From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
By a unanimous vote, the Coralville City Council has censured its own mayor. People raised concerns when the mayor decided to remove public comment from a recent city council agenda. They say the mayor confronted some attendees after speaking in a July meeting about the salary and a proposed raise for the city administrator, even trying to take someone’s phone, and calling their comments “mean.” Mayor Laurie Goodrich has since apologized. Some in the public are still calling for Goodrich to step down.
Iowa health officials say the measles outbreak in the southern part of the state is growing, with 17 cases now confirmed, with a new possible exposure site added in Bloomfield in Davis County. Ottumwa’s Pizza Ranch restaurant was named as an earlier exposure site. Owner Curt Hopkins says his restaurant passed a surprise third-party health audit the same week he learned of the exposure. Health officials say symptoms of measles include fever, rash, red or watery eyes, and a runny nose. Anyone exposed should call ahead before visiting a clinic or emergency room.
A resident who still has a home in the Cedar Rapids flood plain presented a petition to the City Council in an effort to save her house. Ajai Dittmar presented the petition with 2,000 signatures to the City Council urging a pause in the condemnation of the property and continued negotiations to preserve and protect the home. She lives in one of the seven homes in the Time Check neighborhood devastated by the 2008 floods. The city says 1,400 homes have been acquired and removed over the last decade. It says properties on the west side of the river must be removed to protect the entire city from another flood, to bring down flood insurance rates, and to have the flood control project certified by FEMA.
Cattle producers in Iowa are responding to President Donald Trump’s plan to temporarily bring more foreign beef into the United States. The president says increasing supply will help bring down prices at the grocery store. But local farmers say they’re disappointed, and much of the action is happening without input from producers.
