Cedar Rapids, Linn County | featured news

DES MOINES — A lawsuit filed Tuesday challenges Iowa’s new elections law that restricts early and absentee voting.The lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court, challenges some of the provisions included in the sweeping legislation signed into law Monday by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Iowa added 516 new COVID-19 cases and 15 confirmed deaths Tuesday.The new numbers bring the state’s coronavirus totals to 340,000 cases and 5,574 deaths, according to Iowa Department of Public Health data. Iowa’s seven-day average is 463.The new virus cases come from 19,809 tests in the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.NEW CASES

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa police are investigating a pair of sexual assaults that occurred over the weekend “during the same incident” in an east-side residence hall — attacks that prompting the university to issue its sixth sexual assault-related crime alert of the academic year.

Iowa was listed No. 1 for opportunity among states in U.S. News and World Report’s rankings for 2021.

CEDAR RAPIDS — A mother told a judge Monday that she hopes her 14-year-old daughter will overcome the trauma of being sexually assaulted by this man who took advantage of her trust and stole her innocence.

The Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation, based at the University of Washington, predicts Iowa COVID-19 infections and deaths will continue to taper through June 1.By May 1, COVID-19 will have led to the deaths of 5,911 Iowans and 2.4 Iowans will be dying each day, the institute estimates.

If time is supposed to heal, then the last year is a lot of time for not much recovery in Neil Bennett’s eyes.A year ago this month, the 75-year-old Iowa City resident was the first critical case of COVID-19 to be treated at an Iowa hospital, an ordeal that affects him to this day.

CEDAR RAPIDS — The city has contracted with Tennessee-based Atchison Consulting Service for an estimated $25,000 to draft a report assessing its response to the Aug. 10 derecho, almost seven months after the storm’s hurricane-force winds downed trees and power lines across Cedar Rapids.

The Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre was halfway through “The Enchanted Forest” when the pandemic dragon reared its fire-breathing snout and shut down the 2020 Young Artists’ elementary school tour.

A group of seven Iowa Hawkeye fans from Cedar Rapids started a nonprofit in 1979, the Iowa Hawkeye Rebounders Ltd., to support Iowa basketball. They ended up organizing the largest nationwide college all-star game for three years in a row, from 1982 to 1984.