Gazette Daily News Podcast, February 23

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, February 23.

It will be chilly Wednesday but at least no freezing rain should appear. According to the National Weather Service it will be partly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 20 degrees. Wind chill values will dip as low as -10 degrees. A wind of 5 to 10 mph will gust as high as 20 mph. On Wednesday night the winds will calm. It will be mostly cloudy then, with a low around 11 degrees.

Gov. Kim Reynolds will give the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, congressional Republican leaders announced Tuesday.

The annual State of the Union address is scheduled for March 1. Biden will deliver his remarks to a joint session of Congress. Reynolds will deliver the response afterward from Des Moines.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, and U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, made the announcement Tuesday.

A joint news release said Reynolds during the COVID-19 pandemic “became a national leader in effectively balancing lives and livelihoods” and said she was the nation’s first governor to require schools to offer to open for full-time, in-person instruction.

160 residents of Geneva Tower — many of them older and disabled — are sheltering at the Veterans Memorial Building or with family and friends after being displaced by a fire on Sunday.

Veritas Church, which is across the street from Geneva Tower, became a temporary Red Cross shelter immediately after the fire, which had its source on the 9th floor and did not affect any of the lower floors.

Fifty-two residents were moved to a more permanent shelter Sunday evening at the Veterans Memorial Building, with others joining them later, said Pami Erickson, executive director of the Eastern Iowa Red Cross Chapter.

Other residents are staying with family or friends, she added.

Geneva Tower employees were contacting tenants individually Monday to give updates and make sure they all have somewhere to stay, Craig said.

Geneva Tower apartments are rented to mostly low-income seniors and adults with disabilities, so many of the residents have specific medical needs.

The would-be operator of a Linn County casino is selling control of its Sioux City casino and other properties to Churchill Downs Inc., the racing, online wagering and gaming company anchored by the iconic Kentucky Derby.

The $2.5 billion deal announced Tuesday does not include the Iowa subsidiary drafting a proposal for a Cedar Rapids casino.

The deal is between Churchill Downs and Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E), the parent company of the Cedar Rapids Development Group. This entity, made up of mostly local developers, has an agreement with the city to apply for a license to operate a Cedar Rapids casino., should the state approve such a proposal.

Jonathan Swain, president of P2E, said the deal does not change investors’ plans to secure a gaming license from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to build a casino in Linn County.

“We were born in Iowa 22 years ago, and when this is done, I'll be in my 60s,” Swain said. “This is kind of our last project, and we're going to make it the best one. It's been a long process. We’re very patient, and we look forward to the opportunity, if granted the ability to apply by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.”

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has spurned Cedar Rapids on multiple occasions in its quest for a casino, citing a concern that a Cedar Rapids casino would siphon off business from nearby casinos.

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Support for this news update was provided by New Pioneer Food Co-op. Celebrating 50 years as Eastern Iowa’s destination for locally and responsibly sourced groceries with stores in Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids; and online through Co-op Cart at newpi.coop.