Gazette Daily News Podcast, August 10

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, August 10.

Exactly one year after the derecho hit Eastern Iowa there are showers and thunderstorms in the forecast. But don’t worry. There’s little to indicate that it will be likely to be anywhere near the same kind of storm.

What it is likely to be is hot. On Tuesday the National Weather Service is predicting a high near 92 degrees with a heat index as high as 103 degrees. It will be mostly sunny for most of the day with a small chance for showers and thunderstorms.

In the overnight hours Tuesday into Wednesday showers are predicted to be likely, although precipitation is not expected to be significant except where thunderstorms develop.

As the first day of school approaches Aug. 23, the Cedar Rapids Community School District is strongly encouraging students and staff to wear masks indoors and get vaccinated if eligible. It also has extended the deadline for students to enroll in the Cedar Rapids Virtual Academy, an online learning option for K-12 students. The Iowa City School District also extended its virtual learning option enrollment window last week as administrators try to plan for the highly contagious Delta variant to arrive in the district while having their hands tied by state law when it comes to masking in district buildings.

Students or staff who test positive for COVID-19 will be required to isolate for 10 days, and the district will not conduct contact tracing for people who come in contact with someone who tests positive, following guidance from the Iowa Department of Public Health.

The deadline for the Cedar Rapids Virtual Academy has been extended to Aug. 16 at noon. The original deadline was Aug. 2.

After receiving 178 applications from companies to expand rural broadband access in Iowa, the state is hoping to bring coverage to as many Iowans as possible in the largest state-assisted broadband program to date.

The push is the latest of the Empower Rural Iowa grant program, which has given millions of dollars to providers in past years to build broadband infrastructure in hard-to-serve places.

The applications for the $100 million in state funding cover a large swath of the state, Iowa’s deputy Chief Information Officer Matt Behrens said.

Providers applied to build broadband infrastructure in places the state deemed to be lacking broadband access. A map laid out by the Office of the Chief Information Officer in July denotes the areas eligible for state funding.

After months of delays, the long-awaited new Marion Fire Station is now complete.

The new station at 1000 Irish Dr. is the city's third and will serve as the fire department’s headquarters.

The station is the city’s first new station since 1991, when Marion was around half the size it is today.

The new station has been designed to keep firefighters safer as they wake up for calls and return from battling fires. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, cancer and cardiac arrest are the leading killers of firefighters.

The station is divided into different “zones” based on risk of contaminant exposure. When firefighters return from fires, they can be covered in soot that contains carcinogens.

I mentioned the derecho at the beginning of this, but if you have the chance I highly recommend you check out the work done by the Gazette’s reporters and photographers looking both back and forward a year after the derecho ravaged Eastern Iowa. The coverage is also available on thegazette.com so enjoy it however you like.

Stay cool and remember to hydrate. The next few days are going to be sticky.