The Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday evening, released the identity a man who was found laying in the roadway in rural Madison County Tuesday afternoon. He was identified as 39-year old Jonathan Michael Hoffman, of Des Moines. Authorities say Hoffman died from gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jonathan Michael Hoffman

The Iowa DCI is assisting the Madison County Sheriff’s Office in an investigation into Hoffman’s death. Anyone who has information or was on the Macksburg Rd between 2pm and 3:30pm on Tuesday July 21, 2020 and saw something, they are asked to contact the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at 515-462-3575 (extension 8).

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.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A study released by the U.S. Agriculture Department into the disparity between cattle prices paid to ranchers and the higher prices earned by meat processors offers more details about the factors that have led to the situation. The 20-page analysis by the USDA released Wednesday explains how after a 2019 fire at a Tyson Foods beef plant in Holcomb, Kansas, and this year’s temporary closure of slaughterhouses amid the coronavirus pandemic, ranchers saw cattle prices drop while concerns about meat scarcity caused prices at grocery stores to rise.

Some members of Congress have called for an investigation into possible violations of the Packers and Stockyard Act, which is designed to protect ranchers and consumers.

Montgomery County Public Health and Emergency Management officials said Wednesday (7/22), that four additional cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Montgomery County residents. The latest cases bring the County’s total to 25. The four most recent cases contracted the virus through community spread and close contact with a previously reported, positive case.

One case is a person 18-to 40-years of age, the others are persons 61-to 80, all of whom are isolating at home. So far, 1,032 persons have been tested for COVID-19 in Montgomery County.

The Clarinda Police Department is warning about a COVID-19 test kit scam. Officials say someone is calling people saying they are with the local Public Health office, and telling that person they have been exposed to a positive case. The caller then says the office wants to send a COVID-19 test kit and all they need is a $50 processing fee.

The Clarinda P-D says “Public Health will NEVER ask for your banking or credit card information and [they] wouldn’t be charging for a COVID test to be done.

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.

Breasia Terrell

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.

Officials with the Iowa State Patrol have released information about a fatal, semi versus pedestrian accident that took place in Pottawattamie County on July 16th. According to the report, a 2007 International semi driven by 27-year old Ian Russell Erickson, of Defiance, was traveling east on Interstate 80 at around 5:18-p.m., when the truck struck a man on the side of the road near a disabled vehicle.

39-year old Georgiy Goncharov, of Brooklyn, NY, died at the scene of the accident near mile marker 24. An investigation determined the semi left the lane to the right before striking Goncharov, who leaves behind a wife and two children.

The accident remains under investigation.

The Atlantic Food Pantry is expanding operations and seeking additional volunteers. Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh says the Atlantic Food Pantry plans to expand operations to start delivering food to people in Atlantic identified by “Cass County COVID-19 Mobile Food For All,” as not having transportation or living within walking distance of the
pantry. However, in order to provide this important service to the community, the Atlantic Food Pantry need volunteers who can commit to delivering food.

The Atlantic Food Pantry seeks committed volunteers to assist with sacking and food delivery every Tuesday morning from 9:00 AM – noon. Volunteers will help prepare bags of food, and then deliver food to households in the Atlantic area. Volunteers will be asked to use their own vehicles to deliver food. For more information on local food, farmers markets, and food access, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page @CassCountyLocalFood.

Two housing projects in southwest Iowa are among 19 from across the State to be awarded a share of nearly $10-million in Iowa Economic Development Authority funds Workforce Housing Tax incentive projects across the state. Included among them is:

• The Clarinda Housing Program – four, single-family attached, owner-occupied homes. The project was awarded $142,800 for funding year 2021.
• The Denison Housing Development Phase 1 (b) and 1 (c) project. – Also for four, single-family attached, owner-occupied homes. The award was in the amount of $129,004.

IEDA’s Workforce Housing Tax Credit (WHTC) program provides tax benefits to developers to provide housing in Iowa communities, focusing especially on those projects using abandoned, empty or dilapidated properties. To be eligible for funding, projects must:

• Meet one of four criteria: housing development on a brownfield or grayfield, upper story housing or rehabilitation, dilapidated housing stock or new construction in greenfield space
• Include construction or rehab of at least two single-family homes or at least one multi-family building containing three or more units or at least two upper story units
• Total project costs for projects under the Small Cities Set Aside may not exceed $215,000 per unit or $250,000 for historic rehabilitation
• Complete within three years of award
• Be located in one of the 88 least populous Iowa counties

For the fiscal year 2021 application round, $10 million dollars in credits were available for award under the WHTC program’s Small Cities Set Aside component. IEDA received 84 applications requesting $34 million in tax credits. Projects are scored competitively based on readiness, financing, need, and local support and participation.

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.