Gazette Daily News Briefing, September 21
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for September 21, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service there will again be a slight chance of rain all day on Thursday. Besides that it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 78 degrees.
As one the fastest growing metro regions in the Midwest, and second only in the state to Des Moines, Iowa City officials are looking for ways to lessen traffic congestion, provide alternative transportation options and improve commute times.
But which transit style makes the most sense?
Iowa City Council members voted 6-0 Tuesday to hire a consulting firm to explore the feasibility of adapting the existing Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway corridor right of way between Iowa City and North Liberty to accommodate a bus rapid transit system.
Bus rapid transit is a high-capacity system designed to deliver fast and efficient service that may include dedicated bus lanes, busways, traffic signal priority, off-board fare collection, elevated platforms and new stations, according to the Federal Transit Administration.
The transit system has advanced throughout the county in the last decade as congestion has increased and community leaders have sought affordable transit alternatives, according to the agency. Such systems operate in big cities like Los Angeles and Atlanta, and are growing in popularity in the Midwest including Cleveland, Omaha and Kansas City.
Because it contains features similar to a light rail or subway system, bus rapid transit often is considered more reliable, convenient and faster than regular bus service, according to federal transit officials. And with the right features, it can avoid the delays that can slow regular buses, like being stuck in traffic and queuing to pay fares on board.
The warden of the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility resigned earlier this month, just six months after starting the job.
“Kris Karberg resigned from his position as warden of the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility effective September 1, 2023,” Department of Corrections Spokesman Nick Crawford said in an email. “Deputy Warden Don Harris became acting warden effective the same day.”
Karberg had been warden at Fort Dodge since Feb. 17, when the Corrections Department transferred him from Anamosa State Penitentiary, where he had been warden since 2021.
The Gazette reached out to Karberg, who declined to comment extensively on why he’d left the Iowa Corrections Department. He said he was likely moving back to South Dakota, where he’d lived before taking the Anamosa job.
Karberg was deputy warden at the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield, S.D., for three years before moving to Iowa. Earlier in his career, he spent 10 years providing private security in Southwest Asia, Belize and Afghanistan where he was a contractor for the U.S. State Department, he told the Iowa Board of Corrections in 2021.
On Wednesday night, Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a second-inning grand slam, the Cedar Rapids Kernels built an early 5-0 lead and went on to beat Great Lakes, 7-6, in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Midwest League Championship Series in front of a boisterous crowd of just over 2,000 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Players sprayed each other with bottles of sparkling cider on the field during a massive celebration that began with a victory dogpile around the pitcher’s mound when Rodriguez secured the final out with a catch of a fly ball.
It is the Cedar Rapids franchise's first MWL title since 1994.
