Linn County mayors and other officials are asking voters to extend the local option sales tax used to fund street repair and construction, in addition to other infrastructure projects. Voters in Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Robins and Fairfax should expect to see the referendum on the ballot this November. A majority of residents in the […]
Linn County
Posted inCommunity/News
Linn County Mental Health Access Center will begin walk-in hours next week
The Linn County Mental Health Access Center, 501 13th St NW, will be open for walk-in hours starting Monday. Adults experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis will be able to receive services at the center without an appointment Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the county announced in a news […]
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A 24-hour vaccine clinic will be held this weekend in downtown CR
There will be a 24-hour COVID-19 vaccine clinic this weekend at the DoubleTree, 350 1st Ave NE, in downtown Cedar Rapids, Linn County Public Health announced on Monday. Anyone 16 years and older is eligible to make an appointment. The large-scale clinic will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday and run through 9 a.m. on […]
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Vaccination clinic with one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be held at Collins Aerospace on Monday and Tuesday (updated)
Update: Linn County Public Health announced on Tuesday morning it is cancelling the second day of the vaccination clinic at Collins Aerospace. The clinic was using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and early on Tuesday the CDC and FDA issued a statement calling for a pause in the use of that vaccine while safety data […]
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Homelessness was increasing in Iowa. Then COVID-19 and the derecho hit.
A total of 2,647 Iowans were homeless on a single night in January 2020, a 14.3 percent increase from January 2019. The number of people experiencing homelessness in Iowa was increasing even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Then came the August 2020 derecho that caused nearly $4 billion in damage, with at least $83 million of […]
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Cargill will begin clearing the land for its Cedar Rapids rail yard later this month
Cargill will begin preparing the land south of Stewart Road for construction later this month, with construction running through October, officials involved with the project shared during a virtual town hall meeting. Cargill’s 50-minute virtual meeting last Wednesday was the company’s second town hall event providing information about the rail yard near the Rompot neighborhood. […]
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Cargill will hold a virtual town hall meeting to provide an update on its Cedar Rapids rail yard project
Cargill will hold its second town hall meeting of the year on Wednesday to provide information about rail yard construction, which is scheduled to begin in April. Officials involved with the project will share updates to Cedar Rapids residents ahead of construction, including design developments based on the feedback residents shared during the town hall […]
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Linn County creek officially renamed Wanatee Creek
The final stage in the renaming of a creek running through Linn County was completed on Friday, as the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the changing the name from Squaw Creek to Wanatee Creek. The new name is in honor of the late Jean Adeline Morgan Wanatee, an artist and advocate for the rights […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Linn County Public Health will begin allocating vaccine to residents with underlying medical conditions starting next week
Linn County Public Health has made “significant changes” to vaccine allocation and will begin vaccinating residents with underlying medical conditions next week, the department announced on Sunday. The Iowa Department of Health announced last Thursday that adults under 65 who have a condition the CDC recognizes as putting them at higher risk of developing severe […]
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‘Extremely frustrating’: Linn County will not be receiving additional COVID-19 vaccines despite IDPH expanding eligibility
Linn County will not be receiving additional COVID-19 vaccines from the state despite the Iowa Department of Public Health expanding the number of individuals who will become eligible to be vaccinated. The Iowa Department of Health announced on Thursday that adults under 65 who have a condition the CDC recognizes as putting them at higher […]
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‘This Mental Health Access Center will be a game-changer’: After years of collaboration, Linn County’s center prepares to assist first patients
While it would have been easy to put the opening of the Linn County Mental Health Access Center on hold, director Erin Foster said the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic only made it more critical for the center to open. “We saw that we cannot stop this from moving forward,” Foster, who has been […]
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‘It really made an impact on much more than just this family’: Harris home added to National Register of Historic Places
The home of Cedar Rapids civil rights pioneers Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris was added to the National Register of Historic Places earlier this month, almost 60 years after the family challenged discriminatory housing practices to create that home. The house is the fourth site in Iowa honoring African American civil rights. “The site is […]
