Gazette Daily News Briefing, December 17
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, December 17th.
It will be another calm December day weatherwise Friday. According to the National Weather Service, it will be mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 38 degrees. On Friday night it will be mostly cloudy, with a low around 27 degrees.
Wednesday evening’s unprecedented December storm killed one person after gusts toppled a semi, left thousands across the state waking up without power and met the criteria to be classified as a derecho — although not as severe as the infamous 2020 derecho that Eastern Iowa is still recovering from.
The storm caused damage across the state but mostly in Western and north-Central Iowa, damaging homes and taking down power lines.
The strong gusts rolled a semi truck and its trailer on its side near Walford, on the border of Linn and Benton counties, killing the driver, according to the Iowa State Patrol. The driver was heading south Wednesday night on Highway 151 just west of Walford as the storm was moving through the area. The driver was not wearing a seat belt, according to patrol.
As COVID-19 hospitalizations in Iowa have reached the highest levels seen in more than a year, Mercy Medical Center and UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital jointly announced Thursday they have postponed elective and non-urgent surgeries effective immediately.
The Cedar Rapids hospitals both have reported an alarming increase in patients hospitalized as a result of the coronavirus in recent weeks, which has placed “increasing strain on both hospitals’ capacity and staffing.”
The decision comes after data was released Wednesday by the state showing Iowa broke a 2021 record for COVID-19 hospitalizations, this week surpassing more than 800 patients. As a result of this, total available intensive care unit beds in the state dropped to a new low, reaching just 136 open beds as of Dec. 9.
ImOn Communications said it has accelerated its Iowa City expansion, aiming to have the fiber network available to all residences and businesses by the end of next year.
ImOn CEO Patrice Carroll told The Gazette the company will be halfway to its goal in the next month with an additional 4,000 addresses added to its Iowa City footprint.
In addition to fiber internet service, ImOn will begin offering cable television using internet-protocol television technology in Iowa City by early next year.
The Cedar Rapids-based ImOn first announced its plans to expand into the Iowa City market in 2015. Competitor Mediacom attempted to block the expansion with a lawsuit against the city of Iowa City and ImOn, but the judge ruled against Mediacom, allowing the expansion to continue.
Iowans are betting nearly $10 million a day on sports, but that hasn’t had an impact — at least so far — on the state’s lottery ales.
Iowa Lottery sales have continued to be “strong and resilient,” totaling $178.5 million in the first five months of fiscal 2022 — a 6.7 percent increase from the same period a year earlier, Lottery Chief Executive Officer Matt Strawn said Thursday.
While there’s been no erosion in lottery sales since legal sports betting came online in Iowa in August 2019, Strawn said he’s monitoring the growth in sports betting and the increased competition for consumers’ discretionary entertainment dollars.
Looking to find something new to eat? Never miss a bite of the tastiest local food news by signing up for our free text alerts. Text CHEW to (319) 257-2674 for inside scoops from Gazette food writer Elijah Decious.
Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa enabled device to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?
If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes or wherever else you find your Podcasts.
