Hundreds of employees in the UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s healthcare system, as well as patients, lined up on the corners of First Avenue and 10th Street in Cedar Rapids Saturday to protest a vaccine mandate the health system put in place for its workers. The company said it would require all 33,000 employees, regardless of status, to receive a COVID vaccination by November 1 or else be terminated. Some said that while they had reservations about the vaccine, the bigger issue was taking away people’s choices, and said they felt bullied.
Crews continued work yesterday to limit damage from a spill after a train derailment three miles southwest of New Hampton just after 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon. Chickasaw County Emergency Management officials yesterday allowed families back in to areas that were initially evacuated due to the leak of anhydrous ammonia and diesel fuel. The Canadian Pacific train’s conductor and engineer were both treated and released from a New Hampton hospital as a precaution. No other injuries have been reported.
The chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court has signed an order making masks mandatory in areas of county courthouses controlled by the courts. The order signed Friday by Chief Justice Susan Christensen says all people entering court-controlled areas must wear a face covering regardless of the person’s vaccination status. The rule also applies to the Supreme Court’s building in Des Moines.
Nearly 80 years after he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Wesley Brown has been laid to rest in Iowa. Dozens of people who never had the chance to know Brown gathered Saturday to honor him as he was buried in the Little Sioux Township Cemetery in Smithland, near the graves of his mother and sister who both died long before his remains could be identified through DNA testing. Brown died at age 25 aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. One family member said the burial brought great peace to the family.
Rainfall has been below normal across Iowa this year, but agricultural experts say the overall picture is not that bleak heading into the harvest season. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says this year’s harvest could be one of extremes. The most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimates that Iowa farmers will harvest a record 570 million bushels of soybeans and a healthy 2.4 billion bushels of corn. But Naig says farmers could see some significant yield losses in northwest and north-central Iowa because of too little rain; and yield losses in southeast Iowa, because of too much rain.
Iowa First District Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson formally announced Saturday she would run for re-election in 2022. More than 500 people filled a Linn County Fairgrounds building as Hinson discussed issues like the southern border, inflation, and gas prices. Gov. Kim Reynolds, along with Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Charles Grassley of Iowa, also spoke at the event.
One person was hurt in a shooting incident on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids Saturday. At around 11:30 p.m., police were called to a report of a shooting in the 4000 block of 21st Avenue SW. The person who called police reportedly heard multiple gunshots and then saw a person on the ground. Officers found a man who had been shot and sustained life-threatening injuries. Investigation into the shooting continues.
A 26-year-old is dead and a 27-year-old and 8-month-old are injured after a car entered the path of an oncoming train in West Liberty Saturday. The person who died was a passenger in the vehicle. The driver and infant were taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The car was northbound on Columbus Street when it entered the path of a train traveling west on Chesebro Road. The Iowa State Patrol is investigating.
