From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Students at Iowa’s three public universities may be paying more for tuition starting in the fall. The Des Moines Register reports that proposed tuition rates were presented at a virtual meeting of Iowa’s Board of Regents on Monday. The proposal includes a 4.25% increase for resident undergraduate tuition at all three schools. A final vote by regents is expected next month. The meeting included comments from student government leaders at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. They called on the state Legislature to increase funding for their schools in order to defray tuition rates that have been steadily rising.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a February shooting that killed one man and left another with disabling injuries. Online court records show 24-year-old Daniel Martez Judon IV was sentenced after pleading guilty Friday to a count of intimidation with a weapon. Judon is one of two people charged in the Feb. 6 shooting in Cedar Falls that killed 19-year-old Arthur Craig Lang III, of Clear Lake, and left another man with a partially severed spine. Police have said Judon was in a vehicle with others when they began arguing with a group of pedestrians, and the two groups began shooting at each other. Police say Judon among those who fired a gun.
Inflation is taking a toll on infrastructure projects across the U.S. Rising prices for materials such as asphalt, steel and iron pipes are driving up the costs to build roads, bridges, rail lines and water mains. The prices for some infrastructure materials have risen even faster than general consumer prices. State and local officials say inflation is diminishing the value of a $1 trillion federal infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden just seven months ago. Some officials say inflation has forced them to delay or scale back the scope of projects.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A second motorcyclist has been sentenced to probation after a man died during a street race in Des Moines in October. The Des Moines Register reported Friday that 36-year-old Michael Crabb and 24-year-old Brady Joe Clausi both have now been sentenced after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide. Crabb was sentenced to three years probation May 27. Clausi, who was also charged with driving while barred and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, was sentenced to four years probation in April. Both men were charged after the Oct. 19 death of 37-year-old Kyle Houge. The three men were racing their motorcycles on Iowa Highway 28 when Houge struck a median and crashed.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law a measure that places a two-year moratorium on new casino licenses — a move the mayor of Cedar Rapids calls “disappointing.” The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that an amendment to a larger gambling bill means regulators cannot issue any new licenses in Iowa until June 2024. Reynolds signed the bill Friday. The moratorium puts on hold plans for a potential $250 million, 160,000 square-foot entertainment and cultural arts complex at the site of now-demolished Cooper’s Mill near downtown Cedar Rapids. The Republican-led Iowa Legislature this year approved the two-year moratorium on new casinos, citing “gambling fatigue.”
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — At least a half-dozen GOP presidential prospects are planning Iowa visits this summer now that the state’s June primary has come and gone. These forays, advertised as promoting candidates and the state Republican organization ahead of the fall midterm elections, in reality are trips aimed at building relationships and learning the political geography in the state scheduled to launch the campaign for the party’s 2024 nomination. In a time-tested midterm campaign year ritual, Republicans including former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and others are planning summer visits, marking the next phase in this quadrennial rite.
