The Gazette Daily News Podcast

This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk and I’m here with your update for Monday, June 1, 2020.

This morning might see some rain, but it’ll clear up throughout the day and end up seeing a high near 85.

Tonight’s low is around 68.

Tomorrow it is expected to have a high of 92, and the rest of the week

The number of coronavirus cases in Iowa rose over the weekend to 19,487 total cases and is now in all 99 Iowa counties. The number of statewide deaths attributed to coronavirus has risen to 533.

Cedar Rapids long term care heads for recovery after coronavirus outbreak. One of the largest senior living centers in Cedar Rapids, the facility reported its first cases of COVID-19 among residents in its skilled nursing wing. By the end of April, the virus had spread, prompting Cottage Grove Place to become the fifth site of a coronavirus outbreak at a long-term care facility in Linn County.

As of Saturday morning, the state reported 39 coronavirus outbreaks at long-term care facilities across the state, which is defined as three or more cases among residents and staff.

The last time Cottage Grove Place saw a new case was April 29, and if they continue on without new cases, will be able to move out of outbreak criteria.

You can find all this and the rest of our coronavirus coverage at our dedicated coronavirus page, TheGazette.com/coronavirus.

As protesters gather in cities across the country to protest police brutality after the killing of George Floys in Minneapolis, Iowa cities are also seeing its share of gatherings.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Iowa City Saturday in solidarity with George Floyd, and yesterday, dozens of protesters in Des Moines were tear gassed and arrested while protesting

In Cedar Rapids, scores of people also gathered to protest police brutality. While some in the crowd made threats of violence, other protesters put a stop to it and the protest remained loud but peaceful. Police blocked traffic as the crowd spilled into the street, essentially escorting the protesters on their route with no apparent signs of confrontation.

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That’s it for today’s update. Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?"

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the last weekend in May.

Your weekend weather is going to be both nice and uneventful. According to the National Weather Service, Saturday in the Cedar Rapids area will be sunny with a high near 71 degrees. Saturday evening will be mostly clear, with a low of around 48 degrees.

Likewise, Sunday will be sunny, with a high near 73 degrees. Sunday night will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 58 degrees.

Derek Chauvin was taken into custody and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter Friday. Chauvin, up until the beginning of this week, had been a veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, when he was recorded on video placing his knee on the neck of George Floyd for eight and a half minutes during an arrest. Floyd, a black man, died soon afterward, and prosecutors now contend that this was a direct result of Chauvin’s actions. Chauvin and three other officers involved in the arrest had already been fired previously in the week.

The disturbing nature of the video, along with past violence by the police against black men, led to a week of protests in Minneapolis that sometimes became violent, leading to fires and other property damage. This has spread to national protests, including contentious protests in Des Moines Friday night, as the three other officers currently remain uncharged. Protests in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are scheduled for this weekend.

Here is where we stand with the COVID-19 coronavirus at the end of the working week:

Iowa reached 527 deaths from the virus on Friday, finishing another week with double digit deaths every day. However, hospitalizations appear to be plateauing at the moment in the state.

After a series of reopenings in Iowa, many things are set to reopen in the state on Monday with added social distancing restrictions. This includes casinos, arcades, gaming areas, and most playgrounds. Bars were allowed to reopen with restrictions for the first time Thursday. The Iowa legislature is set to resume next week as well. Hospitals in Cedar Rapids announced that surgeries requiring overnight stays will resume.

A series of recent mass outbreaks at meat processing plants caused a disruption in the slaughtering of pigs, and industry numbers indicate this has led to a backup of 600,000 pigs in Iowa. Although processing has resumed, the hitch in the process is leading pig farmers to euthanize pigs to make space, as they say they cannot find enough demand through other channels.

This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com).

Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe out there.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, May 29th.

Here’s a change: It is not supposed to rain at all today. According to the National Weather Service, it should be partly cloudy with a high of 69 degrees Friday in the Cedar Rapids area. It will be a little windy, however, with wind speeds from 10-15 mph. Friday night should have a low of around 49 degrees.

Iowa hit another grim coronavirus milestone Thursday, with the toll hitting 500 reported deaths since the virus was first reported in the state in early March. The virus now has been reported to have cases in all 99 counties.

The Iowa Department of Public Health also confirmed another outbreak at a meat packing plant Thursday. An outbreak at the Tyson pork processing plant in Storm Lake infected 555 of the plant’s 2,500-plus employees, or over 20 percent of its workforce.

In a welcome piece of news, Heritage Specialty Care, a long term care facility in Cedar Rapids that has the dubious distinction of having the state’s worst COVID-19 outbreak in the state so far, has now gone 28 days without a new case. This is significant because it is the equivalent of two incubation periods for the virus. 114 residents and staff tested positive for the disease, and 26 people died from the outbreak.

Iowa City-based standardized test company ACT will enact a series of cost-cutting measures, including voluntary resignations, the company said Thursday. One of the state’s largest employers, ACT had to postpone its national testing date in April because of the coronavirus pandemic and also has seen “a significant decline” in district and state testing programs. ACT said more cuts are expected in the future, although they were not clear on what those would be.

As violent protests following the death of a black man in police custody continued in Minnesota, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman criticized the actions of the four Minneapolis officers involved in the arrest.

In a statement posted Thursday morning on the police department’s Facebook page, Jerman called the death of 46-year-old George Floyd “disturbing,” adding that “all individuals should be treated with dignity and respect.”

“The trust of the community is something that we can never take for granted, and incidents like this, regardless of where they occur, erode the trust that so many honorable men and women have worked very hard to build and cultivate. We remain committed to maintaining lasting, positive and trusting relationships with our community.”

This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com).

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, May 28th.

Thursday will be our last day this week in this recent rainy humid cycle. According to the National Weather Service, showers and thunderstorms are likely before 4:00 p.m. in the Cedar Rapids area. It should be cloudy for most of the day with a high of 71 degrees. The chance for precipitation for the day is listed at 90 percent, while rainfall as high as 1 to 2 inches is possible.

On Thursday night, it should calm down a bit, with the chance for rain going down, the skies clearing, and the wind dying down.

Apparently Americans are drinking more alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic, and on Thursday Iowans will again be able to do so in public venues. Bars will have to follow the same safety restrictions as restaurants did when they reopened. This includes social distancing guidelines that limit establishments to being at no more than half capacity, spacing tables 6 feet apart, limiting party sizes to 10 or fewer at one time, and eliminating self-service food and drink.

At her Wednesday press conference, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds defended the state’s recently revealed practice of not confirming mass outbreaks of coronavirus at businesses until reporters ask about them. Reynolds and Sarah Reisetter, deputy director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said that this practice allows the businesses to inform their employees and community first and gives the state time to confirm that an outbreak has taken place.

While hospitalizations continue to plateau in the state, daily death totals from the disease remain high. 21 more people were reported to have died from the disease on Wednesday, one of the highest daily death totals so far. 487 people in Iowa have died from the disease in the past two months.

The United States reached the grim total of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, although many researchers believe the total is actually higher.

On Wednesday University of Iowa public health researchers submitted a final coronavirus assessment to the Reynolds administration warning that reopening the state too soon will bring a “large increase in daily infections.”

“Absent any additional measures to keep the outbreak from spreading, such an approach still is expected to yield more infections and hence deaths,” according to the UI College of Public Health COVID-19 Response Group.

The group suggested different strategies for mitigating deaths while still relaxing social distancing, including the use of face shields.

This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com).

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, May 27th.

Wednesday’s weather in the Cedar Rapids area is predicted to follow a similar pattern to the past few days. The National Weather Service is predicting a mostly cloudy day with heavy humidity, a high of 80 degrees, and a chance for rain after 1:00 p.m., increasing in probability as evening approaches. Although most rain should be light, there could be a chance for thunderstorms Wednesday night. The weather for Thursday is currently also predicted to be rainy, before settling down into cooler and calmer skies for the weekend.

Declaring that Iowa is “on the road to recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the lifting of additional restrictions at her daily press conference Tuesday. Effective Monday, she is permitting casinos and gaming facilities to reopen, as well as amusement parks, outdoor performance venues, bowling alleys, pool halls and arcades — but all at half capacity and according to social distancing, hygiene and public health guidelines.

In addition, social and community gatherings of more than 10 people will be permitted again beginning June 1 with 6 feet of social distancing and venues limited to 50 percent capacity.

Reynolds also said that the state is lifting the moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, although she said the state is formulating an assistance program based on income.

Iowa’s death toll from the disease grew to 477 late Tuesday. As of Tuesday morning, 377 Iowans were still hospitalized with COVID-19 — 118 in intensive care and 66 requiring ventilators to help breathe.

If you receive, or have received, a Visa debit card in the mail saying you have $1,200 in federal stimulus available in exchange for your social security number, don’t automatically assume that you’re dealing with a scam. The funds, sent out to Americans to help stimulate the economy in the aftermath of COVID-19, have gone to many through direct transfer, but for those who this has not worked for, the government has decided to shift to sending out debit cards. This has led to further confusion, with some people, who had been expecting checks, throwing the legitimate cards away after assuming they are frauds. Several people a day have been reporting the cards to the state’ attorney general’s office.

The Visa card arrives in an envelope from Money Network Cardholder Services, with MetaBank on the back and has instructions to activate it by calling a phone number and providing a Social Security number. You can read more about this at https://www.eipcard.com/ (eipcard.com).

Police on Tuesday said the death of a man whose body was found Friday at a home in northwest Cedar Rapids is now being investigated as a homicide.

An autopsy determined 69-year-old Daniel J. Spangler died of a gunshot wound.

Spangler’s body was found on Friday when officers went to 508 B Ave. NW at 9:53 a.m. after a caller asked for a welfare check on the resident.

Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast. You can find us on iTunes or just tell your Amazon Alexa compatible device to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?"

This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, May 26h, 2020.

Today will see some sun with a high near 84, but there’s a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. The chance of storms continues tonight and the temperature will drop to 65.

The number of coronavirus cases in Iowa rose today to 17,561 total cases and is now in 98 of Iowa’s 99 counties. The number of statewide deaths attributed to coronavirus has risen to 458.

Memorial Day was fairly quiet for most Iowans, although many found ways to recognize the day in an adapted form to maintain (some) social distancing, although restrictions in many areas have begin to ease.

On a typical Memorial Day in Earlville’s Fairview Cemetery, hundreds gather by the flagpole in “ceremony square” and listen to messages on the day’s true meaning. A high school band plays. Community awards go out, like to the Boy Scouts or the fire department. Instead, the American Legion got creative, organizing instead a caravan through town.

The Toddville Legion had planned on a weekend fish fry to raise money for its Memorial Day flags and other yearly activities. Then typically, on the holiday, the community would participate in events across the cemeteries including at Lafayette and Dunkard.

Instead, Louis Zankowski — a Vietnam veteran — visited each cemetery and played a recording of taps before returning to his Anamosa home, where he played it for the final time of the day.

Although the warm weather drew people outside Monday, Johnson County sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Montz still characterized it as a “fairly quiet” Memorial Day. On patrol, Montz noticed more people out cycling or walking. But the sheriff’s office didn’t respond to any reports of large gatherings or any other issues during the day Monday.

Montz seeing more people out cycling is no coincidence. Spring typically is a busier time for local bike shops. But this year, because of the pandemic, shop owners said they are busier than perhaps they’ve ever been. Logan Orcutt, owner of Goldfinch Cyclery says sales this month alone his shop is double its average for the past two years.

The demand is slimming the selection in some bike ships, and also increasing the workload for service and tune-ups. Local bike shops are encouraging customers to reach out with requests, but to be patient due to the high demand.

You can find all this and the rest of our coronavirus coverage at our dedicated coronavirus page, TheGazette.com/coronavirus.

"Are you looking for a job? Corridor Careers dot com is a resource to local jo b seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at CorridorCareers.com."

That’s it for today’s update. Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?"

This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk and I’m here with your update for Monday, May 25th, 2020.

Happy Memorial Day! Today will see some sun with a high near 84, but there’s likely going to be some thunderstorms this afternoon. The chance of storms continues tonight and the temperature will drop to 65.

More showers and thunderstorms throughout the week, but expect it to start to clear up as temperatures climb to the 70s and 80s going into the weekend.

The number of coronavirus cases in Iowa rose today to 17,244 total cases and is now in 98 of Iowa’s 99 counties. The number of statewide deaths attributed to coronavirus has risen to 449.

University of Iowa is instituting a pilot program for a return to campus. The first phase will begin tomorrow with the Carver College of Medicine. Health and safety guidelines have been established for a return to modified daily operations. Iowa Athletics, specifically football and both men’s and women’s basketball programs, will be among the first groups back to campus.

All student athletes will have to pass a formal clearance process to return for voluntary practices. Procedures will follow NCAA, Big Ten and campus best practices, while being supervised by UI Health Care staff. The goal of the pilot program is to operationalize health and safety measures in specific settings and the implementation of best practices on a bigger scale.

Fearing coronavirus, patients avoid seeking emergency care. According to a national poll from the American College of Emergency Physicians, 29 percent of adults said they have “delayed or avoided medical care” because of their concerns for contracting COVID-19.

Patient volume at UIHC’s emergency department is down 35 percent, according to hospital officials. In April, the emergency department — which averages about 4,500 visits per month — saw only 3,000 patient visits.

In April alone, UIHC lost about $22 million due to pandemic-related expenses and revenue drops, driven largely by fewer visits to its main campus and clinics, and with curtailed elective surgeries compounding patient fears.

You can find all this and the rest of our coronavirus coverage at our dedicated coronavirus page, TheGazette.com/coronavirus.

Wondering what's open over Memorial Day weekend in Eastern Iowa? Plenty! From shopping at NewBo Public Market, Coral Ridge Mall, and Lindale to some great craft beer options, Big Grove’s Iowa City Taproom and Solon Brewpub, which are all open with in-restaurant dining. A few more places are also available for curbside pickup. For outdoors lovers there’s Indian Creek Nature Center, Cedar Rapids parks (with some restrictions), and Iowa’s state parks. Check TheGazette.com for the full details.

"Are you looking for a job? CorridorCareers.com is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at CorridorCareers.com."

That’s it for today’s update. Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?"

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Memorial Day Weekend.

Your Memorial Day Weather forecast looks interesting. And by interesting I mean potentially raining at any moment.

According to the National Weather Service forecast, there will be scattered showers and thundershowers in the Cedar Rapids area Saturday with the highest chance for thunderstorms coming after 5:00 a.m. and before 3:00 p.m. The high temperature is predicted to be 75 degrees with a low of 61 degrees. When it’s not raining or otherwise cloudy it is predicted to be partly cloudy.

On Sunday, the sun might find its way to poke through occasionally. There is a predicted chance for showers and thunderstorms sometime after 1:00 p.m. It will be one of the warmer days of this spring so far, reaching a high of 85 degrees. The predicted low Sunday night is 67 degrees.

Your Memorial Day forecast is similar, with a chance for showers after 1:00 p.m. becoming more likely to become thunderstorms as the afternoon rolls on. When it’s not raining, it’s expected to be mostly cloudy, with a high of 83 degrees.

Most state parks, campgrounds, and several restaurants will be open this weekend. We have a list of some other local attractions that will be open this weekend on the main page of https://www.thegazette.com/ (thegazette.com).

Here is a reminder that if you do go out to practice good sanitation habits and consider wearing a mask. For this reason, wash your hands often, maintain a six foot distance from others where possible, and consider wearing a mask when you go out and are going to be interacting with people. If you want info on what types of masks to wear and how to wear them, do a web search on the topics CDC, COVID-19, and masks. I will add https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html (a link about masks) in the write up of this briefing.

Beyond that, I would like to wish you a restful weekend doing something you love. It is hard to believe, but we are almost halfway through 2020. I don’t care who you are and what you do, you deserve whatever break you get.

The rest of 2020 will still be here when you get back.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your news update for Friday, May 22nd.

There was finally some sunlight that poked its way through the clouds Thursday night. I hope you enjoyed it, because it’s back to cloudy again Friday. According to the National Weather Service, it will be another cloud day in the Cedar Rapids area, this time featuring a very pleasant high of 74 degrees. Despite the day of clouds, rain should hold off until the early morning hours Saturday. There will be a low of 61 degrees Friday night.

As the state’s count of COVID-19 deaths reached its highest daily peak yet of 20, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday there is no reason to reconsider her orders allowing more businesses to open. Starting Friday, restrictions are relaxed for movie theaters, campgrounds, and museums, among other establishments, and next week they will be relaxed for bars.

Testing across the state for the virus has ramped up so much, she said, that now any Iowan who wants to get tested will be able to make an appointment for one. She said this will allow the state to manage future occurrences of the disease.

The death total for the state from the virus is now at 403 in a little over two months.

In another opening announcement, school districts can offer voluntary, in-person summer school starting June 1, Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo said Thursday, as well as in-person enrichment camps.

The announcement allows public and private schools to open for academic enrichment programs and activity-based camps for STEM, drama, robotics and other subjects, and comes a day after Gov. Kim Reynolds said https://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/iowa-prep-sports/iowa-high-school-baseball-softball-season-kim-reynolds-permission-20200520 (high school summer sports teams could start) practices as early as June 1.

Nationally, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work. According to the Labor Department, more than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs that came as a result of local governments halting business to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A person died in a farm accident Thursday afternoon after a tractor attachment collapsed and killed the driver of the tractor. The accident, reported at 5:10 p.m., happened at 1404 Walford Rd., immediately southeast of The Eastern Iowa Airport, according to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office. The identity of the driver was not released, pending notification of family members.

This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com).

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your news update for Thursday, May 21st

Thursday will start cloudy and stay that way, the main thing that will change is the slight chance for rain that will go down as the day goes on. According to the National Weather Service, there should be a slight chance for drizzle before noon in the Cedar Rapids area. Besides that, it should be cloudy all day, with a high near 65 degrees. Wind will be generally light to moderate, with occasional gusts of 20 mph.

Access to movies, cultural events and camping will be coming back soon for Iowans but it will be at least next week before they can head back to their neighborhood bars and likely longer before they’re enjoying amusement park rides or placing bets at an Iowa casino.

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday said the coronavirus pandemic has stabilized enough in the state for her to allow indoor movie theaters, zoos, museums, aquariums and wedding reception venues to resume operations Friday — but only with public health measures to ensure social distancing and proper hygiene. Swimming pools will be allowed to open for lap swimming and lessons.

Reynolds, who previously loosened some restrictions on campgrounds, said more will be eased starting Friday at Iowa’s state parks, just in time for Memorial Day Weekend. The announcement affects modern restrooms and showers and rental cabins. Additionally, campgrounds will be open for all types of campers including RVs, pop-ups and tents. Beaches will also be reopened, but will remain closely monitored.

Bars and other establishments that serve alcohol will have to wait until May 28 to resume operations with restrictions. And starting June 1, schools can offer school-sponsored activities and learning — including high-school baseball and softball.

Speaking of sports, it wasn’t too long after the governor announced that Iowa high school sports could resume that the organizations governing prep sports in the state announced they would resume.

According to the Iowa Department of Education, team-organized practices for baseball and softball may begin June 1 unless circumstances dictate a change in date. Games may begin June 15. A long list of mitigation efforts are required to “help ensure player, coach, and spectator safety during games.”

These restrictions include limiting bleacher use for fans, encouraging players to use their own bats and other equipment where possible, and having coaches add the regular sanitizing of equipment to their list of duties.

All these opening announcements came as 16 more people were announced to have died from the virus in Iowa Wednesday, bringing the state’s death toll to 383 people since the respiratory ailment was confirmed March 8 in Iowa. As of Wednesday morning, 381 Iowans were hospitalized (including 35 new admissions) with coronavirus-related illnesses, with 126 in intensive care and 84 requiring ventilators to assist their breathing.

Even Reynolds acknowledged the virus isn’t going anywhere.

“We have to recognize that the virus is in our communities and we have to learn to navigate that until, or if, a vaccine is discovered. And Iowans are doing that and we’re being responsible in the way that we’re doing that.”

Which is another way of saying, stay safe everyone.

This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com).