The race is now joined…Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart officially announced yesterday morning that he will run for a fourth two-year term in this November’s election. Prior to becoming mayor, Hart served eight years on the city council. In a statement, Hart says Waterloo’s best days are ahead, and cited projects like the Waterloo Convention Center, LSB at TechWorks, and the Lost Island Theme Park…as well as Waterloo’s designation as the 2018 Iowa Small Business Community of the Year. Sunday evening, current council member Margaret Klein announced she was running for mayor; Hart has been unopposed each of the last two elections.
And a lifelong Waterloo resident has declared her candidacy for the Ward 1 seat Klein is giving up to run for mayor. Micki McCracken says her key issues include working with, and supporting, law enforcement to reduce crime; civility in City Hall; and fiscal responsibility.
Authorities say a man drowned at George Wyth State Park. It happened around 6:30 p.m. Sunday at George Wyth Lake. First responders called to the scene used boats and dive teams to find the man and pull his body from the lake. Witnesses told authorities the man was swimming with friends when he went under the water and didn’t resurface.
Authorities say a fisherman died Friday while on a boat in a southern Iowa lake. The Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office says the 79-year-old man died on Rathbun Lake, about 90 miles southeast of Des Moines. Authorities received a report of an unresponsive person in the water around 1:45 p.m. near the lake’s Island View Boat Ramp. Witnesses say they had seen the man fishing on a boat, then five minutes later noticed him floating in the water unresponsive. Nearby boaters attempted to revive the man. Emergency personnel brought him to the boat ramp and tried other life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Water issues in two Linn County cities…Marion’s splash pads were closed yesterday. Officials say the closure was necessary to help the City’s water towers return to full pumping capacity after a power outage overnight Sunday night. Meanwhile, the city of Palo is asking people to conserve water as one of the city’s two wells undergoes maintenance work. The city wants to make sure they have enough water in case of an emergency, like a fire. The splash pad was turned off until further notice. Homeowners are being asked to stick to a watering schedule for their yards to avoid the need for a water ban. However, residents are not being asked to adjust use of drinking water, or water that’s used for bathing. On top of all that, the city had a water main break on Main Street yesterday that temporarily impacted some homes. The Palo well should be back at full capacity within a few weeks.
An early morning robbery at a Marshalltown gas station is under investigation. Around 5 a.m. yesterday, the Git-N-Go store on the south end of the city near Highway 30 was robbed. A male came into the store demanding money. He was given an undisclosed amount of cash and left on foot.
After more than a year off due to COVID-19, Honor Flights will resume later this summer. The Cedar Valley Honor Flight will leave the Waterloo Regional Airport on September 22. Meanwhile, there are three Eastern Iowa Honor Flights scheduled—for September 21, October 5, and October 19. Veterans who were scheduled to go on a flight in 2020 will be contacted by staff with instructions for this year’s flights.
The Iowa Department of Corrections has announced it will resume in-person visitation early next month for those prisoners who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The department says more than 58 percent of those incarcerated in Iowa’s prisons are fully vaccinated and 62 percent are reported as having had one shot. Iowa’s prisons and jails banned visitors in early March 2020 as the outbreak of the coronavirus hit the US. Officials say the decision was made after prison officials spoke to state health officials and looked at what other state prison systems were doing as more people become vaccinated.
