Gazette Weekend News Update, May 9 and May 10
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your Mother’s Day weekend news update.
If you wake up early enough Saturday, you may be greeted by a white layer of frost outside. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures were set to drop just below freezing in the early morning hours on Saturday. Besides this, Saturday’s weather during the day looks to be pretty nice, with sunny skies and a high of 62 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. This won’t last long, though, as a chance for rain late Saturday night could carry over into a rainy and cloudy Sunday morning. A high of 53 degrees is expected Sunday, with mostly cloudy skies and a brisk wind.
In a sign of the times, about 12,000 students from the state’s public universities are celebrating their graduations virtually this weekend after other plans were derailed by COVID-19. ISU and the University of Iowa are attempting some form of socially-distanced livestreamed convocation with countdown clocks and virtual confetti. All three campuses, including the University of Northern Iowa, which did not try a virtual ceremony, have posted online recorded messages, videos and slides acknowledging individual graduates.
Speaking of COVID-19, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds welcomed Vice President Mike Pence to the state Friday. Pence was visiting to speak with members of the food industry and religious leaders in the state. The visit was delayed briefly after it was discovered that a member of his staff had tested positive for coronavirus.
Some social distancing restrictions were lifted on Friday in Iowa, including the partial opening of malls and campgrounds even in the state’s counties most affected by the coronavirus. Gov. Reynolds said she made this decision partially due to a $26 million deal with a Utah company called Nomi Health to expand Iowa testing by 540,000 units, kicking off a Test Iowa mobile testing initiative.
However, more than 20 days after Iowa signed the contract to expand testing in the state, the machines the firm supplied to run the samples still have not received a passing grade from the State Hygienic Lab. The validation process is done to determine if the machines are processing tests accurately. To this point, the lab has processed the samples gathered by the Test Iowa effort using machines the state already had before the contract, officials told The Gazette. A time frame for completing the validation process for the Test Iowa machines is unknown.
A man suspected of a workplace shooting last month at a vinyl window manufacturer in southwest Cedar Rapids turned himself into authorities Friday. Jamal Devonte Edwards, 26, has been wanted since two men were shot at Associated Materials, 3801 Beverly Rd. SW, the morning of April 9. Both men survived the incident.
Edwards turned himself in to the police department in Mobile, AL, after photos distributed by the U.S. Marshals found their way to his father, who then drove Edwards to the station.
