Gazette Daily News Podcast, August 17

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, August 17.

Tuesday’s weather will feature the pleasant, yet rain free, trend of recent days. According to the National Weather Service it should be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 89 degrees. It should get hotter as the week goes on, with a chance for rain at the end of the week.

Faculty across Iowa’s three public universities are expressing disappointment that this fall’s COVID-19 conditions aren’t as improved as hoped and are urging administrators to make the tough call to backpedal on promises that this would be a more normal semester.

Faculty at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa have written the Board of Regents, sent demands to administrators, and launched petitions advocating mask and vaccine mandates. They’ve also asked that high-risk employees be allowed to work from home — despite regent rules.

Additionally, University of Northern Iowa professors through their United Faculty union have filed a complaint against the Board of Regents with the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration for “failure to provide a safe work environment.”

Following the governor’s lead in barring K-12 schools from mandating masks, the board hasn’t backtracked on its prohibition against mask and distancing mandates or vaccine requirements on campus; and it hasn’t reimposed emergency waivers for staff such as those involving family care leave and catastrophic illness.

Most students have already moved back onto campus. The school year starts on August 23.

Linn County residents will have more opportunities to provide input regarding the county’s allocation of $44 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Two more forums are planned for 5:30 to 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Jean Oxley Linn County Public Service Center and 6 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Lynn Dunn Memorial Building on the Linn County Fairgrounds.

Funds provided through the American Rescue Plan Act are meant to support economic recovery from losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The forums aim to help explain the purpose of the American Rescue Plan and identify broad priorities to guide the use of these federal funds in Linn County.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is seeking information regarding a boating incident over the weekend on the Cedar River that left one man seriously injured.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department identified the man as Isaac Allen Blazek, 41, of Cedar Rapids.

Police said Blazek was thrown from an inflatable inner tube and struck the back of a docked pontoon boat, suffering a serious head wound.

The DNR said the inner tube Blazek was riding was being pulled by a green and white personal watercraft on the Cedar River on Sunday afternoon near Mohawk Park in Cedar Rapids when the incident occurred.

Blazek was transported by air ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. There is no available update on his condition, the DNR said.

The DNR declined to give more details as to how or why the wreck occurred, citing the ongoing investigation.

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