(Radio Iowa) – State officials say over two-hundred Iowans have claimed unemployment benefits after being fired for not complying with workplace Covid-19 vaccine mandates. A state law passed in late October allows people to get unemployment benefits if their request to be exempt from a vaccination requirement due to religious or medical reasons is denied.

Drake University professor Denise Hill wrote a book about workplace vaccine mandates. She says the number could have been higher if judges hadn’t issued temporary orders blocking the federal vaccination deadline many U.S. workers faced on January 4th.

“Certainly some of the employers, regardless if they are health care or otherwise, have stayed termination,” Hill says. According to Iowa Workforce Development, 211 people fired from an Iowa business for refusing to get vaccinated filed for unemployment. More than a third of them worked in health care and social assistance. About a fifth worked in manufacturing.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric)

(Adel, Iowa) – The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported, Friday (Dec. 10), after a deer ran into an Iowa DOT truck driven by a man from Cass County. Authorities say Charles Elmquist, of Atlantic, was traveling in the 35000 block of Ute Avenue when the incident occurred. Damage to the DOT vehicle was estimated at $500.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will meet 9-a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 14th , in their Boardroom at the Cass County Courthouse, in Atlantic. First-off, the Board will hear a regular weekly report from Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken.

New Business on their agenda includes:

• The Disposition of cremains on private property.
• The establishment of an abatement plan for property improvements to certain classes of property in the non-incorporated portion of Cass County, followed by a Resolution approving a Post-Issuance Compliance Policy (Written procedures adopted, which shall apply with respect to all tax-exempt obligations incurred by the County).
• The Board will also act on Resolutions for One-million dollar ($1,000,000) General Obligation Capital Loan Notes, Series 2022A and Series 2022B, along with authorizing a form of Loan Agreement, providing for the issuance and levying of tax to pay for the Notes; and approval of the Tax Exemption Certificate.

Their final order of business is to determine the date for a hearing on amendment of the FY 2021-22 County Budget.

(Guthrie County, Iowa) – A man who escaped injury during an accident Sunday evening in Guthrie County, received four citations in connection with the incident. The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says an investigation determined 61-year-old Peter Aldrich Kelloway, of Panora, swerved to miss a deer while traveling south on Sage Trail north of 190th Street, at around 4:20-p.m. The 2013 Chevy Malibu had apparently spun 360 degrees until it entered the west ditch and came to rest. The vehicle sustained $15,000 damage. Kelloway was not with his vehicle when authorities arrived.

The report says when Kelloway was located later at his residence, the Deputy found the man appeared to be “heavily intoxicated.” Kelloway admitted to have “one or two drinks” before the accident took place. He was cited for:

• Failure to Maintain Control
• Failure to give notice of address change
• Leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and,
• Failure to maintain or use seat belts as an adult.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa volunteers with the American Red Cross are already providing help in the South after weekend storms spun off at least 50 tornadoes in eight states. Josh Murray, spokesman for the Iowa-Nebraska region of the Red Cross, says most of the Iowans are now in western Kentucky, where the damage is extreme and one entire town was nearly wiped off the map. “We have some from eastern Iowa, we have some from central Iowa, we have someone from up near Sioux City, so really across the state,” Murray says, “We’re represented well with our responders.”

Driving those white emergency response vehicles, or ERVs, the Iowa volunteers will be providing a range of services, from feeding and sheltering tornado survivors to helping them mentally recover from the massive, devastating storm. “There’ll be some that work in shelters helping people who are going to be in the shelters. We have some folks going down to help with warehouses, making sure they get supplies out,” Murray says. “They’ll help load trucks and drive trucks and unload trucks. We also have some who’ll go down to help with mental health, to have someone to be there and give emotional support.”

The number of dead is expected to exceed 100 with many dozens injured and a few thousand left homeless. A Kentucky candle factory was hit by a twister as was an Amazon warehouse in Illinois and a nursing home in Arkansas. One tornado was reportedly on the ground for more than 220 miles. “It’s definitely one of the largest and worst impacts, especially for this time of year. We’re used to seeing these maybe in the spring but to happen this time of year is really unusual,” Murray says. “The widespread destruction that’s taken place, the number of people it’s impacted. We anticipate being there for a while. This will be a long-term process, a long-term response for us.”

Iowans who would like to help financially can call 800-RED CROSS, log on to www.redcross.org, or text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs arrested a Nebraska man Friday afternoon, following an investigation into a reported car alarm going off at around 3:32-p.m., in the 100 block of Park Avenue. Upon arrival officers found a Chevy Impala with heavily tinted windows. When they shined their flashlights in the windows to determine if the vehicle was occupied, Police saw a man sit up in the driver’s seat. Officers instructed the man to get out of the car, but he refused. The subject started the vehicle and backed-up, striking one of the officers’ patrol vehicles.

Anthony David Martinez, of Omaha

One officer had to move out of the way from keep from being struck by the vehicle. After hitting the cruiser, the man in the Chevy drove down Park Avenue, where the car struck another vehicle traveling eastbound on Pierce Street. As a result of the crash, the Impala spun around 180-degrees, lost a tire, and became wedged against a fence. As more officers arrived on the scene, commands were given ordering the suspect driver out of the vehicle. Instead of complying, the man climbed out the driver’s side window and fled on foot toward Broadway Street. When he was apprehended in the 1100 block of Broadway, the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Anthony David Martinez, of Omaha, was found to have a handgun in the front of his waistband.

No injuries were reported. Martinez was found to have had a valid felony warrant issued for his arrest, through Colorado. He was also booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail on charges that include:

• Assault on persons engaged in certain occupations
• Carrying weapons
• Criminal Mischief in the 3rd degree
• Fugitive from Justice
• Possession of a firearm as a felon
• Poss. of a Controlled Substance
• Unlawful possession of prescription drugs and.
• Poss. of drug paraphernalia.

Council Bluffs Police say the appreciate assistance from the U.S. Marshals who were in the area during the incident.