Gazette Daily News, February 4
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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, February 4.
Your Thursday weather forecast looks, in a word, nasty. According to the National Weather Service, rain Wednesday night into Thursday morning in the Cedar Rapids area will turn into snow and rain after 8:00 a.m., before turning into full fledged snow after 9:00 a.m. The high will technically be 34 degrees, but that will be in the morning, as the temperature plummets to 18 degrees by Thursday afternoon. It will also be windy, with wind speeds of 10-20 mph blowing the predicted one to three inches of snow that falls during the day. Thursday night, expect it to get colder and windier.
On Wednesday the Iowa Department of Public Health announced the limited availability of coronavirus vaccines at Walgreens and CVS stores in Linn and Johnson counties, along with a select number of other counties, for approximately 32,000 Iowans age 65 and older.
Unused vaccines that initially were allocated for the Long-Term Care Pharmacy Partnership Program have been redistributed to “a limited number” of Walgreens and CVS stores. The department indicated that this would be a one time surplus.
Appointments are limited to the number of vaccines available at each location, the department noted. Registration can be made online. If you are interested we have links to where you can register for this batch of the vaccine in the story on the front page of the thegazette.com.
A Wisconsin man accused of stabbing his girlfriend multiple times in the face and neck last September was apprehended Wednesday in the Cedar Rapids area.
Canyon Thixton, 37, of Portage, had been wanted on an attempted murder charge. Cedar Rapids police and the U.S. Marshals Services arrested Thixton shortly before 9 a.m. at a residence in the 3200 block of Kenrich Drive SW in Cedar Rapids, where he had been living under an alias and staying with a woman whose name has not been released.
Thixton was arrested on a warrant out of Portage charging him with attempted first-degree homicide.
Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said he anticipates a smooth Senate confirmation of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as President Joe Biden’s pick to again head the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Pretty soon, I think he will be Secretary Vilsack again,” Grassley told reporters Wednesday.
Grassley introduced Vilsack at his confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Vilsack served as the head of the Department of Agriculture for both of President Barack Obama’s terms in office.
For the second straight year, the NCAA Division III winter championships have been canceled.
According to a news release Wednesday night, the NCAA D-III Administrative Committee approved the recommendation from the D-III Championships Committee to cancel all 2021 winter championships, citing low participation numbers. Winter championships were canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic
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