The Gazette

A new Internet-based communications system will connect emergency responders throughout Linn County to each other, no matter what radio networks they operate. Full Story »

This week’s blizzard has delayed a hearing for a former manager of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse on child labor violations. Sholom Rubashkin’s attorneys want the charges dismissed. A hearing scheduled for Wednesday was canceled because of the storm. A new date was not set. Rubashkin was charged after an immigration raid at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville [...] Full Story »

Police are still searching for the two men who robbed the Cigarette Outlet on 1404 First Ave. NE Thursday night. Sgt. David Dostal said that two black men entered the business at around 9:34 p.m. and forced the store’s two employees to the ground at gunpoint. The suspects fled on foot after taking money, cigarettes and [...] Full Story »

Iowa City Regina will be responsible for making arrangements for getting its students to school next school year. The Iowa City school board voted 6-1 last night to reaffirm a decision it made last spring to stop providing busing to students of the private K-12 school. Sarah Swisher cast the dissenting vote The decision was a great [...] Full Story »

Molly Baker is a 26-year-old who takes 53 pills a day to maintain her health in the face of cystic fibrosis. She has had seven sinus surgeries and admits that each year is a little bit harder, healthwise, than the last. “I know that my illness keeps invading my body, and therefore my life, and is not [...] Full Story »

City Hall will need to spend $4.5 million more in the next budget year than in the current one to do nothing more than maintain the services the city provides in what now is a $90-plus-million, property tax-supported, general fund budget. The $4.5-million budget gap was mentioned only in passing tonight as City Manager Jim Prosser [...] Full Story »

Anyone in Iowa will be eligible to receive the H1N1 flu vaccine starting Monday, state health officials announced today. The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced that beginning Monday, December 14, 2009, all Iowans will be eligible to receive an H1N1 flu vaccination. Full Story »

The snow might be an annoyance for many people, but one Eastern Iowa man is using it to make money for charity. Jeff Lenhart of McGregor is actually auctioning off some of the snow from his yard on eBay. Full Story »

Waterloo mayoral candidate Steve Schmitt has asked for a recount. The Black Hawk County Supervisors canvassed the votes earlier this week. The canvass showed Buck Clark defeating Schmitt by just 50 votes. The Black Hawk County Auditor’s Office got the recount paperwork this morning. A three-member recount board must provide a report of the auditors office by Dec. [...] Full Story »

TIPTON — Visit downtown Tipton for the Tour of Lights Saturday. Among the many events are: Purchase a button at participating businesses through Saturday and be eligible to win a prize valued at $25 at each store. Full Story »

The Gazette’s Jeff Linder, KJ Pilcher and Jeff Johnson will chat live with you about the offensive and defensive all area high school football teams, and preview the offensive, defensive, coach and player of the year awards that will be announced on Sunday. Full Story »

IOWA CITY - Iowa City school officials, particularly Superintendent Lane Plugge, came under attack last night. More than 40 Iowa City Regina parents and officials attended the Iowa City school board meeting, where the divisive Regina busing issue was voted on. Click here for a story about the meeting and here and here for previous stories. The school board [...] Full Story »

A 78-year-old Cedar Rapids man has been convicted on child pornography charges for allegedly using two preteen girls to make a pornographic video in 2001. Full Story »

AMES, Iowa (AP) — A man suspected of abducting a 13-year-old Illinois girl has been arrested in Iowa. Full Story »

After a day and a half of canceled flights, travelers once again took to the skies in Cedar Rapids. But re-booking all the people who missed flights isn’t easy. The problem with flying out of Cedar Rapids Thursday wasn’t the weather. Instead, people who missed flights late Tuesday and all day Wednesday had to compete with fliers [...] Full Story »

First street crews battled Mother Nature’s wrath. Now they’re battling drivers who are breaking the law. Many cities are enforcing odd-even parking regulations so they can clear the snow from the streets. Many drivers are not cooperating. What might take you an entire afternoon, Dale Gross can do in one clean sweep. “That’s why we use end [...] Full Story »

An Iowa City woman faces charges after allegedly leaving her 2-year-old daughter home alone for at least an hour Wednesday. Police responded to the residence of Felisha A. Rufus, 22, 2401 Bartelt Rd. Apt. 2C for a complaint that a small child was inside the apartment alone at 1:41 p.m. The child was discovered by someone who [...] Full Story »

Police searched a northwest Cedar Rapids apartment after tracking a vehicle from an armed robbery during Wednesday’s snowstorm. Officers found a car matching the description of one used by two men who robbed Check ‘n Go, 353 Edgewood Rd. NW, in the 4800 block of First Avenue NW, and followed tracks to a nearby residence, Police [...] Full Story »

Blood drive cancellations due to winter storms has led to a greater need. In the Waterloo-area alone, the Red Cross cancelled three blood drives resulting in nearly 250 fewer blood donations. Overall, the Badger-Hawkeye Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross cancelled 14 blood drives due to inclement weather, totaling more than 800 blood donations. As Iowans [...] Full Story »

A Cedar Rapids man already in jail for harassment and stalking charges now faces a charge of threatening witnesses in a previous case. Nicholas J. Mitchell, 22, of 2700 Seely Ave. was charged with assault causing bodily serious injury in June and since then he has called and texted over 100 threats — including threats to [...] Full Story »

The sun is out and crews are working to clear the roads, but driving is still hazardous around Cedar Rapids. Around 12:30 p.m. today, a car got stuck on one of the windrows left behind by plows near the intersection of Fifth Street and First Avenue East. – KCRG-TV9 Full Story »

A Cedar Rapids man who represented himself on a burglary charge, and was convicted by a Linn County jury in October, was granted a new trial today. Steve Cooley, 60, was to be sentenced today. He faced up to 15 years in prison for second-degree burglary and as a habitual offender, but he was granted the [...] Full Story »

Lake ice should be thick enough this weekend for ice fishing, skating and snowmobiling. Mick Klemesrud, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said ice should be three or four inches thick for skating and ice fishing, five or six inches thick for snowmobiling and about a foot thick to hold a full-sized pickup, [...] Full Story »

The storm that brought more than a foot of snow to many parts of Iowa now ranks as the state’s third-largest snow event since 1950, and the largest since 1971, state climatologist Harry Hillaker said today. The total for the current storm could change slightly as more data comes in, but shouldn’t change dramatically, Hillaker said. The [...] Full Story »

UPDATE: With sunny skies and subsiding winds, officials in charge of road-clearing operations in the Corridor say their crews are beginning to get the upper hand. But it will be the weekend before area motorists see much pavement. “We’re progressing very well today,” Linn County Engineer Steve Gannon said late this morning. “If people would stay [...] Full Story »