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 […]
COVID-19
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds: Bars in Linn County can reopen on Wednesday, bars in Johnson County will remain closed
Bars in Linn County and three other counties closed by order of Gov. Kim Reynolds on Aug. 27 can reopen at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a new public health proclamation signed by the governor on Tuesday. Limitations on restaurants serving liquor will also be removed. “Bars, taverns, wineries, breweries, distilleries, [and] night clubs” […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cedar Rapids schools prepare for a different start to the school year due to COVID-19, derecho
Cedar Rapids students have less than a week before the school year starts on Sept. 21, and this year will look very different due to precautions and planning to address the COVID-19 pandemic and damage left by the derecho. The Cedar Rapids Community School District decided last month to start the school year later than […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Inside Linn County Conservation’s derecho recovery effort
The derecho that tore through the Midwest on Aug. 10 has left scars all across Iowa. Hundreds of thousands lost power, cell service and internet connection — some are still without. Ten million acres of crops were damaged. The residents of Cedar Rapids found their roofs blown off and massive trees uprooted and splayed across […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa City schools receive a second waiver, will allow for an additional two weeks of all online classes
The Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) received a second two-week waiver on Friday, allowing schools to offer keep offering less than 50 percent in-person instruction. District schools are currently holding all their classes online due to the spike of COVID-19 cases in Johnson County. Following recommendations from district staff, the ICCSD Board of Directors […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: What do I say?
By Charlene Lange, Iowa City What do I text when I receive: “covid, in hospital”? This from friend of 40 years who lives with someone with covid who refused to wear a mask. Do I say sorry, governor says we need individual responsibility, not a mandate? What do I say when friend’s mother died of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Ernst privately apologizes to Iowa Medical Society for suggesting doctors are faking COVID-19 deaths
Sen. Joni Ernst privately apologized to members of the Iowa Medical Society (IMS) for her suggestion that doctors are faking COVID-19 deaths to make money, but declined to say if she’d issue a public statement withdrawing her suggestion, Iowa Starting Line reported. Ernst made her remarks about doctors falsely attributing deaths to COVID-19 during an […]
Posted inCommunity/News
As more Iowa cities and counties fall into the ‘red zone,’ Reynolds makes another call for ‘normalcy’
“I would continue to say, as we learn to live with COVID-19 until we have a vaccine, we have to learn to live with it,” Gov. Kim Reynolds declared at her news conference on Thursday. “And we have to start to bring some normalcy into our lives.” Reynolds said this in response to a question […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Judges reject requests from Iowa City and Des Moines school districts for injunctions against Reynolds’ school mandates
Judges in Johnson County and Polk County denied requests from school districts for temporary injunctions blocking the state from enforcing Gov. Kim Reynolds’ mandate that schools provide at least 50 percent in-person instruction, unless the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) decides the spread of COVID-19 in a school district is severe enough to allow more […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Wilson’s Orchard evolves their image with a focus on new crops, sustainability
Since Wilson’s Apple Orchard first opened to the public 35 years ago, the visitor experience has been centered around exactly what you would expect: apples. Over the last four decades, thousands of visitors have journeyed to the orchard in autumn to pick apples, sip apple cider slushies, eat apple turnovers and buy Wilson’s merch featuring […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Acting power-couple Scot and Marcia Hughes to star in drive-in play from Mirrorbox Theatre
Given the speed with which new theater companies crop up in Eastern Iowa, Scot and Marcia Hughes can perhaps be forgiven for not having shared their talents with absolutely all of them. But the number missing from their resumes is remarkably small. “Since moving here,” Scot said in an email (the couple arrived in Cedar […]
Posted inCommunity/News
COVID-19: Fauci says Iowa is at risk of a post-Labor Day surge; more than 1,000 new cases and 23 deaths reported
Iowa was one of seven states Dr. Anthony Fauci singled out as needing to take precautions over the Labor Day weekend to prevent a further surge in COVID-19 cases. “There are several states that are at risk for surging, namely North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois,” Fauci said in an interview with […]
