charity Flood, said the other boy with serious injuries had multiple teeth knocked out and was bleeding from the mouth.

Christian Meek spent two nights at St. Luke’s Hospital before his release late Thursday afternoon.  His mother said he was bleeding for hours after the attack and was “vomiting bags full.”

“He’s going to be sealed with wires for two weeks,” said Stephenie Meek.  “Then they’re going to try and put rubber bands so it’s not constrictive.  If he throws up, he could die.  They’re concerned about that.”

As of Thursday evening, Cedar Rapids police had not announced any arrests or made a public plea for information but said they are “working diligently” on the case and are handling the attack at a high priority.  Talk of the attack on the four high school students was a regular topic among many parents throughout Eastern Iowa once the news hit.

Now Christian Meek is in the early stages of recovering at his home, with his three younger siblings nearby.  His mother said the family moved to Iowa five years ago from Indiana and that Tuesday’s attack has her apprehensive, but she wants the streets to be safe.

“I don’t want him to walk around town but, at the same time, there’s no way that we can let these bullies, these thugs, rule Cedar Rapids streets,” said Stephenie Meek.  “He’s going back to Washington and I’m going to make sure he’s going to walk this city and feel safe, because that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”

Four-year-old Taryn Ambrose sits on the lap of her mother Mandi Ambrose of North Liberty during a community sendoff ceremony for the Iowa Army National Guard's Detachment 1, Company C, Medical Evacuation 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion at the Army Aviation Support Facility #2 in Waterloo on Thursday, July 19, 2012. Taryn's father Sgt. First Class Stan Ambrose is a medic with the unit and is one of approximately 50 soldiers from the unit being deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)

WATERLOO – As much of the summer of 2011 was marked by the return of Iowa National Guard soldiers and airmen, one unit will return into the combat zone.

On Thursday afternoon, family and other loved ones of approximate 50 members of the 211th Air Ambulance unit offered their applause, their love and their final hugs.  The unit is leaving Waterloo for extended training at Fort Hood, Texas before the eventual destination of serving in Afghanistan.

Col. Greg Hapgood said this year-long mobilization is the first National Guard unit to be called up for 2012.

“They’re pilots, maintenance folks and medics,” said Col. Hapgood after Thursday’s ceremony.  “They take care of patients, whether in the battlefield environment or in the medical facilities but, basically, their job is to move these patients in a helicopter fast to get them the critical care they need.”

Helicopters dotted the hangar at the Air Aviation Support Facility, on the north edge of the runway area at the Waterloo Regional Airport.

Sitting in the front row with her four-year-old daughter, Mandi Ambrose, of North Liberty, has been through this whole process before.

Twice.

“Again, here we go,” Ambrose said with a smile before Thursday’s ceremony.  “We went through this once before we were married, once when (Taryn) was a baby and, now, again we’ll go through it.”

Ambrose’s husband, Sgt. First Class Stan Ambrose, has served in the military for 16 years and this is his third mobilization.  His first two tours, in 2003 and 2008, were in Iraq.

Only this time, the couple’s daughter, Taryn, 4, knows exactly what is going on.

“We actually have a really good family readiness group and they’re good at getting us information such as child care support,” said Mandi Ambrose.

Col. Hapgood said the sendoff ceremony for the 211th will be the catalyst for more ceremonies in the coming months.  A reminder that the job of supporting the mission in Afghanistan is not over.

“The Iowa National Guard has deployed over 17,000 soldiers and airmen since (2001),” said Hapgood.  “Last year was very different in that about 3,000 soldiers did come home over the summer and what we will start to see this year is soldiers departing again, for Afghanistan and other places.”

A number of young trees planted along Edgewood Road south of Highway 30 in Cedar Rapids are dead or dying on Thursday, July 12 2012. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

Amid what the city of Cedar Rapids is calling a drought, the city is putting out the official call for people to water the trees on their property.

In a news release Wednesday, city leaders said staffers are watering new trees to keep them alive, and that slightly older trees — two to three years old — are “beginning to show signs of drought stress.”

This comes as the city is placing a real emphasis on greenery within the city.  The budget for fiscal year 2013 calls for spending $150,000 on the purchasing and planting of up to 900 trees throughout the city — a sharp increase from the previous budget of only $70,000.

“I can only remember one other drought that was this dry, and it was not this dry this early in the year,” said Bill Hornett of Peck’s Green Thumb in Cedar Rapids.  “It’s really a drought.”

Hornett, who has been with Peck’s for 32 years, said the process of keeping a tree healthy during a drought requires water — but also patience.

“With established trees, if you are watering your lawn and keeping it green, you’re probably fine,” said Hornett.  “But if your grass has gone dormant, you should be watering your established trees and watering around the drop line to where the outer branches are.”

Hornett agreed that plenty of trees are under “stress” right now.  He recommended people should water trees about once every two weeks, watering “real slow”.

On the city’s west side, homeowner Tom Kleopfer was out taking care of his backyard trees.

“I have a bunch of evergreen trees in the back and I water them about every day,” said Kleopfer, who said he has lost some of his trees from previous winters.  “It’s very dry.  It’s terrible.”

City leaders suggest “long, slow watering” for being effective when watering trees.  Some of their options:

• Use irrigation bags, some of which can hold 20 gallons of water and slowly release the water over the course of a few days.
• Place a five-gallon bucket with several small holes near the bottom.
• Use a garden hose near the base of the tree for a small stream of water to trickle out for a few hours.

A tree survey from 2007 counted between 40,000 to 50,000 “street trees,” with more than half classified as ash or maple.

Dr. Larie Godinez talks with the Telegraph Herald editorial board Tuesday, April 5, 2011, in Dubuque, Iowa. (Jessica Reilly / Telegraph Herald)

DUBUQUE — After more than an hour in closed session last night, the Dubuque school board returned with a unanimous decision to fire superintendent Larie Godinez.

Godinez had held the position since 2009 and was being paid $180,000 a year. An employment termination agreement released after the meeting provides about six months’ severance pay — a lump sum of $80,104, payable on the eighth calendar day after the agreement is signed, and $15,000 in salary for June.

“Looking at the last time the district had a separation, factoring in the cost of living, it was pretty similar to what has been done in the past,” board President Craig Beytien said of the terms.

Godinez did not attend Wednesday night’s meeting.

The agreement also includes confidentiality clauses between Godinez and the school district, as well as a stipulation that “the District does not admit” that it or any staff members have done anything wrong.

Godinez and the district also agree to split costs for the legal work executed to this point.

Debris and sheets of metal from the nearby Theisen’s store were wrapped around the swing set at Kiwanis Park on 13th Street in Vinton after straight line winds of more than 100 mph ravaged the entire town and much of Benton County the morning of Monday, July 11, 2011. (Angela Holmes/Thbe Gazette)

VINTON — Broken trees still can be found in this town of 5,000, ten months after a storm packing 100-mph winds blew through in the middle of the night.

“We estimate that, maybe, 80 percent of our trees were damaged on July 11,” Mayor John Watson said.

A gravel lot in town is filled with busted branches and thick tree stumps. Several upcoming events, including Party in the Park, the Vinton Cruise, RAGBRAI and the county fair, will put the town on display and Watson said he is hoping much of the debris will be cleared away in time.

“(The pile) has gone down dramatically in the last couple of weeks,” Watson said. “It’s here for the taking. We are very proud to be a family-oriented community and we want to make our community shine for 15,000 people riding their bicycles.”

Watson said people who need wood for heating have benefitted from the damaged trees, and some have stocked up on firewood for two or three years.

The town also has begun to replace the trees lost to the storm. Volunteers gathered Saturday at the Vinton Public Library to help replant 42 trees near the library and Riverside Park.

“Every single neighborhood took an extreme beating on that storm,” Watson said. “We haven’t got many people who have major, major damage left. We’ve been very fortunate, too.”

Mark Benischek/The Gazette Excavators began clearing land for the new Independence Junior/Senior High School last week. The school will be 170,000 square feet and each instructor will have their own classroom. Overcrowding is a problem in the current facility.

INDEPENDENCE — The late afternoon may be one of the few times the Independence Junior/Senior High School isn’t crowded during the school year.

“We have the most students that we’ve had in ten or 15 years,” said Jen Sornson, who is in her third year as the school’s principal. “We have over 600 students in this buildings. We have two annexes. We have two places where students go outside, which is problematic all throughout the day.”

The school opened during the 1950s, an era of bomb shelters and the Cold War. On hot days, there is no cold air. The halls were filled with humidity this week, even on a relatively mild day.

“With 600 kids, it’s pretty hectic,” said freshman Nicole Volentine. “It would be nice to not be so jam-packed in the hallways.”

Last September, nearly 70 percent of voters in the Independence Community School District approved a bond of about $27.5 million to go toward building a new junior/senior high school for grades 7-12. Similar bond referendums had failed in years past.

Sornson said the current junior/senior high building “served its purpose” but now the push is on for the new building, about 2 miles west of the existing school, on Iowa Avenue on the western edge of the city.

“It will be absolutely wonderful that we can be climate-controlled,” Sornson said. “We aren’t right now. It’s burdensome.”

Larson Construction of Independence is overseeing the construction of the new school. The firm took part in rebuilding Aplington-Parkersburg High School in 2008 after a deadly EF-5 tornado swept through the town, tearing the roof off the school and destroying the gym. Larson also has worked on multiple building projects at the University of Northern Iowa.

The new Independence Junior/Senior High School is scheduled to open in August 2013. Area leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project last week.

“All of the moving, the amount of staff,” Sornson said, “we’re going to have to tackle it like a military operation. It all has to be very orderly.”

Emma Schneider, of Long Grove, Ill., joins in a peaceful protest against the Union Bar, in Iowa City, Iowa, on Friday, May 4, 2012. (Nikole Hanna/The Gazette-KCRG)

IOWA CITY — A downtown Iowa City bar was the scene of a protest last night as accusations of “sizeism” continue to be leveled at the business.

Jordan Ramos, 21, a junior at the University of Iowa, says on two occasions, she went to The Union Bar in downtown Iowa City with friends and was denied access to a small platform where patrons, usually female, dance.

The first incident happened on March 3, when Ramos said she was celebrating a friend’s birthday. She said after trying to walk up the stairs to the small platform, a bar employee said that she was not allowed up there.

“He just says, ‘you will never make it up on this platform. Go back to the dance floor where you belong,’” said Ramos, a West Liberty native.

She said other females were allowed on the platform and said those women were thinner than she was.

“I never thought that my size would be a deciding factor on whether I’m accepted as a customer,” Ramos said. She said that, after others encouraged her to return, an April 14 visit to the bar led to a similar reaction from employees.

Ramos said one employee said she could not dance on the platform because she was “not pretty enough” and even suggested that she was “obviously pregnant”, even though Ramos said she is not.

Requests for comment Friday from officials at The Union Bar were not returned. The bar reportedly was asked by the city of Iowa City to take the platform down because it does not meet safety requirements.

A former worker at the Union Bar said he worked at the business for a month in 2009 and that employees were told to “not let guys or heavyset women” on the platform.

“They wanted their image to be ‘hot girls,’” said Austin Fall, 24. “Business owners do want attractive people standing up and dancing because it helps their image out.”

Fall said he has worked at three different Iowa City bars, including The Union Bar.

Ramos’ story has been picked up by several national outlets, including ABC News. A blog post at abcnews.com has hundreds of comments, including many that are harsh and critical of Ramos’ appearance.

“I’ve completely stopped reading the comments,” Ramos said. “I was starting to internalize the comments and doubt myself. Even scared.”

Last night before the protest, Ramos said she still believes the issue of size discrimination is worth further dialogue.

“This whole rally has been about raising awareness about sizeism issues. Sizeism occurs everywhere,” Ramos said.

A van like this drove near some Pierce Elementary School students Tuesday afternoon, and parents in the area are concerned about the situation. (image taken from KCRG-TV9 video)

Tammy Prohaska usually does not have to worry about her three youngest children as they walk home from school.

Yet after an incident on Tuesday evening in her northeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood, Prohaska, a mother of five, is a bit shaken.

“Three of my kids walk home together but, today, I’m going to walk over and meet them,” Prohaska said.

On Tuesday at about 6 p.m., Prohaska said her 9-year-old daughter was walking down Wenig Road, between 42nd Street and Glass Road, and heading to a friend’s house when a white cargo van pulled up and came to a stop.

Prohaska said her daughter then ran to the friend’s house and told an adult at the house.

“I then called the police and I later found out the friend and (her) older sister were approached by the same van,” Prohaska said.

On Wednesday morning, Prohaska walked into nearby Pierce Elementary School, where her three youngest children are enrolled, with the purpose to inform other parents about what happened.

Principal Rebecca DeWald said she did not have to look far for a police investigator.

“It just so happened today (Wednesday) was our ‘Day with a Police Pal’ in the building,” said DeWald.

She said the Cedar Rapids Police Department officer spent more than an hour investigating the situation.  She used the information to send out a message to parents of Pierce students, writing “the individuals in the van were white males, both with hoodies on and one had a baseball cap under the hoodie.”

Pierce is an elementary school with more than 400 students. Many of the children live within walking or biking distance of the school.

Yet in the hours after DeWald sent the message to the parents, there was one element largely missing from the sidewalks around 42nd Street: Students.  Only a handful were walking home on this warm, sunny day.

“It’s time to sit down with them again and remind them about safety,” said Brandey Yancey, a parent of a fifth-grader.  “Thank goodness for cell phones.”

A large crowd watches Iowa play Dayton during the first half of their NCAA college basketball game in the first round game in the NIT Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

Tuesday’s NIT win over Dayton brought 13,000 fans to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, national exposure on ESPN and a sense the men’s basketball program is taking steps to return to prominence.

“That is our vision that Carver-Hawkeye (Arena) is going to be like this, night in and night out,” said Iowa athletics director Gary Barta.

Even while school was on spring break, the students who could get to the arena made plenty of noise, making Iowa City a loud setting, once again, for college basketball.

“It’s really picked up since my freshman and sophomore years,” said UI junior Isaac Strohman, a season-ticket holder. “It’s a lot louder and the fans are into it.”

Only the financial payoff will not be seen — at least not immediately from the 13,190 fans, the announced crowd in Iowa’s 84-75 win over Dayton in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament.

“There’s a sense that the athletic department realized a big financial coup last night, and there was no revenue benefit from last night,” said Barta. “This is a tournament that is run by the NIT and they come in and realize all of the revenue. We have no direct revenue from last night.”

Troy Dannen, athletics director at the University of Northern Iowa, was in Philadelphia on Wednesday for UNI’s 67-65 win at St. Joseph’s in the NIT.  Like Barta, Dannen said there is no financial incentive for his program.  The game comes at a tight time for UNI, where school officials have recommended millions of dollars in cuts to make up a $5 million budget shortfall, including about $500,000 in athletic cuts.

With a fiscal year 2012 budget of $2.6 million, the Iowa men’s basketball program is a small but notable part of the department’s near $75 million budget.  Football remains the primary revenue sport, with an annual revenue pull of about $20 million.  Yet Barta said men’s basketball is the other program the department counts on to subsidize all sports.

Barta said he has seen just how far the men’s basketball program had fallen, especially since the last NCAA tournament appearance in 2006 under then-head coach Steve Alford.

In March 2010, Iowa fired head coach Todd Lickliter after three losing seasons.  Yet to change coaches, the department had to keep paying out Lickliter’s contract through 2013.

Barta said Tuesday’s win was a step in the right direction for the eventual goal, which second-year head coach Fran McCaffery said is a national championship for Iowa.

“Before the financial end of it comes, you have to get the building back,” said Barta.  “We cut ticket prices some years ago, significantly, so we’re starting to see the building fill back up.”

While Iowa does not see a financial payoff from Tuesday’s win, the six teams in the Big Ten that did make the NCAA Tournament could land a windfall for the conference if multiple teams advance closer to the Final Four.  The Big Ten Conference splits total revenue gained among its members.

In a news release, Coralville Police Chief Barry Bedford said at approximately 1:58 a.m., the officers pulled over a car in the 500 block of First Avenue.

During a search of the vehicle, Bedford said officers located “19 individual bags of marijuana and a loaded handgun.” One of the car’s passengers, Charlie D. Pitchford, 31, of Cedar Rapids, then tried to flee the scene, but officers caught him and a fight broke out.

Bedford said during the fight, the officers were injured before using a Taser on Pitchford and arresting him.

The officers were treated and released from an unidentified local hospital. Pitchford is facing multiple charges, including Possession of a Firearm as a Convicted Felon and Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Deliver, which are class D felonies, as well as Carrying Weapons, and two counts of Interference With Official Acts, which are aggrevated misdemeanors. He remained jailed last night in Johnson County.

Caniya Barron, 27 and Crystal Turner, 29, also of Cedar Rapids, also were in the car and also are charged with Interference with Official Acts.

Marion Police said they were called about 1:40 a.m. Saturday to 1481 Grand Ave., Apt. 5. When officers arrived on the scene, they said they found Mariah Lang, 21, of Cedar Rapids and Edwin Vassar, 48, of Marion, with cuts to their face and arms, which they said were stab wounds. Police said they found Antoinette Vassar, 53, of Marion, in a nearby apartment, where she said she had run for help. Vassar said she had been hit over the head with a chair.

According to a news release, Lang was taken by air ambulance to Mercy Medical Center, where she was treated and released.

Police said the suspect, Matthew L. Robinson, 38, of Cedar Rapids, was found after being admitted to Mercy Medical Center with a serious stab wound to the abdomen. Police said they weren’t sure who had brought Robinson to the hospital.

Police said upon his release from the hospital, Robinson will face a charge of domestic assault with a weapon and two charges of assault with a dangerous weapon.

“We have twelve years of perception we have to educate people about,” the director of the Eastern Iowa Airport said during a February 8th interview at his office.

Bradshaw came to Cedar Rapids from Louisville, Kentucky in 2010.  We sat down with him to go into how his airport is working to stay competitive, even as plenty of fliers drive past CID on their way to other airports.

“We have some leakage to Moline (MLI) or Chicago.  Some people will even drive to Chicago to get a good fare.”

In the airport business, leaders count the number of “enplanements”, the industry term of departing passengers.  Bradshaw said CID has 427,000 enplanements during 2011.

To read more form Chris Earl’s story, click here.

Here are the Top 10 counties from our non-scientific but time-consuming and calorie-burning count (based off 1,700 vehicles):

**Note on the table: The license plates with Hawkeye/Panther/Cyclone plates were not counted.  That probably made up another 100 “uncounted” vehicles.

The Airfares Themselves

More proof that prices for airfares are often moving.  We have tracked specific routes for this story over different days.  These are round-trip fares through a search of the travel website Orbitz.  We picked a April 16 departure and April 22.  Note: On some of the Allegiant fares, the departure date may be a day before/after April 16.  The prices listed do not include baggage fees, online convenience fees, etc.

<TABLE BORDER=2>

<TR> <TD>&nbsp;</TD>

     <TH>10 am - noon</TH>

     <TH>noon - 2 pm</TH>

     <TH>2 pm - 4 pm</TH>

     </TR>

<TR> <TH>Monday</TH>

     <TD>Home Ec</TD>

     <TD>Math</TD>

     <TD>Geography</TD>

<TR> <TH>Wednesday</TH>

     <TD>History</TD>

     <TD>Social Studies</TD>

     <TD>P.E.</TD>

<TR> <TH>Friday</TH>

     <TD>Music</TD>

     <TD>Peace Studies</TD>

     <TD>Sleep</TD>

</TABLE>

*Represents a “low-cost” carrier, such as Alliegant or Frontier

He’s ready for the call when he is feeding his horses, and when he and his wife are feeding their four children.

Matt Macke, 27, stands in his Cedar Rapids home on Friday afternoon to talk about his job search. The twice-injured Iowa National Guard veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan is three months into his job search.

He is hoping for a job offer to arrive. Soon.

In late May, Iowa National Guard Sgt. Matthew Macke returned to Cedar Rapids after a roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan on April 27, fracturing his right foot and left leg.

“I’m able to run on them,” Macke said Friday as he waited for calls on jobs he’d applied for. “Not very often, but I am doing all right.”

Macke is one of 178,000 recent veterans looking for work, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. With January unemployment numbers declining nationally, the percentage of jobless service members from these wars also is down — 9.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, when it was 15.2 percent a year earlier. The national unemployment rate for all populations last month was 8.3 percent.

Vicki Terronez is a Veterans Affairs certifying official at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Even with the encouraging news, she said, the transition is still not an easy one.

“Sometimes employers may not value the military experience these men and women have, and actually, they are highly trained in their fields,” Terronez said.

Macke, 27, has served in the military since October 2003, months after he graduated from Midland Community High School. His first war injury came in 2006, when he encountered a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq.

Macke entered the service during a booming economy and is now re-entering a workforce plagued by higher unemployment. He did security work for an Eastern Iowa company before his most recent deployment to Afghanistan, but he doesn’t expect that position will be available again.

Macke will be considered on active duty until June, so he has a few months before he is truly on his own financially. His wife, Erin, is working toward completing her college degree by December.

Now that his legs have healed, Macke is hoping for an open position with Eastern Iowa police departments or sheriff’s offices.

“What I find really awkward … is that the market is flooded with vets right now,” said Macke. “Maybe two or three guys applying for the same position.”

Cedar Rapids police say that, at about 2 p.m. Sunday, a brick that had been thrown led to “a laceration in the back of the head” during an incident in the 300 block of 11th Street NW.

Investigators said the boy was injured, but would not provide further details on his condition.

Police say no one has been charged in the incident and the investigation continues.

Jim Hanson, owner of the West Side Maid-Rite, displays one of the loose meat sandwiches (Sourcemedia Group 2006)

CEDAR RAPIDS — Long before his usual 9 a.m. start, Jim Hanson unlocked the Maid-Rite West’s doors Wednesday and fired up his grills.

But that was OK. He asked to feed President Barack Obama during his Cedar Rapids stop.

“My wife and I got here at 5, another girl came in at 6:30 and we had to have it all out there by 7:30,” said the owner of the eatery at 621 First Ave. SW.

Hanson delivered “30 pounds of meat, 20-some pounds of baked beans and 20-some pounds of potato salad” to Conveyor Engineering & Manufacturing, enough to feed 120 people.

“I did volunteer it,” Hanson said. “My son works out there at Conveyor and I said, ‘If they want something to eat, I’ll bring the stuff out.’”

“I was hoping we would get to serve it but they wanted the self-service so we just dropped it off,” said Hanson, who was able to watch Obama’s speech at the plant.

A sport-utility vehicle sits along Interstate 380 Thursday night. The driver apparently lost control, sending the SUV into one of the newly-installed cable barriers along I-380. (KCRG-TV9 photo)

After two winters of being stretched along Interstate 35 between Des Moines and Ames, the cable barriers that are now along Interstate 380 through most of Cedar Rapids faced the first test of winter amid Thursday’s all-day snowstorm.

“The DOT made a decision a couple of years ago to have these cable median barriers,” said Cathy Cutler, with the Iowa Department of Transportation office in Cedar Rapids.

The project along I-380, from the Wright Brothers Boulevard exit (mile marker 13) north to the Boyson Road exit (Mile Marker 25) cost about $2.2 million for the 12-mile stretch. The purpose is to keep I-380 “slide offs” from turning into out-of-control cars and trucks that can run into the opposite lanes, head-on.

“They’re not designed to boomerang you back into traffic,” said Cutler during the storm Thursday.  “But, if you go off, they are there to catch you and hold you there safely.”

This mission was apparent on Thursday evening, as a crash on I-380, south of the 42nd Street NE exit (mile marker 23) left a SUV that had been traveling southbound mangled with damage, yet the vehicle did not slide into the northbound lanes of the highway.

“The cables are designed for the post to actually break and for the cables to catch and flex up to 12 feet,” Cutler said.

Cutler stressed a November incident where a dump truck overturned near the Swisher exit (mile marker 10).  She said the cables were able to keep the wayward truck in place.

Angie Morris has two rental properties in Cedar Rapids that she and her husband work to keep occupied.  With a recent vacancy on a single-family house on the northeast side, she took to Craigslist and Zillow to place ads.

Only her house started getting interest.  Lots of it.

“I started getting a ton of calls because the price the person listed my house at was a lot lower than it actually is,” Morris said Wednesday.

What happened was that someone, claiming “my wife and I just traveled to Nigeria” and using her husband’s name, was trying to rent their $950-a-month property for $500.

“I was getting notes on the door, in the mail box, people saying ‘I’m very interested in renting, please call me back right away’,” said Morris.

She sent SourceMedia a copy of the Craigslist ad that was lifted from her legitimate ad.  The fake “for rent” ad said the owner would be in Nigeria for up to “4 years”, working on a humanitarian and faith-based program, all while asking people to “treat it (the house) as your own”.  The fake ad also used the property’s actual address.

Morris said she realized what was happening when people contacted her from her ad on Zillow, which had the correct rental price of $950 per month and her phone number.

“I was concerned that somebody would actually get scammed by this,” said Morris, who told us she immediately filed complaints with Craigslist and with the Fair Trade Commission.  She said the Craigslist ad came down “within hours” but resurfaced the next day for a period of time as well.

One person may have fallen victim to a scam from the property, as Morris did forward an e-mail correspondence between her and one prospective tenant who, from investigating the e-mails, did wire $500 to the person who posted the “fake ad.”

Multiple landlords throughout Cedar Rapids did tell TV9′s Chris Earl, on Wednesday, that this is an issue for both landlords and tenants.

Tim Conklin, of Preferred Property Management and formerly with the Landlords of Linn County, said people should watch for a place that may appear “too nice” for the rent that is requested.

“A lot of scams are after people moving from out of town on a promise of a property that can’t really be verified,” said Conklin. He said the slower rental months of the fall are starting to pick up again for the upcoming spring, especially as the region’s larger companies start to hire employees after Jan. 1.

KKKimage

Tyrone White spent much of his Sunday doing what many others enjoyed: Watching the NFL playoffs.

White, however, also spent much of this day wondering why his wife would find a resealable bag containing a small rock and a sheet of paper with words that glorify the Ku Klux Klan.

Underneath a drawing of a figure dressed like a Klan member, in white hood and sheets, are the words:

“NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH.  You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake!”

The bottom of the page lists a website and an email address for people to report “troubles” in a neighborhood.

“We’re a bi-racial couple,” said White.  “I’m kind of offended.”

White said he has lived in his home near Oakland Road and 42nd Street NE for two years and has been a Cedar Rapids resident for nearly a decade.

On Sunday night, Cedar Rapids police said there is nothing illegal or criminal about the literature.

On Wednesday, the site www.reportbullyingiowa.com went live.  The Des Moines-based Eychaner Foundation is behind the website.

Executive Director Michael Bowser says that “regrettably, it is often difficult for students and parents to find reporting procedures, forms and contact invididuals.”  His hope is that this will add another layer for anyone who has faced school harassment or bullying to feel empowered enough to report it.

Dr. Nick Pace is an associate professor with the University of Northern Iowa’s college of education and, before that, a high school principal in Traer.  He said he discovered the new site through Facebook.

“I think that schools do a really good job of trying to have their fingers on the pulse of what’s happening, but anybody who has spent any time in a school as a teacher, counselor or principal knows that you can’t be everywhere and you don’t know every single thing that goes on,” said Pace.

The new site also comes months after a wave of bullying through social media sites, like Twitter, targeted some students at Eastern Iowa high schools.

Once a person fills out the web form on ReportBullyingIowa.com and submits it, Bowser said the form is “immediately e-mailed” to the superintendent or “designated contact person” with the school district.  Bowser also added the organization will send a hard copy of the form to the district through the mail.

After contacting numerous school districts and administrators through the Cedar Rapids metro area, most leaders who did reply said the site was new and that they wanted to look at it further.

Linn-Mar Superintendent Dr. Katie Mulholland stressed that she wants the best possible result for a student in this situation, but wanted to seek out more information about the site.

Her questions centered on where the information that is submitted will go, and whether the report becomes public record because of the way the information is collected?

- If it is a public record, does its publication anywhere violate due process?

- How will the sponsoring Web site use the information?

- Will the organization be contracting the district noted on the form and want details of the investigation?

Yet, in the overall scope, Pace said the site can be a positive step forward.

“Educators, in general, are under so many demands and there can be a tendency to say ‘this is one more thing’,” said Pace.  “I understand that, but the one more thing we’re talking about it to allow kids to feel fully engaged and fully empowered in their school.”

The words "Vice Lord" are spray-painted on a garage in southeast Cedar Rapids. (contributed photo)

When Kathy Harwood looks outside her home of the past 31 years, what she sees is far from ideal.

“I try not to look outside,” said Harwood, who lives at the corner of 18th Street and 6th Avenue SE in Cedar Rapids, at the eastern edge of the Wellington Heights neighborhood.

In recent days, someone vandalized the signs outside her door, along with the garage of another property at that intersection — stop signs tagged with ‘VL’ and a garage with the words “VICE LORD” spray-painted in black for all to see.

“Vice Lords” refers to a well-known, Chicago-based gang that was formed about 50 years ago.

“It’s a little disturbing,” said Harwood.  “It seems like it’s creeping up a little more and a little more.  It makes me not want to leave the house empty.  I’m a little more nervous of going out to the car in the dark.”

Another spray-painted message on a garage in southeast Cedar Rapids. (contributed photo)

A KCRG-TV 9 viewer emailed images of the vandalism a few days ago, asking what the city would do about the problem.  Attempts to contact Cedar Rapids police Thursday were unsuccessful.

Amazing Grace Jambibi, 16, was walking in front of the vandalized house on Thursday afternoon with her 9-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister.

“They shouldn’t be doing this,” said Jambibi.  “Little kids are walking around.”

She said that she doesn’t believe police, who do patrol the neighborhood frequently, can do much about the problem.

“Ignore it, try not to encourage it and just stay out of this mess,” she said.

Authorities are investigating a string of break-ins, including one that took place at 4 a.m. Monday Nov. 14, a subject broke into the C Store, 400 S Military St., in Martelle, with what appears to be a crowbar. (Kathleen Serino/The Gazette)

When Jayne Tuetken rolled into work on Monday morning, she had already heard about a string of break-ins.

“I already knew about three of the other ones before I came in,” said Tuetken. “I just walked up to the door, saw broken glass and called 9-1-1.”

Tuetken is the co-owner of the Martelle C-Store, one of the businesses targeted in a string of burglaries.  After breaking into the store, someone took the cash register.  Law enforcement officers later found the register, with only a few coins left inside.

Between Sunday night and Monday morning, at least eight businesses between Delaware County, Jones County, Linn County and Johnson County were hit.  Most were along State Highway 38 (Hopkinton, Monticello, Scotch Grove) or State Highway 1 (Martelle, Solon, Mount Vernon, Iowa City).

“It is unusual in that we saw so many break-ins over one evening,” said Jones County Sheriff Greg Graver.  “It helps us to make it easier to put together.”

Yet putting it together is what Graver and neighboring sheriff’s offices are working on.  He said detectives worked for hours on Tuesday night to follow up on a lead, but it ended up being a “dead end tip”.

Of the eight reported burglaries, three were pharmacies and three were convenience stores. A bar in Scotch Grove and a tire store in Iowa City were also hit.

Police in Mount Vernon said someone broke the glass door at the front of Shepley Pharmacy, just one block off Highway 1 downtown.  Chief Mark Winder said no cash was taken, but hundreds of dollars in medications, such as Sudafed, were stolen.

“The dollar value of the amount of drugs taken wasn’t much, maybe $700 in substances, but the damage to the door was that or more,” said Winder.  “The cash register taken in Martelle was worth more than what was taken from the store.”

Now days after the burglaries, investigators say they will continue to study the surveillance images as they await any tips or leads that will lead to an arrest.

Over the weekend, Evansdale police and the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office were on the scene of a house in the 500 block of Evans Road.

Evansdale Police Chief Randy Weber said his department is releasing no specific information about the victim until after the autopsy, scheduled for 8 a.m. on Monday.  Investigators haven’t provided much information so far, including the gender of the victim.

Gang Lu

A plaque sits under the fall leaves at Van Allen Hall, one of the few symbols of an afternoon of terror in 1991.

“We all remember in our own way,” said Mary Hall Reno.  “I don’t think any Nov. 1 goes by and we don’t think about what happened.”

Reno is now the chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa.  On Nov. 1, 1991, Reno was an associate professor in the department, working at Van Allen Hall.  That afternoon, she was on the building’s fifth floor.

Doctoral graduate Gang Lu, 28, walked into the building that Friday afternoon, destined for the second floor.  Upset that his dissertation did not win a prize, Lu met with faculty members, and started shooting.

Using a revolver, Lu shot and killed department chair Dwight Nicholson, professors Christoph Goertz and Robert Smith and fellow doctoral graduate Linhua Shan.  Lu and Shan had once been roommates and Shan had won the academic prize that Lu wanted.

As light snow started falling on that overcast day, Lu then walked three blocks west, to Jessup Hall.

“My wife worked at Jessup,” said R.J. Winkelhake, then chief of the Iowa City Police Department.  Winkelhake raced over to Jessup Hall.

In that time, Lu shot associate vice president for academic affairs T. Anne Cleary and student Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, who was working in an office at Jessup Hall.  Cleary died the next day and Rodolfo-Sioson was paralyzed from the neck down until her death in 2008.

Winkelhake said his wife believed the suspect headed towards a conference room in the building.

“I could see someone under a conference table,” said Winkelhake.  “I actually got on top of the conference table and had a shotgun aimed down at the person.”

That person was Gang Lu, who had shot himself just before Winkelhake arrived.  Lu died soon thereafter.

Now retired and living in Galena, Ill., Winkelhake said what happened in Iowa City 20 years ago left a mark on the entire state.

“Those things didn’t happen in Iowa,” said Winkelhake.  “And they don’t happen at a university campus.  It happened there.  There was a certain amount of innocence that was torn away by that violent act.”

Because the shootings happened 20 years ago, so many of the undergraduates at the University of Iowa don’t remember that day.  The typical freshman or sophomore was not even alive on November 1, 1991.

Yet today’s college students have grown up in an era of deadly school shootings — Columbine High School in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007, Northern Illinois in 2008.

“I grew up close to Northern Illinois, so, obviously the shootings were publicized,” said Mallory Litzo, a sophomore from Crystal Lake, Ill.  “But it’s never really scared me.  I feel really safe here.”

Freshman Quentin Marquez of Glenwood even admitted he had never heard of the 1991 UI shootings until being approached about this story.

“After the effects of Columbine and Virginia Tech, it’s something all college students think about, but it doesn’t affect us on a day-to-day basis,” said Marquez.

Back inside Van Allen Hall, the bound physics volumes from Dwight Nicholson still sit in his old office, the same room where Gang Lu shot and killed him. The room is dedicated to the four people killed that day.

The UI is not planning any formal recognition to mark the 20-year anniversary of the tragedy.

Cedar Rapids superintendent Dave Benson

The superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District knows that, with making any and all ideas public, opinions will follow.

“If we didn’t want the community to be informed, we wouldn’t  have it up on the web,” said Dr. Dave Benson, superintendent, referring to the 20-page document that is part of what the district calls “Visualizing Success: Planning For the Future.”

A group, called the Enrollment Study Committee, is working with a consulting firm to determine the most ideal situation for the 16,000-plus students in the district.

School leaders are extremely careful to call the ideas that come forth “supposals,” rather than proposals and recommendations.

One recent supposal is sparking plenty of feedback: Closing three elementary schools (Harrison, Monroe, Polk), which would drop the number of elementaries from 24 to 21.  All three schools are in the core of the city, and all three have a higher ratio of students with “free or reduced lunch” than the average throughout the district.

Another early “supposal” centered around a shift of high school boundaries.  The district’s website reports Kennedy at nearly 100% capacity, far more than Jefferson and Washington.  The data called for some in the Kennedy district to be assigned to Jefferson (west of Edgewood Road and south of 42nd Street) and those in the Pierce Elementary district to attend high school at Washington.

“The high school ‘pure feeder’ model that was put out on the website was pretty well struck down, and you’ve got to go back to the drawing board,” said Benson about the high school supposal.

Here is the challenge: The population trends throughout the school district are for more people moving north and west.

“Our district goes to the Benton County line, and we’re going to grow over time,” said Benson.

The next meeting for the committee is Oct. 18, and Benson is encouraging people to get involved in helping the district find a long-term solution to meet the needs where more students are living and where fewer are moving to.

Jen Neumann, with the Enrollment Study Committee, said this give and take between the committee and the consultants is part of a long process.

“They keep throwing ideas at us, we give feedback and they come at us with another supposal,” said Neumann.  She said the findings are “very data driven” that may not always mesh with common sense.

“The important thing is the consultants listen to us and provide new scenarios in which they reflect the changes we’ve suggested,” said Neumann.

Crowding Concerns:

Elementary Schools With The Tightest Capacity (according to the CRCSD Elementary Supposal 2a sheet:)

Top Five:

Van Buren (482 students), 101%

Viola Gibson (584 students), 97%

Pierce (430 students), 91%

Coolidge (409 students), 82%

Hoover (364 students), 73%

Bottom Five:

Kenwood (217 students), 43%

Taylor (234 students), 49%

Truman (225 students), 56%

Wright (212 students), 57%

Monroe (210 students), 60%

District Average: 67%

A pumpkin thrown from an overpass damaged this car Saturday night on Interstate 380. (contributed photo)

Investigators say someone dropped a pumpkin off an overpass on I-380, north of Cedar Rapids, on Saturday night.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office said Cassandra Chase, 34, of Cedar Rapids, was driving south on I-380 when a pumpkin crashed through the windshield of her Hyundai Entourage.

Investigators say the pumpkin was dropped off the overpass on Hagerman Road, between the Center Point and County Home Road exits on the highway. Deputies say they responded at about 9:45 p.m. on Saturday.

It was reported that Chase’s injuries were not life threatening.

The accident remains under investigation.

Greg Thompson of Iowa City (right) and other protestors wave to passing motorists at the start of the Occupy Iowa City protest in College Green Park on Friday, Oct. 7, 2011, in Iowa City. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

IOWA CITY — An early gathering of about 25 people at College Green Park swelled to about 250 by sunset last night as the national “Occupy” rallies reached Iowa City.

The group’s Facebook page described last night’s meeting as the first “general assembly.”

Many of those who showed up were college students who said they were worried about their student debt and low-paying jobs. Others cited their anti-war perspectives, saying money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been better spent on Americans.

“Too many friends of mine, and I myself, are worried about our education,” said Nick Ridler of Iowa City, who said he had socialist leanings. “This is the best country on earth and we need educated youth.”

As with the initial protests against Wall Street in New York, many of those in attendance were anti-corporation.

“I’ve always been against corporate America, honestly,” said Lacey Woltz, who said she is a college student.

“We have not had that easy of lives,” added Theresa Meeks-Mosley of Iowa City. “We go to jobs most of us don’t like and we’re not making that much money. It’s a struggle. Our dollars are going to some rich guy’s bank account and not to the poor. I don’t like it.”

Many attending set up tents along the park’s east side, near Dodge Street. College Green Park usually is off-limits during the late-night hours, but some said they intend to stay and protest as long as possible.

In a news release Friday, the Iowa City Attorney’s Office said the protesters did not need a permit to stay because the rally fell under a ‘spontaneous event’ exception.

Cedar Rapids police say they responded to the shooting call at about 9:00 p.m. Saturday in the alley behind the 1300 block of 3rd Avenue SE.

Sgt. Dan Jabens said the shooting victim did not know the assailant and, after being hit, made his way into a nearby apartment building until responders found the victim. Jabens said the victim was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids for “emergency surgery.” The victim’s condition has not been made public.

Jabens said the description of the shooter is of a “shorter black male” who was wearing a blue hat that was pulled down at the time. He added the shooter may have gotten into a vehicle.