DES MOINES, IA – Iowa Democrat Third District Representative Cindy Axne, today (Thusday), announced a more than $7.58-million program grant for the Iowa Department of Public Health, to support Iowa’s rural hospitals in addressing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in rural communities. The funding provided by the Coronavirus State Hospital Improvement Program was funded within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was passed unanimously by Congress late last month.

Axne said “Our small, rural hospitals across the state are all financially struggling to cope with the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19. I’m pleased to see this critical funding coming back to Iowa to help our rural health providers who have told me that they need support while continuing to respond to COVID-19 cases and provide Iowans with essential health care services.”

The funding will go towards helping hospitals purchase testing and laboratory services or replenish critical supplies like personal protective equipment (PPE). The Iowa Department of Public Health is charged with distributing the grant funding across Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) — With the shutdown this week of Tyson Foods’ largest pork plant, hog producers in the state are growing more anxious. Greg Hora, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, says the Waterloo Tyson plant employed almost three-thousand workers, and plant closures elsewhere in the state are taking a toll on multiple fronts. “With Eagle Grove and Prestage Foods, there’s about 65 loads of pigs that come in to Prestage every day if they’re running 10,000 pigs a day,” Hora says. “At Waterloo, 20,000 pigs a day, that’s a big impact on a lot of people’s jobs, on the farm and within the plant itself.”

The pandemic has forced practically everyone to make drastic changes in their lives and Hora says it will likely bring at minimum a slowdown in the normal summer activities for pork producers — and their operations’ bottom lines. “I know that there’s already discussion happening about county fairs and the state fair and what’s going on and what may not go on this summer,” he says, “and that includes some of our grilling.”

Officials with the Iowa State Fair and the Association of Iowa Fairs say they’re taking a wait-and-see stance for the moment until a new decision come’s from the governor’s office.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Thursday press conference on COVID-19. We plan on providing live audio of the presser on KJAN as well, which is set to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.

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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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (The Gazette) — Police in Cedar Rapids have identified a person found shot to death on a city street as a local teenager. The Gazette reports that the shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, when police were called to the area about a block north of Cleveland Park. Arriving officers found a male, later identified as 16-year-old Judeah Dawson, suffering from several gunshot wounds. Police say Dawson died at the scene. No arrests had been reported by Thursday morning. Dawson’s death marked the fourth homicide in Cedar Rapids this year.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa’s weather may be in for a big change in the coming months as indications show a possible shift toward a La Nina pattern, which means hotter, drier weather. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub — based in Ames, says Pacific Ocean climate factors have been steady for the past couple of years but there are hints that may be changing.  “We have been neutral to maybe hedging close to an El Nino,” Todey says. “We didn’t quite reach the category but we were close towards that side. It’s really interesting now, as you look ahead into the summertime, there are a few models that took us rapidly toward La Nina territory by the end of the growing season.”

Todey says there is an indication from computerized weather forecasting models of changes later this year. “The chances for La Nina start popping up in the fall, so it’s after the main part of the growing season here,” Todey says. “We do have to watch in case things would shift more quickly to La Nina than we’d expect, but right now the expectation is that we don’t get to La Nina territory during the growing season enough to be an issue.” Todey says sea surface temperature changes have an impact on the weather in Iowa and across much of North America. “La Nina, during the growing season for us, does increase our risk of heat and dryness but right now, we don’t expect that to happen,” Todey says. “My main concern with the growing season right now is how quickly can we get things moving, how quickly can we get soils dried out and things in the ground so we don’t get delays again.”

A warming ocean surface produces an El Nino pattern which can also have strong effects, including wetter weather in the Midwest.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds isn’t providing a timeline for her decisions, but the governor will likely give PORTIONS of the state permission to reopen for public gatherings and commerce before others. Reynolds says about 70 percent of Iowa’s positive COVID-19 cases are in eight counties. “This will allow me, when I look individually at the number of cases in each county, the number of recovered and what we see going forward, it really will allow me where I can statewide, I will,” Reynolds says, “but where I can’t, we’re going to start opening up areas that aren’t being impacted at a significant rate.”

Reynolds ordered all Iowa bars and restaurants to close to crowds at noon on March 17th, although they’ve been able to sell food and alcohol through carry-out, drive-through or curb-side service. The following week, the governor ordered hair salons and barber shops and several types of retail businesses to close. Reynolds says she may allow certain businesses to reopen in phases — and ask business owners to ensure customers and employees are able to be six feet from one another.

“Our goal is to open back up as many as we can,” Reynolds says, “but maybe do it with limited capacity, social distancing, some recommended measures that they would have to follow in order to do that.”

Reynolds made her comments during a live news conference yesterday (Wednesday) on the Radio Iowa network. Reynolds says her staff has been reviewing data by county, by city and by zip code. And Reynolds says state officials will learn details about coronavirus hot spots in the state from the Test Iowa program that will start offering drive-through COVID-19 testing. The Test Iowa website also is collecting health data about tens of thousands of healthy Iowans who voluntarily enter their information.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:00 a.m. CDT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dozens of U.S. meat-processing plants have been forced to close temporarily as the industry struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus among employees who often stand side-by-side while cutting and packaging beef, pork and poultry. Giant slaughterhouses that employ thousands of people are designed to have workers close together, making it difficult to adhere to social-distancing guidelines that advise people should stay 6 feet apart. Even as companies take steps to protect workers, industry experts say it’s nearly impossible to eliminate all risk of catching the virus and they note safety measures have been adopted unevenly.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Tyson Foods is suspending operations indefinitely at a large Iowa pork processing plant that was blamed for fueling a coronavirus outbreak in the community. The company warned Wednesday that its closing of the plant in Waterloo would be a blow to hog farmers and potentially disrupt the nation’s pork supply. Tyson kept the plant open in recent days over the objections of the mayor and other local officials. The plant employs 2,800 workers and can process about 19,500 hogs per day, almost 4% of the nation’s pork processing capacity. Several other meatpacking plants have temporarily closed due to coronavirus outbreaks.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Public Health is offering coronavirus testing for all employees of long-term care facilities in Tama County because of a rising number of cases in the region. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Wednesday following a surge of cases at the National Beef plant in Tama, where 177 workers tested positive for COVID-19. The eastern Iowa plant resumed production Monday after being closed for two weeks due to the virus spread among its workers. Reynolds has frequently noted that a large percentage of those who have died from the virus live in long-term care facilities. Also Wednesday, officials said there were 107 new positive coronavirus cases and seven additional deaths, bringing the total to 90 people

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City Police Chief Rex Mueller is among nine people within the northwestern Iowa city’s police department to test positive for COVID-19. The Sioux City Journal reports that the department revealed on Tuesday the number of police staffers infected with the novel coronavirus. The department first announced on April 9 that several police department employees had tested positive for the virus, but did not give details. Besides the police chief, a news release from the department said infected staffers include a police captain, two lieutenants, a sergeant, an officer and three civilians. The release says most have had mild symptoms, and some have been cleared to return to work.

LOGANSPORT, Ind. (AP) — Tyson Foods Inc. will temporarily close its meatpacking plant in north-central Indiana after 146 employees tested positive for COVID-19. The Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Logansport produced 3 million pounds of pork daily. Tyson suspended production Monday to allow for cleaning and sanitizing.

The plant reopened Tuesday and is running at limited capacity because of decreased worker attendance. The company on Wednesday announced it will stop all production by Saturday. Steve Stouffer of Tyson’s beef-and-pork subsidiary says when such facilities close, “the availability of protein for consumers across the nation will only decrease.”

Tyson Foods also announced Wednesday, that it is suspending operations indefinitely at the large Waterloo pork processing plant that was blamed for fueling a coronavirus outbreak in the community. The company warned that its closing of the plant in Waterloo would be a blow to hog farmers and potentially disrupt the nation’s pork supply. Tyson kept the plant open in recent days over the objections of the mayor and other local officials.

The plant employs 2,800 workers and can process about 19,500 hogs per day, almost 4% of the nation’s pork processing capacity. Several other meatpacking plants have temporarily closed due to coronavirus outbreaks.