Home / News / Crime & Courts Russia without explanation includes Judge Patrick Grady CEDAR RAPIDS — One of the 963 Americans including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris that Russia over the weekend permanently banned from entering the country is a local judge who’s surprised he made the list “I wasn’t planning on going there anyway,” Sixth Judicial District Senior Judge Patrick Reilly Grady said dryly Sunday after learning he was number 191 on the banned list I guess I’ll have to update my resume.” The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday updated a list of Americans banned from entering the country as a response to the United States’ support of Ukraine and the historic sanctions on Moscow nearly three months into its invasion The list of 963 people includes a wide variety of Biden’s administration citizens,” the Washington Post reported seem to have only tenuous ties — or none at all like Grady — to Russia One prominent name missing from the banned list is former President Donald Trump the only prominent Trump administration official included in the ban is former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Grady was bemused by the news because he has never traveled to Russia He did go in 2012 with Judge Fae Hoover and Gary Hinzman to Kudowa-Zdroj and Poznan in the southwestern part of Poland to study the courts and penal system who was chief judge of the district at the time then director of the 6th Judicial District Correctional Services were asked to speak at a probation conference in Kudowa-Zdroj The three then went to Poznan to tour the prisons and courts Hinzman said after that trip he had visited Poland several times after developing an exchange program with his counterparts through the American Probation and Parole Association Polish judges and probation officers also has visited Cedar Rapids in the past first went to Germany to visit friends and then took the train from Berlin into Poland He said there were never any issues traveling into Central Europe They spent nearly two weeks in Germany and Poland Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com Reporter covering state and federal courts. Subscribe to the Public Safety newsletter The Gazette has been informing Iowans with in-depth local news coverage and insightful analysis for over 140 years independent journalism with a subscription today © 2025 The Gazette | All Rights Reserved Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) blistered the final sprint and won stage 5 in Katowice at the Tour de Pologne On the final 100 metres he sprang from six riders back to pass Jordi Meuss (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) Thursday’s stage winner Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) took another podium with third The Katowice finale after 187.6km saw three sprinters go down just outside the 3km to go mark Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) Arriving safely across the line in the front group were all top contenders in the GC Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) retaining his lead over Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) trailing Vingegaard by 19 seconds Results powered by FirstCycling Stage 4 - Olav Kooij sprints to stage 4 victory ahead of Bennett and Pedersen Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) hit the accelerator in the final 200 metres and sprinted past Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) for the stage 4 victory at the Tour de Pologne Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was able to slip past Pedersen as well on the far outside of the road to claim second Kooij' teammate Jonas Vingegaard retained the overall lead finishing safely in the peloton after the longest day of the seven stages Stage 3 - Thibau Nys doubles up with another hilltop victory on stage 3 Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) scored his second victory in three days on the Tour de Pologne surging past coming past Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) near the line on stage 3 Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished third Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) retained the overall lead after he placed ninth on the day Stage 2 - Tour de Pologne: Tim Wellens fastest in stage 2 time trial as Jonas Vingegaard takes over yellow Stage 1 - Tour de Pologne: Thibau Nys conquers opening stage with fierce uphill sprint Timing his sprint perfectly in the sharp uphill finale, Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) won the opening stage of the 2024 Tour de Pologne in Karpacz and so pulled on the first yellow jersey of this year's race.  The 81st edition of the Tour de Pologne takes place August 12-18 The Tour de Pologne remains the only WorldTour stage race in central Europe and is also its country's biggest cycling event The week-long race featuring bunch sprint and hilly stages is traditionally decided by very small time gaps The race began 1928 as an amateur race and now in its 80th edition in 1993 it became a fully professional-only race before joining the WorldTour series in 2005 three riders hold the record for three wins in the event: Dariusz Baranowski Andrzej Mierzejewski and Marian Wieckowski Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) won the GC title last year in a close battle with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) finished third overall The Bahrain-Victorious rider moved into the overall lead with a victory on stage 2 and held off his rival by just one second on the final day a reversal of their finish in 2021 when Almeida took the GC win Check out the list of all the past winners of the Tour de Pologne the Tour de Pologne will include a mix of mountainous and hilly stages with two suited for sprinters and one time trial The opening day of racing is planned to begin in Wrocław and head west to a finishing climb to Orlinek in Karpacz, on the border of Czechia, with a finish in Kraków. Read all the details of the Tour de Pologne 2024 route Get daily business news from the region delivered straight to your inbox BMW barged into the all-terrain go-anywhere market way back in 1999 with its X5 and the Bavarian brand’s SUV onslaught thereafter went into overdrive with the ‘X’ family subsequently being bolstered by the X1 it’s taken the company two decades since the X5’s debut to come up with a full-size as the brand-new X7 packs in all the familiar BMW ingredients into a package that offers a premium feel and vast levels of interior space The flagship SUV has the challenge of representing the blue-and-white roundel in a segment that already includes the likes of the recently updated Mercedes-Benz GLS Although the X7 comes with a price tag that positions it well above most of these rivals BMW is arguably the most sophisticated offering in the category as it’s loaded with a barrage of safety systems and underpinned by a cutting-edge platform – dubbed CLAR It may not be as vast as the Navigator and Escalade These generous dimensions mean it’s a genuine seven-seater rather than a wagon that accommodates only small children in the third-row seats Propulsion for the X7 comes from either a 3-litre turbocharged six-cylinder unit or a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 which in the xDrive50i pushes out robust outputs of 462hp and 650Nm for our maiden road trip across Poland and the Czech Republic which is likely to be the volume seller in the Middle East as its 3-litre inline turbo six ekes out 340hp at 5,500rpm and a beefy 450Nm The twin-turbo V8 xDrive50i is the more rapid of the two as reflected by a claimed 0-100kph split of 6.1seconds All powertrains are hooked up to the excellent ZF eight-speed auto which has virtually become the default transmission for European premium brands Although the X7 shares its basic platform and drivetrains with the smaller X5 the former comes standard with adaptive dampers and air suspension on the front and rear axles benefiting both ride qua-lity and handling It’s remarkably agile for something this big and this is even more so if you tick the option boxes for active sway bars and four-wheel steering The cabin layout won’t be unfamiliar to anyone who’s sampled the latest X5 with buttons and switchgear kept to a minimum as most functions are controlled via the familiar iDrive rotary knob It’s occasionally an irritation to have to scroll through various menus to get what you want the iDrive system is far more intuitive than earlier versions The X7’s tech arsenal includes a raft of collision-prevention systems and optional semi-autonomous driving assists There are even optional laser headlights that illuminate the road for 500m ahead The X7 is about 230mm longer and 60mm taller than the X5 so it’s no surprise it feels comparatively cavernous inside especially with its full-length panoramic glass roof which creates a great sense of airiness in the cabin Less impressive is the fact you can stow only 326 litres of luggage if all three rows of seats are in use folding down the third row of seats ramps stowage space up to 2,120 litres so this is what you’d need to do if Ikea trips are on the agenda There’s the option of specifying a pair of captain’s chairs – as opposed to a three-seat bench – for the middle row and this format also makes access to the third row much easier Our drive in the X7 took us from the Polish city of Wroclaw to the Czech capital of Prague winding route including the famed ‘100 Curves Road’ in the Klodzko Valley This road runs for 23km between Radkow and Kudowa Zdroj near the Czech border in south-west Poland What became clear after tackling this stretch is that the X7 might not serve up the agility of a Porsche Cayenne given that there are more than 2.5 tonnes of it yet it’s far nimbler and more dynamic than pretty much all its competitors in the seven-seater domain road and engine noise well suppressed and ride quality that’s decently plush The X7’s self-levelling air suspension offers a full 80mm of ride height adjustability as it raises 40mm above the standard setting in off-road modes There’s also a button in the luggage compartment that activates a loa-ding mode whereby the car lowers by 40mm from the normal ride height making it easier to heave heavy objects into the cargo bay The two-piece tailgate is electrically activated One advantage of this set-up is that you can pop open the tailgate even if you have a low garage roof The frontal styling of the X7 may not be to everyone’s tastes – thanks to that massive twin-nostril grille – but as an overall package although all these attributes don’t come cheap