Gazette Daily News Podcast, November 8

Happy Election Day

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, November 8.

Your Election Day weather will be sunny and breezy. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 57 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Tuesday. On Tuesday night it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of around 50 degrees. A wind of 10 to 15 mph could gust as high as 20 mph.

Polls are open 7:00 am – 8:00 pm in Iowa on Tuesday so remember to vote if you have not already. Then check back into thegazette.com later on for election results and coverage.

Four years after taking over the sprawling Kirkwood Community College system in 2018 as its fifth president --- and its first female top leader — Lori Sundberg, 64, announced plans Monday to retire next fall.

The Cedar Rapids-based Kirkwood board of trustees will launch a nationwide search for her successor “in the coming months,” according to an announcement of Sundberg’s departure. The goal, Sundberg told The Gazette, is to name a new president by summer.

Sundberg plans to stay on through Kirkwood’s next Higher Learning Commission accreditation visit in October 2023, giving her time to help onboard a new president and avoid an interim leader.

A University of Iowa inspection of the sixth-floor Mayflower Residence Hall window a freshman fell from early last Thursday has confirmed “no problems with the window and that it operates normally,” officials told The Gazette.

The first-year male student who fell, according to initial reports, was playing catch with other students in a residence hall room just before 4:30 a.m. Thursday when he “leaned back and fell through the screen of an open window.”

He landed on the north roof of Mayflower Residence Hall — meaning he fell about five stories, according to UI officials. The student was able to speak with first responders, who took him to the UI Hospitals and Clinics for treatment. The university hasn’t publicly shared more details on his condition.

A preliminary assessment found no foul play, but the incident does remain under investigation.

Two separate groups of co-workers from Hiawatha businesses split $50,000 lottery winnings late last week.

The Iowa Lottery announced that a group of 21 co-workers from the Hiawatha engineering firm Hall & Hall Engineers Inc. split $50,000 from Wednesday’s Powerball drawing. The group’s ticket was just one number from winning the $1.2 billion jackpot.

A separate group of 10 co-workers from the Hiawatha manufacturer RUD Chain also split $50,000 from Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, according to the Iowa lottery.

With no jackpot winners, the Powerball has climbed to $1.9 billion.