(Radio Iowa) – New Iowa State University research suggests young people between the ages of 16 and 24 have been hardest hit by job losses during the pandemic. I-S-U economics professor John Winters says the analysis indicates 37-and-a-half percent of those younger workers lost their jobs this spring. “Young workers actually had the largest employment losses among any group,” Winters says. “Black workers, Hispanic workers had much larger employment losses than whites and then we also found differences by education, so less educated worker had larger losses and lower income workers had larger employment losses.”

The percentage of American teenagers in the workforce has been falling over the past two decades and Winters says there are a number of theories as to why that’s happening. “But obviously the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated that, ” Winters says. “The employment rates for teenagers in the 16-17, but if you also go up to 18-19 (year olds), employment rates for those young people have fallen dramatically.”

The research Winters and an I-S-U graduate student conducted also suggests many workers who’ve lost their jobs during the pandemic have stopped searching for work. “It probably means that the official unemployment rates are actually understating the true magnitude of the pandemic on employment outcomes,” he says. In a separate study, Winters and two I-S-U graduate students found a link between job losses and coronavirus cases — the higher the infection rate, the greater the percentages of layoffs in a metro area.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Prison officials say pathologists will determine whether coronavirus killed an inmate in a northwestern Iowa prison as the state deals with increasing numbers of people infected with the virus. A news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections says 62-year-old Ronald Eugene Holdworth died Saturday morning as he was being taken from the prison to a hospital. Officials say the State Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine whether COVID-19 was a factor in his death. The Fort Dodge Correctional Facility has reported more than 100 inmates and nine employees have tested positive for the virus.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Detectives have charged a man with murder in the June 28 shooting death of another man outside a Des Moines area bar. Polk County sheriff’s deputies charged 35-year-old Gordon Jerome Johnson with first-degree murder and intimidation with a dangerous weapon. Johnson, of Des Moines, was held in the Polk County Jail. Johnson was charged in the death of 29-year-old Sir William Beckish, a chef and former restaurant owner. The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. as a large crowd gathered outside the Karma Bar, just north of the Des Moines. Deputies who had been called by the bar’s staff heard gunshots and then found Beckish had been wounded. He was taken to a hospital but died. Two woman also suffered gunshot wounds but survived.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The board chairman of Make-A-Wish Iowa says the charity’s CEO and president has been fired after the organization discovered financial irregularities during an internal audit. Board chairman Joshua Norton said a statement late last week that Jennifer Woodley had been dismissed. Norton says Rachel Reams, a vice president with the organization, will serve as the interim CEO while the board conducts a search for a new leader. Norton declined to give details on the nature of the financial irregularities. Woodley was named CEO of the group less than a year ago, in August 2019. A publicly listed telephone number for Woodley could not be found Monday.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Crews rescued a kayaker who swamped his boat on the Cedar River, authorities said.Responding rescue workers responding to a call at about 4:20 p.m. Sunday found the boater sitting on the top of a wing dam, a barrier that only extends partway into a river, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported. Fire Chief John Bostwick said crews launched a Zodiac boat from Washington Park and brought him to safety without injury.

According to court documents, Larry Scott Fulk, owner of 2nd Street Repair, in Atlantic, was sentenced Monday (July 13,2020) in Council Bluffs U-S District Court, to three years probation on a single one count of Wire Fraud. Judge Stephanie M. Rose ordered Fulk to pay a special, $100 assessment, a $10,000 fine, and restitution amounting to $40,192. The remaining counts against him were dismissed. Following sentencing, Fulk was remanded to the  custody of the U-S Marshal.

Fulk was indicted a little more than a year ago (June 25, 2019), and at the time, charges with three counts of Wire Fraud, 15 counts of odometer fraud (for a total of 18 counts). This past February, Fulk pled guilty to one count of Wire Fraud, and the judge accepted his plea.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Crews rescued a kayaker who swamped his boat on the Cedar River, authorities said.Responding rescue workers responding to a call at about 4:20 p.m. Sunday found the boater sitting on the top of a wing dam, a barrier that only extends partway into a river, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported.

Fire Chief John Bostwick said crews launched a Zodiac boat from Washington Park and brought him to safety without injury.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Detectives have charged a man with murder in the June 28 shooting death of another man outside a Des Moines area bar. Polk County sheriff’s deputies charged 35-year-old Gordon Jerome Johnson with first-degree murder and intimidation with a dangerous weapon. Johnson, of Des Moines, was held in the Polk County Jail. Johnson was charged in the death of 29-year-old Sir William Beckish, a chef and former restaurant owner.

The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. as a large crowd gathered outside the Karma Bar, just north of the Des Moines. Deputies who had been called by the bar’s staff heard gunshots and then found Beckish had been wounded. He was taken to a hospital but died. Two woman also suffered gunshot wounds but survived.

(Radio Iowa) – Some family members of people behind bars at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility are disappointed the state didn’t do more to reduce prison populations before a coronavirus outbreak hit the facility. As of today (Monday), 119 incarcerated individuals there have tested positive. Savannah Moore’s boyfriend is housed at Fort Dodge and she wishes more people had been released, based on good behavior or medical conditions, to lessen the chances of an outbreak.

Moore says, “That’s why I think it’s so disappointing is that I feel like people could have been looking to other prisons where this has happened, to say, ‘Okay, this was an issue they have, let’s solve that so that it doesn’t happen here.’ And it’s hard for us to see that they were doing that.” Aundrea Nobelt, who also has a boyfriend at the Fort Dodge facility, recounted a story of a man who was ready to be released, except he had to finish one last life skills class.

“How is one class holding him back from early release,” Nobelt says, “to be home with his loved ones quarantine at home, not spread it?” The Iowa Department of Corrections has worked to grant early releases, but as of last Friday, state prisons were still eight-percent over capacity, on average.

(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Today (Monday) marks a somber anniversary in northeastern Iowa.  It was eight years ago — July 13, 2012 — cousins Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook-Morrissey disappeared while riding their bicycles in the Waterloo suburb of Evansdale. Hunters discovered their bodies five months later in a secluded section of the Seven Bridges Wildlife Area in Bremer County, almost 20 miles away from the lake near where their bikes were found.

Elizabeth Collins

Lyric Cook-Morrisey

Collins, of Evansdale, was eight years old when she died. Cook-Morrissey, of Waterloo, was ten. Authorities believe both girls were abducted and murdered by someone, whose identity remains unknown to this very day. Investigators remain hopeful that someday they’ll be able to determine who committed the crime.

Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information, should call Evansdale police at 319-232-6682 or Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at 855-300-8417 (TIPS).

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Prison officials say pathologists will determine whether coronavirus killed an inmate in a northwestern Iowa prison as the state deals with increasing numbers of people infected with the virus. A news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections says 62-year-old Ronald Eugene Holdworth died Saturday morning as he was being taken from the prison to a hospital.

Officials say the State Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine whether COVID-19 was a factor in his death. The Fort Dodge Correctional Facility has reported more than 100 inmates and nine employees have tested positive for the virus.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports just two arrests took place over the past week. On July 8th, 43-year old Dixie Lou Hernandez, of Stuart, was arrested on an Adair County warrant for Harassment in the 2nd Degree. She was released later that day on her Own Recognizance, after making an initial court appearance.

And, on Friday, 40-year old Ryan James Cook, of Adair, was arrested at around 4:45-a.m., for OWI/1st offense and Reckless Driving, following an investigation into an incident in Adair. Cook was released later that same day on a $1,300 cash or surety bond.