Gazette Daily News Briefing, March 8
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, March 8.
There will be a few days without snow to give our latest batch a chance to melt. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny Tuesday in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 39 degrees. A modest wind could get up to 10 to 15 mph by the afternoon. Tuesday night it will be partly cloudy, with a low around 24 degrees.
One teenager was killed and two others were critically wounded in Des Moines Monday after gunfire that appeared to come from a passing vehicle struck them outside East High School, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
Des Moines police said in a news release that potential suspects have been detained in the shooting on the grounds of the high school, near Des Moines’ downtown. No charges were immediately filed.
Authorities said initially the three teenagers were critically injured in the shooting. A 15-year-old boy was then declared dead, while two female victims, ages 16 and 18, were still listed as critically injured as of Monday night. The two girls are students at the high school, while the boy was not a student there, according to police. Police did not release any of their names as of Monday night.
According to the Washington Post, a tornado that killed seven people in southwest Iowa Saturday may have done so partially due to a delay in the national alarm system.
A total of 17 tornado warnings were issued by the National Weather Service in Des Moines on Saturday. However, a system problem happening nationally at the same time caused a delay in these local alerts.
Susan Buchanan, the weather service’s director of public affairs, wrote that “a technical issue caused a delay of between 2-7 minutes for some transmissions,” noting that “system engineers quickly took action as soon as the problem was detected.” She emphasized that warning lead times averaged about 20 minutes during the tornado outbreak.
After a surprise last-minute withdrawal of all opposition to a new Steindler North Liberty Ambulatory Surgery Center — including from a group of surgeons that previously vowed legal action — a state council Monday unanimously granted a certificate the project needs to proceed.
By granting the $19.2 million project a “certificate of need,” the five-member State Health Facilities Council cleared the way for construction of a new 35,880-square-foot ambulatory surgery center on 36 acres off Interstate 380 and Forevergreen Road in North Liberty.
The project will unfold just about 1.5 miles east of the North Liberty tract where University of Iowa Health Care is building a new $395 million, 469,000-square-foot hospital, marking major development in North Liberty’s medical corridor.
Mercy Iowa City in February announced a new partnership with Steindler to help develop the North Liberty campus. But officials during Monday’s hearing didn’t explicitly cite that as a reason for the opposition withdrawals
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 online through Co-op Cart at newpi.coop.
