CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Amid an increase in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Level of COVID-19 in Linn County, the City of Cedar Rapids will be requiring masks for visitors. The new requirement goes into effect today (Monday) for all city-owned buildings, including the public library, according to officials. It will apply to all regardless of vaccination status. The change comes after Linn County was added to the CDC’s “high” category in its Community Level in its latest update, a metric that takes into account case rates and hospital usage. In that category, the agency recommends mask usage in all indoor public spaces. 10 of Iowa’s 99 counties are included in that category as of July 14.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Marcus Wehrenberg Theatre in Cedar Rapids instituted a youth escort policy starting last Friday. Staff said minors under the age of 18-years-old must be accompanied by a parent or a legal guardian 25-years-of-age or older for all movies starting at 6 p.m. or later. Under the policy, any unaccompanied minors will be removed from the theater. The theater will be requiring proof of age at ticket purchase and upon entry.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Republican Sen. Charles Grassley could be in for the toughest fight of his political career in decades, according to a poll released by The Des Moines Register and Mediacom on Saturday evening. The Iowa Poll shows Grassley receiving 47% support among likely voters in November’s election, with Democrat Mike Franked earning 39%. 7% in the poll said they would vote for somebody else, and 5% were undecided. If it translates to votes on election day, the margin between the two candidates would be the smallest Grassley has experienced since taking the Senate seat in 1980. The closest reelection campaign result was in his last contest when Grassley defeated former Lt. Gov. Patty Judge by 60% to 36%. Selzer and Co. conducted the poll via landline and cellular telephones among 811 Iowans of voting age. 597 of those polled were considered likely voters in the pollster’s sample which carries a margin of error of +/- 4%.
WINTERSET, Iowa (KWQC) – Covered Bridges Scenic Byway (CBSB) won the 2022 Byway Organization Interpretation Award bestowed by the National Scenic Byway Foundation. Teddi Yaeger, the CBSB’s Project Manager, was invited to represent the byway for the award presentation at the Heartland Byway Conference on May 4, 2022 in Leavenworth, Kan. According to a release by Foster Relations, the project was the creation of a 16-page full-color booklet called “Discovery Guide” for the CBSB. The booklet contains an introduction to the byway, a two-page spread on each of six byway stories/themes (including an overview of that story, historic and current photographs, a featured asset, and a table of sites to see if the visitor is interested in that particular story), contact information, directions to the CBSB, and addresses for welcome centers along the route. The release said the initial cost of printing the Discovery Guide with covered by a grant from the Greater Madison County Community Foundation. Reprinting of the booklet is now funded through the CBSB’s operating budget which is subsidized by “Friends of the Byway” Sustaining Memberships (available to any individual or business for $50/year). The CBSB is one of Iowa’s Scenic Byways, an Iowa Department of Transportation program.
