Gazette Daily News Briefing, March 26 and March 27
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, March 26 and Sunday, March 27.
It’s going to be cold this weekend, but at least the sun will be out. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area on Saturday with a high near 38 degrees. It will be breezy again, although not as bad as Friday, with a 20 mph wind gusting as high as 35 mph. On Sunday it will be slightly warmer and substantially less windy, with sunny skies and high near 41 degrees.
Iowa “should and will accept Ukrainian refugees” if they seek to come here, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Friday during a visit to Marion.
President Joe Biden announced this week that the United States would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of their country. While the administration believes most refugees will stay in nearby countries in case they are ever to return home, the United States joined other Western counties in helping to address the crisis.
The month-old war in Ukraine has caused devastation the Republican senator compared with World War II and has forced millions from their homes. For Ukrainian refugees coming to Iowa, he said, there would be plenty of jobs available.
Grassley, however, stressed this immigration situation is not the same as the people who cross the border the illegally into the United States, who are “breaking our laws.”
Cedar Rapids-based McGrath Family of Dealerships will acquire the Toyota of Iowa City dealership, effective April 1.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
This move expands the McGrath reach to 14 locations and new-vehicle brands to 13. Murphy McGrath, general manager of McGrath Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram., will take on a new role as McGrath Toyota of Iowa City general manager, the company said in a news release.
The addition is the McGrath group’s first franchise dealership in Johnson County since Pat McGrath Oldsmobile GMC Isuzu in 1996.
A man died Friday after being buried in grain northwest of Williamsburg, according to the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office.
Iowa County emergency responders were called to 2172 M Ave. for a report of a grain bin entrapment at 7:30 a.m.
Rescuers worked for about an hour to find the man, whose name is to be released Saturday, the sheriff’s office said. The grain bin involved was a 20,000-bushel capacity bin owned by Kinze Manufacturing and leased to Circle J Grain of Williamsburg.
The Linn County Sheriff’s Office has identified the woman who died Thursday morning while being held in the Linn County Correctional Center overnight.
31-year-old Malorie Shea Hults was found unconscious, lying on the floor, by a corrections officer at 2:12 a.m. Thursday. Hults wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a detectable pulse, officials said. Corrections staff administered CPR, and Hults was taken to Mercy Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
The cause of death still is unknown, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Hults’ body has been transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for an autopsy.
Hults, of Cedar Rapids, was taken into custody by Cedar Rapids police Wednesday evening on a domestic assault charge.
Support for this news update was provided by New Pioneer Food Co-op. Celebrating 50 years as Eastern Iowa’s destination for locally and responsibly sourced groceries with stores in Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids; and you can order online through Co-op Cart at newpi.coop.
