Gazette Daily News Podcast, September 1

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, September 1.

Wednesday will bring sunny and pleasant weather to the middle of your week. According to the National Weather Service there should be a high near 81 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area with sunny skies. Wind speeds will be 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Wednesday night it will be mostly clear and calm, with a low around 55 degrees.

After hearing hours of ardent testimony about how a new $230 million University of Iowa Health Care facility in North Liberty would affect patients, community hospitals and UIHC’s mission, a state council Tuesday reversed a prior decision and this time approved the project to proceed.

Having narrowly denied the application in February — with three members voting against the 300,000-square-foot facility at Forevergreen Road and Highway 965 and two voting for it — the five-member State Health Facilities Council this time around, without discussion, voted 4-1 for the project.

Representatives from other local hospitals, particularly Mercy Iowa City, again spoke fervently against the project at the meeting. The new addition, they argued, would be devastating to smaller hospitals like Mercy, and as a result, would lead to reduced choice.

With Tuesday’s approval, UIHC has the state permission it needs to proceed in building a facility with capacity for 48 beds less than 10 miles from its main campus in Iowa City. The project, which will require additional regent approval, is scheduled to debut in 2025.

Linn County will accept 144 emergency sirens from the Duane Arnold Energy Center and pay $175,200 a year to maintain them.

Members of the county Emergency Management Commission approved the plan Tuesday night, despite a push from Linn County Supervisor Louis Zumbach for the cities to pay for their share of the sirens rather than the county covering the full cost.

NextEra Energy Resources, owner of the now-retired Duane Arnold Energy Center, said earlier this year it would donate 144 Whelen outdoor sirens and four control stations — together worth more than $1 million — to the Linn County Emergency Management Agency.

The sirens once were required in a 10-mile radius of the nuclear power plant, opened in 1974, to warn residents of a potential exposure to radioactive materials. But since the plant stopped production in August 2020, NextEra no longer needs the siren network.

Officials said the sirens will now be put to use for less radioactive threats, such as storms.

All that rain that moved northward over the last week is making its way toward Cedar Rapids, but, in this case, it is heading down river.

The city of Cedar Rapids Public Works Department is taking steps to address minor flood stage river levels on the Cedar River.

The Cedar River is projected to crest overnight between Thursday and Friday at under 11 feet, which is below minor flood stage and will have minimal impacts to the public, according to a news release. The National Weather Service reports that the river reached 6.2 feet at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Flood response measures include the closure of low-lying roads and parks, including Otis Road SE, Robbins Lake off of Ellis Road NW, and the Manhattan Park pavilion.

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