A new federal rule to reduce erosion and runoff from urban development could boost demand for compost as the 2013 construction, landscaping and gardening seasons begin. “This last couple months we were getting approached by entities and contractors, specific in Johnson County, to supply compost,” said Ryan Miller, Marion’s public service director. “We were a bit [...]

Eastern Iowans who need some help with daily life reminded legislators to keep them in mind when the session opens next week. “Let’s just keep pushing the envelope forward, and keep doing what is right,” Steve Miller told about a half-dozen lawmakers Thursday afternoon. Miller, of Cedar Rapids, a county, state, and national board member [...]

Linn County residents could start voting in as little as two weeks on bringing casino gambling to the county. County supervisors this afternoon went through the formality of receiving and verifying 15,491 signatures on petitions circulated by Vote Yes Linn County, keeping the local investor group’s casino proposal on track for a March 5 special election. That [...]

Linn County is being asked to support renovation of a west-bank downtown landmark. County supervisors got their first look Monday morning at developer Fred Timko’s request for support for his plan to convert the Louis Sullivan-designed Wells Fargo bank building at 101 Third Ave. SW in Cedar Rapids into an upscale office and residential project. Darrin [...]

  Prompted by last year’s mass shootings, state lawmakers will consider improving availability of mental health services when the Legislature convenes in two weeks. “I personally have some interest in looking at it, ” said state Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids. “It might be something we need to re-visit.” The state is already reorganizing the [...]

John Harris will chair the Linn County Board of Supervisors this year, board members decided Wednesday. Harris, a Palo Republican starting his second term, rotated into the position Wednesday morning at the supervisors’ first meeting of the year. Brent Oleson, R-Marion, was last year’s chairman. Lu Barron, D-Cedar Rapids, is 2013′s vice chair,  running meetings [...]

The manager of an Elkader tavern is charged with threatening and trying to hold captive a teenager working with sheriff’s deputies on an alcohol compliance check. Timothy Finley, 33, threatened the volunteer with a pipe and ordered her to go into the basement of Fennelly’s Irish Pub after she tried to buy a six pack [...]

A new effort by churches and a synagogue in Cedar Rapids and Marion is offering another shelter option for homeless families in Eastern Iowa. 13 area churches are participating in Family Promise of Linn County, the local affiliate of a national program that organizes churches to shelter and feed homeless families. Family Promise also provides [...]

The Iowa State Patrol will improvise its way around gaps in radio coverage, and local emergency responders and their contractors are rushing to meet a New Year’s deadline to free broadcast spectrum for wireless devices. “We are extremely busy helping people meet the deadline,” said Dave Burger, general manager of Waterloo-based Radio Communications Company. “We [...]

From his Jackson County farm, Joe Heinrich will keep an eye on Washington, D.C., this weekend. Heinrich is paying close attention to a corner of the so-called “fiscal cliff” debate in Congress and the White House. Thanks to Congress’ failure to adopt a new farm bill, policies take effect at midnight Monday that would push [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

  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 [...]

  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 [...]

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 witness [...]

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, [...]

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 natural [...]