Cedar Rapids | featured news

CEDAR RAPIDS — Mayor Brad Hart told The Gazette the city’s mask mandate remains in effect despite Gov. Kim Reynolds’ move on Friday to lift restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Forty-one additional deaths confirmed to be related to the coronavirus were reported by the Iowa Department of Iowa as of 11 a.m. Saturday for the previous 24-hour period.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids school board member Gary Anhalt died Friday at the age of 74, after devoting decades in the classroom and on the school board.His family said he had been found outside while running his snowblower.

New year. New possibilities. Take a look at our favorites for January 2021.

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and her attorney say their position has not shifted in the still unresolved election contest in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.But the pair shied away from saying whether a recent search for rejected ballots signaled a change in repeated claims that every legal ballot was counted.

JOHNSTON — Now that they have finished investigating what went wrong in reporting results of the 2020 caucuses, Iowa Democrats are now investigating what went wrong for them in the 2020 elections.The assessment is crucial to help Democrats fare better in 2022 when there will again be critical races atop the ballot in Iowa, new state party chairman Ross Wilburn said Friday.

DES MOINES — A legislative proposal to establish a statewide moratorium on so-called factory farms will be “dead on arrival,” according House Speaker Pat GrassleyThe New Hartford Republican, who is involved in a family farm operation, said calling for a moratorium is not the way to start a conversation about large-scale farm operations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, was not among the 11 House Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to strip a congresswoman her committee assignments, though Hinson noted she would “hold her accountable” for any incendiary rhetoric in the future.

IOWA CITY — When University of Iowa administrators last April announced the unprecedented cancellation of a traditional spring commencement ceremony, they offered several alternatives — including participating in graduation virtually or returning for an in-person ceremony in fall 2020 or spring 2021.

Iowa on Friday reported 34 new confirmed deaths and 796 new COVID-19 cases during the 24-hour period between 11 a.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday, according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Health.Since the virus first appeared in Iowa in early March, 323,323 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 and 5,067 people have died.