The Iowa high school softball season was supposed to start practice Monday. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic has everything delayed until June 1, or maybe longer. Or, perhaps, canceled. But since...

Editor's note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them are...

“The Last Dance,” the Michael Jordan documentary on ESPN every Sunday night for five weeks got me thinking I’d like to talk about this. You can listen to Jordan talk and “The...

Once in a while, a college football prospect with potential in another sport ends up with the Hawkeyes. Brody Brecht might be the next one of those for the Hawkeyes. The 6-4, 200-pound wide...

For Keagan Johnson and his family, the decision to play football at the University of Iowa was theirs. A personal decision that set a course for a fairly massive three or four or five years. When...

CEDAR RAPIDS — This was his alma mater, a place he had a ton of success at as a player. The future of the program is clearly bright. But Matt Lesan has a clear plan for his own future, which...

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta began Thursday’s meeting of the UI’s presidential committee on athletics with two numbers: It’s been 56 days since the coronavirus pandemic shut...

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...

The team will be offering carry-out ballpark food to fans on Fridays with orders placed during business hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

CEDAR RAPIDS — You weren’t taken out to the ballgame or the crowd. You couldn’t get Cracker Jack, though you could get peanuts. Not to mention hot dogs and bacon cheeseburgers, a...

CEDAR FALLS — Like many high school seniors across the country, Norwalk’s Bowen Born is unsure when he’ll be able to get on campus at the University of Northern Iowa and begin...

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...

CEDAR RAPIDS — A 17-year-old, charged in January with fatally shooting an 18-year-old during a drug robbery, was released in March only to be arrested about a month later for drunken driving....

In normal times, Chew on This focuses on restaurant openings and closings. These are not normal times, with restaurants closed except to carryout, curbside and delivery. We know these businesses...

Several hundred cars were parked outside a food bank in San Antonio on Good Friday — the food bank fed 10,000 people that day. Such scenes, increasingly common across the nation and evocative...

“I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”...

As death rates from COVID-19 rise, the state is beginning to open back up. And with that the expectation is that Iowans get back to work. Iowans who don’t go back to work will lose...

A man suspected of a workplace shooting last month at a vinyl window manufacturer in southwest Cedar Rapids turned himself into authorities Friday. Jamal Devonte Edwards, 26, has been wanted since...

JOEL CRONBAUGH
Norway

Joel Cronbaugh, whose brother David referred to him as the purest, most innocent soul he ever knew, transitioned to his Heavenley home peacefully on May 5, 2020. A person of few words but many, many stories, Joel was a man of action who distinguished himself in many ways during his long, fore-filled life. Mostly we will all remember him for his selfless kindness, goofy sense of humor and many years of taking his fellow truck driver friends, his family of nieces and nephews and all his devoted friends to The Brick Haus in Amana for weekly and often twice a week "Cowboy" lunches.
A graduate of McKinley High in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as his younger brothers David and Steve shoved each other down the laundry chute, Joel was making his name as a car engine genius. As a member of the famous Cedar Rapids motor club, The Rod Benders, Joel was the go-to guy for making a car engine "scream." This passion for anything with a motor and wheels resulted in him becoming an avid, lifelong collector of bicycles, motocross bikes and cars. Joel drove in motocross well into his 70s, putting much younger competitors to shame.
When his niece and nephew Tara and Todd were young, Joel and his brother David helped them construct national class caliber Soap Box Derby Cars. Tara's car actually finished second in the All-American Championship. During this period, Joel became a friend and mentor to Todd's buddy James Burns, also a Derby Car driver. Both Todd and James took Joel's endless hours of meticulous lessons and teaching and went on to pursue master's degrees in engineering and law at Ivy League schools. Their love and friendship lasted throughout Joel's life. Joel, the man who never told a dirty joke or even used a naughty word, went on to make the long drive to New York City to stand up in James's wedding and proceeded to drive back to Iowa with a $500 parking ticket for parking in Times Square that he "refused" to pay. (The conservative Iowa guy had no idea how to park in NYC.)
Joel cut his mechanical teeth helping his father Melvin W (W for work, he always joked), at Tubb's Transport Service on old Highway 30. Initially helping with car and transport servicing, Joel prided himself on being the electrical wizard at the once-largest truck stop in Iowa. Drivers would scratch their heads as the tall, scrawny kid would solve elusive electrical problems in minutes. Joel's natural ability to troubleshoot or fabricate anything electronic inspired him to follow in his father, Melvin's, footsteps as a longtime businessman in Cedar Rapids. After operating Cronbaugh Transport during the early 1980s, Joel made his mark in the trucking and tank wash industry. Cronbaugh Tank Wash offered interior tank washes for liquid product transport tankers. Joel once again used his diligent, meticulous skill to design one of his own mechanical spinner washers, a washing technique still used today. His scrupulous cleaning process set the gold standard in the liquid tank washing industry. Joel retired from his love of the trucking industry in 1997, when he sold the business to Kevin Smith, an employee at the time but later grew into a devoted, trusted friend. The family would like to extend appreciation to Kevin for all his support during Joel's illness.
Joel spent his retirement years mentoring his niece Tara, as she continued the family trait of business ownership. Until 2017, alongside his brother David, Joel pursued his love to fabricate, troubleshoot and fix anything at The Java House, Tara's company in Iowa City. When Joel was not fixing odds and ends around his farmstead in Norway, he was tinkering on his pride and joy, Ducati motocross bikes, collecting bicycles to rebuild and later donate, or attending Sunday church service, a life-time member at Calvary Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids. He got a kick out of retelling jokes, reciting Bible verses to those he loved (Romans 8:28 was his favorite) and doing favors for people he cared about most. He wore a denim jean shirt every day, carried a tire pressure gauge in his shirt pocket and handed out hundreds of mini-LED flashlights to each of his friends. A man of simple pleasures, he loved hamburgers at The Hamburg Inn and his weekly visits for Beef & Noodles at Maid-Rite in Cedar Rapids, where he would take his Maid-Rite lunch to his longtime high school friend, Evelynn Strait, each week for many years. The family would like to extend deep appreciation to Evelynn for her loving, unconditional and daily support, and friendship to Joel.
Joel Richard was born Feb. 28, 1935, to Katherine Maxine Hepler and Melvin W Cronbaugh. Joel entered the U.S. Army in 1964 and did basic at Fort Leonard Wood. At the age of 41, Joel graduated at LeTourneau College, Longview, Texas.
Joel was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers, David and Stephen.
Surviving are nieces and nephews, Tara Cronbaugh, Todd Miller, Anya Schmitz, Barbara Wolfe and Stephen Cronbaugh; and many great-nieces and -nephews.
The family would like to thank Brown Deer Place and ManorCare, Cedar Rapids, for Joel's last months of care during a long-progressive disease. Thank you to Mercy Hospice Cedar Rapids and specifically, Amy Harris, Mercy Hospice nurse and friend, who offered special attention and love during Joel's last hours. Tara Cronbaugh, Joel's niece, was devoted to Joel's wellbeing during the last, fragile years of his life and we all want to thank her for it. Indeed, it takes a village.
The family will be holding a graveside service at noon Saturday, May 9, in the Honey Creek Township, in Koszta, Iowa, at the Koszta Cemetery. Located outside of Marengo, Highwwy 212 to F Avenue in Koszta. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Mercy Hospice, Cedar Rapids.
Online condolences may be made at www.lensingfuneral.com.

ELIZABETH "BETTY" A. ZOBAC
Cedar Rapids


Betty A. Zobac, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, at the Dennis & Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy. She was 92.
Betty was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Oct. 29,
1927. She was the beloved
and only child to Francis
and Mary (Cahill) Sullivan. Betty attended grade school
at Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Cedar Rapids. Then carried on her education at St. Patrick's High School where she graduated in 1946.
It wasn't long after when Betty married the love of her life; Frank Zobac, in August 1947, at the Immaculate Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids. To this union four children were born. Betty and Frank were married for 69 years. Frank passed away on Dec. 15, 2016.
Betty was very proud of her ancestry and Irish heritage. Betty and Frank actually got engaged on St. Patrick's Day 1947. She loved celebrating her culture every year on St. Patrick's Day by cooking corned beef and cabbage for her entire family.
Betty and Frank were a well-liked and social couple. They developed many friendships throughout their years and were always ready to have fun. The two loved to go out on the town dancing. They would often take a weekend trip to Chicago at the Allerton Hotel on Michigan Avenue. While there they would enjoy Broadway style shows, concerts or even a Cubs game. Later in life Betty and Frank would have season tickets to Iowa Hawkeyes football games. They rarely missed a bowl game during the Hayden Fry era. Neither did they miss a Friday night card group, any bingo game in town or an evening of Frank singing karaoke to Betty.
After having four young children, Betty worked the night shift in the pediatric department of Mercy Hospital for three years. Her endless energy and work ethic were remarkable. Betty also was a true fashionista and carried that passion over into her next career. From Killian's to Armstrong's then Coach House Fashions; she worked in retail women's clothing for over 15 years. While still maintaining her voguish taste, Betty's greatest accomplishment of her career began in 1961. As the backbone of the family business; Betty successfully ran the company as general manager of Frank Zobac Construction Co. Frank Zobac Construction Co. was in business for over 60 years.
Betty was the matriarch of her family. Betty loved to cook for and with her family. Like her taste for fashion, she was ahead of her time when it came to preparing meals for her family. Betty's culinary creativity led to many delicious and sometimes interesting meals. Rarely following a recipe; she inspired many. Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have carried on her passion for cooking to this day. What Betty started in her little kitchen back in 1947 will be passed down throughout her family for generations. Betty also had an extraordinary love for dachshunds. Whether on the couch or in Hy-Vee, it was rare to see Betty not carrying one of her many spoiled dachshunds.
Betty's memory will continue to live on through her four children, Susan (Dennis) Draker of Marion, Mark (Connie) Zobac of Vinton, Kathy (Doug) Klinger of Marion and Debra Zobac of Marion; eight grandchildren, Amy (Clint) Houdek, Jeff (Diana) Draker, Barrett (Kiley) Scorpil, James (Christina) Zobac, Christopher Goodrow, Staci (John) Willems, Traci (Jeff) Chisholm and Michelle Ramirez; and her 16 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House in memoriam of Frank and Betty Zobac. Please mail to: Susan Draker 2845 Hunters Ridge Rd. Marion, IA 52302.
Please leave a message or tribute to Betty's family on our web page, www.cedarmemorial.com, under Obituaries.
"Rest in Peace, Mom"

WILLIAMSBURG
Barbara Maas, 75, of Des Moines, formerly of
Williamsburg, died Friday, May 8, 2020. Powell Funeral Home, Williamsburg.

Tthink about the great relics of human civilization—the pyramids, the magnificent castles of Europe, the Great Wall of China, meticulously detailed sculptures from different eras, the awe-inspiring churches and temples that dot almost every landscape we’ve ever inhabited… All made of stone. All hundreds of years old. All crafted with the intention of permanence and […]

After more than a decade in the making, the Tea Party moment has finally arrived.

The movement originated in 2009 as a challenge to runaway taxes, spending and regulation. Organizers sought to restore the constitutional balance of power between the states and the federal government.

Eventually, the Tea Party devolved into a catchall for right-wing populism, and a magnet for xenophobes and culture warriors. In 2016, its early adherents overwhelmingly fell in line with President Donald Trump, choosing protectionism over freedom.

But that original Tea Party spirit — the charge to buck the national government in favor of local control — was on full display recently from two unlikely sources.

Trump decided early on in the coronavirus pandemic that the federal government would not centrally coordinate the purchase and distribution of medical supplies. That might have worked fine, except the Trump administration actively undermined state governments’ efforts. The federal government has outbid state buyers and even seized products from states.

After 3 million masks ordered by the Massachusetts governor were confiscated in New York, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker decided to sidestep the usual procurement process. He sent a New England Patriots’ private airplane to bring supplies back from China.

In Maryland, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan coordinated a large COVID-19 test order from South Korea. The delivery was facilitated by the National Guard and state police, and the tests were put in a secure location with armed security.

“We guarded that cargo from whoever might interfere with us getting that to our folks that needed it,” Hogan said last week in an interview with Washington Post Live.

Hogan and Baker don’t fit the common perception of the Tea Party mold. They both have harshly criticized President Donald Trump and supported the impeachment inquiry. Hogan openly considered challenging Trump for the GOP presidential nomination.

They are among the last vestiges of moderate conservatism in American executive office, and yet they are the ones waging a battle over federalism and states’ rights.

The political minds built for this moment — the ones who have long fantasized about escalating the state-federal power struggle — are not up to the task. The conservative firebrands who should be taking up this fight instead are beholden to Trump and whatever cockamamie plans he comes up with.

At a news conference last month, Trump made a striking claim about his powers in managing the public health crisis: “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s got to be. It’s total.”

That should have been a flashpoint for conservatives, the beginning of a revitalized Tea Party that recognizes the enormous threat Trumpism poses to our values.

But it wasn’t. Loyalists brushed it off, again, as Trump misspeaking.

The small-government philosophy is founded on the likelihood that the levers of government power will eventually be grabbed by some menace, an incompetent or malicious figure. But when that menace is your friend, your fundraiser and your public relations manager, it proves hard to slap his hand away.

adam.sullivan@thegazette.com; (319) 339-3156

Like everyone, U.S. oil companies have been hit hard by the pandemic, and they are looking for relief. . Oil companies have requested special access to a $600 billion lending facility at the Federal Reserve, and the administration seems keen to deliver. The president just announced that the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury would make funds available, and the Department of Energy is also floating a $7 billion plan to pay drillers to leave oil in the ground.

Unfortunately, at least one faction of the industry — a group of refiners that traditionally profit when crude feedstocks are cheap — is angling for much more than a financial bailout. They are using the pandemic as cover to cannibalize markets vital to U.S. biofuel producers and farmers.

Their plan, outlined in letter from several oil-patch governors, would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt enforcement of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It would allow refiners to stop offering biofuel blends at the fuel pump, eliminating the market for U.S. ethanol and biodiesel and decimating demand for billions of bushels of corn and soybeans used to make renewable motor fuel.

With half the nation’s 200-plus biofuel plants already offline, thousands of rural workers facing layoffs, and millions of U.S. farmers on financial life support, the destruction of the RFS would be an economic death knell for rural America.

It’s hard to imagine why refiners would expect the Trump administration to take the request seriously. The misguided plan would inflict incredible collateral damage on our economy, our energy security, and to the President’s prospects with rural voters. Notably, the courts rejected similar abuse in 2016. Even former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who scorned American farmers, rejected a similar plan back in 2017.

Nevertheless, refiners saw the current health crisis as a political opportunity and went for a kill. Fortunately, farm state champions are pushing back. Governors from Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota condemned the oil-backed plan. They wrote, “Using this global pandemic as an excuse to undercut the RFS is not just illegal; it would also sever the economic lifeline that renewable fuels provide for farmers, workers and rural communities across the Midwest.”

Aside from the sheer audacity, the refinery-backed plan also suffers from a major flaw — it wouldn’t change the economic situation of a single refinery. They claim that lifting the RFS would eliminate the costs associated with biofuel credits known as RINs, which are used to demonstrate compliance with the nation’s biofuel targets. Refiners that refuse to produce biofuel blends can purchase RINs from those that blend more ethanol or biodiesel into the fuel mix. In turn, when they sell a gallon of fuel, that RIN price is reflected in their returns. The oil industry’s own reports show that “there is no economic harm to RIN purchasers, even if RIN prices are high, because those costs are recouped in the gasoline blend stock and diesel.”

Even in a fictional scenario where costs aren’t automatically recouped, a detailed EPA analysis found that “all obligated parties, including the small refiners subject to the RFS program, would be affected at less than 1 percent of their sales (i.e., the estimated costs of compliance with the rule would be less than 1 percent of their sales) even when we did not consider their potential to recover RIN costs — with the estimated cost-to-sales percentages ranging from -0.04 percent (a cost savings) to 0.006 percent.”

Clearly, a 0.006 percent savings isn’t going to protect any refinery jobs, but refineries are betting that DC policymakers don’t know the difference between RINs values and compliance costs. They open one side of a ledger and hope that no one asks to see the next page.

Meanwhile, the nation’s biggest oil lobby, American Petroleum Institute, is calling on the EPA to simply cut 770 million gallons of biofuel out of the 2020 targets. Earlier this year, regulators approved a modest bump in biofuels to addresses a small fraction of the four billion gallons lost to secretive EPA refinery exemptions. The courts have since sided against the handouts, but the EPA has refused to implement the decision. Now, API says the agency should rip away the few gallons clawed back by U.S. farmers. It’s a baseless argument with one goal: blocking competition at the fuel pump.

Keep in mind, collapsing demand for motor fuel is just as hard on the nation’s biofuel producers. RFS targets enforced by the EPA are based on a percentage of each gallon sold — so if refiners make less fuel, their obligations under the law shrink at an equal rate. Meanwhile, biofuel producers across the heartland are closing their doors, as even their modest 10 percent share of the market has been cut in half.

Biofuel advocates are focused on their own survival. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley summed it up, saying “[T]here ought to be parity for all liquid fuels. So I look forward to working with (Agriculture) Secretary (Sonny) Perdue to make sure that our biofuels industry gets through this crisis so that we can continue to use America’s (home) grown energy in our gas tanks.”

Parity makes sense, but refinery lobbyists want more. The Trump EPA should reject the latest anti-biofuel pitch because it’s bad policy, but more than that, it’s an insulting attempt to capitalize on a health crisis to make an end run around the truth.

Former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent spearheaded the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005. He currently serves as co-chair of Americans for Energy Security and Innovation.

Several hundred cars were parked outside a food bank in San Antonio on Good Friday — the food bank fed 10,000 people that day. Such scenes, increasingly common across the nation and evocative of loaves and fish, reflect the cruel facts about the wealthiest nation in the world: 80 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and 100 percent of Americans were unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. People are hungry due to macroeconomic and environmental factors, not because they did something wrong. Although everyone is at risk in this pandemic, the risk is not shared equally across socioeconomic classes. Universal basic health care could resolve this disparity and many of the moral and economic aspects associated with the pandemic.

Increases in the total output of the economy, or the gross domestic product (GDP), disproportionately benefit the wealthy. From 1980 to 2020, the GDP increased by 79 percent. Over that same time, the after-tax income of the top 0.01 percent of earners increased by 420 percent, while the after-tax income of the middle 40 percent of earners increased by only 50 percent, and by a measly 20 percent for the bottom 50 percent of earners. At present, the top 0.1 percent of earners have the same total net worth as the bottom 85 percent. Such income inequality produces poverty, which is much more common in the U.S. than in other developed countries. Currently 43 million Americans, or 12.7 percent of the population, live in poverty.

At the same time, 30 million Americans are uninsured and many more are underinsured with poorly designed insurance plans. The estimated total of uninsured and underinsured Americans exceeds 80 million. In addition, most of the 600,000 homeless people and 11 million immigrants in the U.S. lack health care coverage. Immigrants represent an especially vulnerable population, since many do not speak English and cannot report hazardous or unsafe work conditions. Furthermore, many immigrants avoid care due to fear of deportation even if they entered the country through legal channels.

Most people in poverty and many in the middle class obtain coverage from federal programs. On a national level, Medicaid is effectively a middle-class program and covers those living in poverty, 30 percent of adults and 60 percent of children with disabilities as well as about 67 percent of people in nursing homes. In Iowa, 37 percent of children and 48 percent of nursing home residents use Medicaid. Medicaid also finances up to 20 percent of the care provided in rural hospitals. Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Hospital Insurance Program (CHIP) together cover over 40 percent of Americans.

In addition to facilitating care, health care policy must also address the “social determinants of health,” since the conditions in which people live, work, and play dictate up to 80 percent of their health risks and outcomes. This means that health care reform requires programs in all facets of society. Winston Churchill first conceptualized such an idea in the early 20th century as a tool to prevent the expansion of socialism, arguing that inequality could persist indefinitely without social safety nets. Since that time most developed countries have implemented such social programs, but not the US.

All developed countries except the U.S. provide some type of universal basic health care for their residents. Universal basic health care refers to a system that provides all people with certain essential benefits, such as emergency services (including maternity), inpatient hospital and physician care, outpatient services, laboratory and radiology services, treatment of mental illness and substance abuse, preventive health services (including vaccinations), rehabilitation, and medications. Providing access to these benefits, along with primary care, dramatically improves the health of the community without imposing concerns regarding payment. Perhaps not coincidentally, the U.S. reports a lower life expectancy and higher rates of infant mortality, suicide and homicide compared to other developed countries.

Countries such as Canada, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, and Japan all produce better health care outcomes than the U.S. at a much lower cost. In fact the U.S. spends about twice the percentage of its GDP on health care compared to these countries. With that being said, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), which facilitated a decrease in the rate of the uninsured in the U.S. from 20 percent to 12 percent, also decreased the percentage of the GDP spent on health care from 20.2 percent to 17.9 percent in just 10 years. For this reason, most economists agree that universal basic health care would not cost more than the current system, and many would also argue that the total costs of the health care system cannot be further reduced unless everyone has access to basic care.

Achieving successful universal basic health care requires a serious long-term commitment from the federal government — contributing to Medicaid and financing its expansion are not enough. It requires courage from our elected leaders. The ACA took several important steps toward this goal by guaranteeing coverage for preexisting conditions, banishing lifetime maximums for essential services, and mandating individual coverage for everyone, though Congress repealed this final provision in 2017. At present, the ACA requires refinement and a public option, thereby preserving private and employer-based plans for those who want them.

Without universal basic health care the people living at the margins of society have no assurances that they will have access to basic health care services, especially during times of pandemic. Access to food and medications is less reliable, large families live together in small spaces, and public transportation facilitates frequent exposure to others. Childhood diseases such as asthma, chronic diseases such as diabetes, and diseases related to smoking such as COPD and cancer are all likely to worsen. Quarantine protocols also exacerbate the mental health crisis, further increasing rates of domestic violence, child abuse, substance abuse, depression, and suicide. In the last six weeks over 30 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits, and as people become unemployed, many will lose health insurance.

Access to basic health care without economic or legal consequences would greatly enhance all aspects of pandemic management and response, from tracing contacts and quarantining carriers to administering tests and reinforcing supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected minorities and the impoverished in both mortality and livelihood. Universal basic health care helps these vulnerable populations the most, and by reducing their risk it reduces the risk for everyone. In this way, universal basic health care supports the best interests of all Americans.

Like a living wage, universal basic health care aligns with the Christian tradition of social justice and is a moral and economic imperative for all Americans. Nurses, doctors, and other health care providers often observe a sharp contrast between the haves and have-nots when seeing patients. The homeless, the hungry, the unemployed, the working poor, the uninsured; people without families, patients with no visitors, those who live alone or lack support systems; refugees and immigrants — all of these people deserve the fairness and dignity provided by universal basic health care and programs which improve the social determinants of their health. The ACA moved U.S. toward this goal, but now it requires refinement and a public option. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency of this imperative by demonstrating how universal basic health care could decrease the risks to those less fortunate, thus significantly decreasing the risks to everyone.

James M. Levett, MD, serves on the board of Linn County Public Health and is a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon with Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa. Pramod Dwivedi, MS, DrPH (c), is the health director of Linn County Public Health.

As death rates from COVID-19 rise, the state is beginning to open back up. And with that the expectation is that Iowans get back to work. Iowans who don’t go back to work will lose unemployment benefits, leaving thousands of workers forced to expose themselves and their families to a potentially deadly virus, which experts say could have a second wave in the fall.

The rush to reopen the state has left many questions about the health and safety of Iowans unanswered. Among those questions, “Who will watch the children?” is especially crucial.

Schools are closed for the rest of the year. The future of summer camps is uncertain. Half of the child care centers in America currently are closed. Using elderly parents for child care can be risky since grandparents are in the age bracket with the highest risk for death and complications from COVID-19.

This leaves families, mothers especially, at risk of losing their jobs and unemployment benefits.

Nationwide, women still carry the heavy burden of child care, despite the fact that most families are dual income homes. Two-thirds of minimum wage workers in America are women which puts them at risk for unemployment and illness because of exposure to the virus.

Already, the child care gap for women contributes to the wage gap. Women earn 80 cents to the male dollar. And the inequality is compounded when segmented by race.

Congress has tried to pass a paid leave policy, but those attempts have failed. And Iowa’s governor has so far not commented on the looming child care crisis as she declares victory over the virus and opens up the state.

Before the pandemic, a quarter of Iowa families lived in a child care desert, and child care in the state does not even come close to meeting the national definition of affordable. Experts estimated that the Iowa economy loses more than $1 billion each year because of a lack of child care. And with the reality of the pandemic sinking in, it will only get worse.

The Department of Human Services received $31.9 million in aid from the federal CARES Act that was dispersed to child care centers to help care for the children of essential workers. But as more people go back to work, that aid will be spent very quickly. Leaving the children of everyone else without answers to this fundamental question. If Reynolds wants to open up the state, her team needs to formulate a comprehensive plan that addresses the lack of child care and offers paid leave and works to reopen child care centers.

But rushing to open an economy when there is no child care is an attack not just on families but specifically mothers.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com

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CEDAR RAPIDS — A 17-year-old, charged in January with fatally shooting an 18-year-old during a drug robbery, was released in March only to be arrested about a month later for drunken driving.

Kyler David Carson, now 18, of Cedar Rapids, was charged last month with operating while intoxicated and unlawful possession of an anti-anxiety prescription drug.

After two judges reduced Carson’s bail, he bonded out and was released pending trial.

Police arrested Carson April 24 when they believed he was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a criminal complaint.

He provided a breath sample, which showed no signs on alchol, but refused to provide a urine sample for chemical testing, the complaint states.

In January, Carson was charged with voluntary manslaughter, delivery of a controlled substance-marijuana, carrying weapons and obstructing prosecution.

He is accused of fatally shooting Andrew D. Gaston, 18, on Jan. 24, as Gaston and his cousin, Tyrell J. Gaston, 16, were attempting to rob marijuana from Carson, according to a criminal complaint.

Police received a report of shots being fired at 11:48 p.m. and found Andrew and Tyrell Gaston with gunshot wounds in the parking lot of 3217 Agin Court NE.

During the investigation, police learned the Gaston cousins had arranged, with the help of others, to rob Carson that night. Witnesses told investigators they contacted Carson and “lured” him to the address to rob him of marijuana.

Carson thought he was called that night to sell 45 pre-rolled tubes of marijuana for $900, according to criminal complaint.

While Carson was delivering marijuana to the others in their car, the cousins and a third person ambushed Carson from behind, according to a criminal complaint.

Andrew Gaston struck Carson in the back of the head with a metal object. Carson then turned around and exchanged gunfire with Tyrell Gaston before running from the parking lot, witnesses told police.

Both Carson and Tyrell Gaston later discarded their firearms, which police didn’t recover, according to the complaint.

Tyrell Gaston also was charged with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance-marijuana, carrying weapons and obstructing prosecution.

A judge, during Carson’s initial appearance in the fatal shooting, set his bail at $50,000 cash only, according to court documents. His bail was amended, in agreement with prosecutor and Carson’s lawyer, to $50,000 cash or surety March 23 by 6th Judicial Associate District Judge Russell Keast.

Carson remained in jail, but his lawyer asked for a bond review three days later, March 26, and Associate District Judge Casey Jones lowered the bail to $30,000 cash or surety.

Carson posted bail that day, according to court documents.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Rena Schulte has filed a motion to revoke Carson’s pretrial release and will request his bail ne set at $500,000. A hearing is set on the motion for next Thursday in Linn County District Court.

If convicted, Carson faces up to 19 years in the fatal shooting and up to two years for the other offenses.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

In normal times, Chew on This focuses on restaurant openings and closings. These are not normal times, with restaurants closed except to carryout, curbside and delivery. We know these businesses still need support from the community to survive, so each week we are going to highlight five local restaurants.

These are just a few of the many places offering barbecue; look up your favorite restaurants on Facebook or call to find out what they have.

If you don’t want to leave the house, try a delivery service like Chomp, GrubHub or MyTown2Go. Check with the restaurant to make sure they’re affiliated with a delivery service before ordering.

124 Second Ave. NW, Mount Vernon; (319) 535-1060, facebook.com/bigsbbq

Get a growler of house-brewed beer to pair with your barbecue. Every Wednesday features a wings special; check the Facebook page for additional daily specials.

6677 16th Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids; (319) 378-4777, facebook.com/austinbluesbbq

Call in advance orders from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday to Friday and pickup from the food truck parked in the parking lot or stop by the truck parked at Cassill Motors, 2939 16th Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.

1940 Lower Muscatine, Iowa City, (319) 354-7427 and 745 Community Dr., North Liberty, (319) 665-2486; jimmyjacksribshack.com

This Iowa City staple has classic dishes like ribs, smoked chicken and brisket and can even please vegetarians with a portobello sandwich.

525 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City, (319) 338-1419 and 125 E. Zeller St., North Liberty, (319) 626-4227; mosleysbarbecue.com

Try a family-style meal for curbside pickup, featuring four sandwiches or a slab of ribs, plus sides and cornbread, or order off the menu.

288 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids; (319) 206-3806, willieraysqshack.com

This tiny establishment was made for social distancing, with drive-through the only option for service even before the pandemic. Get one of the daily specials or order a la carte.

Comments: (319) 398-8339; alison.gowans@thegazette.com

“I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.” — 4-H pledge

The Johnson County 4-H program is living up to these words, teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County to assemble Camp-in-a-Bag kits for the youngest “Littles” enrolled in the BBBS mentoring program.

Big Brothers Big Sisters creates one-on-one opportunities between adult volunteer mentors and at-risk youths ages 6 to 18. Known as “Bigs” and “Littles,” they meet for at least six hours a month for 18 months. But those in-person outings to movies, museums, restaurants, recreational activities and new adventures, as well as monthly events and school-based programs organized by the agency, are on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So the kits became an outreach outlet.

“I was thinking about ways that we would be able to connect with our Littles, to let them know that we’re thinking about them,” said Dina Bishara, program specialist for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County. “And also in a very small way, to try to fill that gap that so many kids are experiencing right now. They’re used to the structure and activity of school and extracurricular activities and playing with friends.”

The bags contain more than six hours of STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — activities, from the pieces needed for building gliders and balloon flyers, to conducting scientific experiments, planting seeds, choosing healthy snacks and writing down their thoughts.

Those activities also reflect the other contributing partners: Johnson County Master Gardeners, Johnson County Extension and Outreach’s Pick a Better Snack program, O’Brien Family McDonalds and Forever Green Garden Center.

“(We wanted to) just give them something really fun and also educational and engaging, to help them spend time with their siblings, if they have them, and get their parents involved, if possible — and just really keep them connected to that learning and the fun, but also to Big Brothers Big Sisters,” Bishara said. “Camp-in-a-Bag helps us structure things in an intentional and thoughtful way.”

Partnering with 4-H, known for its summer camps, fairs and educational programs, “was a really great way to make sure that the activities we were including were really robust, so it was not going to be a hodgepodge, throw-some-things-in-a-bag,” Bishara added. “We really needed to be deliberate about it, to have the directions nicely laid out.”

The first wave is being distributed to 20 elementary-age children, and officials are hoping to expand the project.

“Funding is always a question,” Bishara said. “We would love to expand to 20 or 40 for more. ... We’d sure like to be able to target the kits to a little older kids, who have different interests.”

Bishara and Kate Yoder, who works with 4-H out of the Iowa State University Extension office in Johnson County, are eager to continue their collaborative efforts.

“It really great,” Yoder said. “When you work together, things comes together and amazing things happen. I’m excited to see what the future holds — what partnerships we can build on and grow.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com

• What: Big Brothers Big Sisters Camp-in-a-Bag kit contributions

• Contact: Email Dina Bishara at dina@bbbsjc.org

A man suspected of a workplace shooting last month at a vinyl window manufacturer in southwest Cedar Rapids turned himself into authorities Friday.

Jamal Devonte Edwards, 26, has been wanted since two men were shot at Associated Materials, 3801 Beverly Rd. SW, the morning of April 9.

Cedar Rapids police had indicated Edwards was wanted in particular for the shooting of Mark Robertson, 36.

Edwards faces charges of attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, going armed with intent and willful injury.

The U.S. Marshals Service helped locate Edwards, distributing a photo of Edwards along the Gulf Coast. He was located in Mobile, Ala. when his father brought him to the Mobile police department so he could turn himself in, according to a Cedar Rapids police news release.

The April 9 shooting was reported at 5:03 a.m. after two employees were shot at Associated Materials. Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Police said at the time it appeared the shooter knew the two men.

Shawn Hardy, senior vice president of integrated products for Associated Materials, confirmed Edwards worked at the Cedar Rapids business, which gave him access to the building, but said he had been employed through a temp agency.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Like other members of the United States House, the “new normal” for Rep. Dave Loebsack involves a lot of time on the phone and in video conferences.

Although the Senate returned to Washington this past week, the House may not return to the Capitol until mid-May. As representatives work from their districts, many face the same challenges as their constituents who are working from home via various phone and video meeting platforms.

“They’re clunky, difficult, frustrating at times,” the 2nd District Democrat said after a 90-minute Energy and Commerce Committee teleconference meeting, “but we can get a lot of things done that way without necessarily going into Washington. It’s not the same by any means ... but I think we can get a lot of our work done that we have to get done even though were not there.”

If there’s an upside to the telecommuting downside, it’s that the poor connections, dropped calls and sometimes spotty internet signals highlight an issue Loebsack has been working on — Congress and the country need better broadband connectivity. A member of the Communications and Technology subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications issues, Loebsack also serves as a co-chair of the Rural Broadband Caucus.

In one meeting, Loebsack said, a fellow committee member was unable to ask questions because the Wi-Fi signal at his home outside of a southwestern city was so poor.

“So I think we’re going to make some progress” convincing congressional colleagues of the need to connect all Americans to reliable and affordable broadband internet, Loebsack said.

“In times like these, when families are at home, millions of K-12 students do not have access to the high-speed internet needed to take classes and complete their assignments online,” he said in an announcement with House Majority Whip James Clyburn and others of a House Democratic plan to connect all Americans to high-speed internet.

When the transmission of COVID-19 slows, the need for high-speed internet connectivity will remain as well as the need for Congress to provide incentives for internet service providers to close the “broadband gap” by extending service to the las mile in rural areas and eliminate what he called “internet deserts” that exist in cities.

The plan calls for an investment of $80 billion over five years for internet infrastructure and another $5 billion over five years for low-interest financing of projects.

With more reliable connectivity, Congress could consider remote voting at times like this when members don’t want to gather in Washington. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been cool to the idea, but Loebsack thinks members are “more open” to voting remotely.

“But we have to make sure that it’s completely secure, that the system can’t get hacked, and that votes are recorded properly,” he said.

Remote voting may be a may be a generational issue, “but I think this is doable.”

“I’m not making that prediction, but I would not be shocked if we move in that direction, especially the longer this (isolation) goes on,” Loebsack said.

Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com

Yesterday, Cameron Koczon shared a link to the dingbat font, Pictos, by the talented, Drew Wilson. Cameron predicted that dingbats will soon be everywhere. Symbol fonts, yes, I thought. Dingbats? No, thanks. Jason Santa Maria replied:

@FictiveCameron I hope not, dingbat fonts sort of spit in the face of accessibility and semantics at the moment. We need better options.

Jason rightly pointed out the accessibility and semantic problems with dingbats. By mapping icons to letters or numbers in the character map, they are represented on the page by that icon. That’s what Pictos does. For example, by typing an ‘a’ on your keyboard, and setting Pictos as the font-face for that letter, the Pictos anchor icon is displayed.

Other folks suggested SVG and JS might be better, and other more novel workarounds to hide content from assistive technology like screen readers. All interesting, but either not workable in my view, or just a bit awkward.

Falling down with CSS text-replacement

A CSS solution in an article from Pictos creator, Drew Wilson, relies on the fact that most of his icons are mapped to a character that forms part of the common name for that symbol. The article uses the delete icon as an example which is mapped to ‘d’. Using :before and :after pseudo-elements, Drew suggests you can kind-of wrangle the markup into something sort-of semantic. However, it starts to fall down fast. For example, a check mark (tick) is mapped to ‘3’. There’s nothing semantic about that. Clever replacement techniques just hide the evidence. It’s a hack. There’s nothing wrong with a hack here and there (as box model veterans well know) but the ends have to justify the means. The end of this story is not good as a VoiceOver test by Scott at Filament Group shows. In fairness to Drew Wilson, though, he goes on to say if in doubt, do it the old way, using his font to create a background image and deploy with a negative text-indent.

I agreed with Jason, and mentioned a half-formed idea:

@jasonsantamaria that’s exactly what I was thinking. Proper unicode mapping if possible, perhaps?

The conversation continued, and thanks to Jason, helped me refine the idea into this post.

Jon Hicks flagged a common problem for some Windows users where certain Unicode characters are displayed as ‘missing character’ glyphs depending on what character it is. I think most of the problems with dingbats or missing Unicode characters can be solved with web fonts and Unicode.

Rising with Unicode and web fonts

I’d love to be able to use custom icons via optimised web fonts. I want to do so accessibly and semantically, and have optimised font files. This is how it could be done:

1. Map the icons in the font to the existing Unicode code points for those symbols wherever possible.

   Unicode code points already exist for many common symbols. Fonts could be tiny, fast, stand-alone symbol fonts. Existing typefaces could also be extended to contain symbols that match the style of individual widths, variants, slopes, and weights. Imagine a set of Clarendon or Gotham symbols for a moment. Wouldn’t that be a joy to behold?

   There may be a possibility that private code points could be used if a code-point does not exist for a symbol we need. Type designers, iconographers, and foundries might agree a common set of extended symbols. Alternatively, they could be proposed for inclusion in Unicode.

2. Include the font with font-face.

   This assumes ubiquitous support (as any use of dingbats does) — we’re very nearly there. WOFF is coming to Safari and with a bit more campaigning we may even see WOFF on iPad soon.

3. In HTML, reference the Unicode code points in UTF-8 using numeric character references.

   Unicode characters have corresponding numerical references. Named entities may not be rendered by XML parsers. Sean Coates reminded me that in many Cocoa apps in OS X the character map is accessible via a simple CMD+ALT+t shortcut. Ralf Herrmann mentioned that unicode characters ‘…have “speaking” descriptions (like Leftwards Arrow) and fall back nicely to system fonts.’

Limitations

1. Accessibility: Limited Unicode / entity support in assistive devices.

   My friend and colleague, Jon Gibbins’s old tests in JAWS 7 show some of the inconsistencies. It seems some characters are read out, some ignored completely, and some read as a question mark. Not great, but perhaps Jon will post more about this in the future.

   Elizabeth Pyatt at Penn State university did some dingbat tests in screen readers. For real Unicode symbols, there are pronunciation files that increase the character repertoire of screen readers, like this file for phonetic characters. Symbols would benefit from one.

2. Web fonts: font-face not supported.

   If font-face is not supported on certain devices like mobile phones, falling back to system fonts is problematic. Unicode symbols may not be present in any system fonts. If they are, for many designers, they will almost certainly be stylistically suboptimal. It is possible to detect font-face using the Paul Irish technique. Perhaps there could be a way to swap Unicode for images if font-face is not present.

Now, next, and a caveat

I can’t recommend using dingbats like Pictos, but the icons sure are useful as images. Beautifully crafted icon sets as carefully crafted fonts could be very useful for rapidly creating image icons for different resolution devices like the iPhone 4, and iPad.

Perhaps we could try and formulate a standard set of commonly used icons using the Unicode symbols range as a starting point. I’ve struggled to find a better visual list of the existing symbols than this Unicode symbol chart from Johannes Knabe.

Icons in fonts as Unicode symbols needs further testing in assistive devices and using font-face.

Last, but not least, I feel a bit cheeky making these suggestions. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Combine it with a bit of imagination, and it can be lethal. I have a limited knowledge about how fonts are created, and about Unicode. The real work would be done by others with deeper knowledge than I. I’d be fascinated to hear from Unicode, accessibility, or font experts to see if this is possible. I hope so. It feels to me like a much more elegant and sustainable solution for scalable icons than dingbat fonts.

For more on Unicode, read this long, but excellent, article recommended by my colleague, Andrei, the architect of Unicode and internationalization support in PHP 6: The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets.

Australia has introduced a streamlined, priority visa pathway for highly skilled and talented individuals to work and live permanently in Australia. The Government and industry has recognised there is growing competition for talent around the globe and to compete we must have a pathway that leads to certainty for people wishing to come to Australia. […]

The post Australia is recruiting – New Global Talent Visa appeared first on Visa Australia - Immigration Lawyers & Registered Migration Agents.

In late 2019 the Australian Government launched the Global Talent – Independent program which offers a streamlined, priority visa pathway for highly skilled and talented individuals to work and live permanently in Australia. There are two streams. The first is the Global Talent Independent Program (GTI) and the second is the Global Talent Employer Sponsored (GTES). […]

The post Australia’s global talent visa for individuals and businesses appeared first on Visa Australia - Immigration Lawyers & Registered Migration Agents.