After deflecting questions about her plans for months, former state Sen. Swati Dandekar is taking the first steps toward running for an open U.S. House seat in northeast Iowa. The Marion Democrat confirmed today supporters are forming an exploratory committee and she will decide before fall whether she will run for the 1st District seat [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS – Mayor Ron Corbett made it official on Monday: He’s running for a second four-year term as Cedar Rapids’ mayor. Corbett’s announcement came as no surprise: For months, he has he has said he almost surely would seek reelection. Another four years as mayor, he said, will allow him to continue to [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — City officials are wrestling with a new ordinance that would limit where payday lending shops with super-high-interest rates can locate in the city and in what concentrations. The City Council’s three-member Development Committee on Tuesday pushed ahead the proposed city ordinance to the full City Council for a May hearing, but not [...]
continue »CEDAR RAPIDS – Officials are in the preliminary stages of establishing a Linn County dog park in Squaw Creek this year. Around 33 people that make up the Leadership for Five Seasons Class of 2013 will begin planting “small, high-quality and resilient” trees in the off-leash dog park on May 3. The trees will “provide [...]
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The flood-damaged, former A&W Family Restaurant on Ellis Boulevard NW is back in play. The city of Cedar Rapids on Friday said it is seeking proposals from developers who want to redevelop the A&W property at 1126 and 1132 Ellis Blvd. NW. Proposals are due at City Hall by 11 a.m. June 10. Interested parties [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids did it, so why can’t Linn County? That’s the thought of two retirees, Richard Bice and Mike Engelken, who say they will launch a petition drive to create a charter commission and examine Linn County’s form of government. State law requires a minimum of 10,000 signatures in Linn County. “I [...]
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Assistant Federal Public Defender Jane Kelly was confirmed Wednesday by the U.S. Senate as an Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals judge. The Senate voted 96-0 to confirm Kelly as only the second woman, and the first public defender, to serve in the history of the court that was established in 1891. No one opposed Kelly’s [...]
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On a 7-2 vote, the City Council Tuesday night agreed to amend the city’s ethics ordinance to require council members, certain city officials and members of boards and commissions to file financial disclosure forms and keep them current. The intent of the form is to make public the financial relationships that city officials and their [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — The City Council decided Monday night to hold a public hearing on May 14 to consider a change in a city ordinance to ban the feeding of geese and other waterfowl and wildlife on city property. The council’s Public Safety Committee earlier this month recommended the change at the urging of [...]
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Sven Leff, the city’s recreation superintendent since 2011, has been named the city’s new parks and recreation director. City Manager Jeff Pomeranz selected Leff, 42, after a national candidate search, which attracted 47 applicants from 18 states. Six of those were interviewed in Cedar Rapids by a City Hall evaluation team and met with the [...]
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