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MOVING OUT? Smulekoff's Furniture Co., the downtown's largest retail business, says it can't continue to operate there. It wants the city to buy its building next to the Cedar River, citing inability to reoccupy much of its store space since the 2008 flood and concern that the city's flood-protection plan will further compromise its building and business operation. The business has been a mainstay for 122 years.

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NEWBO SETBACKS: The proposed NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids' Bohemian Commercial Historic District hoped to use one of the former Quality Chef buildings. But it has been scheduled for demolition after city inspectors deemed it unsafe. Project leaders also learned that the Vision Iowa Board's Community Attraction and Tourism grant program has been suspended for new applications - including NewBo's - pending legislative action on its future.

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MOVE IT: Nearly a week after the Feb. 1 blizzard, Cedar Rapids police ordered towing of dozens of vehicles whose owners, in violation of city code, hadn't yet moved them so that city plows could finish snow removal on side streets.

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