Gazette Daily News Briefing, February 15
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, February 15.
We'll get a break from precipitation on Wednesday, but it will be windy and cold. According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly cloudy in the Cedar Rapids area with the temperature dropping to around 30 degrees by 5 p.m. Wind of 10 to 20 mph could gust as high as 30 mph. On Wednesday night it will be cloudy, with a low near 23 degrees. Enjoy the view of grass, because a bunch of snow is predicted to come overnight into Thursday.
Nearly 55 years after a private firm built the Mayflower Apartment Community overlooking the Iowa River, marketed to students as a “luxury” dorm — and 40 years after the University of Iowa bought the eight-story building outright — the UI is planning to sell its Mayflower Residence Hall.
With those sale proceeds — plus any borrowing they need to do — UI administrators want to build a $40 to $60 million residence hall for returning students. Currently, most UI residence hall space is prioritized for freshmen.
The master plan indicates a new returning-student hall could hold between 250 and 400 beds — making it similar in size to Stanley Hall, housing 354 students, or Daum Hall, housing 344 students. The plan aims to build the new hall on UI-owned land also on the east side of campus.
Mayflower Hall was built in the 1960s in place of what started in 1851 as the Walter Terrell Mansion, home of the entrepreneur who built a dam and grain mill on the Iowa River. The mansion in the 1930s or 1940s became the Mayflower Inn, featuring the Mayflower Night Club, before it was demolished and replaced with apartments.
Cuts that Kirkwood Community College announced Monday resulted in 28 layoffs, some occurring across programs the campus is eliminating or changing because of low enrollment.
Both full-time and part-time employees were laid off in two programs the college is closing: Dental Technology and the Energy Production and Distribution program.
Kirkwood announced plans Monday to close those for-credit programs following an internal review of its operations, which officials said wasn’t documented in a report.
By laying off 28 the employees and closing the associated programs, Kirkwood anticipates saving about $1.5 million a year.
Iowa Homeland Security will pay more than $600,000 to replace firefighting clothing and equipment damaged in a Dec. 8, 2022, explosion and fire in Marengo after the company whose plant exploded refused to pay.
The decision will allow more than 20 agencies that responded to the blaze to replace gear ruined by diesel fuel and a mysterious solvent stored at the plant operated by C6-Zero. Without the cash infusion from the state, some departments would be fighting fires with older, uncertified gear, said Josh Humphrey, Iowa County Emergency Management Agency coordinator.
The explosion injured a dozen employees, caused an evacuation of nearby houses and polluted soil and water because of chemicals stored at the site, where C6-Zero was attempting to dissolve used shingles into oil, sand and fiberglass.
