(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Shelby County was arrested at around 12:50-a.m. Sunday, following a traffic stop at Highway 34 and Fig Avenue. Authorities say upon further investigation, 36-year-old Matthew Philip Goodside, of Shelby, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Goodside was being held in the Adams County Jail, pending an appearance before the Magistrate.

“Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”

Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Public Health, Monday, released new data showing the number of positive COVID-19 tests and hospitalizations in the state continue to drop. There were 23,461 positive COVID-19 tests in the last seven days, down from 26,244 at the last report on Friday. The state’s 14-day positivity rate dropped from 24% to 22.9%.

The number of patients hospitalized with the virus in Iowa decreased from 928 to 849. IDPH data shows 60.4% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, while 69.1% of those listed in intensive care with the virus. Of those hospitalized, 57% had a primary COVID-19 diagnosis, while 43% were hospitalized for another reason but tested positive.

The number of long-term care facilities reporting a virus outbreak increased from 95 to 107 since Friday.

There have been 4,832,295 vaccine doses administered in Iowa, with 71.2% of those 18 and older fully vaccinated and 75.9% of those 12 and older with at least one dose.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores — the country’s 4th largest pizza chain — is asking the Iowa legislature to let 16 and 17 year olds man the machines that roll out the pizza dough. “Casey’s, like any other employer across the state of Iowa, we’re really struggling in finding employees.” That’s Tom Cope, a lobbyist for Casey’s. He says unlike surrounding states like Illinois and Missouri, current Iowa law bars anyone under the age of 18 from operating a pizza dough rolling machine.

“We make the dough fresh every day at the store. It’s not a froze dough,” Cope says. “And so the way it works is we have a ball of dough and (for) each pizza that’s order, that dough has to go through a rolling machine before it then can be made into a pizza.” A Senate subcommittee has approved the bill that adopts federal guidelines, so 16 and 17 year olds would be able to operate pizza dough machines in Iowa.

Senator Todd Taylor, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says as long as minors aren’t allowed to do maintenance on the machines, which could be dangerous, he’ll support the move. “I think that’s all we need to do and it’s a win-win, you know, kids make pizza all over this state,” Taylor says, “but we want them to be safe.” Peter Hird, a lobbyist for the Iowa Federation of Labor, says unions aren’t opposing the attempt to add older teenagers to Casey’s pizza-making enterprise, but Hird questions whether increasing child labor is the best way to address Iowa’s workforce shortage.

“We do really worry about bringing more kids into the workforce,” he says. “Are we protecting them during these years, too?” He cites last year’s vote in the legislature to let 16 and 17 year olds operate the rides at Iowa amusement parks as well as legislation proposed this year that would no longer require adult supervision of older teens working in child care facilities.

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand says he found no significant concerns about the state’s Covid-19 data reporting during the first 14 months of the pandemic. Sand says issues with the Iowa Department of Public Health’s online Covid dashboard that drew public complaints were out of the state’s control.

“The late entries that a lot of people were talking about and suspicious about early in the pandemic were not because the state was messing anything up,” Sand says. “It was because the private labs that were doing the testing were regularly submitting results very late to the state of Iowa.” Sand says state officials calculated Covid positivity rates correctly, but could have more clearly explained what formula they were using.

Kelly Garcia, the interim director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, says the report highlights the need to upgrade the agency’s outdated I-T and data systems before the next emergency.

(By Natalie Kreb, Iowa Public Radio)