Gazette Daily News Briefing, September 23
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, September 23.
The temperatures will remain on the cold side and it may rain some on Friday. According to the National Weather Service it will be cloudy in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 61 degrees. Right now it's looking like the highest probability for rain will be between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. On Friday night it will be cloudy, with the clouds gradually clearing, and the low temperature settling in at 52 degrees
Cedar Rapids school Superintendent Noreen Bush will resign at the end of this school year.
Bush, who went on medical leave Monday, will remain superintendent of the district during her medical leave and through June 30, 2023, according to a letter to the community Thursday afternoon.
Bush “has turned her focus on her health with a recent medical leave of absence,” according to the letter, which said she had submitted her resignation to the board.
Bush was diagnosed with cancer two-and-a-half years ago while serving as superintendent of the Cedar Rapids School District.
District officials have not responded to a question posed by The Gazette last week asking who will be responsible for day-to-day decisions while Bush is one medical leave.
The new, long-awaited Marion Public Library now has a “soft” opening date of on or before Nov. 15.
The Library Board of Trustees met in special session on Tuesday evening to discuss when the new building could open and settled on a date more than two years after the project’s groundbreaking in Oct. 2020.
Library Director Bill Carroll shared the news with the Marion City Council during its formal session Thursday night.
“The community has been without a full-service library since the August 2020 derecho. I applaud our team for their innovative approach to providing services and our patrons for their continued patience and understanding,” Carroll said.
The new library was supposed to open this month after being pushed back from its prior July opening goal. Carroll also said earlier this month that October was a goal for the opening date.
Iowa’s trouble with brain drain — the departure of college graduates to other states — is not a new issue, but a recent report illustrates just how poorly Iowa ranks among U.S. states.
Iowa has the 10th-worst percentage difference in the nation between the number of college graduates it produces and the number of college graduates living in the state — a negative 34 percent — according to a recent Washington Post analysis that uses data from a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
That figure is lower than the six states bordering Iowa.
Iowa’s population growth has been stagnant for more than a decade, and for years Iowa policymakers and economic development officials have worked to find ways to keep more new college graduates from moving out of state.
State experts said part of the problem is Iowa lacks enough well-paying jobs for all the college graduates Iowa produces.
“It’s all relative, and (Iowa), compared to other states, relatively does a good job, historically, of producing human capital, which is producing college graduates,” said John Winters, an economics professor at Iowa State University. “But the flip side … as far as on the demand side, the demand for college graduates, Iowa overall is not as strong.
Winters noted significant disparities within Iowa, with the state’s larger cities keeping more college graduates — and more people in general — while mid-sized cities and rural communities are losing population.
