COMMENT TODAY: Linn County offers residents an early opportunity to comment on the county’s next budget. The budget forum is at 5 p.m. today, at the Jean Oxley Public Service Center, 935 Second St. SW., Cedar Rapids. Possibly unique in Iowa, it gives residents an opportunity to comment before the 2014 budget work begins. There will be other public input opportunities as the process moves along in the next three months.

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BALANCED DEAL: The deal approved by the Cedar Rapids City Council to sell Riverside Park to Penford to allow for possible future expansion looks like a win all around. It sets up the opportunity for more jobs, addresses objectors’ concerns about air quality at the plant and providing an access road to the nearby National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, allows for future flood protection and a trail, and provides for replacing the aging park’s amenities, likely in the greenway area created by post-flood buyouts and demolitions.

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MEMORIAL CELEBRATED: A long-planned veterans memorial at the Linn County Community Services Building was dedicated on Veterans Day. It honors all county veterans.

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