Gazette Daily News Briefing, December 10 and December 11
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, December 10, and Sunday, December 11.
The rain should come to a halt Saturday morning, leaving some fog behind it. According to the National Weather Service there will be a high of 42 degrees Saturday in the Cedar Rapids area with cloudy skies. There will be widespread fog before 10 a.m. and a chance for fog again Saturday night. Sunday will be partly sunny with a high of 39 degrees.
For weeks before blasts tore through a Marengo recycler and injured at least five people and caused nearby evacuations Thursday, public safety officials were trying to get the company to disclose what hazardous chemicals were on site.
Marengo Police Chief Ben Gray said that since a smaller fire at the C6-Zero facility Oct. 25, the police and fire departments had concerns about the plant — which says it turns old shingles into alternative fuels — and the departments were attempting to work with the company to determine the potential hazards on site.
“We simply wanted to know what chemicals were on site,” Gray said Friday. “That way we were aware of what both our emergency responses should be in order to treat chemicals on site and from a potential risk mitigation hazard for citizens.”
Until Thursday, when the company disclosed the information during firefighter efforts to contain the fire, officials did not know the makeup of the mixture, Gray said.
Iowa OHSA Administrator Russell Perry said an investigation is being opened into the plant to determine what happened. The organization, part of the Iowa Department of Labor, regulates the health and safety of workers and has authority to issue fines.
Heading into the New Year, Eastern Iowa Airport Director Marty Lenss said there are “certainly reasons to be optimistic.”
The Cedar Rapids airport is on track to have the second-busiest year on record, with an anticipated 1.1 million passengers, and has seen an increase in the total number of seats available, Lenss said. Beyond being one of Iowa’s eight commercial airports, The Eastern Iowa Airport supports air cargo, business aviation, aircraft services and other activities.
The overall impact of aviation in Iowa — whether that’s commercial service, air cargo, aircraft maintenance or another aviation-related activity — has an important impact on the state’s economy, a new report found.
The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Aviation Economic Impact report found the industry has an annual impact of $6.4 billion in economic activity, supports nearly 41,000 jobs and generates $124 million in tax revenue. Iowa has a total of 108 public-owned airports.
In the Corridor, The Eastern Iowa Airport brings $322 million in total annual economic activity; $24 million for the Iowa City Municipal Airport; and $3 million for the Marion Airport, according to the report’s numbers.
The Libertarian Party of Iowa filed to regain major party status Friday.
Libertarian candidate for governor Rick Stewart and his running mate, Marco Battaglia, earned 2.4 percent of the vote Nov. 8 in the governor’s race, exceeding the 2 percent minimum required by state law to qualify as an official political party.
Stewart, of Cedar Rapids, won nearly 29,000 votes in his gubernatorial run, becoming the first third-party ticket in Iowa history to achieve the milestone in a gubernatorial race.
It's the first time Iowa's Libertarian Party has earned that distinction since 2018.
The Libertarian Party would be able to begin holding state-run primary elections and appear as an option on voter registration forms. Previously, Iowa officially recognized two political parties: Republicans and Democrats, with the Libertarian Party and Green Party as an option as Non-Party Political Organizations, not official parties.
