Iowa, Linn County | featured news

IOWA CITY — The City of Iowa City plans to welcome visitors back to its in-person Farmers Market this year.

CEDAR RAPIDS — A former assistant with the Black Hawk and Bremer County Soil and Water Conservation District was sentenced Monday to more than two years in prison for embezzling over $430,000 and using the money for vacation cruises and other personal expenses.

A little more than 14 percent of Linn County’s population has been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Health. As of 1:30 p.m. Monday, 31,806 people in Linn County have been fully vaccinated. That’s 14.03 percent of the county’s total population and 18.24 percent of the county’s adult population.

Fifteen states have legalized recreational marijuana and 27 states have decriminalized small amounts of the drug, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Tanager Place is bringing — for the first time in Iowa — a summer program with its roots in the 1960s civil rights movement designed to increase literacy, self-esteem, socio-emotional skills and a love of learning for children.

After a difficult spring and an even more difficult fall, long-term care facility administrators were thrilled to see their vulnerable populations among the first offered COVID-19 vaccines in December. By the end of February, nearly every resident and staff was inoculated against the virus.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Hard work and a little help made Rhonda Esser’s homeownership dreams a reality.Esser, 63, rents an apartment in Hiawatha and has been hunting for a house for some time.

Promising to formalize a process for systematically reviewing and addressing questions over its campus’ historically named properties, Iowa State University has created a new committee charged with reviewing name removal requests and given the gr

DES MOINES — It might not be dean’s list material yet, but lawmakers are “making good progress” toward earning a good grade based on the first part of the legislative session, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley believes.

ROME — The Vatican decreed Monday that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.”The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy can bless gay unions.