Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 24

The Gazette Daily News Podcast

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for November 24, 2023.

According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly cloudy Friday in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high near 33 degrees.The wind will pick up a bit as well, with gusts reaching as high as 25 mph.

There’s been a national shortage of ADHD medications for more than a year, and patients have been affected here in Iowa as well. What started with manufacturing delays for a producer of Adderall in October 2022 has turned into erratic availability of methylphenidate, sold under brand named Ritalin and Concerta.

The shortage is caused by multiple factors, including production problems for manufacturers and limits the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency puts on how much controlled substances a company can produce, said Mike Brownlee, chief pharmacy officer for the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics.

Dr. Robin Kopelman, a psychiatrist who works with adult female patients through Meadowlark Psychiatric Services in North Liberty, said the monthly hunt for medications is an additional hardship for adults with ADHD.

Health care providers like Kopelman say they have gotten creative to help patients get needed medications. This might involve prescribing a slightly smaller or larger dose, switching brands or using a different form of the medicine, such as slow release, she said. The FDA in August approved a generic form of ADHD drug Vyvanse, which has created some additional options.

This year’s corn and soybean harvests are virtually complete in nearly every area of the state, with one exception: south-central Iowa.

“Farmers in south central Iowa still have over 10 percent of their corn for grain crop remaining to be harvested,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported back Monday.

That region of the state is often the last to finish harvest, according to USDA crop reports that date back more than a decade.

This year, part of that lag might have been caused by some replanting of soybeans, which delayed their maturation and harvest, said Clarabell Probasco, an Iowa State University Extension field agronomist who monitors part of that area.

Despite the delays in that area, Iowa’s soybean harvest is considered complete, and about 97 percent of the state’s corn had been harvested as of the beginning of the week. The work has been aided by a streak of mostly rainless weeks.

EntreFEST, the two-day conference celebrating entrepreneurialism and innovation, returns to Cedar Rapids in 2024 after two years in Iowa City.

The conference will be held June 13-14. Venues will include the Geonetric Building, 415 12th Ave. SE, and the Olympic Theater, 1202 Third St. SE, with more to be announced.

In addition to keynote speakers and panels, EntreFEST features dozens of smaller sessions that cover all aspects of business and entrepreneurship. Attendees are able to ask questions and interact with speakers, while happy hours and live entertainment give attendees the chance to network and unwind afterward.

More information about venues, speakers and tickets will be announced soon