Gazette Daily News Briefing, February 13 and February 14
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday February 13 and Sunday February 14.
Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend. Sadly, I have to start with something you’re not going to love, and that’s the weather forecast.
According to the National Weather Service, overnight snow is likely to continue falling Saturday morning, with the majority coming before 1 p.m. This could add about a half inch of snow to whatever fell the night before. There will be a high near 3 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area with wind chill values as low as -25. On Saturday night it will get even colder, with a low of -12 degrees.
Sunday the predicted high temperature is 2 degrees below zero. There will be a break from snow, however, with mostly cloudy skies. The low Sunday night is predicted to be -14 degrees.
As I mentioned yesterday, this will likely be the low point before we snap out of it. By next weekend you will be able to break out some tropical drinks to celebrate highs in the low 30s.
Another federal allocation of COVID-19 vaccines, expected to begin reaching the state this week, will offer Iowans another opportunity to access shots at certain retail pharmacies, officials say.
The Federal Retail Pharmacy program is the collaboration between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and retail pharmacies in each state. This is in addition to the vaccine allocated to states. In Iowa, CDC officials selected Hy-Vee and CPESN, a network of mostly independently owned pharmacies. A portion of the CPESN network received vaccines in a soft launch of the program this week. You can find participating pharmacies at collaboration.cpesn.com/finder.
Legislative proposals to bar transgender Iowa students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity appear unlikely to advance in the Iowa House.
Republicans in the Iowa Senate recently advanced such a bill, Senate File 224, through its first step in the legislative process. But Rep. Dustin Hite, chairman of the Iowa House Education Committee, said Friday he has no plans to give the bill — or ones like it — a hearing in the House. According to Hite, who appeared on the Iowa Press PBS show Friday night, although he understands the concerns of those who sponsored the senate bill, care must be taken not to “come across as hateful” to a specific group of people.
A final ballot has been sent throughout the Marion Independent School District for a new nickname, a successor to “Indians.” The finalists are Mavericks, Red Storm and Red Wolves. All students in grades 3-12 will get a vote, along with all parents and staff in the district. The deadline for voting is Feb. 20, and a new nickname is likely to be revealed the following week.
Marion’s board of education voted Oct. 12 to change the school’s nickname. The change was motivated by a letter received from the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa — also known as Meskwaki Nation.
This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? CorridorCareers.com is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at CorridorCareers.com.
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