(Radio Iowa) – The top Republican in the Iowa House says a new law on Covid vaccination exemptions for Iowa employees appears to be working — and House Speaker Pat Grassley says it’s not clear that legislators need to pass another bill on the topic. The law, passed in October, lets Iowa private sector workers claim religious or medical exemptions from any Covid vaccination requirement in their workplace and, if their exemption is denied and they’re fired, they may file for unemployment benefits.

In early January, both Grassley and Governor Kim Reynolds said lawmakers should wait for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a federal mandate that workers in large businesses get vaccinated or be tested weekly for Covid. A week ago, the court blocked the Biden Administration from implementing that mandate.

Other Republicans in the legislature have introduced bills addressing vaccine mandates, including one that would forbid Iowa cities and school districts from requiring students get Covid shots before returning to school. Another bill still in development would prohibit all types of vaccine mandates in Iowa businesses. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal government’s Covid vaccination requirement for the health care sector.

(Radio Iowa) – The number of Iowa hospital patients who’ve tested positive for Covid has dropped by about three percent since Wednesday. State data shows six out of 10 patients in an Iowa hospital today were admitted for treatment of Covid. And about 18-and-a-half percent of those Covid patients are in an intensive care unit.

The number of Iowa nursing homes with Covid outbreaks continues to rise — more than doubling in the past two weeks. Nursing home residents were at the head of the line when Covid vaccines became available a year ago. The A-A-R-P’s state director is calling on Iowa nursing homes to require booster shots for residents and staff.

The state’s coronavirus website shows 69 nursing homes have Covid outbreaks today. The state’s vaccination rate has inched up. One-point-eight MILLION Iowans are fully vaccinated. That’s just under 60 percent of the state’s population.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has thrown out charges brought against a Polk County man following an online jail conversation with his former girlfriend. Kourtney Hall told former girlfriend Emily Bowers if she doesn’t go to church that doesn’t mean she will go to jail. That was a code telling her not to show for a deposition seeking information in a criminal case against Hall. She did show up and gave testimony, and Hall was then charged and convicted of suborning perjury and obstructing prosecution.

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned the perjury conviction — saying Hall did not offer any inducement that she testify falsely under oath or that she conceal material information. And the ruling says there is no crime of “attempted obstruction of prosecution,” it only prohibits actually causing a witness to fail to appear when subpoenaed.

(Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) report the IEDA Board has approved awards for three companies, which will assist in the creation of 84 jobs and result in $96.3 million in new capital investment for the state. These projects are located in Dubuque and Knoxville. Innovation funding was approved in support of four startups located in Ames, Coralville and Des Moines.

The board also approved 15 Butchery Innovation and Revitalization program awards. Among them was three businesses in southwest/western Iowa:

• Atlantic Locker LC, in Atlantic, was awarded $39,750 (total project cost is $79,500)
• Corning Meat Processing Service Inc. in Corning was awarded $50,000 (total project cost is $100,500)
• and Country Meats Inc. in Arcadia was awarded $50,000 (total project cost is $100,000).

The Butchery Innovation and Revitalization Fund was designed to provide financial assistance in the form of grants to businesses for projects relating to small-scale meat processing, licensed custom lockers, and mobile slaughter units. The program was created during the 2021 Iowa legislative session and signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds with a $750,000 allocation.

The maximum award amount is $50,000 and no more than 50% of the eligible project expenses may be paid with these grant funds. By administrative code, an application must score an average of 75 or more to be considered for funding. Fifty-four applications, requesting more than $2.4 million, received an average score of 75 or above. Based on available funding, the IEDA Board awarded 15 applications that received the highest average score. A list of the businesses that were awarded can be found here.

(Updated; Radio Iowa) -The Mount Ayr School Board has voted to cancel classes in the district Monday through Wednesday in the face of mounting student and staff sickness. Mount Ayr School Superintendent Jason Shaffer says the closings are due to mounting absences of students and instructors from a variety of illnesses–including COVID-19.

Shaffer says 20 high school students are out with COVID and 25 others with unspecified illnesses — for a 16 percent absentee rate. There are 15 elementary students out sick with COVID, eight with the flu, and another 25 with unspecified illnesses — for a total of 19 percent out. At the same time, he says Mount Ayr is experiencing the same shortage of substitute teachers as other area districts. Shaffer says the buildings will be cleaned during the three-day shutdown.

Shaffer says students and staff will be asked to wear masks for two weeks after returning from the break.

The three days missed next week will be made up at the end of the school year.