(Radio Iowa) – Today (Monday) is the date Secretary of State Paul Pate is to certify Iowa’s election results and on December 14th the state’s six presidential electors will gather at the state capitol to cast their votes in the Electoral College. Kurt Brown of Primghar will be one of them.

“Since Donald Trump won Iowa, the six presidential electors from the Republican Party will be casting their vote,” he says. “Four years ago, since Donald Trump took Iowa, I was also a presidential elector for the Republicans, and then four years prior to that I was a presidential elector for the Republicans, but since Barack Obama won the election (in Iowa) then the Democrats got to cast their six electoral vote at that time.” However, Brown says there’s no state law that requires him to cast his Electoral College vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in Iowa.

“In some states they require you to vote as the voters chose,” Brown says. “In other states, the presidential electors can be removed for not voting the way their state law requires.” Brown says as a result, he’s used to getting all sorts of pressure on how to vote.”I had hundreds of phone calls,” Brown says “Four years ago, I had thousands of phone calls and emails trying to sway me.”

Iowa currently gets six votes in the Electoral College, one from each congressional district and two at-large electors. Brown is one of the at-large electors, chosen along with five others at the state G-O-P convention in June.  “You just basically go through a process of throwing your name out there at the county convention, the district convention and the state convention,” he says.

The Iowa Democratic Party approves its slate of electors at the party’s state convention. Other presidential candidates submit the names of electors with their nominating petitions, as Kanye West did this year when he qualified for the Iowa ballot.

(Radio Iowa) – The state website tracking coronavirus data shows while hospital numbers are improving, more Iowans have died of Covid this month than during any previous month of the pandemic.

On November 1st, there were 676 Covid patients in Iowa hospitals and that surged to more than 15-hundred by November 17th. There’s been a more than 20 percent decline in hospitalizations over the past two weeks, but the death rate is accelerating. Nearly 28 percent of all the Covid-related deaths reported in the state during the pandemic have been confirmed by state officials this month. Last night the state website showed 23-hundred-75 Iowans have died of Covid.

The state website also shows a record 153 Iowa nursing homes have current coronavirus outbreaks among residents. Active infections have been confirmed among nearly 49-hundred residents and nursing home staff.

A reminder today from Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh, that on Wednesday December 2nd, the Cass County Local Food Policy Council will host a mobile food pantry through the Food Bank for the Heartland at the Cass County Community Center, from 4:00 – 6:00 PM, or as supplies last. Hoegh says they have ordered double the amount of food to be handed out at the mobile pantries in the past, given the increased food needs related to COVID-19.

Anyone in need is welcome to visit the mobile pantry, and no documentation is needed. People from surrounding towns and communities are welcome. Traffic will be directed by volunteers. Visitors are asked stay in their vehicles with the trunk open. The mobile pantry is available free of charge.

For more information on local food, farmers markets, and food access, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page @CassCountyLocalFood.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have arrested a 22-year-old Des Moines man in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash that happened last week. Des Moines Police said Sunday that Lim Bol Choul was arrested after an anonymous tip led investigators to him. Police also found the dark-colored SUV that was involved in the crash Thursday night. Choul is facing charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and driving without insurance. When authorities responded to the crash shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, they found a pedestrian who was critically injured. That man was taken to a hospital where he later died of his injuries

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa reported 2,013 new virus cases and 15 more deaths linked to COVID-19 on Sunday. As of 10 a.m. Sunday, the state had reported 227,796 cases of the coronavirus and 2,375 deaths linked to the virus since the pandemic began. The number of people hospitalized with the virus in the state declined slightly on Saturday to 1,175 from the previous day’s 1,221. Eighty-seven of Iowa’s 99 counties had a 14-day positivity rate above 15% on Sunday. Ten other counties reported positivity rates between 10% and 15%. Only two counties had a rate below 10%. Overall, Iowa had the ninth-highest rate of infection in the nation on Saturday

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — A Republican candidate is hanging onto a single-digit lead in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District after a recount in a race that will help determine the size of Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives. The Iowa Press-Citizen reports that Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks had just six more votes than Democrat Rita Hart after the recount wrapped up Saturday in Clinton County, which was the last of the district’s 24 counties to report its results. A state canvassing board is expected to meet Monday, the legal deadline, to certify the results of the race in which more than 394,400 votes were cast.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Thousands of streetlights still need to be repaired in the Cedar Rapids area months after they were broken when a derecho tore through Iowa. The Gazette reports that Mayuri Farlinger, the director of operations for Alliant Energy in the region, did not have an estimate as to how long it’ll take to repair the lights. The utility prioritized restoring power to homes and businesses after the Aug. 10 derecho. Streetlight repairs began at the end of October and crews have been out in “full force” to repair them, he said. The company’s crews and contractors have fixed hundreds of streetlights. Alliant says it has 12 two-person crews dedicated for streetlight repairs in every quadrant of the city.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have arrested a 22-year-old Des Moines man in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash that happened last week. Des Moines Police said Sunday that Lim Bol Choul was arrested after an anonymous tip led investigators to him. Police also found the dark-colored SUV that was involved in the crash Thursday night.

Choul is facing charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and driving without insurance. When authorities responded to the crash shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, they found a pedestrian who was critically injured. That man was taken to a hospital where he later died of his injuries

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Monday, will consider a request by the Cass County Firefighters Association for support. The request is for five-percent of match funding, if a grant application for the purchase of radios is approved. The Association has applied for a grant amounting to approximately $343,000. The Supervisors will meet electronically via Zoom, beginning at 9-a.m.

In other business, the Board will act on allowing or disallowing (on a case-by-case basis), family farm credits, and to approve agricultural land credits, in accordance with the Code of Iowa.

Regular reports are scheduled from the Cass County Engineer and Attorney, along with a monthly report from the Mental Health/General Relief Coordinator.

Firefighters from Stuart battled a storage unit blaze this past Thursday morning. In a social media post, officials said the fire at the M & G Storage units on the west end of Stuart, was reported at around 1-a.m.   Smoke and heavy fire were seen on arrival. The fire spread quickly due to wind and structure conditions.

Photos via the Stuart Fire Dept. Facebook page.

Dexter Fire and Menlo Fire were called in for additional support. All crews were working until 6am and one crew remained until 7-am Thursday to search for and extinguish hot spots. The fire caused heavy damage to multiple storage units. All companies returned to base with no injuries.

In addition to assistance from the Dexter and Menlo Fire Departments, Stuart Rescue was on the scene providing rehab for firefighters, and law enforcement was on-hand for traffic control. Barb Boss with the Stuart Fire Auxiliary answered the call at 3-am and brought coffee and donuts for the firefighters.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — A Republican candidate is hanging onto a single-digit lead in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District after a recount in a race that will help determine the size of Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives. The Iowa Press-Citizen reports that Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks had just six more votes than Democrat Rita Hart after the recount wrapped up Saturday in Clinton County, which was the last of the district’s 24 counties to report its results.

A state canvassing board is expected to meet Monday, the legal deadline, to certify the results of the race in which more than 394,400 votes were cast.

ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) — A grand jury has found that a deadly police shooting outside a motel in a Des Moines suburb was justified. The Des Moines Register reports that Altoona police announced late Friday that jurors reached the decision not to indict an officer or a Polk County sheriff’s deputy in the September shooting of 51-year-old Jeffrey Meyer more than two weeks ago.

Altoona Lt. Alyssa Wilson, a police spokesperson, said the delay was the result of more than one police agency being involved and the need to assemble and get approval for the release of a dashcam video. The video included the department’s own narration of what happened, with sections sped up or obscured.