Gazette Daily News Briefing, September 16
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, September 16.
The weather during the day on Friday will be much like the days before it this week. But there could be some rain overnight into Saturday morning. According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 85 degrees. A wind of 5 to 15 mph could gust as high as 20 mph. On Friday night there will be a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Besides that, it will be partly cloudy, with a low of around 67 degrees.
Freight railroad companies and unions representing workers have been locked in a dispute over pay and working conditions this week, but President Joe Biden said Thursday that they had reached a "tentative" deal to avoid a major economic disruption. A strike would have affected not only commuters who rely on the railway to get to work but also the nation's energy supply and drinking water.
Two of the largest unions -- representing 57,000 conductors and engineers -- held out until the final hours. But Wednesday and through the night into Thursday, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh held emergency meetings with the rail carriers and unions to help broker a deal. Disruptions were already being felt: Amtrak announced it would cancel all of its long-distance trains starting Thursday, and other rail systems braced for shutdowns.
The impasse was tied to disagreements between management and labor over sick time and penalties for missing work. U.S. freight railroad workers were close to striking over claims that grueling schedules, strict on-call policies and poor working conditions have been driving employees out of the industry over the past several years.
North Liberty-based GreenState Credit Union said Thursday it had instituted a reduction in force, effective immediately, that eliminated the positions of 42 employees across the organization.
Citing a decreased demands for loans, Jim Kelly, the credit union’s chief marketing officer, said in an email to The Gazette Thursday that most of the workers affected were “in the mortgage lending or commercial banking divisions.”
In an attempt to control inflation the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates. As a result, the average for 30-year-fixed mortgage rates nationwide has climbed to slightly over 6 percent. Applications for mortgages have dropped in response.
Superintendent Noreen Bush of the Cedar Rapids Community School District is taking a medical leave beginning Monday.
Bush was diagnosed with cancer two and a half years ago while serving as superintendent of the 16,700-student school district.
“Noreen established a theme of ‘love and care’ for our district to begin this school year,” school board president David Tominsky said in a message to the community Thursday. “And we, as a school district and broader community, fully support her with all our love and care as she takes this important time to focus on her cancer journey.”
Over the summer, Bush participated in a cancer clinical trial in Pittsburgh, Penn., where she underwent cellular therapy.
