Gazette Daily News Briefing, December 31
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the last day of 2021, Friday, December 31.
Friday will hover above freezing for part of the day, and with that will come a chance for a variety of annoying road conditions. According to the National Weather Service the high for the Cedar Rapids area will be 36 degrees. Friday morning could have some dense fog on your commute. After this, there is a slight chance listed for light snow in the early afternoon, a slight chance for snow and rain after that, and a slight chance for freezing rain after that.
The low will settle in at around 8 degrees Friday night, and this will be followed by potentially heavy snow on Saturday.
The students at Prairie Crest Elementary will get one extra day of winter break while workers rid the College Community school of “any remaining asbestos exposed during construction.”
A letter the district sent Wednesday to Prairie Crest families said the district learned last week about the asbestos release that dated back to construction work in the building in June.
The letter stated a contractor removing the carpet did not abate asbestos within the carpet glue before removing it. It was discovered by an asbestos consultant who was doing an annual asbestos inspection.
The building may not be ready for occupancy again until Jan. 9, but the date is uncertain. The district expects to send families a final plan no later than Sunday.
Linn County Public Health has ended its COVID-19 contact tracing efforts.
Effective Friday, the county public health agency will no longer conduct case investigation and notify individual residents of positive coronavirus exposure.
Eric Bradley, deputy director of Linn County Public Health, said the efforts are being stopped because COVID-19 spread in the county and state are likely too widespread to be slowed by contract tracing. This week Linn County reported more new cases than it has seen in over a year.
The department also is taking its cue from the Iowa Department of Public Health, which had ended its routine contact tracing efforts for all individual COVID-19 cases statewide this past August.
The Iowa Supreme Court has given Autumn Steele's family another chance to gain full access to the 911 call and police video of the incident in which Steele was fatally shot by police in 2015 outside her Burlington home.
In an opinion released Thursday, the state Supreme Court said Adam Klein, the lawyer who originally sought the records on behalf of the Steeles, has legal standing to take the case to the District Court, despite the Iowa Public Information Board deciding in 2019 law enforcement agencies could keep records of the police shooting secret from the public.
The court found Klein may seek only judicial review of release of the 911 call, body camera footage and police vehicle footage and may not pursue records already made public.
The high court decision comes nearly seven years after Burlington Police Officer Jesse Hill accidentally shot Steele after responding to a domestic disturbance at her house Jan. 6, 2015.
Let’s end our last 2021 update with something everyone loves: Baby names.
According to information compiled by local hospitals, Henry was the most popular name for boys born at Cedar Rapids hospitals in 2021, while Ava and Nora took the top picks for newborn girls.
Nationwide, the most popular names for 2021 were Olivia for girls and Liam for boys, according to BabyCenter.com.
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.
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See you in 2022.
