Iowa reached a grim COVID-19 milestone on Saturday, May 15, 2021, with 6,000 deaths reported since the pandemic began. Of those, 2,335 deaths are tied to outbreaks at Iowa long-term care facilities. As of May 15, just one nursing home reported an outbreak: Risen Son Christian Village in Council Bluffs, in western Iowa, which reported […]
Photos: Czech Village hosts 2021 scaled ...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Organizers hosted a scaled-down version of the popular Houby Days festival, one year after the annual event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kicking off with a concert by the Czech Plus Band on Friday, May 14, 2021, the event continued into Saturday with street vendors, food and more. The […]
Black bears may move into Iowa in near f...
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources notes that in the next several weeks, Northeast Iowa will likely be visited by a few wandering black bears coming down from Minnesota and Wisconsin ahead of the breeding season. Those visits have been an annual occurrence every spring since 2014, but in the coming years, some of those […]
COVID-19 variant first detected in India...
Public health officials announced Tuesday, May 4, 2021, that a new COVID-19 variant has been confirmed in Iowa. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, two cases of the COVID-19 variant, SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617, were confirmed in adults in Jefferson County, in southeastern Iowa. The variant is referred to as the “India variant” because it […]
Czech Three Kings lore warns gardeners o...
Temperatures that soared into the upper 80s in Iowa and elsewhere in the Midwest this weekend are giving way to overnight lows in the 30s. While a hard freeze isn’t predicted, at least for now, it’s not unheard of to have a late-season frost in Iowa. Czech lore, brought to the United States by immigrants, […]
Spring plant sales a mix of online and i...
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, many plant sales went online or were suspended for the season. At least one of those returns to an in-person sale in 2021, with the Linn County Master Gardeners annual plant sale set for 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 8, at the American Legion Post 298, 625 […]
Fresh start for Iowa farmers markets in ...
By Cindy Hadish/for the Corridor Business Journal After a socially distanced season last year, farmers market managers hope to return to the more socially interactive markets of the past. Both Iowa City and Cedar Rapids plan on holding in-person markets, though changes made during the COVID-19 pandemic will continue in some cases. “We are cautiously […]
Giant mushroom appears in Czech Village ...
By Cindy Hadish CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Czech Village has found a silver lining from last year’s derecho. The hurricane-strength windstorm uprooted trees and created havoc throughout Iowa, hitting the Cedar Rapids area particularly hard. Trees that toppled in Czech Village damaged restrooms next to the Kosek Bandstand, but one of those is now serving […]
Cedar Rapids celebrates Earth Day while ...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — City leaders probably didn’t intend to offer an ironic Earth Day message. But even as City Manager Jeff Pomeranz touted April as Earth Month in a videotaped message, in another corner of the city, a 28-acre Prairie Pollinator Zone was being prepared for destruction. “As all of you know, a healthy […]
City Council dashes last hopes to save p...
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Cedar Rapids City Council dashed any remaining hopes that residents and nature lovers held to save a Prairie Pollinator Zone from destruction. Council members unanimously passed a number of resolutions related to an agreement with multinational corporation Cargill to build a 200-car, 12-track railyard on a 28-acre property on Stewart […]