Cedar Rapids, Linn County | featured news

Iowa’s casinos say they aren’t gambling on the public’s health.

MARION — Marion Independent School District voters approved a $31 million bond issue Tuesday, enabling the district to move forward on a facilities plan that includes building a new elementary school, auditorium and outdoor activities complex at Marion High School and making repairs to other district buildings.

Trees Forever is announcing that funding is now available to derecho-affected communities in Iowa and Illinois through a new grant program called Planting Hope. Funding up to $5,000 will be awarded for tree planting and distribution projects and will assist in replanting areas that saw major canopy loss as a result of the August 2020 derecho.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, two months earlier than anticipated, as his administration announced that drugmaker Merck & Co. will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved shot.

Despite concerns from one Democratic lawmaker about overly broad and vague language, a free speech bill requiring Iowa’s Board of Regents to implement policies, training, restrictions, and repercussions for First Amendment violations advanced out of committee Tuesday.

DES MOINES — Iowa employers would be barred from requiring their employees to get COVID-19 shots or base other job-related decisions on their vaccination history if a bill making its way through the Legislature is signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

If the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature is going to pass a voucher bill allowing public money for private schools, the state should require private schools to follow the same rules, several speakers said at a public meeting Tuesday.

By Rod Boshart, Gazette Des Moines BureauDES MOINES — Iowans who are victims of assisted reproductive fraud would be able to seek legal damages and perpetrators would face criminal charges under legislation adopted by Senate subcommittee members who heard “mind-blowing” testimony Tuesday.

DES MOINES — Majority GOP legislators forged ahead Tuesday with plans to ease gun restrictions by adopting permit-less “constitutional carry” legislation over objections that the proposed changes would make Iowans less safe.

Authorities have identified the Cedar Rapids Police Officer who fatally shot a suspect on Feb. 20 while responding to a fatal stabbing incident at a motel in southwest Cedar Rapids.