Cedar Rapids, Linn County | featured news

Some people make New Year’s resolutions. And some people, like Brandon Campbell, take on new ventures in the new year. In late January, Campbell — along with his wife, Samantha, and younger brother Angelo Baker — opened SoulGood Southern Diner on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids.

National Beef Company plans to expand its beef processing facility in Tama in a $100 million project that will bring “several hundred” jobs into the region, the company said in a news release Wednesday.The project is expected to add a second shift of workers and double capacity at the facility to 2,500 head per day.

State officials are looking into issues Iowans with 319 area codes are having connecting with 211 Iowa, the service line offering vaccine navigator services to help older Iowans find a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.

DES MOINES — Legislation to eliminate the requirement that Iowans get a “permission slip” from the government to buy a handgun would actually result in more background checks regardless where the weapon is purchased, proponents of a “constitutional carry” measure asserted Wednesday.

DES MOINES — The Iowa Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would deny high-tech companies future state and local tax breaks if they were found by a court to have illegally stifled speech or certain viewpoints on social media platforms.

DES MOINES — Iowa senators sent a defiant message Wednesday that they plan to forge ahead with state tax cuts regardless of a federal threat that such action could run afoul of a provision in the recently enacted COVID-19 relief plan that assists states dealing with the economic hardship brought on by the pandemic.

Hinting that he will seek another term, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he will not be swayed by recent polling that shows a majority of Iowans, including a third of Iowa Republicans, hope he decides not to seek another term in 2022.

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved using nearly $122 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to make up for lost fuel tax revenue over the past year and to pay for trail development across the state.

Businesses, schools and other organizations now can apply for Qualified Pre-Apprenticeship grants, Iowa Workforce Development said Wednesday.The cost-reinbursement grants, which go up to $20,400, are part of IWD’s effort to grow pre-apprenticeship programs, which are aimed at helping Iowans “to enter and succeed in” registered apprenticeships.

Iowa on Wednesday reported 565 new COVID-19 cases and nine new, confirmed deaths.To date, 343,912 Iowans have tested positive for the virus, and 5,666 have died, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Iowa’s seven-day average for new cases is 415, the lowest since 401 on July 5.