Gazette Daily News Briefing, August 6 and August 7
Welcome to the weekend!
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, August 6, and Sunday, August 7.
There are two things we can expect for this weekend’s weather: Heat and rain. According to the National Weather Service on Saturday it will be partly sunny with a high near 93 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. The heat index values will rise up to as high as 101 during the day. On Saturday night it will be mostly cloudy, with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. There will be a chance for showers pretty much all day on Sunday, with it increasing as the day goes on and heads into Monday morning. It will be mostly cloudy with a high near 91 degrees and a low of 71.
Among four proposals Mercy Iowa City entertained last year in its search for a partner was one from University of Iowa Health Care, offering over $605 million to take ownership of the community hospital and make it the “centerpiece” of a new UIHC “community division.”
“We believe that UI Health Care is the ideal partner for Mercy Iowa City,” according to the university’s proposal from August of last year, which was obtained by The Gazette. “Our goal is to combine the resources of UI Health Care’s comprehensive, integrated delivery network with the unique local strengths of Mercy Iowa City to expand the scope of care and improve access.”
UIHC said it planned to launch a community hospital division — separate from its academic divisions — centered on Mercy Iowa City, which would remain a hub for primary and secondary care in the region with its own local governance and board.
Documents obtained by The Gazette show that in addition to UIHC, Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, UnityPoint Health and Marshfield Clinic Health System of Wisconsin offered to take over Mercy Iowa City, which was seeking a partner in the first place due to struggling financially in recent years.
Mercy Iowa City officials didn’t answer The Gazette’s questions about why the four partnership proposals didn’t pan out, calling those decisions “proprietary and confidential.”
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are dropping their legal challenge of Iowa’s 24-hour waiting period on abortions, which the state Supreme Court allowed to go into effect in June, the groups announced Friday.
Instead of pursuing the litigation, they will be focusing on the 2018 law struck down by a district court that would ban abortions after six weeks. Gov. Kim Reynolds has indicated her strategy after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade’s federal protections for abortions would be to try to get this law reinstated rather than to try to pass new legislation this year.
Abortion still is legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks, but the 24-hour waiting period took effect in July, requiring people to get two separate appointments within 24 hours in order to get an abortion.
Utility terrain vehicles (UTVs) are now allowed on Marion streets.
The Marion City Council Thursday approved a new ordinance’s final reading to allow the vehicles.
The council voted 6-0 with Mayor Nick AbouAssaly absent for the formal meeting, but he again voiced his opposition to the ordinance during the council’s Tuesday night work session. He voted no during the first two readings.
UTVs, also called utility task vehicles or side-by-sides, are like all-terrain vehicles in their use for off-road recreation. But UTVs are heavier, can have up to six wheels and haul heavy loads.
UTVs will be able to be operated on any city roadway with a speed limit of 35 mph or less, except for 10th Avenue east of 35th Street and East Post Road south of Oak Brook Drive.
In addition, use of UTVs would be allowed only from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Operators must be 18 or older with a valid driver’s license.
