(Radio Iowa) – The parent company of Larson Doors is announcing the closure of its manufacturing plant in the northern Iowa town of Lake Mills, eliminating about 200 jobs. Company officials told employees about the move at the end of Tuesday’s daytime shift. The final shift for the day shift will be November 18th, while the night shift is done immediately. Larson Doors was purchased by Fortune Brands Home & Security of Deerfield, Illinois in November 2020.

A statement from Fortune Brands says the company conducted a reduction in force impacting positions across the organization, which included the closure of the Lake Mills facility as well as plants in Grand Prairie, Texas and Senatobia, Mississippi. The company says the decision was based on continued efforts to mitigate external economic risks, an assessment of the industry, and the evolution of the organization to best align with its growth strategy.

The company says they are committed to helping all of its displaced workers throughout the process.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 35-year-old Thomas James Delgado, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 8:25-p.m. Tuesday, in Red Oak. Thomas was taken into custody in the 200 block of S. 2nd Street, on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding the flow of air and/or blood. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Redfield, Iowa) – A collision in Dallas County, east of Redfield, late Tuesday morning , left one person dead and two others, including a child, injured. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by 97-year-old Arnold Philip Whitney, of Redfield, was southbound on I Avenue, when Whitney failed to yield as he proceeded to turn east onto Old Highway 6.

A 2018 KIA Sorento traveling east on Old Highway 6 and driven by 76-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Lyon, of Adel, struck the van in the rear, sending it into the westbound lane, directly into the path of a westbound 2010 Honda Odyssey van, driven by 34-year-old Savannah Louise Corbett, of Adel. The crash happened at around 11:15-a.m.

The Dodge and the Honda collided in the westbound lane before the Caravan came to rest in the north ditch. The Honda van spun around and came to rest facing east, in the westbound lane. The Patrol says Arnold Whitney died at the scene. Corbett, and her 11-year-old passenger, Olivia Corbett, were injured and transported to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines by Dallas County EMS.

All of the crash victims were wearing their seat belts. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office.

(Radio Iowa) – Health officials are encouraging Iowans to get flu shots as soon as possible. The experts say Australia is already experiencing its worst flu season in five years, which could indicate it will also be severe in the U-S. Nola Aigner -Davis, spokeswoman for the Polk County Health Department in Des Moines, says the county is still seeing many COVID-19 cases and its hospital system is again strained.

“We really need to still be good to our hospital and healthcare systems,” Aigner-Davis says, “because they’re still in a staffing shortage from COVID-19. They’re still taking care of very sick individuals.” Since early 2020, more than 46-thousand Iowans have been hospitalized for treatment of COVID, while the state’s death toll from the virus is expected to exceed 10-thousand when the official numbers are released on Wednesday.

“We’re not seeing COVID slow down,” she says. “We keep hearing of people getting sick, being hospitalized. Cases aren’t stopping and you can get COVID and the flu at the same time.” Aigner-Davis says people who are interested can get a flu shot and a COVID booster in one visit, while Iowans who think they have the flu should contact their doctor for guidance. In the past few years, Iowa’s average life expectancy has fallen about a year-and-a-half due to COVID.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)