Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 29

The Gazette Daily News Podcast

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for November 29, 2023.

Some warmer weather will return on Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny, with a high near 42 degrees. Wednesday night it will be cloudy, with a low of around 27 degrees.

Seven Iowa students are named as plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that challenges a new, sweeping state law that places restrictions on LGBTQ students and school materials.

The ACLU of Iowa joined two law firms in filing a lawsuit challenging Iowa Senate File 496, which prohibits the instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation through sixth grade, prohibits books with descriptions of sex acts and requires parental notification when a K-12 student wants to be referred to by a different pronoun or name in school.

The law was passed by Republican state lawmakers and signed into law in May by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The lawsuit asks the court for an immediate halt to enforcement of the law during the legal challenge. Attorneys said the lawsuit argues the state law violates the First Amendment right to free speech of Iowa’s LGBTQ students, and asks the court to find the entire law unconstitutional.

The federal lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Iowa. The ACLU of Iowa, Lambda Legal and the law firm Jenner & Block are representing the seven students and Iowa Safe Schools, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ students in Iowa.

A former employee of University of Iowa Community HomeCare has paired up with a former patient to sue the entity on behalf of themselves and 67,000-plus others over a data breach in March they argue could have been prevented, was reported too late and unjustly enriched the university while causing years of risk.

Becky Kaefring, an Iowa City woman who worked for UI Community HomeCare from 2003 to 2019, and Kimberly Sullivan, a Shellsburg mother whose child received UI home care services, this fall sued UI Community HomeCare and UI Community Medical Services — which fall under the UI Health Care umbrella.

In the lawsuit, which seeks class action certification, the women accused the entities of making “calculated decisions to avoid its data security obligations at the expense of plaintiffs and class members by utilizing cheaper, ineffective security measures.”

The breach compelling the lawsuit happened March 23, although the UIHC didn’t report it until May, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“UI Community HomeCare has determined that the impacted files contained personal information related to patients,” according to the UIHC notice identifying 67,897 affected individuals. “At this time, UI Community HomeCare sees no evidence of misuse of any information related to this incident.”

But the plaintiffs argue they’re now burdened with years of monitoring and anxiety.

The lawsuit comes as a current UIHC patient two weeks ago updated her similar lawsuit, also seeking class status, accusing UI Hospitals and Clinics of the “unlawful and widespread unauthorized practice” of sharing confidential personal protected health information to third parties — like Facebook, also known as Meta.

A portion of First Street NE in downtown Cedar Rapids will be reduced to one lane of traffic starting Wednesday. The closure will make way for construction of infrastructure for the city’s permanent flood control system.

The affected portion of First Street NE will be southbound, from B Avenue NE to First Avenue NE. The lane closures are expected to last through construction, which will be until spring 2025. Drivers should expect delays.