Gazette Daily News Podcast, October 28 and 29
Welcome to the weekend!
This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Saturday, October 28th, and Sunday, October 29th, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service, Saturday will be partly sunny, with a high near 44. Saturday night there’ll be a chance of rain and snow with a low around 33.
Chances of rain and snow will continue Sunday morning, otherwise Sunday will be cloudy, with a high near 39 and Sunday night will be mostly cloudy, with a low around 24.
'Kids are learning’ as Taft, Harding navigate closed domes
On Oct. 11, school officials announced the evacuation and closure of Taft’s east dome after an inspection found it was unstable. Monday, the Cedar Rapids Community School District announced it was closing the second dome at Taft and both domes at Harding Middle School. The two middle schools were constructed in 1965 using the same design that features two domes.
The closure of the Taft and Harding domes is impacting more than 1,000 sixth through eighth grade students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District. Outside the schools are fences around the domes with signs that read “do not enter.”
The domes will be repaired with funds from the district’s Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, a capital projects fund for the purchase and improvement of grounds, purchase, construction and remodeling of buildings and major equipment purchases, including technology.
Two portable classrooms will be installed at Taft in about three weeks. The classrooms are owned by the district and are currently being used at an elementary school.
Mercy reverses auction results; declares University of Iowa winner
The tumultuous and twisting bankruptcy case of Mercy Iowa City took another stunning turn Friday when the hospital revealed it had reopened its assets auction and changed its mind about who won the bidding — declaring the University of Iowa as having made the “higher or otherwise better” offer instead of its largest bondholder, Preston Hollow Community Capital.
In a bankruptcy filing, Mercy declared the UI “the winning bidder” — due, in part, to a “material disagreement” with Preston Hollow, which had topped the university’s final $28 million bid with a $29 million offer at the close of the auction Oct. 10.
UI President Barbara Wilson and UI Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson in a letter to campus Friday said the about-face "unfolded quickly“ after Preston Hollow ”determined its previously selected bid was not financially viable.“
Cedar Rapids students returning to pre-pandemic learning levels
Cedar Rapids students are showing a return to pre-pandemic learning levels on the Iowa School Report Card, with three schools categorized as “high performing” — the second highest rating schools can achieve.
Historically underserved groups of students also are also showing improvement, with Black students, students learning English as a second language and students with
Individualized Education Plans (special education) increasing by 5 or more percentage points in math proficiency and 2 percentage points in English and language arts.
Also, the students in Cedar Rapids schools’ learning English as a second language also outperformed their peers in the state by 8 percentage points.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
