Gazette Daily News Briefing, April 23
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, April 23.
Friday could start a little rainy and end a little windy, but this should give way to warmer days ahead. According to the National Weather Service there is a 30 percent chance of precipitation before 1 p.m. Friday in the Cedar Rapids area. After that it will be cloudy with a high near 56 degrees. It will be a tad breezy, with a wind of 10 to 15 mph gusting as high as 25 mph.
Cargill has started work on a contentious rail yard between the Rompot neighborhood and Prairie Park Fishery in Cedar Rapids, upsetting some residents who are holding out hope for a miracle to put a stop to the construction after court battles against the city have so far failed.
The $6.5 million, 12-track, 200-car rail yard will go on 28 acres at Stewart Road SE to provide supply chain stability and protect jobs at Cargill’s corn-milling plant, at 1710 16th St. SE, not far from the construction site, company officials said. Residents have railed against the project for fear it would create noise and air pollution, erode property values and pose safety hazards.
The rail yard is expected to be operational by November, though residents have appeals pending in the state Supreme Court. Cargill plans to start work on the rail yard portion of the project in the summer, but preliminary work is underway now.
The ACLU of Iowa announced Thursday it is again suing over a state law that bans Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgeries.
The civil liberties organization filed the lawsuit in Polk County District Court on behalf of two transgender Iowans, Aiden Vasquez of Central Iowa and Mika Covington of Southeast Iowa, alleging a law excluding transition-related surgeries from public insurance funds is unconstitutional and a violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
The lawsuit seeks to strike down a law passed by the 2019 Iowa Legislature that amended the Iowa Civil Rights act to allow any state or local government entity to decline to use public insurance, including Medicaid, to pay for transition-related surgeries. A previous ACLU lawsuit hoping to do the same was thrown out because the court ruled the plaintiffs had not been denied coverage so the challenge was a speculative one. Vasquez has since been denied coverage under the rule.
The number of Iowa high school students earning dual high school and community college credit reached a record high in the 2019-2020 school year.
Joint enrollment jumped to 51,800 students from 50,587 in the 2018-19 school year, a 2.4 percent increase, according to a report last month from the Iowa Department of Education. That includes students earning 216 associate degrees, 49 diplomas and 642 certificates while still in high school.
High school students participating in joint enrollment programs accounted for 40.8 percent of total community college enrollment during the 2019-2020 school year.
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