The Daily Iowan WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2023
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COMMUNITY SINCE 1868
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BREAKING BARRIERS Iowa women’s basketball player Caitlin Clark is waking up the world to women’s sports.
Ayrton Breckenridge | The Daily Iowan
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark signs autographs during a welcome home event for the Iowa women’s basketball team’s NCAA national championship runner-up finish outside of Hyatt Regency Hotel in Coralville on April 3. The championship game garnered a record-setting 9.9 million viewers on ABC. The team will play on Oct. 15 at Kinnick Stadium in front of about 50,000 fans. Kenna Roering Sports Editor
mckenna-roering@uiowa.edu
The 2023 national runner-up Iowa women’s basketball team can’t go anywhere without getting recognized. The title game featuring Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Louisiana State University’s Angel Reese in April averaged a record-setting 9.9 million viewers across ABC and ESPN.
INSIDE
Across state lines, Nebraska volleyball set an all-time attendance record for a women’s sporting event when 92,003 people dressed in red packed into Memorial Stadium on Aug. 31 to watch the Huskers defeat the Omaha Mavericks in three straight sets. And on Oct. 15, Clark and Co. will set the all-time attendance record for a women’s basketball game as nearly 50,000 tickets have been purchased for Crossover at Kinnick, an exhibition game between the Hawkeyes and the
DePaul Blue Demons. Such national attention was unheard of across women’s sports just a couple of years ago. “I want my legacy to be the impact I have on young kids and the people of Iowa,” Clark said with tears in her eyes after the title game loss against LSU. “I was that young girl. All you have to do is dream, and you can be in moments like this.”
HISTORY | 2A
Family pushes for sickle cell awareness After the death of two sisters, an Iowa family is holding sickle cell blood drives in Coralville. Sickle cells and their differing appearance
Shreya Reddy News Reporter
shreya-s-reddy@uiowa.edu
Finding the University of Iowa’s Sudanese community UI student and Daily Iowan Amplify reporter Noora Minalla joined a Sudanese student organization to reconnect with her culture. AMPLIFY | 6A
Sister Beleta and Barbara Brewer from Des Moines died in their 40s from sickle cell disease in 2013 after spending most of their lives in the hospital because of multiple surgeries. Their younger sister, Betrina Brewer, said they lived a full life. Since their deaths, their family has held sickle cell blood drives since 2018 at the nonprofit blood center ImpactLife in Coralville. Many people who live with the disease are often unaware that they possess the sickle cell trait, let alone have the disease. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disease of the blood in which both parents carry the sickle cell trait. Beleta Brewer was born in 1972, a time in which there was very little research on sickle cell disease. Barbara was born soon after in 1973, and the two inherited the trait and contracted the disease. Shyneeta Rush, a cousin to the Brewer sisters and an ImpactLife volunteer ImpactLife in Coralville, has organized the blood drives for five years. Rush and her husband began hosting these drives at their church and later at the African American Museum of Iowa in Cedar Rapids. ImpactLife now holds sickle cell blood drives once or twice a year, Rush said, and collected 12-15 units of blood at the July 2023 drive in Coralville. Territory Manager at ImpactLife Michelle Stebral said during these drives, they typically see about 15-20 people.
Sickle cell disease affects hundreds of individuals every year. The disease affects red blood cells and alters their shape.
Symptoms of sickle cell anemia Tattoos: The story behind the ink Getting tattoos over scars can be emotional for those who choose this unique form of therapy. 80 HOURS | 1C
ONLINE • See detailed coverage of the Crossover at Kinnick Iowa vs. DePaul women’s basketball scrimmage on Oct. 15 at dailyiowan.com. • Listen to the latest episodes of The Daily Iowan’s weekly podcasts, Above the Fold and Press Box Banter, where the DI covers the latest news and sports on streaming platforms and at dailyiowan.com.
Betrina Brewer said both her sisters had sickle cell anemia, which affected their organs, and was “the worst type” of sickle cell disease. The two women had strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and joint pain due to their disease. “I remember how tired and depleted they would be and how severe the
CELLS | 8A
Graphic by Amy Scott | The Daily Iowan
Amish residents oppose construction on JoCo road Despite concerns on the project’s price, county officials approved the plan to start in spring. Roxy Ekberg News Reporter
roxy-ekberg@uiowa.edu
Despite concerns from the Amish community, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors is moving ahead with a plan to repave a county road outside of Kalona, Iowa. The project will resurface a portion of 540th St. S.W., which passes in front of Stringtown Grocery in Kalona, Iowa. The road will change from a chip-seal surface to an asphalt surface as part of the county’s five-year plan. The project was approved 4-1, with Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz as the sole dissenter. A roughly $983,000 contract was awarded to L.L. Pelling for the project at the Sept. 28 formal session. There are about 10,200 Amish people in Iowa, according to a 2022 Elizabethtown College study. Less than a half mile long, the project is the beginning of a larger plan involving 540th St. set for 2024 or 2025. Ed Schlabach, a previous owner of Stringtown Grocery and a member of the Amish community, said the county is looking at the situation from a different angle than his community.
Schlabach said the chip-seal road is better for horses, and the community does not want it to be changed, especially considering the price tag attached to the project. “Why spend the million dollars, especially when we have a horsefriendly road already?” Schlabach said. Schlabach said his community doesn’t think the road is a wise way to spend tax dollars. Supervisors Fixmer-Oraiz and Jon Green visited the site to meet with residents and discuss the project before voting on it. Fixmer-Oraiz said they wanted to signal to constituents that the supervisors listened to their concerns, and further the conversation for next time. “I didn’t feel comfortable … having just heard from residents that that was something that they had concerns Fixmer-Oraiz about,” Fixmer-Oraiz said. “I am deeply appreciative of the work that our county engineers have done, and I also want residents to
JOCO | 8A