Gazette Daily News Briefing, June 16
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Friday, June 16.
According to the National Weather Service it will be a mostly sunny day in the Cedar Rapids area on Friday. The high is predicted at 84 degrees, while the low will be 60 degrees.
A haze engulfed Eastern Iowa on Thursday.
The wave of smoke had wafted down from more than 300 wildfires blazing in Canada. It wasn’t the haze’s first visit to the northern U.S. this summer — and it likely won’t be its last visit.
Wildfire smoke carries a mixture of solid and liquid particles that is dangerous to breathe in. Its heavy presence caused the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to issue an air quality advisory early Thursday afternoon for portions of Central and Eastern Iowa.
Air quality in Cedar Rapids deteriorated from “moderate” to “unhealthy” throughout Thursday morning, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Fire and Smoke Map.
The “moderate” category indicates acceptable air quality with a potential risk to sensitive populations. The “unhealthy” level of concern means the general public may experience health effects. Sensitive groups — like pregnant people, children and older adults — may experience more serious health effects.
The air quality advisory will last through 10 p.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
The Iowa Supreme Court is poised to deliver an opinion Friday that will reset the legal landscape for abortion restrictions in Iowa.
The court on Thursday announced the four rulings that it will publish Friday morning will include Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Gov Kim Reynolds.
The possible outcomes of Friday’s opinion are many, and not as simple as an up-or-down ruling on the law at the heart of the legal challenge: A 2018 law that state courts struck down that would prohibit abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
The court’s consideration of that district court ruling could go in multiple directions, legal experts say.
In one scenario,The Iowa Supreme Court affirms the district court judge’s ruling. This would maintain the status quo, with abortion remaining legal in Iowa until the 20th week of pregnancy. It would then be up to Reynolds and the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature to determine whether to write a new bill that would restrict abortions.
Or, the Iowa Supreme Court rules against the district court judge and determines there is no fundamental right to abortion services in Iowa. Such a ruling would reinstate the 2018 fetal heartbeat law, and abortions would be illegal in Iowa once a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected, typically around 6 weeks of pregnancy, which can be before many women know they are pregnant..
Or possibly the court could punt it back to the district court. This would happen if the Iowa Supreme Court chose to establish the level of legal scrutiny that should be applied to abortion regulations in Iowa, but not rule on the merits of the 2018 fetal heartbeat bill. That would return the question again to the district court to rule on the bill under that newly defined level of legal scrutiny, and the case would assuredly once again return to the Iowa Supreme Court after an appeal.
