Olivia Cohen

6 days ago | thegazette.com | Olivia Cohen

The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. The founders of a new seed library in Linn County hope the free resource will engage beginning gardeners, including those who live in urban areas, to grow their own food as well as community connections. Garnet Stanger, the master gardener coordinator and volunteer manager for ISU Extension & Outreach in Linn County, helped spearhead the seed library.

1 week ago | thegazette.com | Olivia Cohen

The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. When about a dozen schoolteachers in Hudson were diagnosed with cancer within 10 years of each other, Diane Anderson decided to take matters into her own hands. Anderson, who retired from teaching in the Hudson Community School District after 30 years, was one of them — diagnosed with triple negative metaplastic breast cancer, a rare form of the cancer, in 2020.

2 weeks ago | thegazette.com | Olivia Cohen

The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. Paul Myers, owner of Shueyville-based Boom Boom Billy’s Fireworks, is feeling the effects of soaring costs caused by American tariffs on Chinese imports. Before the Trump administration’s 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods went into effect April 9, Myers bough as many cases of fireworks as he could afford so he wouldn’t have to pay a price hike.

2 weeks ago | thegazette.com | Olivia Cohen

The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. Cedar Rapids — An animal control offer responding to a call this month about a snake in someone’s front yard expected to find just a typical garter snake. But it turned out to be a 9-foot long reticulated python — which are illegal to own in Iowa, and posed challenges to Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control to care for it.

2 weeks ago | thegazette.com | Olivia Cohen

The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. If the Trump administration ends the Energy Star program that for decades has clearly marked home appliances that meet energy efficient standards, consumers would have to do more legwork of their own to research products or risk paying higher utility bills.