(Radio Iowa) – A Cedar Rapids-based nonprofit that served 40-thousand local homeless people last year will be the beneficiary of a community service project this week called Circle the City with Mercy. Volunteers will be creating at least 500 pairs of protective foot coverings that will be donated to the Olivet Neighborhood Mission. Olivet director Julie Palmer says those hand-sewn galoshes will be a godsend. “It rains during the summer and people’s socks get wet,” Palmer says, “and during the winter, being able to take these coverings and put them on the shoes that they actually have on and be able to keep people’s feet dry so they don’t get sick.”

The elastic-lined foot coverings will be made from “blue wraps,” a strong material that’s used to wrap sterile instrument trays at Mercy Medical Center.  “It’s weather-proof and it’s very multi-layered,” Palmer says. “They were originally just throwing them away and in the past, Mercy has done a couple of different things for us and for the homeless people. One of the things they’ve done is made mats out of them — homeless mats — so they can sleep on the ground or whatever and not get wet.” It’s the ultimate recycling project as a product that was used in the healing process — which had traditionally been tossed in the trash — will have a second life providing comfort to the less fortunate.

“Yes, it is absolutely a great use,” Palmer says, laughing. “They always surprise me over there. They come up with these great ideas and I’m like, ‘Yeah!'” The Olivet Mission hosts a clothing closet and a food pantry that distributed almost a million pounds of food in 2020. “There’s more homeless people here in Cedar Rapids since COVID and the derecho than a lot of people want to imagine,” Palmer says. “What we have been trying to do is find out what some of their needs are. The reality that we also know about the homeless, you’ll talk to some of them and they have no intention of wanting housing.”

The annual one-day volunteer effort will be held Thursday. Circle the City with Mercy is a tradition among three sister organizations: Mount Mercy University, the Catherine McAuley Center and Mercy Medical Center. The project marks the anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids in July of 1875.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has hired two companies to do socio-economic studies of the gambling industry. Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko says they will take a look at several social issues. “Does it increase bankruptcies, divorce rates, crime rates? That is the socio-economic piece that will be studied as part of this,” he says. “The other piece is a market component that looks at the overall health of the industry.” Ohorilko says the study is required by the legislature every eight years.

“We’ll look at both parts and really try to give Iowans a good view of how gambling is impacting our state,” he says. Ohorilko says they decided a couple of different reviews were the best way to get the information.  “The two companies that were selected, they both are independent companies, they do different things. The commission felt like it was important to get two separate opinions,” according to Ohorilko. Ohorilko says the two companies will present their findings at the I-R-G-C’s January meeting. The are paying 245-thousand dollars for both studies.

(Radio Iowa) – Dubuque police used traffic camera video to track a suspect in a weekend shooting. An 18-year-old man was shot to death in Dubuque early Saturday evening. Police found the victim, shot in the chest, in a downtown Dubuque intersection. The shooting was caught on a traffic camera. Police used the footage to track the suspect to a house nearby and took a 15 year old boy into custody.

UPDATE 8:17-p.m. – Authorities in Cass County say there’s good news to report with regard to a possible drowning victim north of Lewis: There was no victim. Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Preston Harter KJAN News it was apparently all a big misunderstanding. The Atlantic Police Department managed to contact a couple who had been out by the creek fishing, with their toddler in tow. When they left, they forgot to take the stroller with them. Thankfully, everyone of the family members were accounted for.

Cass County Deputy Kyle Quist says numerous agencies assisted in handling the incident, including:

• Cass County Sheriff’s Office
• Atlantic Police Department
• State Conservation officers
• Cass County EMA
• Atlantic Fire
• Cass and Shelby County Drone teams (Quist said the drone is “Probably one of the best tools that we have right now, that we are just really learning how to use well.”)
• Cass County K9
• Shelby County EMA
• SWI Regional Dive Team.
• Thanks also to the Cass County Communications Center dispatch.

Quist also thanked the Cass County Communications Dispatchers. “Without them, large-scale events like this would not run smoothly. And, we have quality dispatchers, and because of that, not only was this event happening, but there were multiple calls across the county and City of Atlantic for other situations they were dealing with, and they did an excellent job.”

(Original report follows)…

Search and Rescue teams are on the scene of a possible drowning north of Lewis. Initial (unconfirmed) reports are a baby stroller with cold food inside was found by the bridge, but it’s not clear if a child was in the water.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon has confirmed search and rescue personnel are in the vicinity of Turkey Creek and Highway 6. As of just before 8-p.m., a dive team was searching the water, which is waist deep at some locations due to the drought. Additional details are not available.