Gazette Daily News Briefing, December 31 and January 1
Welcome to the last weekend of 2022.
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, December 31, and Sunday, January 1.
There could be a little bit of rain and fog on Saturday before things settle down on Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, there could be areas of dense fog overnight until around 10 a.m. in the morning on Saturday in the Cedar Rapids area. There will be a 30 percent chance of rain, mainly between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Otherwise it will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 39 degrees. On New Year’s Day it will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 43 degrees and a calm wind.
Iowa City’s iconic Hamburg Inn No. 2 is set to close indefinitely Jan. 8 in part due to strained communications between local management and the owner.
Assistant Manager Katy Wells confirmed plans to close, saying staff and local management made the decision among themselves, unsure if the closure would be temporary or permanent.
She said management, including General Manager Ajax Lasko, came to the decision a few days ago after being unable to make substantial contact with owner Micheal Lee, who is in Taiwan.
Michael Lee, a native of China and University of Iowa graduate, purchased the restaurant from Dave Panther in 2016. Panther’s family had owned the Linn Street restaurant since 1948. The restaurant first opened in 1935.
Substantial building maintenance needs all mounted at once at the Hamburg Inn building after the blizzard earlier in December, and local management doesn’t have the resources to make necessary repairs. Wells said the location’s building was built around 1947.
Cedar Rapids officials were dispatched Friday after hunters found human remains in the Cedar River.
Police and fire department staff were dispatched in the early afternoon after the hunters reported seeing the remains in the river, just below the water treatment facility near Bertram.
Positive identification of who the person was will still take some time, according to the release.
A Marengo company whose workshop exploded and caught fire Dec. 8 failed to meet a state deadline Friday for filing a report about how owners plan to clean up the area, which state regulators called a “clear threat to public health and the environment.”
An emergency order Dec. 15 gave C6-Zero until 5 p.m. Friday to submit the written report explaining sources of contamination and plan for cleanup. The order also stipulated that C6-Zero must implement all requirements of the plan within 45 days of the order.
The order notes regulators may impose civil penalties of up to $5,000 per day for solid waste violations and water quality violations and up to $10,000 per day for air quality violations.
The Marengo plant, which opened in 2020 and had about 30 employees, still was in a pilot phase Dec. 8 when liquid solvent in a tank exploded and started a fire. Between 10 and 15 people were treated for injuries at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and neighbors living near the facility were briefly evacuated.
Have a great weekend everyone. We’ll see you again in 2023.
