An Anamosa State Penitentiary nurse and correctional officer have died after several staff members were assaulted by an inmate yesterday morning. Iowa Department of Corrections officials say they are investigating the assault, which took place in the prison infirmary. The inmate was restrained by other security staff.
She made it official yesterday afternoon…Tiffany O’Donnell formally announced her candidacy for mayor of Cedar Rapids. The former television news anchor is currently CEO of Women Lead Change…in her first interview about her run for mayor, O’Donnell told me what motivated her to run. You can hear the full interview with Tiffany O’Donnell today in the 9 o’clock hour of KXEL Live & Local. Incumbent Brad Hart earlier announced his intention to seek a second term as Cedar Rapids mayor…in addition, businesswoman Amara Andrews will make her plans official tomorrow at 5 p.m. at an outdoor event at NewBo City Market. And business owner Jake Brummer announced his intention to run for Mayor of Cedar Rapids. In a news release, Brummer said he wants to see improvements on spending equal amounts of funding to improve all quadrants of the city. Brummer also said he wants to work to get more Cedar Rapids voters to be involved in City Council processes so more voices are heard.
The only United States-based Olympic skateboard qualifying event for 2021 will take place in Des Moines. Dew Tour said yesterday that its annual skateboard competition and festival will be held at Des Moines’ new Lauridsen Skatepark May 20-23. The competition includes World Skate-sanctioned men’s and women’s skateboarding competitions and is the country’s only Olympic qualifying event ahead of the rescheduled summer Olympics in Tokyo, which are now scheduled for July 23–Aug. 8 of this year.
==
The race for mayor of Cedar Rapids got more crowded yesterday, as former TV anchor and CEO of Women Lead Change Tiffany O’Donnell formally announced her candidacy. Her first interview about the campaign was with KXEL, and she told me the campaign will have a broad base. You can hear the full interview with Tiffany O’Donnell in the 9 o’clock hour of KXEL Live & Local today. At least two others besides O’Donnell say they are running against incumbent Brad Hart.
Police say human remains have been found in a pond in a rural area near DeWitt, about 20 miles north of Davenport, where authorities have been investigating the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl since last summer. The Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, Davenport police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation held a joint news conference yesterday to confirm that a body had been found Monday by two people fishing. Officials have not identified the body and declined to speculate during the news conference on whether the remains could be those of the girl, Breasia Terrell. However, Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski acknowledged he had been contacted about the discovery of the remains because of his department’s investigation into the girl’s whereabouts.
An annual tornado drill is set for around 11 a.m. on Wednesday as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week. The sirens in Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Robins, Palo and Center Point will not be activated for the drill, but schools, businesses, individuals and state and local governments are encouraged to participate. Sirens owned by local jurisdictions are at the discretion of those jurisdictions. A test tornado warning for the drill will be sent over weather radios.
