Gazette Daily News Briefing, October 23
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for October 23, 2023.
Clouds and potentially thunderstorms will eventually give way to mostly sunny skies on Monday. According to the National Weather Service there will be a high near 72 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. There will be some breeziness as well during the day, and the temperature will settle in at around 62 degrees Monday evening.
In front of an audience of her fellow Republicans, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Ottumwa, stood on the bed of a bright-red truck and defended voting against Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan to be the next speaker of the U.S. House last week.
Miller-Meeks held her third annual “Triple MMM Tailgate” on Friday evening in Iowa City. The event featured seven candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Miller-Meeks said the decision led to her receiving what her office referred to as “credible death threats,” but she said she would not be swayed by these tactics.
“I am never going to quit fighting for Iowa, and I am never going to quit fighting for this country," Miller-Meeks said to a crowd of hundreds of supporters. "So if you think you can intimidate me, go … suck it up, buttercup!"
We may all have to suck it up, as it looks to be another chaotic week in the U.S. House. After Jordan’s bid for Speaker of the House flamed out late last week,9 different Republican candidates have signed up to vie for the position.
A commercial flock of about 50,000 turkeys in Buena Vista County was recently infected by a highly transmissible bird flu, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
The Iowa Capitol Dispatch has reported that the quickly spreadly avian influenza was last detected in Iowa in March in a small flock in Chickasaw County. It has been a somewhat quiet year for the virus compared to last year, when infections led to the destruction of 16 million birds.
Humans are seldom infected by the virus, but it can spread quickly in domestic flocks and is lethal to the birds. Entire flocks are intentionally culled after the virus is confirmed to prevent it spreading to other birds.
The virus is believed to be transmitted by migrating birds that can carry it without showing symptoms.
If purple street lights have bothered you in recent nightime travels, you have a reason to rejoice.
John Hart, director of the maintenance bureau at the Iowa Department of Transportation, said last week that the state has replaced the vast majority of the LED streetlights that had turned purple.
Many transportation departments, including in Iowa, switched to LED streetlights in 2017 because they are more affordable, last longer and are more environmentally friendly.
But the issue of the off-color lights arose last year when some lights from Acuity American Electric Lighting, installed by the state in 2018, had faulty interior coating. When the inside coating deteriorated, the lights shone with a purple-blue hue.
Initially, Hart believed the state transportation department would have to replace more than 100 streetlights. But it turned out to be “several hundred,” mostly in Eastern and Southeastern Iowa.
