Gazette Daily News Podcast: Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024

– State closes Lansing bridge over Mississippi River after movement found

– West Liberty stagecoach inn moves to become museum

– University of Iowa seeking new VP for research after resignation

– Government Notes: Comments sought on spending $20M on transportation projects (Amana Magnet School)

Episode Transcript

You are listening to the Gazette Daily News Podcast on Tuesday, February 27. This podcast gives quick bites from the latest headlines coming out of The Gazette newsroom. I’m Bailey Cichon.

Coming up, drivers are taking detours to cross the Mississippi after Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing closed. Stay tuned to hear why.

And later, a stagecoach inn built in 1841 moved 3 miles to its new home Monday

Plus, a new magnet school offering is becoming available for incoming Amana kindergartners

First, the Iowa DOT has temporarily closed Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing after movement was found over the weekend.

The Iowa DOT sent inspectors to examine the bridge Monday and said the bridge would reopen or stay closed depending on what was found. At the time that this podcast was recorded, the Iowa DOT did not have a timeline as to when or if the bridge would reopen.

Now, 2,200 daily bridge users are traveling miles out of their way to cross the Mississippi River into Wisconsin.

Fifty feet away, a new bridge is being built but it is not expected to open until late 2026. For now, the Allamakee County sheriff’s Office advised drivers of two possible detours. One is to head south and use Highway 18 between Marquette and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The other requires traveling north to cross the river on Highway 14 between La Crescent, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin.

In a Facebook post, the Iowa DOT said it placed monitors on the bridge before construction on the new bridge started. The Iowa DOT said it was examining, quote, “if construction of the new bridge played a part in the movement” end quote.

Next, the Beers and St. John Company Coach Inn was transported along Highway 6 in West Liberty Monday. Portions of Highway 6 were closed in both directions and power lines were taken down to ensure the piece of history had a safe arrival. The stagecoach inn and tavern was built in 1841. That’s five years before Iowa became a state. The building is about 3,000 square feet and three stories. The inn became a private residence after the railroad arrived in Iowa City in 1855. The inn’s owners, Emily and Nate Cahill, decided to build a new home on the property and donated the inn to the West Liberty Heritage Foundation. So, the piece of history was carefully loaded onto a truck and moved by Washington, Iowa-based Goodwin House Moving 3 miles to its new home in West Liberty’s Heritage Park. West Liberty Heritage Foundation board member Scott Brooke said, quote, ““Our first goal was just to get it here. Get it here in one piece and get it on the foundation. We had a really, really narrow window to get this thing moved. We had to get her moved on a certain timeline because of the weather and the ground conditions and everything else, because it had to travel across a couple of farm fields.” end quote. The next step is to raise money to restore the inn so it can open as a museum. Brooke said the foundation hasn’t determined a timeline on the restoration project.

Next, the University of Iowa is launching a national search for a new vice president for research. This comes after the UI announced last week that J. Martin Scholtz is resigning after five years. Scholtz will remain vice president until his successor can take his place. After that, Scholtz has agreed to spearhead a quote “campuswide assessment and realignment of research space, equipment, and infrastructure” end quote. No additional details on what that might entail have been made public. Additionally, Scholtz will continue his appointment as a biochemistry and molecular biology professor, chemistry professor and professor of pharmaceutical sciences and experimental therapeutics in the UI colleges of medicine, liberal arts and sciences, and pharmacy, respectively. In September, Scholtz was earning a $416,875 salary according to a UI database. Officials didn’t immediately disclose what his new salary would be once he steps down. In a statement, Scholtz said, quote, “I am proud of all that we have accomplished to support and expand the research enterprise at the University of Iowa so that researchers and scholars across our institution have access to the resources and infrastructure they need to forge new frontiers of discovery,” end quote.

Next, Clear Creek Amana is launching a magnet school this fall at Amana Elementary. The school will serve solely kindergartners at first. The themes of the magnet school will be elementary science, technology, engineering, arts and math. First-graders will be added in the 2025-26 school year and subsequent grades will be added each additional year. Students who live within the Amana Elementary School attendance zone can automatically enroll in the Amana Magnet school serving their neighborhood attendance area. Parents who live outside of the zone but would like to enroll their student can indicate their interest during kindergarten registration, which began Feb. 6. The deadline to register is March 15 and a notification letter of placement will be sent to families by May. Virtual informational meetings will be held a 5:30 p.m. on February 29 and March 14.

As always, you can find a link to each of the stories featured in today’s episode in this episode’s description or at the gazette dot com.

Finally, let’s take a look at today’s weather. It seems as though spring has made an early arrival in Iowa. Yesterday, temperatures reached a high of 74 degrees in Cedar Rapids. Today, temperatures are expected to reach a high of 68 degrees. It will be windy. Temperatures are expected to drop to 13 degrees tonight. Enjoy the warm temperatures while you can Wednesday will also be windy, but anticipate a high of 30 degrees. Temperatures are expected to drop to 18 degrees Wednesday night.

Thank you for listening to The Gazette’s Daily News Podcast. Stay up to date with the latest news from Eastern Iowa at the gazette dot com. I’m Bailey Cichon.

Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com