The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.

About 140 children and their families in Iowa will no longer have child care beginning Monday as Community Action of Eastern Iowa is forced to halt its Head Start program because the ongoing federal government shutdown has delayed funding.

Community Action of Eastern Iowa also laid off 45 child care workers Friday that serve children ages zero to 5 years in Scott, Clinton and Muscatine counties.

“One thing that’s great about Head Start is it’s not just day care. We provide high quality care and education experiences. Our staff is constantly training and learning. It’s difficult to lose that team right now, and we hope to be able to regroup and reassemble everyone as quickly as possible, and p

See Full Page