Friday Morning Read: Fantasy sports betting, population growth, Gorsuch hearing photos

Fantasy Sports: It's unlikely fantasy sports betting will be legal in Iowa before this year's NCAA men's basketball championship, but an Iowa lawmaker is looking ahead to next year. If representatives approve the bill, which is similar to a version approved by the Senate in the past, Iowans could legally bet on the 2018 NCAA championships as well as other sports events. The American Gaming Association estimates Americans will wager $10.4 billion on March Madness, a 13 percent increase from 2016. Read more about this bill, and reactions to it here.

Growth in Iowa: Both the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids metro areas gained people since 2010, but Iowa City's growth rate far outpaces that of its sister city. The Iowa City metro, which includes Coralville and North Liberty, was the second-fastest growing in Iowa between July 2010 and July 2016, new Census numbers show. Read a full breakdown of the census data, and see how Eastern Iowa towns stack up to the rest of the state here.

Flood memorial: Cedar Rapids officials unveiled the preferences for the planned Gateway to the River Memorial Plaza project during a Northwest Neighborhood Association meeting on Thursday evening. Some 25 residents, who attended a March 7 open house, offered opinions on a range of features, such as location, brick style, type of memorial, landscape and over-the-road archway for the plaza, which would be on the north side of O Avenue NW, just west of Ellis Boulevard NW. Read more about the memorial and resident reaction here.

Uthoff in Dallas - Jarrod Uthoff has been a Dallas Maverick for less than two weeks, but the Cedar Rapids native already has made quite an impression on his new organization... 'Look, this is the life of a minor league guy that's working to make it,' Carlisle said. 'You got to be resourceful, you got to be thrifty. 'Look, it's a lot of work getting a call-up in the NBA. Then getting a second 10-day contract is a high compliment to him. And the fact that he got it without really (playing), tells you that he's done some good things here.' Read more about Jarrod Uthoff's NBA experience here.

Lookable - For the past week, Gazette Photographer Stephen Mally has been following U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley around the capitol. Grassley has been taking part in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of Neal Gorsuch. You can view a slideshow here of some of Mally's photographs.