Iowa, Linn County | featured news

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Council on Tuesday approved a fiscal 2022 budget that provides funding for key local initiatives — affordable housing, climate change policies and aid to nonprofits — despite economic uncertainty.

CEDAR RAPIDS — The city will add a mobile Neighborhood Resource Center component to its Rollin’ Recmobile van thanks to $10,000 in funding from the National League of Cities.

DES MOINES — The Iowa House voted nearly unanimously Tuesday to support legislation requiring regents universities to protect First Amendment rights, but split along party lines on another bill addressing training and teaching about “divisive concepts” such as racism, sexism and political ideology.

As U.S. officials race to address the rising number of children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks blamed President Joe Biden’s administration for rolling back Trump-era immigration policies that turned unaccompanied minors away at the border and for halting border wall construction.

A new 100-room Hilton Garden Inn opened at 4640 N. River Blvd. NE near Edgewood Road NE and Highway 100 in Cedar Rapids.The Lloyd Hospitality Group hotel includes a restaurant with outdoor and indoor dining space, a ballroom large enough to hold 250 guests, fitness center and a 24-hour business center.

Iowa added 414 new COVID-19 cases as well as 15 new, confirmed deaths on Tuesday.To date, 343,347 Iowans have had the virus, and 5,657 have died, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Iowa’s seven-day average for new cases is 448, the lowest since 440 on Aug. 14.

Although several communities just south of the Minnesota border reported they got socked Monday with 8 or 9 inches of snow, cities in the Corridor fared far better in the storm that kicked off the last week until spring arrives.

DES MOINES — Republican senators are working with Gov. Kim Reynolds to direct federal money to cover a projected $7 million shortfall that hit Iowa preschools when enrollments dropped as parents kept their kids home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CEDAR RAPIDS — In the first month of opening a waitlist for anyone struggling to get a COVID-19 vaccine, Cedar Rapids’ free medical clinic has received hundreds of calls from residents seeking an appointment.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Court documents indicate a plea agreement may be reached in the federal case against a Cedar Rapids man charged in January’s violent raid on the U.S. Capitol.