Iowa, Cedar Rapids | featured news

DES MOINES — Iowa governments are in line for more than $4.45 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money under a nationwide $1.9 trillion package signed earlier this month by President Joe Biden, according to a preliminary analysis issued Monday by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.

Iowa reported 138 new COVID-19 cases Monday — the lowest number of new cases reported in a 24-hour period since June 16.To date, 345,814 people in Iowa have tested positive for COVID-19 since the virus first appeared here in March 2020.

DES MOINES — If he runs, former President Donald Trump is the odds-on favorite of Iowa Republicans to win the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.If he doesn’t, it appears there will be a wide-open race for Iowa GOP support among the party hopefuls seeking to challenge President Joe Biden in 2024.

DES MOINES — As certain as opening day promises of bipartisanship and adjournment day boasts of accomplishments, Iowa legislative sessions are marked by attempts to change the four-decade-old law that requires nickel deposits on pop and beer cans.

They celebrated Joe Biden’s presidential victory, but other results of the November 2020 election left a group of grassroots Johnson County Democratic activists disappointed and looking for answers to their party’s other losses.

Missing Donald Trump’s tweets? Apparently the former president is coming back to social media, this time on his own platform, a spokesman told Fox News on Sunday.Jason Miller, one of Trump’s senior advisers, said Trump’s new platform will be the “hottest ticket in social media” and that it will “completely redefine the game.”

Mirrorbox Theatre is singing a new tune — a lot of new tunes — as the Cedar Rapids troupe stages its first musical, “Love & Other Destinations,” later this week.

It’s all hands on deck to keep the USS The Sullivans from sinking.

IOWA CITY — All three of Iowa’s public universities are taking advantage of their expansive football stadiums to resume more traditional — albeit distanced and masked — in-person graduation celebrations this spring, including a novel University of Iowa event set for May 16 in Kinnick Stadium.

Last week was “Sunshine Week,” the annual reminder about the importance of open and transparent governance.With that in mind, let’s discuss some examples in Iowa where some clouds are blocking that disinfecting sunshine.Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration could be more expedient in responding to journalists’ open records requests.