(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says the Biden Administration needs to focus on the supply chain issues that have ships backed up waiting to unload and businesses not getting what they need. Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says she saw issues first hand during a tour of Oak Street Manufacturing in Monticello Monday. “They told me they had to raise their prices more this year than in the last 25 years combined — that’s because the cost of the materials they use has skyrocketed,” Hinson says. “And then on top of that, the supply chain bottleneck has seriously impacted their operations. You talk about a cost differential here — they told me they typically spend about four thousand dollars on a shipping container — last month they spent 29-thousand-500 dollars.”

The company makes furniture primarily for restaurants. Hinson says the extra federal unemployment payments are one of the issues. “We paid people to stay home for far too long and that obviously has had ripple effects. And so when you see proposals coming out of Democrats in Congress like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to continue those unemployment benefits — I can tell you that’s the fastest way to continue to have these supply problems long-term,” according to Hinson. She says forcing workers to get vaccinated is also an issue. “Vaccine mandates are torpedoing the workforce as well. All of these things I think are problematic in terms of policy coming out of the administration. I think getting those barriers out of the way is step one,” she says.

Hinson says the administration is spending too much time trying to pass the multi-trillion-dollar reconciliation package. “The Biden Administration is not focused on fixing that supply chain, they seem more focused on spending money right now. So, we need to work together on this and work all the way up and down the chain, state, federal, and local to make sure we are fixing this problem,” Hinson says.

Hinson made her comments during her weekly conference call with reporters.

(Radio Iowa) – Friday morning’s cold snap into the low 30s was a reminder for Iowans that wintery weather may not be too far away. The Iowa Department of Transportation is already gearing up for the season ahead, even though the start of winter isn’t officially until December 21st. D-O-T Winter Operations Administrator Craig Bargfrede (BARG-freed) says preparations are well underway to fight snow. “We’ve been doing a lot of maintenance on the trucks, on the equipment, making sure everything is functioning properly, making sure trucks are outfitted properly, getting blades replaced, calibrating trucks,” Bargfrede says. “We’ve been doing a number of training events.”

The agency typically brings on more than 600 temporary workers during the winter time-frame, with many of them becoming snowplow drivers. So far, only about three-dozen of those 630-plus jobs have been filled. “But that’s really kind of a function of the weather and the kind of year as well,” Bargfrede says. “A lot of the folks that apply and that we hire as seasonal employees, a lot of them are farmers, a lot of them work in construction and other areas that are still real busy this time of year.” The D-O-T has 101 maintenance garages statewide that employ more than one-thousand full-time equipment operators, mechanics and supervisors. Those garages house the agency’s 902 trucks, 42 motor graders and 32 tow plows. As far as the agency is concerned, we’re -already- in winter and it started October 15th.

DOT Snowplow cam

“That’s the date we’ve had in our policy for many years as the first date that we have to be prepared to do some kind of treatment, somewhere in the state, on the roadways,” Bargfrede says. “You may remember last year, around the 18th or 19th, we had that snow squall that came through that brought a real dose of reality to everyone.” D-O-T officials have already been meeting with officials from the National Weather Service and other agencies to get a solid feel for what icy perils may lie ahead. “What we’ve heard is that it sounds like we’re going to have a winter than could be above -normal temperatures but also above normal-precipitation,” Bargfrede says, chuckling. “Talk to us in April and see if that prediction comes to fruition.”

Salt is a valuable snow-fighting tool, both in chunks and mixed with water to form a brine solution. While salt has been in short supply in previous years, Bargfrede says Iowa has an excellent stockpile of some 240-thousand tons of salt.

Interested in a snow-fighting job with the DOT? Visit https://iowadot.gov/careers and click on the “Seasonal/Temp” tab.

Des Moines, Iowa —New data released by the Iowa Department of Public Health on Friday shows an increase in positive COVID-19 tests, but a continued decline in hospitalizations. IDPH data shows 6,675 positive virus tests in the last seven days, up from 6,485 at the last report on Wednesday. That brings the total number of positive tests to 517,544 since the start of the pandemic. Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate dropped slightly from 8.3% to 8.2%.

There are 526 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa, down from 557 on Wednesday. The number of patients listed in intensive care dropped from 142 to 138. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, IDPH reports 72.1% are not vaccinated, while 82.6% of those listed in intensive care with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. The number of Iowa long-term care facilities reporting a virus outbreak increased from 25 to 29.

There have been 3,613,995 vaccine doses administered in Iowa, with 67.3% of those 18 and older fully vaccinated. Of those 12 and older, 69.6% of Iowans have had at least one vaccine dose. IDPH releases new COVID-19 data each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on this website.

(West Des Moines, Iowa) — Officials with Des Moines-based Hy-Vee, Friday, warned its customers that some onions sold at Hy-Vee stores between Aug. 13 and Sept. 1, 2021 are part of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration recall. The only affected products sold at Hy-Vee stores were three-pound bags of yellow onions, the company said in a news release.

In a statement, Hy-Vee said “The affected onions are no longer available at any Hy-Vee stores; however, consumers may have product remaining in storage or freezers, or in canned or frozen goods produced with the affected onions. Out of an abundance of caution, Hy-Vee advises consumers to discard any affected product or return the product to their local Hy-Vee store for a full refund.”

Hy-Vee said it was notified by its supplier Capitol City Fruit that in August the grocer had received a shipment of onions that are part of the recall. Anyone with questions may contact Hy-Vee Customer Care representatives 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-800-772-4098.

(New Virginia, Iowa) – A passenger in a car was struck and killed by a pickup Friday night in Interstate 35, in central Iowa. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 69-year-old Steven Kohli, of Iowa City, got out to check out the damage to the 2017 Lincoln MKC he was riding in, after the car struck a deer on I-35 southbound, at mile marker 45.

The man was struck by a 2018 Dodge RAM 2500, driven by 69-year-old Terrence Sack, of Pequot Lake, MN. The Patrol says Sack attempted to drive around the car on the right side, due to vehicles on the left. Steven Kohli died at the scene. The accident happened at around 7:25-p.m.

(Red Oak, Iowa) — A fire Thursday morning in Red Oak gutted a house, but there were no injuries reported. Fire officials say faulty wiring sparked a house fire in Red Oak Thursday morning. Firefighters responded at around 9:20-a.m. to a structure fire at 300 Market Street. The first crews to arrive on the scene encountered heavy flames in the rear of the residence. They were also notified children and an adult male may be inside the home.

As firefighters made entry into the structure to find any potentially trapped or injured victims, word was received that neither the children or the adult were inside. Firefighters suppressed the fire and conducted salvage and overhaul operations, bringing the fire under control at 10:20 a.m. Firefighter’s terminated ground operations at 11:25 a.m.

Photo courtesy the Red Oak Fire Department

An investigation determined that faulty wiring igniting combustibles on the back porch. The house sustained significant structural damage and was expected to be declared a total loss. Assisting Red Oak Fire at the scene, was: The Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency; The Stanton, Essex and Emerson Fire Departments; Red Oak Police; The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office; MidAmerican Energy; City of Red Oak water and street departments crews; The Montgomery County Communications Center, and the State Fire Marshall’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – The state unemployment rate dropped slightly in September. The rate in September fell to four percent, down from four-point-one percent in August. Iowa Workforce Development says the unemployment claims in September dropped more than 68 percent compared to one year ago. And it was the second-lowest monthly unemployment claims Iowa has seen over the past 20 years.

The U-S unemployment rate fell to four-point-eight percent in September.

(Radio Iowa) – Four casinos are paying a combined 130-thousand dollars in fines to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission for gambling violations involving minors. Racing And Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says the Catfish Bend Casino was fined for the actions of an underage male.

“Entered the casino floor unchallenged, was on the floor for 47 minutes. It was not discernible whether the individual had gambled — pulled a ticket out of the machine, and based on a preponderance of the evidence, we felt the individual did gamble,” he says. Ohorilko says the casino agreed to a 30-thousand-dollar fine.

“Normal fine for this is 20 (thousand dollars), but there were the aggravating circumstances of a lack of surveillance coverage, and the age of the minor elevated that fine,” Ohorilko says. The Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs was fined 60-thousand dollars for two underage violations. The first involved a minor female in January who entered the gambling floor with an adult.

“Had gambled at a number of slot machines and was on the gaming floor for over 30 minutes, In the second count — it occurred a couple of months later — there was another individual, a 17-year-old female who had entered the gaming floor. She was on the floor for five hours and had gambled,” according to Ohorilko. Prairie Meadows in Altoona was fined 20-thousand dollars for an underage male who got onto the casino floor with two adults.

“Was not challenged at the turnstile, had gambled, and was on the floor for approximately 60 minutes. This individual was identified by another security officer who was conducting their routine business,” he says. The final violation involved a minor at the Diamond Jo Worth casino who entered the gambling floor unchallenged.

“Was on the floor for over two hours and had gambled. This minor was identified by staff at Diamond Jo,” Ohorilko says. Diamond Jo Worth agreed to a 20-thousand dollar penalty for the violation. Ohorilko says the violations for all four casinos were their first in the last 365 days.

(Des Moines, IA) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has approved the use of booster doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. Pfizer booster doses were approved for use last month. Additionally, the CDC’s recommendations now allow for “mix and match” dosing for booster doses only. These approvals and recommendations are effective immediately.

Moderna Booster

For individuals who received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the following groups are eligible for a booster shot at 6 months or more after their initial series:

• People 65 years and older
• People 18 years and older who reside in long-term care settings
• People aged 18 years and older with underlying medical conditions
• People aged 18 years and older who work or live in high-risk settings

Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) Booster

Anyone aged ≥18 years who received a single dose Johnson & Johnson primary series (1 dose) can receive a COVID-19 booster dose at least 2 months after completing the primary series.

• J&J vaccine does not have eligibility criteria for the booster dose.

Mix and Match Use

Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the Emergency Use Authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines to allow for the use of each of the available COVID-19 vaccines as a heterologous (or “mix and match”) booster dose in eligible individuals following completion of primary vaccination with a different available COVID-19 vaccine. CDC’s recommendations now allow for this type of mix and match dosing for booster shots. Mix and match dosing may be considered for the booster dose only.

Iowans with questions about which booster dose is right for them should consult with their health care provider. The vaccine is the best tool we have to keep ourselves and our families healthy and to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death from the COVID-19 virus. Find a COVID-19 vaccine provider here.

As flu season approaches, IDPH urges all Iowans to get the flu vaccine. By getting vaccinated for both influenza and COVID-19, we can prevent avoidable hospitalizations and help preserve health care resources for other needs, including illnesses, injuries and emergencies. Anyone with questions about either vaccine should reach out to their health care provider.