Mt. Pleasant News

CEDAR RAPIDS ? Although increases in state aid to K-12 schools has been small, Iowa is bucking the trend of declining public investment in elementary and secondary schools.State aid to public schools, which is seen as crucial for communities to thrive and the economy to offer broad opportunity, has declined dramatically in a majority of states over the past decade, according to a report from the Center on Budget ...

While Cedar Rapids not-for-profits hoped for donations on Giving Tuesday, officials said the day is used as another tool in seasonal fundraising efforts.Giving Tuesday, which takes place the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, is intended to be a day during which Americans donate time or money to a charitable cause.Most local not-for-profits use Giving Tuesday to raise awareness about the cause the organization ...

Three companies with Eastern Iowa connections have been recognized as business innovators, garnering a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 2018 list.The Forbes annual list recognizes about 600 young entrepreneurs and innovators in more than 20 industries.Brad McDonald, 29, co-founder of Agroy, grew up on a small pig farm in Ryan, about 40 minutes north of Cedar Rapids. McDonald has shaken up the way farmers ? even ...

The Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra presents a concert of holiday classics on Saturday, Dec. 9, during its annual HollyDays concert under the direction of Robert McConnell, music director and conductor.This is the fourth year for our HollyDays POPS Concert. The concert is free and underwritten by Great River Health Systems with additional support from Henry County Health Center. Concert goers will have an ...

Bob Dodds was known to many as a very generous man. He never knew a stranger and greeted everyone with a smile and a handshake.In his 73 years of life, he wore many hats from politician to farmer to insurance agent and pastor. He felt his most important role was to tell others about ?God's plan of salvation.?In honor of Dodds, the grand opening of the ?Little Chapel in the Woods,? will take place during New ...

Mt. Pleasant Community High School is holding a soup supper and baked goods silent auction during the basketball game against Fairfield Friday, Dec. 1. The soup will be chili, loaded baked potato and broccoli cheese. Proceeds will benefit post prom activities.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Puerto Rico would get substantial debt relief and other new aid to help it recover from destruction inflicted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September, under legislation unveiled on Tuesday by leading liberals in the U.S. Senate.Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, called for a new ?emergency credit facility? of up to $57.2 billion for Puerto ...

LOS ANGELES ? YouTube, scrambling to respond to its latest brand-safety crisis involving videos with children that drew sexually inappropriate comments, says it has taken focused action to address the problem.In the past week, YouTube said, it has removed more than 150,000 videos featuring children that had been targeted by pedophiles in the comments section, and also disabled comments for over 625,000 videos. ...

How are things going with your foster babies? How are your children Julia and Austin adjusting, and how do you think it will go once you have another baby born in February? These are all questions readers are asking, and for good reason.Sometimes I am not sure what the practical answer is. Really, our days do vary a lot. I am not some sort of super woman who has every ?i? dotted and ?t? crossed. We have many ...

Iowa State University has landed $1.1 million in federal support to continue a program to help first-generation and underrepresented students earn doctorate degrees.The ISU Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, winner of the U.S. Department of Education grant, aims to increase diversity among Ph.D. graduates by preparing qualified undergrads for graduate-level study, according to Iowa State.The...

DENPASAR, Indonesia ? Indonesia closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali on Monday and ordered 100,000 residents living near a grumbling volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be ?imminent?.The airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed ...

In December of 1932, a group gathered at the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown Cedar Rapids for the inaugural meeting of the Congenial Hundred Dance Club. A notice in The Gazette at the time remarked on the room decorated in ?holiday finery ... with garlands of Christmas greens, silver stars and bells? for the dance, planned to be the first of many.Those plans have held true; 85 years later, members of the Congenial ...