Gazette Daily News Briefing, February 1
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, February 1.
We'll be back almost above freezing again, with sunny skies on Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny, with a high near 29 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. On Wednesday night it will be partly cloudy, with a low of around 13 degrees. The nicer weather is looking to linger until dipping briefly on Friday, leading to even warmer temperatures on the weekend.
More than 260 Iowa nursing home and assisted living facility residents must search for a new place to live.
Six Iowa care facilities have been placed in receivership and are shutting their doors after the owner informed state officials that those facilities could no longer continue operations.
The owner of Blue Care Homes, LLC, notified state regulators Jan. 23 that it was unable and/or unwilling to continue operations and would not be able to meet the needs of its residents at four nursing facilities and two assisted living facilities in Fort Dodge, Humboldt, Winterset and Maquoketa.
The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals announced Monday the facilities have been placed in receivership and a temporary manager appointed to assume control of the operations of the facilities until all 263 residents can be relocated to a facility of their choosing
In a bid to recruit and retain qualified workers to Linn County while grappling with record-high inflation, the panel that recommends pay rates for certain elected officials suggested bumping salaries 12 percent for the county sheriff and attorney, and 10 percent for others.
The seven-member Linn County Compensation Board, with one member absent, advanced the recommendation Monday. In their pitches for a raise in fiscal 2024 — the budget year spanning July 1 through June 30, 2024 — several elected officials shared struggles to attract qualified talent to open county jobs and to compete with private sector pay.
The supervisors can OK the recommendations or decrease all of them by the same amount. The board also can lower its own pay independent of the other elected officials’ salaries.
A depleted state fund for emergency financial assistance to Iowa veterans will receive a financial shot in the arm.
Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday approved more than $440,000 in federal pandemic relief funding to address a backlog in the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.
Reynolds approved the funding, which comes from the state’s American Rescue Plan Act funds, to cover the backlog of trust fund grants that were approved between March 3, 2021, and Nov. 3, 2022, before the program was temporarily suspended due to insufficient funds.
State lawmakers are considering long-term proposals to address the available funds. The appropriation approved by Reynolds is intended to address the fund’s issues in the short term.
