Gazette Daily News Podcast, January 26

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 or wherever else you find your Podcasts.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, January 26th.

The temperatures are on their way back above 10 degrees. According to a forecast from the National Weather Service, it will be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 11 degrees. Wind chill values drop as low as -25 degrees with gusts as high as 20 mphl. On Wednesday night it will be partly cloudy, with the temperature rising to 19 degrees by Thursday morning. The wind chill will finally give us a bit of a break, rising to -5 degrees.

A federal appeals panel Tuesday allowed the state of Iowa to enforce a law that prevents local schools from imposing mask mandates — but not for schools attended by students whose disabilities make them more vulnerable to severe illness if they get COVID-19.

The appeals panel found that a mask requirement is a “reasonable accommodation” for students with such disabilities, and allowed a group of parents of disabled children to pursue a lawsuit that seeks to strike down the May 2021 state law.

Two members of a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Omaha found a previous federal judge's decision to issue an injunction that blocked the state ban on mask mandates was too broad because it applied to all schools statewide.

The split nature of the ruling has led to school districts interpreting it in vastly different ways. The Cedar Rapids School District, for example, decided Tuesday to no longer require masking but to encourage it. The Iowa City School District, by contrast, decided to keep its mask requirements in place.

The opening of a magnet high school for freshman and sophomores in the Cedar Rapids Community School District is being delayed until at least fall 2023.

District officials originally proposed opening a magnet high school for the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.

After gathering input from staff, students, parents and residents about the concept of a magnet high school, the district decided to delay its opening, Superintendent Noreen Bush said in an email to The Gazette.

Bush said it has become “increasingly clear” more time is needed to develop the magnet high school.

Iowa’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate fell to 3.5 percent in December, the Iowa Workforce Development said Tuesday.

That is down from 3.7 percent in November and 3.7 percent a year ago, the agency said in a news release.

IWD added that the total number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 57,900 in December, which were down by 3,800 from November.

Motorists in Iowa would be prohibited from using hand-held cellphones or other electronic communication devices while driving under legislation approved Tuesday by the House Transportation Committee.

If the legislation is approved by the Legislature, Iowa would join 25 other states in prohibiting the use of electronic devices capable of sending or receiving messages and storing or displaying videos while driving. In those states with hands-free legislation similar to what is being proposed in Iowa, there has been, on average, a 15 percent reduction in fatalities, according to an insurance company representative who spoke Tuesday at a hearing on HF 392.

Iowa law now prohibits the use of hand-held electronic communication devices to write, send or view electronic messages while driving. Under HF 392, use of an electronic device would be a moving violation. The fine for a violation would increase from $45 to $100.

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