CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – In an update to our report over the weekend, the Iowa DCI has released the name of a man who was the subject of an Officer-involved shooting on July 30th. Officials say 23-year-old Brandon Lee Nelson, of Cedar Rapids, was transported to the University of Iowa Hospital, where is was being treated for his wounds. His discharge from the hospital is pending. The Cedar Rapids Police Officers names involved in the incident will be released, pending interviews with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

As we mentioned previously, the Department of Criminal Investigation was requested to assist the Cedar Rapids Police Department, Saturday, following an Officer-involved shooting incident. Officials say at approximately 3:52 a.m., Saturday, Cedar Rapids Police officers conducted a vehicle stop for erratic driving in the 2200 block of Glass Road NE.

The driver of the vehicle – identified today (Monday), as Brandon Lee Nelson, brandished a firearm and gunfire was exchanged between Nelson and two Cedar Rapids police officers.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest Creighton University survey of businesses in nine Midwest states shows continued growth — but economist Ernie Goss says that growth isn’t very fast. “The overall index is in solid growth range. Although it’s when you compare it to earlier months it’s still down, we’re seeing softer growth than what we saw earlier in the year, and what we saw at this time last year,” according to Goss.

The survey asks questions about employment and other economic trends and creates an index ranging from zero to 150. The overall index moved up by a little more than a point to 59-point-eight in July. “We asked about confidence looking at the economy six months ahead, it was still very weak but up from last month, so things are moving along, not like what we’d like to see but much better than what we’re seeing in some of the national numbers have come out,” Goss says.

There’s a debate about whether the country has moved into a recession — Goss says the signs point that way. “We’re probably in a recession or skating along and moving into the recession in the next quarter or so,” he says. Goss says the recession is not having a full-blown impact on all sectors of the economy. “I’ll call it recession diversity. In other words, the manufacturing sector continues to move along at the national level not quite as strong as the regional level. But even there, we’re not seeing a recession in the manufacturing sector,” Goss says. “It’s more of other sectors, leisure and hospitality other sectors where you’re seeing numbers well below growth neutral, in fact in negative territory in terms of G-D-P,” Goss says.

Goss says to listen carefully to what the Federal Reserve Governors say, because when they see a recession ahead they’re going to be raising interest rates.

(Radio Iowa) – One of the stars of the original TV series “Star Trek” died over the weekend. Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on the Starship Enterprise, was 89. Radio Iowa interviewed Nichols during her last stop in Iowa in 2018 and she reflected on a long, prosperous life which she said has been one bold adventure after another. Nichols is considered by many as not just an iconic actress, but as a heroine in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Nichols planned to leave the show after the first season, but had a chance meeting with a fan, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, who convinced her to stay on, saying she was an incredible role model in the multiracial cast. Nichols, who was black, and white actor William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, shared what’s celebrated as the first interracial kiss on American television in 1968.

Nichelle Nichols -Image from the NASA Facebook page

In later years, Nichols helped NASA recruit women and minorities to join the astronaut corps. She’s credited with bringing aboard Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space, as well as Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space. Nichols said her first love was musical theater and she toured the country in the 1990s singing in a one-woman tribute to female jazz and blues singers.

Interviewed at the Wizard World Comic Con in Des Moines in June of 2018, Nichols said she was energized to see so many fans lining up to see her, to get an autograph or a selfie with her, even more than 50 years after Star Trek debuted. It’s an incredibly loyal fan base, “just wonderful,” she said.

The original TV show continues to spawn spin-offs and movies, but also lives on in reruns and is still finding new, adoring viewers. In the autograph line that day was a young girl of around eight, clad in boots and a red skirt with a triangular gold emblem on the black lapel, a miniature version of the uniform Nichols wore as Uhura more than five decades ago.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports numerous arrests took place over the past week:

On July 26th, 38-year-old Kimberly Ileen Bloom, of Corning, was arrested at the Dollar General Store in Adair, following an incident whereby she allegedly tried to steal a little more than $846 in food. Following an investigation, and during her subsequent arrest, Bloom allegedly resisted arrest by pulling away and kicking the arresting officer. She was taken into custody for Interference with Official Acts; Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana-2nd offense; Theft in the 3rd Degree, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was later released on a $3,000 bond.

On July 27th, 41-year-old Raymond Scott Davis, of Creston, was arrested following a traffic stop on I-80 in Adair County. Davis was taken into custody on a warrant for Failure to Appear. He was initially held without bond, but then the charge was dismissed at his initial appearance, and he was released the same day.

On July 28th, 24-year-old Darnell De Marcus Martin, of Ft. Dodge, was arrested by Police in Adair, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana- 2nd offense, and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. Martin was released the following day, on a $1,000 bond. Also arrested on the 28th, was 51-year-old John LeRoy Pace, Jr., of Creston. He was taken into custody on a warrant for Failure to Appear on charges that include two counts of Driving While Barred; Poss. of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana-1st offense;and Eluding. His bond was set at $4,000.

On July 29th, 42-year-old Justin Alan Robertson, of Greenfield, was arrested on a warrant for FTA on a Poss. of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana-2nd offense charge. He was later released on a $1,000 bond. On Saturday (July 30), 36-year-old Tad Robert Haskins, of Atlantic, was arrested by Adair Police on Interstate 80. He was charged with OWI/1st offense and later released on a $1,000 cash or surety bond. A Creston man was arrested that same day, in Greenfield, for OWI/1st offense. 21-year-old Joe Thomas Jackson was released with a citation.