Gazette Daily News Podcast, August 17

We get one more sunny, uncomplicated day before a chance for rain will ramp up as the weekend approaches. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 82 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Wednesday. On Wednesday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 59 degrees.

Before University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics erects a new tower for patients — a long-term project officials revealed earlier this year as part of a 10-year master plan for the main campus — it is looking to spend $95 million adding two floors onto its existing inpatient tower.

The UI this week issued a request for proposals from prospective construction managers for a “vertical expansion of inpatient tower” project on which crews would start work next summer, according to a university timeline. The total project budget, according to the UI request, is $95 million with the construction portion accounting for $50.4 million.

A summary of the project, spelled out in the request for qualifications from interested construction managers, indicated UIHC aims to add two floors to its existing eight-floor John Pappajohn Pavilion, increasing the tower to 10 stories by adding a total of 38,000 square feet.

The budget also includes renovating floors seven and eight.

An 8-year-old boy was hospitalized over the weekend after being attacked by two dogs in Springville.

The child was attacked Friday afternoon by a “mastiff-pit bull mix” and another “pit bull” mix, according to Maj. Chad Colston of the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

The child was treated at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids and transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

“The child was bitten in the head, face, arms and legs. Some pretty gruesome injuries,” Colston told The Gazette on Tuesday.

Linn County doesn’t have a breed-specific animal ordinance, but it does have a “vicious animal ordinance” for “rare” cases like these, Colston said.

Both dogs have been seized and placed in quarantine, one at a veterinary clinic and the other at the Cedar Valley Humane Society. Colston said the dogs’ owners have been cooperative.

Owners have a couple of days after being served a notice to appeal the vicious animal label. The notice was served Monday. If there is no appeal, the two dogs will be euthanized.

A Burlington contractor accused of taking thousands from four Linn County homeowners for derecho repairs but never finishing the work has agreed to plead guilty to first-degree theft charges, according to Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks.

According to court documents, Ryan Richard Standard, 50, stole over $32,000 total from multiple Linn County homeowners. He did complete some of the work for a couple of the victims, whose homes were damaged in the August 2020 derecho, but largely kept the money for his own use without completing the work, according to the criminal complaint.

Maybanks said that part of the plea agreement was intended to make sure the 4 victims received restitution from Standard, but these amounts will not be revealed until he is sentenced.