The two-day appeal hearing for fired Cedar Rapids police officer Lucas Jones is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning. Both days of the hearing will begin at 9 a.m. and will be streamed on the city’s Facebook page. The three-member Civil Service Commission will hear from lawyers and witnesses via Zoom. Jones’s lawyer Skylar Limkemann and […]
Community/News
Derecho relief: Survey asks Linn County residents about their needs; FEMA is closing Cedar Rapids center
Linn County agencies have created a questionnaire to identify what residents still need in the aftermath of the Aug. 10 derecho. County residents impacted by the derecho are encouraged to complete the questionnaire. Linn County Public Health, HACAP and Waypoint partnered with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach to create the assessment. The information provided […]
962 complaints about Iowa restaurants violating COVID-19 rules have resulted in one written warning
The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) has received 962 complaints about restaurants violating social distancing and other COVID-19 mitigation requirements, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported on Thursday. DIA has issued one warning as a result. An Aug. 14 warning emailed to Jason Jasnos, owner of Classic Deli & Ice Cream Shoppe in Brooklyn, Iowa, […]
State Hygienic Lab tells nursing homes it’s unable to process COVID-19 tests required by the federal government
Gov. Kim Reynolds boasted about the work the State Hygienic Laboratory (SHL) has done processing COVID-19 tests — and stressed her administration’s commitment to protecting residents of long-term care facilities — during her news conference on Wednesday, shortly after the Iowa Department of Public Health and SHL sent long-term care facilities a letter announcing “SHL […]
UI Dance Marathon moves Big Event online for 2021
As the University of Iowa makes preparations for a spring semester shaped by COVID-19, its largest student organization, UI Dance Marathon (UIDM), announced it will not host its annual 24-hour “Big Event” dance-a-thon in person this school year. UIDM has involved tens of thousands of students and raised more than $30.3 million over its 27 […]
‘We need to do better’: Iowa City Council holds listening post to discuss mental health and police reform
The Iowa City Council held the first of six scheduled listening posts to get public input regarding community policing reforms at Mercer Park on Wednesday evening. Approximately 50 community members attended the event, which focused on how situations involving mental health, crisis intervention and addiction should be handled. As part of the resolution passed on […]
Derecho recovery: Boxes of free, fresh produce available in Cedar Rapids on Saturday
People impacted by the Aug. 10 derecho can pick up fresh produce, dairy and frozen meat at a drive-through event on Saturday. The event will begin at 11 a.m. and run through 3 p.m. at St. Jude Catholic Church, 50 Edgewood Rd NW, in Cedar Rapids. Individuals driving up should enter the parking lot from […]
Cortado: El duh-ray-CHO y los árboles caídos
Derecho es una palabra que en español tiene múltiples significados: «voy a estudiar la carrera de derecho»; «tengo derecho a salir a las calles a protestar»; «camino derecho al altar», etcétera. Pero en ningún diccionario de lengua española encontramos un significado de derecho asociado a la meteorología y a las tormentas de verano. Es en […]
COVID-19: Gov. Reynolds sees ‘trends trend in the right direction,’ but Iowa remains third worst state in rate of new cases
Gov. Kim Reynolds said on Wednesday she doesn’t expect COVID-19 to be an obstacle to the University of Iowa playing football this fall, because the UI community will observe restrictions imposed to mitigate the spread of the virus. “I think that the universities, the university presidents, the students, the Greek systems, I think understand the […]
Cedar Rapids Community School District working with high school students on anti-racism initiatives
The Cedar Rapids Community School District is working to establish a Black student union at all four high schools and create a superintendent’s advisory council, among other action steps as part of the district’s anti-racist initiatives. Superintendent Noreen Bush provided an update on these efforts at the Board of Education’s Monday meeting. The update was […]
Iowan Nikole Hannah-Jones, 1619 Project creator and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, to give online lecture for UI community
“My dad always flew an American flag in our front yard,” begins the award-winning essay that kicked off New York Times Magazine’s landmark 1619 Project. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the 1619 Project, grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, in a redlined neighborhood “along the river that divided the black side from the white side of […]
Big 10 reverses course, schools will play football starting next month
The Big 10 Conference announced on Wednesday morning its football teams will play this fall in an abbreviated season that starts on Oct. 23. The announcement comes 36 days after the conference declared it had canceled the fall season due to concerns over the health of student athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The mental and […]

