(Des Moines, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Public Health today (Wednesday) reported 116 additional COVID-19 deaths. That brings the total to 8,317 since the start of the pandemic. IDPH reports 36,823 positive tests in the last seven days, up slightly from 36,731 on Monday. The state’s 14-day positivity climbed from 24.3% to 24.8%.

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 increased from 953 to 991. Of those hospitalized with the virus, 64% are unvaccinated, while 72% of those listed in intensive care with the virus are unvaccinated. The number of Iowa long-term care facilities reporting a COVID-19 outbreak continues to rise. There are now 63 facilities reporting an outbreak, up from 56 on Monday.

(*UPDATED at 6:45-p.m. w/a statement from Tyson Foods) STORM LAKE—Early this (Wednesday) morning, wastewater flowed into the city of Storm Lake’s storm sewers for less than an hour. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said the incident originated at Tyson Foods, 1009 Richland Drive, wastewater began flowing into a storm sewer about 2:25 a.m. The discharge ended about half an hour later at 2:58 a.m. The likely cause was a pump failure in the plant at 1009 Richland Drive.

The storm sewer empties into a storm water detention basin about a block north of Storm Lake, where Tyson staff began pumping it up. Of the estimated 16,500 gallons released, some of it reached the lake. Tyson staff are working to estimate how much. Tyson and the city of Storm Lake collected water samples for testing. DNR staff indicated they do not expect environmental issues given the small amount that reached the lake.

DNR will monitor the cleanup and consider appropriate enforcement actions. Wednesday evening, Kelly Hellbusch, with Tyson Corporate Communications issued a statement to KJAN, saying “We took immediate action to contain the accidental release of water from the plant and are working cooperatively with city and state officials as we continue to implement our containment and cleanup measures and further evaluate the matter.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A preliminary hearing in the OWI/1st offense case against Cass County (Iowa) Attorney, 46-year old Vanessa E. Strazdas, will be held in Atlantic on February 4th, at 9-a.m.  Strazdas was arrested on the serious misdemeanor charge early Sunday morning. She was booked into the Cass County jail and released a few hours later on her Own Recognizance. Online court records show her case assignment will be handled by Judge James Heckerman.

Strazdas has held the job of Cass County Attorney since Feb. 2019.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says there are a few bad actors in any industry, but she disagrees with a general assessment that the media and Iowa teachers are pursuing a sinister agenda. Senate President Jake Chapman, a fellow Republican, used the phrase “sinister agenda” during a speech in the senate last week. “It has become increasingly evident that we live in a world in which many, including our media, wish to confuse, misguide and deceive us, calling good evil and evil good,” Chapman said. “…The attack on our children is no longer hidden…We have some teachers who are disguising sexually obscene material as desired subject matter and profess it as artistic and literary in value.”

Reynolds says when parents raise concerns about X-rated books, her focus is to ensure administrators and school boards respond and, if they don’t, the state Board of Education will. The governor’s also distancing herself from Chapman’s remarks.  “I’m not going to take any ownership of that. I hope he just misspoke and he’ll correct that,” Reynolds says. “But I think everything that I say, that I’ve said and done — not just said, but done — should let teachers know how much I appreciate (them) and especially appreciate them being in the classroom when so many other teachers across this country did not.” Reynolds says there are individuals who hurt the reputation of many industries.  “There’s bad politicians. There’s bad cops — every sector,” she says. “There’s bad media people.”

But Reynolds says she isn’t accusing teachers of having a sinister agenda and points to her support of teacher leadership and compensation program and the thousand dollar retention bonus for teachers she just announced last week. “I’m the governor of the state of Iowa,” Reynolds says. “…I don’t hear anything in any of that that says I’m not grateful to the teachers.”

Reynolds made her remarks during an interview with Radio Iowa. Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls say Chapman’s hateful words should be disavowed by all Republicans. Wahls says the governor should pledge to veto Chapman’s proposal to charge teachers and teacher librarians with a felony if certain books are used in class or are in the school library.

(Villisca, Iowa) – No injuries were reported following a house fire early this (Wednesday) morning, in Villisca. According to reports, the Villisca fire fighters dispatched to the scene at 407 E. 6th Street at 12:10-a.m., arrived about five-minutes later, to find the home’s occupants had been evacuated, and smoke was emitting from the front door. The flames apparently began in the basement, where a space heater was located next to a bed.

The blaze spread within the walls into the first floor kitchen and living room. Crews quickly knocked down the basement flames and contained the remaining hot spots to the kitchen/living room walls. The flames were extinguished and clean-up operations wrapped-up by around 2-a.m.

The Red Cross was called to assist with four adults and one child of the home. Authorities say while a dollar amount of the damage was not immediately available, the house was still livable, with necessary repairs conducted. Assisting Villisca Fire were crews from Villisca Public Works, Villisca Power, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Villisca Ambulance, Red Oak Rescue, Alliant Energy, and the American Red Cross.

IOWA CITY – The Iowa Department of Corrections, today (Wednesday) said 84-year-old Donald Edward Lanphier was pronounced deceased due to natural causes at 4:46 pm on Sunday, January 16, 2022 at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He was originally an inmate at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. Lanphier had been serving a 10 year Special Supervision Sentence 903B.2 (2005) from Mahaska County. His supervision began on December 10, 2020.

Another inmate, 65-year-old Charles Earl Thompson was pronounced deceased due to natural causes at 9:29 pm on Sunday, January 16, 2022 in a hospice room of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center where he had been housed due to chronic illness.  Thompson had been serving a 10-year maximum term for the crimes of Lascivious Acts with Child from Floyd County. His sentence began on February 22, 2021

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(Shenandoah, Iowa) – A traffic stop early this (Wednesday) morning in Shenandoah resulted two people being arrested on drug charges. The Shenandoah Police Dept. reports the Shenandoah K9 Unit conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle with an equipment violation, at around 12:17-a.m., in the 800 block of Highway 59. During the incident, the K9 “Remmi” was deployed and alerted to the odor of narcotics.

Following an investigation, a passenger in the vehicle, 35-year-old Tamara Herrera-Alberto, of Shenandoah, was arrested for: Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS)/Methamphetamine, and Poss. of Paraphernalia. She arrested also, on a valid arrest warrant issued out of Mills County, for a Controlled Substance Violation & Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp, and two valid warrants out of Douglas County, Nebraska, for PCS.  Herrera-Alberto was being held in the Page County Jail on a $31,300 bond.

A second passenger in the vehicle, 33-year-old Ramon Nelson, of Omaha, was arrested for Possession of Paraphernalia. Nelson was cited into court and released from custody. Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted Shenandoah Police during the traffic stop.