Gazette Daily News Briefing, October 16 and October 17
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17.
The chillier temperatures are going to continue this weekend, but at least the sun will be out. According to the National Weather Service, a low hovering above freezing in the early morning Saturday will lead to patchy frost before 9 a.m. in the Cedar Rapids area. After this it will be sunny, with a high near 62 degrees. A 10-15 mph wind will calm down to 5 mph by Saturday night, with a low around 39 degrees. Sunday will warm up a bit, with a high near 69 degrees, and the wind remaining calm. Sunday night it will be clear, with a low around 44 degrees.
Nearly five months after Xavior Harrelson was reported missing from a Montezuma mobile home park where he lived with his mother, authorities confirmed Friday that human remains found in a nearby farm field were of the 11-year-old boy.
“The cause of death has not been released at this time,” said a statement from Poweshiek County Sheriff Thomas Kriegel.
The boy was reported missing May 27, just shy of his 11th birthday. Posters with Xavior’s picture plastered the town, and a reward fund raised about $35,000, but massive searches failed to locate him. Then on Sept. 30, a farmer reported to authorities that remains had been spotted in a soybean field about 3 miles northwest of town.
The state’s consideration of a proposed ambulatory surgery center — near where the University of Iowa already is building a $395 million hospital in North Liberty — has been bumped from this month to February after a hospital system approached Steindler Orthopedic Clinic about a potential collaboration.
On Wednesday, when The Gazette published an article about Steindler North Liberty Ambulatory Surgery Center seeking approval from the State Health Facilities Council, a hospital system not yet publicly identified approached the center requesting it consider “a proposal to build an inpatient hospital that could anchor the Steindler development.”
That vision would include an orthopedic specialty hospital, and it could fully transform the long-vacant swath of land into a new health care hub just off Interstate 380.
Abnormal influenza activity last year means it may be harder for experts to predict the 2021-22 flu season. But national experts already are warning Americans they could be in for a severe season.
Reduced population immunity due to a lack of influenza activity since the pandemic began in March 2020 could mean the United States will face an “early and possibly severe flu season” this year, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have warned.
That potential for a “twindemic” of both widespread flu and COVID-19 cases is at the forefront of local public health officials’ minds as the winter months draw closer, highlighting the importance of getting vaccinated against both viruses and taking other steps to avoid infection.
Closing with a fun story, on Friday, it was the No. 1 Iowa field hockey’s turn to beat a top ranked opponent with a 2-1 penalty-shootout win over No. 2 ranked Michigan. And their victory was greeted with fans rushing the field.
Fans, many of whom were athletes from other Iowa teams, then swarmed her in the field-rush, similar to what happened for the #3 ranked Iowa football team after its win the previous weekend against Penn State.
Friday’s win is the latest in what appears to be a special season for Iowa, which already has more wins than the 2020 Final Four team and 2018 Sweet 16 team
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