Gazette Daily News Podcast, September 20

Will Tuesday be the last angry gasp of Summer? According to the National Weather Service there will be a high of 96 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Tuesday. It will be sunny and clear all day, with a low settling in around 68 degrees on Tuesday night.

Wednesday should see a high temperature 30 degrees cooler than Tuesday, and this cooler weather will carry on for the rest of the week.

Inspired by the Green Bay Packers’ five-year-old “Titletown” entertainment district, Iowa State University on Monday unveiled plans to develop 40 acres between its Iowa State Center arts complex, Hilton Coliseum, and Jack Trice football stadium into a destination “CyTown.”

The ISU vision for the $200 million CyTown project involves a 135,000-square-foot development including a medical facility, retail space, offices, and luxury suites. The endeavor would include an outdoor public plaza and amphitheater, restaurants and pubs, a hotel and convention center.

Development will happen over years and in stages via a series of projects — starting with $25 million in parking and infrastructure improvements, scheduled to go before the Board of Regents for approval in November.

The board in June already gave Iowa State the OK to start planning that work, which involves constructing new parking with new lighting and installing new water, power, gas, phone, storm sewer, and sanitary lines able to support all the development Iowa State envisions.

Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Franken denied allegations that he grabbed and kissed a former campaign staffer without her consent after the conservative news website Iowa Field Report detailed a police report alleging unwanted advances.

According to the report, the person, assumed to be Franken, grabbed the collar of the vest of a former female campaign staffer in March and kissed her on the mouth after meeting for drinks in Des Moines.

The assistant Polk County attorney found no criminal act had been established and closed the investigation as “unfounded.” No charges were filed.

Franken, though, told reporters at a Social Security Works town hall meeting in Cedar Rapids on Monday that he met with former campaign staffer that night “at her request,” after she reportedly had been fired from his campaign, and "I had a glass of beer."

Franken, however, repeatedly denied the allegations in the police report.

“It never happened,” Franken, told The Gazette.

Dozens of Iowa cities have annual hunts to control deer population within city limits. Hunters also can hunt on private land within the city limits if they have permission.

Iowa City still is in the infancy of its own program, which dealt with early pushback from concerned citizens. Now it’s gearing up for its third bowhunting season. As in past seasons, the city has a very low participation rate.

As of now, only three bowhunters have signed up, Assistant City Manager Rachel Kilburg said. The number of deer harvested last year? Four.

Residents who oppose the sharpshooting and bowhunting programs want to see non-lethal methods used, like contraception and relocation.

But 2021 saw dozens of car accidents involving deer in Iowa City, totaling thousands of dollars in damage — more than double the 2020 totals. Before that, the number of accidents ranged from 51 to 58 betwen 2016 and 2019.

According to a city memo from Kilburg, the last aerial deer count was “concerning.“