Gazette Daily News Podcast, July 29
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, July 29.
The great weather continues! According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 82 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Friday. On Friday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 59 degrees
Thanks but no thanks.
This appears to be the answer from the Cedar Rapids School Board after the City of Cedar Rapids offered to pay for two officers that the board voted to remove from the district’s middle schools in a recent approval of the contract.
Cedar Rapids school board president David Tominsky said Thursday the board is not considering changing its decision on a contract for school resource officers in schools after the mayor offered for the city to pay for two of the officers to work in middle schools.
“The board has examined the School Resource Officer program comprehensively, made a data-driven decision, and voted earlier this month on a path forward,” Tominsky said in an email to The Gazette. “After review of the mayor’s letter, no board member will be changing their vote.”
Board members said the decision was not based on funding, but rather on a racial disparity in student arrests. This said, there will still be officers in other schools in the district.
The city of Cedar Rapids hopes to receive a $50 million boost for flood protection under a bill that passed the U.S. Senate Thursday.
Senators voted 93-1 to pass the 2022 Water Resources Development Act. The biannual packages authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out water resources projects and includes key measures secured by Iowa Republican U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley to update Cedar Rapids’ flood system and a levee in the Des Moines area.
The bill could unlock federal dollars for flood protection on the east side of the Cedar River — which would allow the city to accelerate work on other segments of the system.
A year after Mercy Iowa City announced plans to exit its four-year affiliation with the statewide MercyOne health network and integrate into a larger health care system, the only community hospital in Iowa City is ending its unsuccessful search and sticking with MercyOne after all.
In an email to Mercy Iowa City employees Thursday, Acting President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Trachta acknowledged “significant changes that could not have been anticipated” during the search for a partner that would help put the hospital on a better financial path.
In the email, Trachta also announced Dawna Miller, Mercy Iowa City’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Judy Andronowitz, vice president and chief operating officer, are leaving.
While Mercy Iowa City is focusing internally on improving performance and staffing, the hospital has engaged consultant Insight Health Partners to assess its financial and strategic operations, Trachta said Thursday.
An assessment of the 194-bed hospital will take about 60 days and engage leaders, colleagues and providers in meetings and evaluation activities to give feedback for the campus’ future.
Mercy Iowa City has been struggling to find financial footing for years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged the healthcare industry. Numbers show that Mercy Iowa City did not bounce back as well as other local hospitals as pandemic conditions improved.
