Gazette Daily News Briefing May 29
This
is Zack Kucharski from The Gazette, and I’m here with your update for Memorial
Day, Monday May 29th.
It'll be sunny again with a High of 86 today. Tonight it’ll
remain clear and dip to 60 degrees, before jumping to 89 degrees Tuesday as
folks head back to work. It’s going to be dry and hot this week, with several
90 degree days in the forecast.
A Waterloo woman died late Saturday in Iowa City after the car she was driving in was hit by two 17-year-old drivers who failed to stop and hit her car.
Thecrash happened just before 11 p.m. Saturday at Court Street and Seventh Avenue. Twenty-two year old Jennifer Russell was hit by 17-year-olds Kesean Ford and Elijah Seals. Ford and Seals are from Iowa City. The crash was investigated by the Iowa State Patrol.
If you got to ride on trails in Linn county this weekend…there’s work to continue to build out the network that now features just over 100 miles of hard-surface trails in Linn County, Cedar Rapids and Marion.
To guide that future work, the city of Cedar Rapids and Linn County Conservation are working on a Trails and Bikeways Plan. And they’re asking the public, local businesses and trail and bikeway enthusiasts to think about the future and what they’d like to see.
The plan will update the city’s and county’s existing trails plans and maps.
The city’s plan was adopted in 2012 and the county’s was adopted about 20 years ago.
Trails and bikeways, local leaders believe, help recruit and retain workers, boost the quality of life, draw tourists to the area and attract new businesses.
Catching you up on a couple stories that broke late in the week. University of Iowa athletics director Gary Barta will retire as Iowa’s athletic director on Aug. 1. Barta held the post for 17 years.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed the Youth Labor Bill into law on Friday.
Working more jobs at longer hours is now an option for Iowa youth between the ages of
14 to 17 after Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday signed into law legislation that critics say will put young Iowans in dangerous workplace settings.
While the new law is significantly watered down from its initial form in the Iowa Legislature this year, it strips away some restrictions on jobs that 14- to 17-year-olds are allowed to work.
Supporters have said the bill provides more opportunities for young Iowans who want to work and could help address the state’s shortage of workers.
The new law addresses youth labor regulations in myriad ways. Among them:
- 16- and 17-year-olds, with parental permission, can serve alcohol in restaurants — but not in bars or strip clubs,
- 16- and 17-year-olds can participate in work-based learning programs in areas like manufacturing.
- 14- and 15-year-olds can work later hours (until 9 p.m. during the school year and until 11 p.m. during the summer); people over age 16 can work the same hours as adults.
In today’s Gazette, we debut an audience driven feature called Curious Iowa, which responds to your questions. Today’s installment looks underground at the Cedar Rapids sewer maintenance team. You can check it out at thegazette.com/curious.
That’s all for now. Have a great Memorial Day and a special thank you to those members of the Armed Forces who have given of their time to serve their country. Thank you. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.
