Gazette Daily News Podcast, Aug. 23

Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily News podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa enabled device to "enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying "Alexa, what's the news?" If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes.

This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Monday, Aug. 23rd.

For our weather in the Cedar Rapids area today, according to the National Weather Service, we have a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1 p.m. It will be mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Heat index values will be as high as 102. Winds from the south, 5 to 10 mph. For tonight, again a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1 a.m., with a low around 71.

The University of Iowa celebrated this year’s convocation and “president’s block party” Sunday. The University’s new president, Barbara Wilson, welcomed the new students at an outdoor event from the steps of the Old Capitol at the center of campus. Acknowledging the pandemic that upended last academic year and persists today, Wilson committed to charting a new course of in-person collegiate experiences under continued precautions — but said she needs student buy-in, with students making sure they are vaccinated and wearing masks inside classrooms and office hours. She told the students, “Our job is to be healthy Hawkeyes.”

Looking at the latest CDC COVID Data Tracker, for the 7-day period ending Saturday, Aug. 21, all 99 Iowa counties are showing either a high level of community transmission or substantial community transmission. Nine counties were in the substantial category while 90 were in the high transmission category.

Get hot takes, newsletter exclusives, weekly food reviews and more in our weekly Talkin’ Hawks newsletter. Sign up today at thegazette.com/talkinhawks