(Radio Iowa) – The state’s largest health care system is urging Iowans to get vaccinated. UnityPoint Health released a video message on Twitter. “We’re exhausted. We’re frustrated,” the statement begins. “We’re still at war with Covid.”

One hospital staffer featured in the video describes seeing 11 patients die in a three day period, something he’s never experienced in his medical career. UnityPoint operates hospitals and clinics throughout the state. UnityPoint also took out a full page ad in The Des Moines Register, saying its hospitals are caring for more Covid-19 patients than ever before and the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated.

According to the latest information from the Iowa Department of Public Health, 83-and-a-half percent of intensive care patients in Iowa hospitals are not fully vaccinated. The agency’s Covid dashboard shows 768 patients in Iowa hospitals today (Monday) have tested positive for Covid, five fewer than were hospitalized Friday. Just over 70 percent of Iowa adults are fully vaccinated.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican lawmakers promise the lack of child care options in Iowa will get renewed attention during the 2022 legislative session. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny suggests expanding already existing child care centers and in-home day cares is a place to start. “We all hear it back in our districts, especially in the rural areas,” Whitver says. “There’s a lot less options out in the rural areas and so trying to figure out whether it’s more public-private partnerships or just looking at how we regulate the industry to see if there’s ways we can improve child care access and affordability in Iowa.”

House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, says House Republicans are exploring incentives to get private businesses to take the lead.  “What can we do to incentivize businesses to maybe work with their local community? Maybe there’s a local provider that wants to expand and they can maybe be a part of that and what tax incentive could they get,” Grassley says. “…Seeing, recognizing the way the state’s recognizing that there’s more to workforce than just people showing up to work and punching a clock every day.” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights says House Democrats are proposing those state incentives be targeted to small businesses. “We all know that one of the biggest problems is finding a (child care) spot in a lot of communities, especially rural areas across the state,” Konfrst says, “so working on innovation and working with businesses to try to find ways to think differently and find new ways for child care access.”

Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says Senate Democrats will press for an increase in the number of Iowa parents who are eligible for state child care assistance.  “We want an all-of-the-above solution,” Wahls says. “The crisis for both child care and for workforce is at a point where we shouldn’t be trying to just pick and choose or a little bite at the apple here or there. We’ve got to do the whole enchilada.”

Households with incomes of up to 145 percent of the federal poverty line are currently eligible for state child care assistance. Wahls and his fellow Democrats propose raising that to 200 percent, which means a two-parent household with an annual income just under 35-thousand dollars would qualify.

Officials with the Glenwood Police Department report the arrest on Jan. 1st, of 24-year-old Haydn Kingery, from Council Bluffs. She was taken into custody for OWI/1st offense, with bond set at $1,000. Authorities said also, a Council Bluffs woman complained of pain and possible injury, following a single-vehicle accident Friday morning. According to the report, 45-year-old Ma Remedios Aserit Kutchara was traveling south on 221st Street near Glenwood, and was attempting to traverse a curve in the road, when her 2015 Hyundai Accent left the road to the south and ran over a small pine tree, breaking the tree in half.

The car continued into the ditch and came to rest against a large tree. Medics responded after Kutchara complained of some chest of knee pain. She was checked out and released from the scene. The vehicle sustained about $4,000 damage.

Glenwood Police said also, an unknown, red vehicle was eastbound on Valley Street Thursday afternoon, when it hit a wooden post containing three mailboxes, in the grassy area at 103 Valley Street. The vehicle left the area without stopping. Juveniles in the area provided police with a description of the suspect vehicle. The damage amounted to about $900.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University is using a one-point-four million-dollar grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority for a project to use 3-D printing for the vertical framing of homes. I-S-U’s Pete Evans says they are trying to help with the shortage of affordable housing. “Being able to automate some of that function, because we have a workforce shortage, that is part of the housing shortage, also the speed of construction, those two factors allow us to try to really impact that immediate need,” Evans says.

Evans is an assistant professor of industrial design at I-S-U — and says they are working on finding the right machine that will be able to print a one-story house. Evans says they hope this can be part of a holistic solution for affordable housing. “This is definitely not trying to just look at one aspect of this. But really, now that we’re here, and we talk about industry, four-point-oh or 21st-century solutions that we can really try to re-imagine what housing might be,” according to Evans.

They are working with a contractor on the demonstration project in the southwest Iowa city of Hamburg as the area continues to recover from flooding in 2019.

(By Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors held their annual re-organizational meeting this (Monday) morning, during which they voted to re-elect Steve Baier as Board Chair. They also elected Mark O’Brien as Vice Chair, and decided to the day and start time for their weekly meeting the same as in 2021, and that is 9-a.m. Tuesday, except at the end of the month, when it will be held at the end of the business week.

The Board also voted to increase the mileage reimbursement rate for those county employees who use their personal vehicles for County business, from 45 cents per mile, to 50 cents per mile, and the issuance of pay checks on the same days as before.

The Cass County Supervisors appointed their members to various County Board, Commissions and/or Committees, and acted on passing a Resolution for the construction of livestock confinement feeding operations, as part of the Master Matrix. Board Chair Steve Baier….

(Every application for a permit to construct livestock feeding structures must be evaluated by the Board before the application is submitted to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for final approval.)

The Supervisors set the Medical Examiners Fee at $200 per call for a standard call and $400 per call for an involved call, as determined by the Medical Examiner. And, Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken reported that a bridge project that was supposed to begin today on 700th Street south of G35, is delayed for about a week due the cold temperatures, and at the request of the contractor.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following two accidents over the holiday weekend. At around 6:45-p.m. Friday, a 2000 Ford F250 Super Duty pickup driven by 21-year-old Paul Earl Hawkins, of Manilla, was traveling too fast for conditions, westbound on 270th Street. When her made a hard right turn onto Maple, the vehicle went out of control and rolled into the east ditch and sustained $10,000 damage. Hawkins was cited for Careless Driving.

And, at around 1:15-p.m. Saturday, a 2000 Chrysler LHS driven by 17-year-old Adrina Ann Todd, of Bagley, was traveling south on Highway 4, when the car went out of control due to snow on the roadway. The vehicle went into the east high, hitting a sign and posts. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $1,000. No citations were issued.

With Ric Hanson.

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With the new year, new mask policies are being put in place in some Iowa schools and several districts are dropping their mask mandates as of today (Monday). The C-D-C says all 99 Iowa counties are seeing high transmission of COVID-19, and Nola Aigner Davis at the Polk County Health Department says vaccines and masks remain the best ways to bring down the number of infections and hospitalizations. “COVID-19 is not slowing down anytime soon,” she says, “and it’s especially not going to slow down after the holidays when individuals gathered with family and friends and traveled.”

In many cases, school boards decided to make masks optional because COVID-19 vaccines are available for school-aged children, but Aigner Davis says the change in policy is ahead of the numbers.  “This would be a reasonable step to take if we saw a high rate of individuals under the age of 18 getting the vaccine,” she says. “We are still not seeing high vaccination rates for children under 18.”

Masks are no longer required in several Iowa school districts, including Decorah, Linn-Mar and Southeast Polk. Masks will become optional for West Des Moines students later in the month. Some school districts may require masks if there is a spike in coronavirus infections. In Mount Vernon and College Community schools, a mask mandate will be reinstated if the COVID-19 positivity rate is higher than 2 percent in a school and the absence rate is over 8 percent.

(by Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says there were two arrests over the holiday weekend. Friday afternoon, 34-year-old Jessica Renee Swietek, of Mt. Ayr, was arrested for Driving While Barred. She was later released on a $2,000 bond. And, on Saturday, 26-year-old Jimmy Wayne King, of Texas, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on charges of OWI/1st offense, and Carrying Weapons while intoxicated. He was also later released on a $2,000 bond.

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