Gazette Daily News Podcast, April 29

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, April 29.

The predicted chance for rain has decreased after Wednesday, meaning we should be looking at a continued break from heavy spring rain until Sunday at the earliest.

According to the National Weather Service, the forecast for the Cedar Rapids area calls for partly sunny skies Thursday with a high near 70 degrees. A wind of 5 to 15 mph could gust as high as 25 mph. It should remain mostly clear Thursday evening, with a low near 44 degrees.

Two months after the State Health Facilities Council sided with opponents in narrowly denying University of Iowa Health Care a certificate to build a $230 million “general acute hospital” off Interstate 380 in North Liberty, UIHC has notified the state it plans to try again.

The updated endeavor, according to a state list of intended projects, is characterized as a “48-bed acute care hospital in North Liberty” — 12 beds more than the 36-bed “general acute hospital” that UIHC pitched last time.

After being criticized for their previous application veering too far out of its lane as a teaching hospital, UIHC this time is describing the proposed facility as an expansion of its existing complex care services, health sciences education and clinical research.

It was a busy day at the state legislature Wednesday.

Expanding broadband internet access in Iowa took a leap forward Wednesday when Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law creating a priority system for broadband improvement and announced she and legislative leaders have agreed to pump $100 million into the effort to fund grants for broadband providers.

Broadband expansion — long a need in Iowa but one urgently highlighted in the pandemic with a switch to more virtual learning, working from home and online medical appointments — was a 2021 priority of the governor. The priority system would establish tiers of funding assistance to improve broadband infrastructure, with more money targeted at communities that have poor to nonexistent broadband options.

In the Iowa House, representatives Wednesday approved fast-track legislation to ban “vaccine passports” that would require the disclosure of whether Iowans have received a COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccine passports have been discussed nationally as a way to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and to ensure venues and businesses can secure the health of people using their spaces. Although this is only in the theoretical stage in Iowa, Iowa Republicans on Wednesday continued their strong opposition to them ever being implemented, saying that requiring a person to be vaccinated violates that person’s freedom and is thus intrinsically un-American.

The bill, approved by Republican majority, 58-35, now goes to the Senate where a committee has approved a companion bill.

WIth spring’s arrival, Iowa City’s popular Farmers Market will return for in-person sales Saturday in the first level of the Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp. Due to the pandemic, all visitors to the market are being required to wear a mask over their mouth and nose while in the ramp.

Masks are just one of the safety precautions the market is using this year, as the total number of vendors present has been reduced, and the total number of people who can be in the ramp any given time will be controlled at both the north and south entrances.

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