Gazette Daily News Briefing, April 2
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, April 2.
Friday’s weather is the example of the classic spring tradeoff: You want a change in the weather? That comes with more wind.
According to the National Weather Service it should be noticeably warmer Friday and the warming trend will continue through the weekend. The predicted high in the Cedar Rapids area is 56 degrees, with a wind of 5 to 10 mph in the morning increasing to 15 to 20 mph by the afternoon. You expect temperatures in the seventies on the weekend, with the wind hopefully calming down as well.
Republicans controlling majorities in the Iowa Legislature began their final march to adjournment Thursday leaving a host of other stalled ideas behind as they shift attention to setting a state budget and cutting taxes.
Among Thursday’s bills that will not be going further were Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to provide state-funded “students first” scholarships to private school families — known popularly as vouchers and a bill from Senate Republicans intended to cut off state funds for cities and counties if they “defunded” police departments; and a bill that would have abolished tenure. Also not making it were several House GOP priorities to expand access to and affordability of child care. Although the vouchers bill did not make it, a bill intended to expand charter schools as an alternative to public schools is still alive.
Iowa State University announced Thursday afternoon that rowing’s national governing body, the United States Rowing Association, will conduct a safety review of the Sunday accident that killed two student members of Iowa State University’s Crew Club.
Yaakov Ben-David, an ISU sophomore, and Derek Nanni, a freshman, died after their crew boat capsized. The university also mentioned in its media release that crew members had raised safety concerns in 2020, only some of which had been addressed.
Construction is underway at the Eastern Iowa Airport on its $21 million renovation to relocate two taxiways and expand the space between the taxiways and the terminal.
The upgrade will bring the taxiways up to the latest Federal Aviation Administration standards and remove a FAA-designated “hot spot” on the taxiway, where pilots must be “extra vigilant” of other aircraft, Airport Director Marty Lenss told The Gazette.
He said the space was especially tight before the coronavirus when airlines increasingly used larger aircraft. It’s anticipated the larger jets will return with increased personal and business travel.
It’s Luka Garza award season. The Iowa Hawkeye Center received the award as the national player of the year from the Associated Press. After finishing second last season, he was the runaway choice for the award announced Thursday, receiving 50 of 63 votes from AP Top 25 voters. There are still several awards to go, including the prestigious Naismith award, which has already announced Garza as one of its finalists.
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