Gazette Daily News Briefing, July 25 and July 26
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of July 25 and July 26.
Your weekend weather forecast is looking hot, humid, and, at times, rainy. According to the National Weather Service, there will be high temperatures of above 90 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area for both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, expect mostly sunny skies and a high near 91. On Sunday, showers and thunderstorms will be likely after 1:00 p.m. Besides that, it will be even hotter than the day before, with a 92 degree high feeling as hot as 103 on the skin according to the predicted heat index. Showers and thunderstorms are likely Sunday night.
Iowa’s COVID-19 numbers held roughly steady Friday. 6 more deaths were reported, bringing the state’s death toll from the novel coronavirus to 826. Hospitalizations dropped slightly, to 230, while positive cases continued to trend up with an additional 426.
With coronavirus cases reaching alarming rates in some parts of Iowa, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday extended requirements for social distancing and increased hygiene at bars, restaurants and other businesses but rejected calls to make her health order stronger. The proclamation, issued a day before her previous order was to expire, extends requirements that bars and restaurants enforce social distancing of 6 feet between groups of patrons or individuals and that the patrons have seats at a table or bar area. Reynolds earlier this week encouraged residents to wear face masks in public but has declined to issue legal requirements that people do so.
Despite worries about the coronavirus, there will be a prep football season this coming fall. Practice still begins Aug. 10, and the regular season — which will consist of seven weeks — still begins Aug. 27. Teams will have the option of scheduling five, six or seven games within those seven weeks. All teams in all classes will qualify for the postseason, which begins Friday, Oct. 16. Brackets will consist of six rounds. The Iowa High School Athletic Association said it will “determine postseason pairings with geography, quality and team availability as primary considerations.”
Due to the potential of positive COVID-19 cases forcing players and teams to miss games, the revised plan will not penalize teams with a loss or forfeit. A missed game due to COVID-19 will be considered a “no contest” and will not be made up.
Even when everything else is going downhill, you can’t stop people’s faith in scratch tickets. Iowa Lottery ticket sales, revenue earned for the state, and prize money awarded to players all dropped during the past fiscal year, but the lottery still met its budget targets despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Preliminary figures released Friday show the Iowa Lottery generated about $81.5 million in proceeds to state causes from a total of $372 million in sales during the 12 months that ended June 30. Players collected about $236.3 million in prizes.
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