Gazette Daily News Podcast, July 8
Wednesday marked the end of Iowa’s daily COVID-19 updates. The Iowa Department of Public Health is moving to weekly reports on virus cases, deaths and vaccinations, with statewide numbers updated every Wednesday.
Iowa added 105 new COVID-19 cases for the 24-hour period ending at noon Wednesday. The next updates will come July 14.
The state also will transition COVID-19 reporting to the Iowa Department of Public Health website, decommissioning the state’s coronavirus website, coronavirus.iowa.gov, by late summer.
Data on long-term care facility outbreaks, serology, occupation, underlying health conditions and Test Iowa assessments will no longer be reported on the website.
All of the Test Iowa sites — where Iowans could get free COVID-19 tests during the pandemic — will be closed by July 16. The drive-thru testing site in Linn County closed June 24.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation on Wednesday identified the 31-year-old man and 27-year-old woman whose bodies were found at the Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area north of Palo last week.
Cody Michael Rhodes and Courtney Lynn Rhodes’ bodies were found inside a parked vehicle at 10:45 p.m. Friday. An obituary posted by a funeral home in Marshalltown stated the two were married, had two children and lived in Gladbrook — a Tama County city of 900 about 75 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids.
Autopsies were performed over the weekend, and the cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.
E-commerce giant Amazon will increase its presence in Iowa, with plans to build a 2.9-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Davenport, creating more than 1,000 permanent jobs.
The fulfillment center will be Amazon's second and its largest in the state. Plans are to build it just north of Interstate 80 and west of the Davenport Municipal Airport, and it is expected to be operating next year.
The company opened a 640,000-square-foot fulfillment center outside of Des Moines in December.
Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance official Ron Corbett said city and airport officials have held discussions with Amazon and other e-commerce and distribution businesses over the years in hopes of attracting one of them to property near The Eastern Iowa Airport or elsewhere in Cedar Rapids.
Cedar Rapids resident Nikole Villanueva unseated seven-day “Jeopardy!” champ Courtney Shah on Wednesday’s episode.
Both women answered the Final Jeopardy clue correctly in the Rock Bands category, which was: “In 2017, this band whose singer goes by a nickname became the first to have No. 1 albums in the U.S. in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.” The correct response “Who is U2?”
Villanueva wagered $11,500 and ended up with the day’s high total of $23,300, which is hers to keep. She will face two new opponents on Thursday’s episode.
Thursday will be partly sunny, with a high near 76, according to the National Weather Service. Thursday night will see scattered showers and thunderstorms heading into Friday morning, with a low around 61.
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