Iowa schools will no longer be required to follow the CDC’s COVID-19 quarantine guidelines, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced at her news conference on Tuesday. Previously, students and staff who were in close contact with someone who tested positive were supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days. Close contact is defined as being within six feet of […]
COVID-19
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Mount Mercy University adjusts to fall semester shaped by the derecho, COVID-19 and its president resigning
Students and faculty at Mount Mercy University (MMU) in Cedar Rapids are adjusting to a new normal this fall semester. When students began their semester in early September — whether that was through online or hybrid instruction — the campus was already dealing the impacts of the Aug. 10 derecho and the COVID-19 pandemic. Two […]
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Iowa takes its first action against a meat-packing plant for COVID-19 violations, issues $957 fine
Meat-processing plants have repeatedly been the epicenters of COVID-19 outbreaks in Iowa, and this month the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued its first fine to a plant for virus-related violations. Iowa Premium Beef Plant in Tama, where an outbreak in April infected more than 300 workers, was fined $967, Ryan J. Foley of […]
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Poll finds increasing number of Iowans disapprove of Reynolds’ handling of COVID-19, as another 1,341 cases are reported
Almost half of all Iowans disapprove of how Gov. Kim Reynolds is handling the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Iowa Poll. Forty-seven percent of respondents in the poll published by the Des Moines Register on Thursday disapproved of Reynolds’ performance, an increase of 11 percentage points since the last time the Iowa Poll surveyed […]
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NCSML recovers from derecho losses, prepares a new vision for BrewNost
Since 1974 the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids has been a tourist attraction and center for education as the cornerstone of the Czech Village neighborhood. Through cooking classes, crafts lessons and events like the popular annual BrewNost international beer festival, the museum has offered a sense of connection with the […]
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Johnson County surpasses 5,000 COVID-19 cases
The number of people in Johnson County who have tested positive for COVID-19 surpassed 5,000 on Monday, as the Iowa Department of Public Health reported another 12 confirmed cases of the virus in the county during the 24-hour period ending at 10 a.m. The new cases brought the total number of county residents who have […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Public Space One gets flexible with its new spaces and online programming
Public Space One, over a variety of forms and spaces, has provided a home for art and artists in Iowa City for almost two decades. The newest chapter for the organization was just beginning as the COVID-19 pandemic reached Iowa and made in-person events and shared workspaces unsafe. Last year, PS1 purchased two houses at […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
