(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmers will want to take note as what’s being called a La Nina Watch is being issued by the Climate Prediction Center, which forecasts a possible cooling in the Pacific Ocean’s surface over the next six months. Doug Kluck, the regional climate service director for the National Weather Service in Kansas City, says the long-range development is far from certain, but they’re watching carefully. “Right now, it looks weak, if it’s going to happen at all,” Kluck says. “It’s not a very good chance. There’s not a lot of confidence it’s going to happen yet. As we get closer and closer to fall, that confidence will hopefully go up in terms of what’s actually going to happen.”

Kluck says a La Nina pattern can have impacts all across the country, sometimes bringing significant changes in weather patterns and dramatic shifts for agriculture. “Temperatures in the southern part of the U.S. tend to be above normal,” Kluck says, “and temperatures as you move north are closer to normal or even below-normal as you get a stronger and stronger La Nina event.” Kluck says Iowa and the rest of the Northern Plains region could see more rain and snow under a La Nina.  “And with precipitation, it’s kind of a similar game here,” Kluck says. “Drier to the south and wetter to the north, especially in the north-central part of the U.S. again, if the La Nina signature occurs in the Pacific.”

Kluck says observers will have a better idea of the strength of the possible La Nina by late fall into early winter.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Exira-Elk Horn Kimballton School District’s Leadership Team has finalized the District’s Return to Learn Plan. According to information posted on the District’s website, and in a letter sent to parents of students in the District, classes will be held (at least for the first few weeks of the school year), on Mondays,Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays with the expectation (but not a requirement) that all students and staff will utilize facial coverings.

Wednesdays will be used to deep clean the building, support those families choosing remote learning, support students who are not engaging or are struggling with the learning, and provide professional learning for staff. Some students may be asked to attend on Wednesdays, but they would be in one-on-one or very small group situations. All students not required to be in school will be learning remotely on Wednesdays.

A vast majority of Exira-EHK District parents have indicated in a survey, that they intend to send their children to school, but home-schooling or, online learning is an option. And, just like with the Griswold School District, there will be a stipulation that those who choose to home-school, must commit for a quarter or a semester. They cannot change plans or move back and forth between on-site and online learning.

A parent meeting will be held late next week. Details with regard to transportation and the cafeteria, as well as large group gatherings involving P-E, Band and Chorus, are still be worked out.

The State of Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard (as of just before 6-a.m. today, Thursday), shows six more people have died from the virus since Wednesday, and 417 more Iowans have tested positive. The State’s death toll from the virus stands at 814. The total number of positive COVID-19 cases is 40,210. The IDPH says 432,834 Iowans have been tested. Of those, 391,132 have tested negative for COVID-19 (an increase of 4,489). Officials said also, 28,854 persons (nearly 250 more than Wednesday) affected by the virus, have recovered from the virus it.

Hospitalization data show: eight more persons with COVID-19 were hospitalized, for a total of 232; 73 individuals are in an ICU; 33 were admitted, and 32 were on a ventilator. In RMCC Region 4 (southwest/western IA), six people are hospitalized with COVID-19, four are in an ICU, there was one new hospital admission, one person remains on a ventilator.

Long-Term Care (LTC) data show 20 outbreaks, 516 staff/patients have tested positive for the virus, 135 have recovered and 436 have died.

Here is the latest data for confirmed cases and the number of persons recovered from COVID-19, in Cass and surrounding counties, plus any change in the numbers (Highlighted number indicate a change from Wednesday):

• Cass: 30 positive cases, 28 recovered
• Adair: 21 positive cases, 16 recovered
• Adams: 12 cases (recovered data still not available from the IDPH)
• Audubon: 22 cases, (No recovery data available)
• Guthrie: 112 cases, 66 recovered
• Montgomery: 25 cases, 16 recovered
• Pottawattamie: 961 cases, 720 recovered
• Shelby County: 126 cases, 124 recovered

(Radio Iowa) – The state court system is moving closer to returning to holding jury trials across the state. Supreme Court Justice Matthew McDermott co-chaired the committee which reviewed and made recommendations on the issue. He says it’s important to have the jurors in the courtrooms. “There have been some states that have tried remote video conferencing jury trials — and I think there has been very limited or mixed success with most of those,” McDermott says. The Supreme Court released a list of guidelines Wednesday it will follow for jury trials, and McDermott says they could be put in place soon.  “It’s our hope that the jury trial process will get going in the next couple of months, ” he says. “We think that we have these protocols in place that can keep people safe and we can start giving people their right to a jury trial that is enshrined in the constitution.”

McDermott says many of the protocols are things we’ve already seen as other businesses and services opened back up. “Obviously everyone has had to deal with it and I don’t there’s anything that’s going to particularly shock anyone with any of the rules we have here. I think most of them are kind of standard practice now,” McDermott says. One of the biggest challenges the court system faces is there are different types of courthouses in the 99 counties of the state. “It’s really adopting all of them for 99 counties where these trials will take place,” according to McDermott. “That could be a challenge — because you have courthouses like the one in Polk County that is devoted almost solely to court operations. And then you have courthouse in more rural counties that might have a lot of other operations going on to — the county auditors office and recorder’s office and things like that.”

He says those smaller courthouses pose a social distancing challenge. “Those courtrooms are perhaps a little bit smaller and so just addressing all of the different iterations of the courthouses that our out there. It’s going to be challenging — but I think that we are up to it,” McDermott says. He says one big issue is keeping the juror’s space six feet apart. “Jurors might have to sit in the gallery. They might have to sit in chairs that are situated outside the regular jury box. The hope is that we can get everyone in our courtrooms to make that happen. Otherwise were are going to have to find or try to find spaces outside of courthouses to hold trials,” McDermott says.

He says there will be some differences in how jurors are called to serve. He says they will have to call them in smaller groups and keep them out of the courthouses for as long as they can until they have to come in. “Like most other businesses we are going to have markings on floors, doing all of the regular measures that everyone seems to be doing with keeping spacing and wearing masks and things like that,” McDermott says.  They may summon larger jury pools than in the past in anticipation of some jurors not being able to come in because of virus symptoms. All of the proposed guidelines for restarting jury trials are on the judicial system’s website.

(Radio Iowa) – With the statewide bike ride RAGBRAI cancelled by the pandemic this week, Iowa cycling enthusiasts are meeting online instead as part of the Bike for Climate Week of Action. Julie Johnson, an organizer for Environment Iowa, says it’s an effort to support biking and other forms of clean transportation. “Throughout the week, participants will take grassroots actions such as making phone calls and signing petitions,” Johnson says, “to show their elected officials the importance of biking infrastructure for Iowans.”

That includes marked bike lanes on roadways and dedicated bike trails. Virtual gatherings are planned this week to discuss topics like the benefits of biking infrastructure, tips for new and intermediate bikers, and the state of biking legislation in Iowa. “The keynote event of the Bike Week of Action will be a biking and clean transportation conversation tomorrow,” Johnson says. “The event will feature a lot of different speakers, such as the director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s ‘Transform and Transportation’ campaign, and also Ryan Baker, who owns Iowa City’s World of Bikes.”

That conversation is scheduled for this (Thursday) evening, at 6. She says the state’s cars and trucks are responsible for more than a quarter of Iowa’s global warming pollution, so it’s clear our transportation system is due for a zero-carbon upgrade. “We want Iowans to be able to avoid using their car when they could be biking instead,” Johnson says. “Bike more, drive less, is basically the idea. Get out and enjoy nature and also protect the planet while you’re doing it.”

Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says “The pandemic has shown a lot of people want to ride bicycles and they want safe spaces to ride them.” Learn more at the group’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1375397082664931/

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

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of the first coronavirus outbreaks at an Iowa meatpacking plant was more severe than previously known, with over twice as many workers becoming infected than the Iowa Department of Public Health publicly confirmed. The department announced at a May 5 news conference that 221 employees at the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Columbus Junction had tested positive for COVID-19. But records show that days earlier, Tyson officials told workplace safety regulators that 522 plant employees had tested positive to their knowledge. A dozen of the plant’s roughly 1,300 workers were believed to have been hospitalized by then, and two died after contracting the virus.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An aide to Gov. Kim Reynolds says concerns with the quality and safety of coronavirus testing at a busy clinic in Dubuque prompted the state to sharply reduce its operations this week. Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett says the state will send 2,000 additional kits to Dubuque County to make additional testing available to residents at other area clinics to fill the gap. Dubuque announced Monday that the governor’s office had ordered that testing at the Epic Health and Wellness Clinic be open only from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday and take no more than 100 samples per day. The site had been processing up to 550 samples per day.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The FBI has raised to $10,000 the reward for information related to the disappearance of a 10-year-old Iowa girl who went missing earlier this month. Kristi Johnson, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Omaha, says that agents from around the country were searching for 10-year-old Breasia Terrell of Davenport. She says the “number one goal” is to find the person who is responsible and bring that person to justice. Terrell was reported missing July 10, after going to spend the previous night at an apartment with her half-brother and his father, 47-year-old Henry Dinkins.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State health reports show Iowa has surpassed 800 COVID-19 deaths as confirmed cases continue to climb. The state health department’s virus tracking site showed that as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, there had been 10 more deaths reported in the previous 24 hours. That brought the state’s total deaths to 808 since the beginning of the outbreak. The site also shows another 374 cases confirmed from Tuesday to Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 39,793. As of Wednesday morning, 224 people were hospitalized for the virus — higher than what had been seen in recent weeks, but still far lower than the state’s peak of 417 on May 6.

The Atlantic Community School District’s nearly 65-page Return-to-Learn plan will be released tomorrow to parents and district staff via e-mail, and to the general public on the district’s website. The Atlantic School Board discussed the plan for well over an hour Wednesday night during their Work Session. (You can see and listen to the entire meeting on the KJAN Video Network page at kjan.com. Just click on the KJANTV logo and then the “On Demand” tab)

Superintendent Steve Barber said it is still the District’s plan to hold school in-person, beginning August 24th, just like a normal school year. But there will be adjustments both during the school year and on an as-needed basis for some students with special needs. Barber says the document “reflects the work that we’ve done from the District Leadership Teams, Sub-Committees in critical areas, some CDC (Centers for Disease Control), some IDPH (Iowa Dept. of Public Health) and the Governor’s Proclamation  guidelines that are followed in regards to that.”

Mr. Barber says it also reflects “remote learning, and provides some schedules for that.” The document provides guidance as well, with regard to safety, Iowa Academic Standards, tools being used for remote learning. Barber says “We are attempting to create social distancing as one of our major mitigation strategies. We have many other mitigation strategies that are going to be helpful for the health and safety of people.”

For example, he says: they will removes soft surfaces; doors will be kept open; the district has personal protective equipment (PPE) in inventory; Handwashing will be required; masks are available to staff and students who request them; gloves are also available; (disinfecting) foggers, and more. In fact, the district has on-hand: 1,000 cloth masks; 100 face shields; N-95 masks for school nurses, gloves and gowns.

Social distancing in the classrooms will be accomplished by using the square footage in the most accommodating means possible to spread kids out, but Barber asked rhetorically, “Will it look like the traditional start to the school year,” No was the answer. He says “Where you have 25 kids to one classroom? No. It may look a little bit different, but they will try to maintain a six-foot separation as a priority, and teachers “Will try to figure out innovative ways to serve them [the students], if they are in two different locations.”

The District has a 1:1 (One-to-One) rollout for laptop computers so every student has access to a computer. “Currently,” Barber says, “Our staff is being trained in Google Classroom, Zoom and SeeSaw, IXL and a few other tools, that not only are going to be helpful if you’re being educated in remote learning, but it’s also going to be helpful in the regular classroom.”

Barber says with new guidelines possible from the CDC or the legislature, the RTL plan is subject to change. For example, he says, the CDC has recommended persons attending school be fever-free for 24 hours instead of 72. That was adjusted in the district’s plan as well. Barber says there will be changes throughout the process, but that “Hopefully we’re successful in our on-site [learning] so we can remain doing that.”

In other business, the Atlantic School Board discussed various board policies, including those affected by public health regulations, excused student absences, appropriate use of online learning, and district operation during public emergencies.

Officials with Mills County Public Health, Wednesday, said two additional cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the County. The two new cases are persons ranging in age from 18-to-40, who contracted the virus through community spread.

As of Wednesday, there are 61 total confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Mills County, with 34 persons having recovered, and 2,361 residents tested, for a positivity rate of 2.6%. Mills County Public Health encourages everyone to wear a cloth face cover when you are in public.