Cedar Rapids, Linn County | featured news

JOHNSTON — All of-age Iowans should be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting April 5, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday.Reynolds said as long as the federal government fulfills its projected allotment of vaccine doses to Iowa in the meantime, the state will open eligibility broadly — not just to priority groups.

IOWA CITY — An Iowa City park has been renamed after James Alan McPherson, the first Black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and a longtime faculty member at the Writers’ Workshop.

The Amazing Space has grown even more amazing, with the unveiling of the Indian Creek Exhibit inside the Nature Center’s headquarters in southeast Cedar Rapids.

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Council suspended its Truth and Reconciliation Commission for four weeks and plans on a joint meeting with the group once vacancies are filled.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday, expected to provide updates about COVID-19 vaccines and cases in the state. Watch the live stream in the player above, broadcast by Iowa PBS. 

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Keeping the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park from going under during the pandemic has been hard enough without also having to worry about keeping one of its star attractions afloat.

At least some elements of remote work likely will continue after the pandemic, panelists said Tuesday morning as part of The Gazette’s Business Breakfast Series.

When Tricia Andersen has a break from her job at a fabric store, she goes online. Not to check Facebook or Twitter but to hunt for vaccine appointments.

CEDAR RAPIDS — NewBo City Market is revamping empty vending spaces to make them safer and more appealing in time for new businesses to move in.With the pandemic causing businesses to close up shop at the Market, Julie Parisi, NewBo City Market’s director of business development, said the organization was able to take a closer look at the empty areas.

A majority of first responders at major municipal and county departments in Linn and Johnson counties have chosen to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the agencies that are keeping track.But even though first responders interact with the public, not all agencies are counting.