Gazette Daily News Briefing, February 27

This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Monday, February 27th.

According to the National Weather Service, we’ll have rain and possibly a thunderstorm before 10 a.m., then a chance of rain between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. The high will be near 49. Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 15 mph coming from the northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation: 90%. Then tonight, cloudy during the early evening, then gradually clearing, with a low around 29. Still blustery, with a northwest wind 15 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph.

Selling off some state-owned land should be fairly easy. But reducing the state government office footprint in Des Moines, or standardizing community-based corrections programs under the state umbrella, could prove more difficult. Those are among the assessments in a 68-page report by a Virginia-based consulting firm hired by Gov. Kim Reynolds and paid nearly $1 million to analyze and make recommendations for the governor’s proposal to realign and streamline state government. The consultant, Guidehouse, recommended reducing the number of state departments with directors who report directly to the governor from 37 to 16. The firm’s report says that streamlining plus other recommended changes and moves could save Iowa state government nearly $215 million over four years. The Guidehouse report was the basis for Reynolds’ sweeping legislative proposal to realign state government, a massive bill that is nearly 1,600 pages.

In Iowa women’s basketball, against Indiana at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Sunday, Caitlin Clark was an effective closer in each of the first three quarters. At the end of the game, an outright hero. Clark rattled home an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired, lifting sixth-ranked Iowa to an 86-85 “instant classic” Big Ten women’s basketball win over No. 2 Indiana before a sellout crowd of 15-thousand. Clark enhanced her status of national-player-of-the-year favorite with 34 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

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🎹 Podcast music: “Dubstep” by Emily McGlothlen