Cedar Rapids, Linn County | featured news

NORTH LIBERTY — A potential standoff in North Liberty on Thursday afternoon was “peacefully resolved,” city officials said, just over an hour after some businesses were evacuated and residents were warned to remain indoors.

DES MOINES — Legislation that would withdraw tax incentives to Big Tech companies found to have censored online speech advanced in the Iowa Legislature, but lawmakers acknowledged the bill needs work, and Gov. Kim Reynolds stopped short of endorsing their efforts.

For more than 20 years, the Future City competition has encouraged teams of sixth, seventh and eighth grade students from across the country to imagine day-to-day life at least 100 years from now. This year’s theme — Living on the Moon — also encouraged them to imagine life out of this world — on a future lunar colony.

CEDAR RAPIDS — The College Community School District is offering limited open enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year after a significant decline that’s being attributed to the pandemic and derecho last August.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Tom Vilsack, who admitted he was computer illiterate while serving as Iowa’s governor for two terms, has joined social media.

Gov. Kim Reynolds will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday to provide the latest news about the COVID-19 vaccine and virus in Iowa. Watch it live in the player above. 
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A suspect has been arrested in connection with the 10-year-old shooting incident that killed 22-year-old Dexter “Big Ham” Meeks.

IOWA CITY — After thrusting the University of Iowa’s College of Dentistry under the free speech microscope of Republican lawmakers with his October mass email condemning a White House executive order on diversity training, Dentistry Dean Da

Election season may be over, but political insights continue. Join us right here at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 25 for a virtual edition of Pints & Politics, featuring our team of Gazette staffers Erin Jordan, Todd Dorman, Adam Sullivan and James Lynch.

Iowa saw a decrease in new unemployment claims but an increase in continuing claims between Feb. 14 and Feb. 20, Iowa Workforce Development reported Thursday.New claims fell from 5,998 to 5,457, while continuing claims rose from 46,963 to 49,597.About 35.5 percent of claims were related to the coronavirus, an increase from 31.2 percent from the previous week.