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CEDAR RAPIDS — After 75 years of holding her torch high, Cedar Rapids’ replica Lady Liberty is getting a helping hand.

The city’s first public statue was installed in 1950 by the Boy Scouts of America in a “Strengthening the Arm of Liberty” campaign that placed about 200 Statue of Liberty replicas around the country. Earlier this year, local labor unions were tasked with strengthening a more literal arm.

Recent repairs, completed over the last six months by sheet metal apprentices at SMART (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation) Local 263 and painting apprentices at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 117, are the third time the local paragon of freedom has been re

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