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Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is questioning whether Facebook and Twitter employees are politically hostile to conservatives. Ernst was among the Republicans on a Senate Committee who expressed concerns yesterday (Tuesday) that conservatives were being censored on the social media platforms in the run up to the 2020 Election. “The people that I hear from, of course, believe that conservatives were wrongfully being silenced, while those on the left that were given basically free reign on your platforms,” Ernst said. “…You do recruit heavily from California, which leans to your employee base skewing quite heavily to the left.”
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee for hours yesterday (Tuesday). Ernst asked if they had taken steps to make their employee base more politically balanced. Zuckerberg responded, “This is a sensitive area where I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to ask people on the way in what they’re political affiliation is.”
Zuckerberg says as more people are able to work remotely, from anywhere, the company’s employee roster will diversify into other regions. He also told Ernst Facebook has turned to independent fact-checkers to assess what “misinformation” may be posted on the platform. Twitter’s C-E-O Jack Dorsey says the company has a framework for dealing with concerns about political bias. He also said the company is at a point where it can decentralize it’s employee base. Democrats on the committee rejected concerns of bias from Ernst and other Republicans, countering that nearly every day the most engaged pages on Facebook offer what they termed “far right content.”
Officials with the Department of Justice, Wednesday (today), report multiple federal search warrants were executed in the Des Moines Metropolitan area this (Wed.) morning Including Waukee and Adel). The searches at the 43 separate locations were an official law enforcement action involving officers, agents and investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and 17 other agencies (See the list below). Additional details were not immediately available.
(Agencies participating in the coordinated effort include…in addition to those mentioned… : Des Moines Police Department (DMPD); Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement (DNE); Iowa State Patrol (ISP); Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force (MINE); Tri-County Task Force; Central Iowa Drug Task Force (CIDTF); Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force (MIDTF); Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI); Homeland Security Investigations (HIS); Altoona Police Department; West Des Moines Police Department; Urbandale Police Department; Marshalltown Police Department; Dallas County Sheriff’s Office; and Iowa State Fire Marshal.
DES MOINES, Iowa (Nov. 18, 2020) — The Wellmark Foundation has provided 28 Iowa organizations with their Small Matching Assets to Community Health (MATCH) grant awards amounting to $576,608. The organizations (which locally includes Council Bluffs, Lenox, Malvern and Greenfield) were notified in August of their pending awards and had 12 weeks to secure the required matching funds. Small MATCH grant recipients were able to use a combination of in-kind donations, services and cash in order to receive their award from The Wellmark Foundation. All the funded projects will help individuals, families and communities achieve better health through built environment initiatives that encourage physical activity or access to and consumption of nutritious foods.
The 28 Iowa organizations awarded a Wellmark Foundation 2020 Small MATCH grant (Locally) include:
To learn more about those and other projects, visit Wellmark.com/Foundation. Since its inception in 1991, The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $36 million in grant funding to communities across Iowa and South Dakota.
More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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Police in Creston report one arrest and they were notified of an incident involving a delivered package. Officials say 44-year old Joel Gross, of Creston, was arrested Tuesday morning, for Driving While Suspended. He was later released on a $300 bond. And, a man residing in the 600 block of N. Maple, in Creston, reported to police Tuesday afternoon, that sometime between 11-a.m. and 3-p.m., Tuesday, someone opened package that had been delivered to his residence by USPS. Missing from inside the package, was a PS5 (Playstation 5) controller. The loss was estimated at $70.
The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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Authorities in Dallas County, Tuesday, released more information with regard to a fatal vehicle vs. child accident in the parking lot of the Woodward-Granger High School. The child was identified as 7-year-old Charlie Brewer, a second-grade elementary school student from Bouton.
The accident happened at around 3:45-p.m., Monday. The driver of the vehicle was identified as 47-year-old Robert Nevitt, of Perry. In a news release, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office said their preliminary investigation suggests that there was no intention by Nevitt to strike the child, and that while the investigation is ongoing, there have been no charges filed at this time.
Grief resources are available for students and school staff members.
Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard today (Wednesday), showed 40 additional deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 since Tuesday’s 10-a.m. report, for a total of 2,064. The number of deaths attributed to a pre-existing conditions statewide are 1,284, while deaths at Long-Term Care facilities amount to 961, 16 more than yesterday. There is one more death to report in Cass County, for a total of 17; One more death in each of Harrison, Mills and Montgomery Counties, while Pottawattamie County has two more deaths reported.
Officials say there have been 3,896 new confirmed, Positive cases of the virus reported since 10-a.m. Tuesday, for a total since the pandemic began, of 194,479. Cass County has seven new, Positive cases of COVID, for a total of 669. Double-digit Positive case increases were reported in Guthrie, Harrison, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Pottawattamie, Shelby and Union Counties. (See the list below)
There are 94 Long-Term Care facility (LTC) outbreaks, two less than yesterday. Those care facilities report 2,785 positive cases and 1,397 recovered. Cass County’s three LTC facilities have a total of 146 confirmed positive cases (Atlantic Specialty Care, 78; Griswold Rehab & HCC, 54, Heritage House, 14), and 69 recoveries. Harrison County has two LTC facility outbreaks, for a total of 206 confirmed positive cases (Longview Home, Inc., 130; Dunlap Specialty Care, 76), and 170 recovered .
Hospitalization rates continue to climb, from 1,510 on Tuesday to a record 1,527 today. The IDPH says 283 COVID patients are in the ICU (5 less than before), 234 patients were admitted to a hospital (compared to 215 yesterday), and there are four more people on a ventilator, for a total of 134. In western/southwestern Iowa: there are 64 COVID patients in the hospital (4 less than yesterday); 20 are in an ICU (3 less than before), six people were admitted to a hospital, and there are seven people a ventilator.
The state’s data shows that 1,123,456 Iowans have been tested for coronavirus. Test results received yesterday amounted to 8,110, with 5,931 coming back Negative and 2,133 Positive. The total number of Negative results since the beginning of the pandemic is 927,153. The state receives test results from prior days and adds them to the overall total. Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate is 22.5%, and the Individual Positivity rate is 17.3%. The IDPH says 111,284 Iowans have recovered from the virus.
There are 93 Iowa counties with a 14-day positivity rate at 15% or higher. Public schools in those counties can apply for a waiver to provide 100% online instruction. Seventy-four counties report a rate greater than 20%. Four counties report a rate greater than 30%. Page and Calhoun counties report a positivity rate above 40%.
In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, along with the 24-hour change in case numbers {+#}; the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began,
Police in Red Oak report the arrest at around 7:20-p.m. Tuesday, of 42-year-old Brian Keith Shaver. The Red Oak man was taken into custody on a warrant for Contempt of Court – resisting a court order. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, and held without bond.
(Radio Iowa) – State officials say coronavirus outbreaks at three of the state’s prisons appear to be subsiding. A week ago, more than 11-hundred inmates at state prisons in Anamosa, Clarinda and Rockwell City had tested positive for the virus. Two inmates — one from Clarinda, the other from Anamosa — died of complications related to Covid.
The Iowa Department of Corrections’ website currently shows just under 500 inmates at the three prisons still have the virus. At one point, 60 percent of the inmates in Anamosa tested positive for Covid.