Gazette Daily News Podcast, January 14
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, January 14.
Right after a few days of melting snow, we are going to get some more Friday to replace what was lost. Depending on where you live and where the storm goes, you could get a lot more.
According to the National Weather Forecast the snow will start mainly after 10 a.m. and mostly end before midnight, with the majority falling in the afternoon and evening. In the Cedar Rapids area there are 1-3 inches of snow predicted, but just a few counties to the west could see nearly a foot of snow. In the meantime, the temperature will drop to the high 20s, with potential wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Taking snowfall and wind into consideration, if you can plan to not be on the road after 5 p.m. Friday, it might be for the best.
The BIden administration’s attempt to increase vaccination rates in large businesses hit a snare Thursday, but his mandate efforts weren’t entirely defeated. According to the Associated Press, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's vaccine-or-test rule on U.S. businesses with at least 100 employees. More than 80 million people would have been affected.
The mandate sought to force large employers to either mandate their employees get vaccinated for COVID-19 or to submit to weekly testing. Although the federal mandate will no longer be in place, the Biden administration noted it did motivate companies to put their own policies into effect and as a result vaccination was increased.
The vaccine mandate that the court will allow to be enforced nationwide scraped by on a 5-4 vote, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joining the liberals to form a majority. The mandate covers virtually all health care workers in the country, applying to providers that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid funding. It affects 10.4 million workers at 76,000 health care facilities as well as home health care providers. The rule has medical and religious exemptions.
Eastern Iowa child care providers will be adding almost 700 new child care slots after being awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars through Iowa’s Child Care Grants Project.
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Tuesday nearly $37 million would be awarded in Child Care Grants that will create nearly 5,200 child care openings in Iowa.
The money — $27 million in federal funds to the Iowa Department of Human Services, $6.7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and $3 million from the Iowa Legislature — will help fund new construction and renovations and maintenance to existing centers.
According to the governor’s office, Iowa leads the nation in the percentage of households where both parents work outside the home. But 23 percent of Iowans, and 35 percent in rural areas, live in areas lacking enough child care slots.
A Cedar Rapids man was arrested after selling $18,250 of ice methamphetamine to confidential informants, authorities said after seizing about 16 pounds of the drug from his home and more than $200,000 concealed in his toddler’s bedroom.
Terrell McBride, 33, was charged Wednesday with possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance.
McBride will remain in jail pending trial, unless he asks for a detention hearing. A preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
Between October and December, law enforcement made a series of controlled buys from McBride totaling more than 3 pounds of ice meth for $18,250. They obtained a federal search warrant for his home on C Avenue NE.
During the search Tuesday, law enforcement found 16 pounds of ice meth and about 2.7 pounds of marijuana. The bulk of meth, also called crystal meth, was in a utility closet in the home’s basement. Authorities said they also found more than $200,000 in cash in his toddler’s bedroom.
Support for this podcast provided by New Pioneer Food Co-op. Celebrating 50 years as Eastern Iowa’s source for locally and responsibly sourced groceries with stores in Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids; and online through Co-op Cart at newpi.coop.
