Gazette Daily News Briefing, August 14 and August 15
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, August 14 and Sunday, August 15.
Besides the fact that our area desperately needs rain that it’s not going to get, this weekend is going to be pretty nice weather wise. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny Saturday with a high near 83 degrees. On Sunday it will be sunny again, with a high near 84 degrees. The evenings will be clear, with calm winds and lows in the fifties.
The superintendent of the Boys State Training School in Eldora resigned last week amid an investigation at the school.
Wendy Leiker, who was appointed to the job Aug. 28, 2020, was not asked to resign, but “offered her resignation in the course of an investigation,” Iowa Department of Human Services Spokesman Matt Highland said in a statement Thursday.
DHS Director Kelly Garcia said at a meeting Thursday she had appointed Jason Sodders, a deputy to Leiker, as interim superintendent at the residential school for delinquent boys ages 12 to 18.
Police are investigating reports of multiple gunshots fired Friday afternoon in southeast Cedar Rapids.
Officers responded just after 2 p.m. to the 1500 block of Eighth Avenue SE where they found a 2011 GMC Terrain sport utility vehicle damaged by gunfire. Police said the vehicle was parked and unoccupied.
Spent shell casings were located. No injuries were reported.
Based on the preliminary investigation, police said a red, newer model Ford Mustang with two occupants — believed to have been involved — headed north on 15th Street SE.
Police located the unoccupied car a short time later.
Old MacDonald’s Farm in Bever Park closed for the season Friday because of a shortage of seasonal staff.
All of the animals at the farm will be returned to their owners.
Movie Night and Goat Yoga classes are canceled. The waterfowl exhibit will stay open daily through Oct. 6. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids has adjusted its visitor guidelines, effective as of Friday, as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising due to the spread of the Delta variant, officials said in a news release.
Among the new guidelines: all inpatient admissions will be tested for COVID-19, patient visitation hours will be limited to 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m, and most areas will return to a maximum of one visitor at a time.
At Iowa Hawkeye Media Day Friday players and coaches stressed the importance of being dialed in on day one. The season starts with a nationally ranked Big Ten opponent in Indiana on September 4, and things don’t get any easier with nationally ranked rival Iowa State the following week.
As a developmental program at heart, Iowa has traditionally had slow starts to seasons as it seeks to figure itself out. Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said the process remains the same, just the urgency is a little different.
“This is the start of camp, and what's really important about it is now for us to figure out what our identity is going to be, see how it shapes and see how guys are moving along,” Ferentz said. “And it's day to day, I can assure you that, like it is every year. It's a process, and there are good days, bad days.
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