Gazette Daily News Briefing, August 26 and August 27
Welcome to the weekend!
This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Saturday, August 26th, and Sunday, August 27th, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures on Saturday will be partly sunny, with a high near 83, cooling to a low around 54 Saturday evening.
Sunday will be sunny, with a high near 81. Sunday night will remain clear, with a low around 57.
Bondholders, bankruptcy trustee seek slowdown in Mercy hospital sale
Although Mercy Iowa City wants an expeditious sale of its assets — after the 150-year-old hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month — its bondholders and creditors this week asked a judge to tap the brakes to give them time for due diligence and to maximize the “value of the sale.”
“(Mercy’s) proposed bidding procedures are premised upon an exceptionally abridged timeline,” the hospital’s primary bondholders argued in court filings Thursday, referencing Mercy’s request for a Sept. 19 deadline for other bids to compete with the University of Iowa’s $20 million opening offer.
Chief Judge Thad Collins on Friday agreed to move a hearing on the timeline and sale process from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 — which is just a week before the Sept. 19 bid deadline Mercy wants him to approve.
Mercy didn’t object to the new hearing date, but Mercy attorney Dan Simon said his client still will be pushing for an expedited process.
Extreme drought develops in northeast Iowa
Drought conditions in Iowa have worsened amid a lack of rainfall and a heat wave that has stretched for days.
A large area of extreme drought has developed in several northeast Iowa counties, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor weekly report on Thursday. That is the second-worst classification of four the agency uses to denote drought conditions.
The counties included in the new severe drought classification include Black Hawk, Grundy, Butler, Bremer, Chickasaw, Floyd, and a small eastern portion of Allamakee County.
The typically wettest months of the year have passed, and relatively heavy rainfall in the first half of August did little to improve the drought in Iowa. That led the federal Climate Prediction Center to reverse its rosier outlook for drought and predict that a similar dryness will persist in the state for the next two months.
About 47 percent of the state’s topsoil had sufficient moisture for growing crops as of Sunday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
President Biden approves Iowa disaster declaration for Mississippi River flood damage
President Joe Biden on Friday approved a disaster declaration and relief for seven Iowa counties that sustained a combined estimated $6.3 million in damages from spring flooding along the Mississippi River.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds requested the major disaster declaration earlier this month. Rapid snow melt caused severe flooding in the seven Iowa counties between April 24 and May 13, resulting in significant damage to public infrastructure and private property.
Seven gauges measuring river height along the Iowa side of the river broke top five record crests.
The declaration makes available federal funding to state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain nonprofits on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by flooding in Allamakee, Clayton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Lee, and Scott counties.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
