Gazette Daily News Briefing, June 19
This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, June 19, 2020.
Today’s weather will be cloudy, with a high near 83, with thunderstorms likely after 1pm. Hopefully you enjoyed the sunny streak because the chance of rain and thunderstorms are expected tol continue through almost all of next week.
The number of coronavirus cases in Iowa rose yesterday to 24,737 total cases and the deaths attributed to coronavirus rose to 677 total.
Iowa receives more than 160,000 new, continuing unemployment claims. 9,516 new unemployment claims filed between June 7 and 13, many of which are due to coronavirus.. Those are in addition to the 154,752 continuing unemployment claims, bringing the total people unemployed in the state to more than 160,000, Iowa Workforce Development reported Thursday. The claims resulted in about $38 million paid out in standard unemployment insurance. Iowans have received well over $1 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits since the coronavirus appeared in Iowa in mid-March.
You can find all this and the rest of our coronavirus coverage at our dedicated coronavirus page, TheGazette.com/coronavirus.
Cedar Rapids patrol Sgt. fired over violating policies. Sgt. Lucas Jones’ name has come up repeatedly recently as thousands of people in Cedar Rapids protested the Memorial Day death of George Floyd. Among a list of police reform demands made by local protesters was firing Jones from the force. According to a statement, Jones had been on administrative leave from the department since May 4, weeks before his name became a galvanizing theme in large protests this month in Cedar Rapids. Police said the administrative investigation that led to his termination actually began in February.
Collins Aerospace develops process to convert passenger jets to cargo jets. The same plane taken for a vacation to Disney World soon could be reconfigured to hold medical supplies. With the demand for passenger jets remaining low during the coronavirus pandemic, Collins Aerospace has developed a way to turn passenger jets into cargo planes in seven days, and the process works for any passenger plane.
"Are you looking for a job? CorridorCareers.com is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at CorridorCareers.com."
That’s it for today’s update. Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what’s the news?"
