Gazette Daily News Podcast, April 26

Tuesday will start with widespread frost, but it will work its way into a pleasant, sunny day. According to the National Weather Service, the frost should melt away by 8 a.m. Tuesday in the Cedar Rapids area. The sun will shine and the wind will be relatively calm, with a high of 54 degrees and wind speeds of 5 to 10 mph. The low will settle in around 34 degrees and another round of frost will arrive overnight..

A Cedar Rapids man was found dead Monday morning after police responded to a shots-fired call in the area of 12th Avenue and Auburn Drive SW.

Dustin Frondle, 36, was found unresponsive at 3:13 a.m. He was suffering from a gunshot wound in his chest. CPR was initiated, but Frondle was declared dead at the scene, according to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

Police said Monday that they believe the shooting was an isolated incident.

Most Iowa gas stations would be required to sell the higher E15 blend of ethanol under legislation that soon could be headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who made the proposal to lawmakers.

The Iowa Senate’s tax policy committee Monday approved Reynolds’ proposal after making some changes, including the addition of another way for small gas stations to receive an exemption from the proposed requirements and financial assistance for potential equipment upgrades.

Lawmakers may debate and pass the bill out of both chambers Tuesday, which would send it to Reynolds’ desk for her signature.

If the proposal is passed into law, all Iowa gas stations with at least two pumps would be required to make the corn-based E15 ethanol blend available for sale on at least one pump. E15 is a higher ethanol blend than E10, currently the most prominent ethanol blend sold at gas stations.

The proposal, House File 2128, has been a priority for Reynolds — who made a similar but more prescriptive proposal last year that didn’t gain enough traction in the Legislature. It is one of the few remaining pieces of legislation keeping state lawmakers from concluding their work for the 2022 legislative session.

More than nine out of 10 U.S. small business owners say inflation, supply chain issues and worker shortages are having a negative effect on their businesses, according to a national survey published Monday by Goldman Sachs.

According to the survey, 91 percent of small business owners said those economic trends are hurting their businesses. Seventy-three percent said increasing energy costs also are hurting their bottom lines.

The survey report did not include state-level responses.

According to the survey, nearly nine out of 10 small business owners believe the post-pandemic economic recovery has gone better for large businesses. Eighty-eight percent said small businesses are struggling relative to larger companies in their local communities.