Gazette Daily News Podcast, July 13

It will be mostly sunny Wednesday with a high near 87 degrees. According to the National Weather Service it will then become partly cloudy Wednesday night, with a low of around 64 degrees. A chance for rain will return on Thursday.

Going through the state’s court system remains the preferred strategy for enacting restrictions on access to abortion in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Reynolds said she was “disappointed” in the Iowa Supreme Court’s recent rejection of her request that the high court rehear an abortion case in order to establish legal standards for future restrictions on abortion access in Iowa.

However, Reynolds said she remains undeterred in her belief that it is the proper strategy to continue pursuing legal remedies to a pair of abortion restrictions already passed into law by her and her fellow Statehouse Republicans.

Reynolds wants the Iowa Supreme Court to rehear a case involving the law that requires a 24-hour waiting period between the first doctor’s appointment and when a pregnant person has an abortion, and wants the district court to lift the injunction on a 2019 law that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which often is before most individuals know they are pregnant.

For now, abortion remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Cedar Rapids police have completed an investigation into how a female pedestrian was injured after coming into contact with a pickup truck during a protest for abortion rights last month, and the case is now being reviewed for possible charges by a Black Hawk County prosecutor.

Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker, who rushed that day at the rally to help women in front of the truck, told The Gazette it was an “act of pure violence” as the truck drove forward as protesters crossed the street. But police, who interviewed the driver later that day, did not make any arrests in the incident.

Black Hawk County Attorney Brian Williams said he has obtained the police evidence, but there may be additional follow-up.

Williams said his office was reviewing the case because at least one member of the Linn County Attorney’s Office was present during the incident and “could potentially be a witness.”

Alliant Energy started construction on a community solar garden in Cedar Rapids this summer, and once it’s complete next summer, electricity customers can enroll and receive monthly credits on their electric bills.

The solar garden will consist of 18,000 solar blocks that will produce 4.5 megawatts per year, which could power around 3,600 homes, the company said in a Tuesday news release.

The solar garden will be built on Alliant property north of the 1100 block of 33rd Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids.

Subscriptions for the community solar garden opened on Tuesday. Alliant Energy offers an online calculator for potential subscribers to determine how many solar blocks they would need to supplement or fully cover their energy needs.