Gazette Daily News Briefing, May 6
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, May 6.
There will be a chance for showers Friday, mostly before 1 p.m. According to the National Weather Service there will be a 30 percent chance for rain Friday morning. Besides that it will be mostly cloudy with a high of 61 degrees. We should have a break from the rain from Friday afternoon through Saturday, so there will be some nice spring weather for you to enjoy.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds does not expect any abortion-related legislation to be passed during the current legislative session, which is nearly at its end.
Reynolds told reporters Thursday that the plan instead is to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s official ruling on an abortion-related case, and then determine a path forward in Iowa.
Earlier this week, Politico reported that the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that protects a woman’s right to an abortion.
If this happens the expectation is that abortion laws will be dictated by individual states.
All that remains for this Iowa legislative session are the bills that set spending for the next state budget. There is also an ongoing impasse over legislation that would create taxpayer-funded scholarships for private school tuition assistance.
A motorcyclist was killed Thursday afternoon in a crash on southbound Interstate 380 near the intersection with Highway 30.
Police said they were questioning the driver of a black Buick sport utility vehicle they say struck the cyclist and are expecting to seek charges, but they did not say what the charges would be. The name of the cyclist killed in the accident has not yet been released.
Authorities say police officers and fire crews were dispatched at 3:56 p.m. to the scene. A preliminary investigation showed the SUV driver planned to exit I-380 and head east on Highway 30. But the SUV veered away from the exit ramp through a grassy divide, and back onto the interstate where it crashed with the motorcycle.
Police said the motorcycle driver was thrown from the cycle, dying from injuries sustained in a crash between the SUV and restraining cables dividing the north and south lanes of I-380.
The driver of the SUV was uninjured.
University of Iowa Health Care has joined a clinical trial to study new regimens of COVID-19 booster shots.
The Iowa City-based health care system is participating in a new Phase 2 clinical trial that will test booster vaccines in various combinations to determine which provide the best immune response against existing and emerging COVID-19 variants.
The trial will study six combinations of new and existing booster shots developed by Moderna.
As more variants emerge, the study aims to prepare for future virus variants that can evade protection from current COVID-19 vaccines. The intent is to finetune future vaccines to prevent breakthrough infections.
Including the University of Iowa, the clinical trial is being conducted at 24 sites.
