Steve GravelleSteve Gravelle covers government, general-assignment, and some breaking news stories. He worked at newspapers in Minnesota before coming to The Gazette in 1996. He lives in southeast Cedar Rapids. |
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Linn County officials: Dostal ‘just always a public servant’
Lumir Dostal “was just always a public servant,” according to Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson. Dostal, 76, a county supervisor from 1995 through 2002, died Wednesday at Mercy Medical Center. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, Marion. “I have a lot of fond memories of working with Lumir,” said former [...]
Report: Police prisoner’s death was accidental, intoxication a factor
The death of a Cedar Rapids man in police custody in May was accidental, with intoxication a contributing factor, according to the state medical examiner. Charges won’t be filed in Paul Robert Saldivar’s death, Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said in a statement issued by the county late this afternoon. Saldivar, 33, died May [...]
Few Iowans get charge from electric cars
When it was time for a new car, Paul Webster went in a different direction. “I’d been thinking about it for a while, but it wasn’t a long drawn-out, thought-out thing,” Webster said. A salesman for Dave Wright Nissan in northeast Cedar Rapids, Webster settled on leasing a new Leaf, joining something of an exclusive [...]
Project Holiday feeds record numbers in Johnson County
Hours before Wednesday’s blizzard rolled in, Angel Ross set out to get the fixings for Christmas dinner. Besides a turkey, Ross picked up sweet potatoes, brownie mix and a few staples such as flour and sugar. The bill came to zero. “I believe in helping the poor people,” said Ross, 42. “And helping the rich [...]
Midwest disaster funds boost CRST project
A Cedar Rapids project will be among the last to get low-interest funding under a federal program adopted to help Midwest communities recover from 2008′s flood. Linn County supervisors on Wednesday approved issuing $17.5 million worth of Midwestern Disaster Area Revenue Bonds for CRST International’s planned new headquarters in southwest Cedar Rapids. The supervisors’ action [...]
Area street, road crews make overnight plans
Darkness will force Linn County plows off the roads at 4 p.m., to return 12 hours later, County Engineer Steve Gannon said Thursday. “Once it gets dark it’s hard for them to stay out on our system,” Gannon said. It should take three to four hours to clear major paved roads once plows head [...]
GALLERY: Power may not return in some parts of Iowa until Friday, Alliant says
UPDATE: High winds are causing more power outages, and wind and drifting snow are hampering crews’ efforts to restore service. Alliant Energy says it may be Friday before all are restored. More than 11,000 Linn County customers, most in Cedar Rapids, are now without power as high winds bring down lines in the Marion [...]
Man reports ‘astonishing’ lights in the sky over Cedar Rapids
Eastern Iowa’s blizzard conditions are making for hazardous travel — and maybe even for unknown objects in the sky. A resident on Cedar Rapids’ east side reported alternating blue and green lights lighting “the entire horizon” early Thursday, according to Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center in Harrington, Wash. Davenport said the [...]
Census shows Iowa 35th in state growth since 2010
Iowa gained 27,329 people in the two years ending July 1, its 0.9 percent about half the national average, according to Census data released today. Iowa was the 35th in growth in the Census’ annual state estimate, although its growth outpaced the Midwest’s 0.6 percent. Iowa’s official population is 3,074,186. The nation gained 5.1 million, [...]
Iowa heating bills will rise, even with normal winter
Warm weather through mid-December is getting the winter heating season off to a happy start, but can it match last year’s? “We set the bar so low last year that any normal type of winter will look higher,” said Alliant Energy spokesman Ryan Stensland. With prices locked in on about 70 percent of Alliant’s expected [...]
