Gazette Daily News Briefing, January 23

This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Monday, January 23rd.

According to the National Weather Service, we’ll have patchy fog before 8 a.m. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Winds from the southwest, 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Then tonight, mostly cloudy, with a low around 24.

Union workers voted Sunday to ratify a four-year contract with multinational ingredients maker Ingredion, ending a strike that has stretched on for nearly six months against the company’s Cedar Rapids facility. About 88 workers trickled in before 10 a.m. Sunday at Teamsters Hall to vote on whether to ratify the contract and bring an end to the strike that began Aug. 1. After over two hours of discussion, union members could be heard clapping behind closed doors and began to cast written ballots. They wrapped up just before 1 p.m. with the vote to ratify the deal. Mike Moore, the principal and president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 100G, had said Thursday that Ingredion and the union reached the tentative deal after two days of negotiations last week. Overall, he said, reaching a deal took about 25 face-to-face sessions.

One man was killed and another was injured in a fall from a scaffold last week in Dyersville, according to a news release from the city’s chief of police. At 8:37 a.m. Thursday, emergency responders were dispatched for an industrial accident at Farmtek, at 1440 Field of Dreams Way in southwest Dyersville. Police found two victims who had fallen about 20 feet from a portable scaffold. One was not breathing and police began CPR. One who fell was identified as 50-year-old Bruce Bockenstedt of Manchester. He was transported to a Dyersville hospital and did not survive his injuries. The other was transported to a Dubuque hospital and later transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Police did not have an update on his status. The accident remains under investigation.

The Gazette has online maps showing how many private schools in Iowa are in each county, and how many of those private schools include a 12th grade. Go to thegazette.com slash data to see those details. Of course, that could soon change, thanks to a proposed state-funded private school financial assistance package - that could be passed this week.

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🎹 Podcast music: “Dubstep” by Emily McGlothlen