Thanks to the Mills County Emergency Management Agency for providing this quick snapshot of the changes coming Friday, May 8th, as a result of the Governor’s proclamation on May 6th (this applies to all counties except those otherwise noted):

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Thursday press conference. We plan on providing live audio of the presser at approximately 11:00 a.m. on KJAN as well.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nearly 25,000 Iowans filed unemployment claims last week as the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the state’s economy. The Des Moines Register reports that the new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday showed 24,693 new claims. The new report comes as the state begins to allow the reopening of businesses that had been closed to limit the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Gov. Kim Reynolds first imposed business restrictions on March 17. Since then, 285,422 jobless claims have been filed.

DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) — Tyson Foods plans to reopen its Dakota City, Nebraska, beef plant after closing the facility following a surge of coronavirus cases among workers. Tyson closed the plant Friday and initially planned to reopen in four days but pushed that back to Thursday after awaiting coronavirus test results. The plant employs 4,300 people and is among the largest employers for neighboring Sioux City, Iowa.

The Dakota City plant is one of numerous meat processing facilities that have closed due to coronavirus outbreaks. A Tyson pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, and a Smithfield pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, both reopened this week.

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

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Police in Creston report 46-year old Sandra J. Kohler, of Fontanelle, was arrested at around 10:25-p.m., Wednesday, on charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Kohler was released from the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Promise to Appear in court.  And, 45-year old Luke A. Johnson, of Creston, was arrested at his home Wednesday evening. Johnson was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for Harassment in the 3rd Degree. He was also released from the LEC on a Promise to Appear.

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 Board of Directors of the Atlantic Community School District will meet 7:30-a.m. Friday, May 8th a special board meeting.  Due to the State of Public Health Disaster Emergency issued by Governor Kim Reynolds that limits gatherings to less than 10 people, this will be an electronic meeting.  Board members will meet electronically and will NOT meet together in a physical location. Any member of public can view the meeting live on YouTube at the following link:  https://youtu.be/xqOV-etf4Ks

During their session, the School Board will act on approving 2020-21 Master Contracts with the Atlantic Education Association.

(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa native was one of three Marines who prevented a potentially dangerous situation from escalating on an international flight early Monday morning. Captain Daniel Kult, a 2011 Coon Rapids-Bayard graduate, was on a flight from Japan to Texas when he became aware of the disturbance. “I was actually like half-asleep, watching a movie, had my headphones in, started hearing some kind of like commotion…so it took me kind of a moment to kind of realize what was going on,” he says. “I took my headphones out and then that’s when I definitely heard there was someone screaming from one of the bathrooms in the middle of the plane.”

According to Kult, the shouts from the passenger were clearly threatening and he quickly joined two other Marines to assist the flight crew however they could. Once the man subdued in a seat, Kult says he and the other two Marines kept watch as the flight was diverted to Los Angeles. “Off and on he’d have some outbursts here and there,” Kult says, “and there were a couple of other times we had to work on re-restraining him because he slipped out of the duct tape that we used on his legs just because he was getting sweaty and moving his legs around, so he was pretty active throughout the hour it took to land at O an get the authorities on board.”

The passenger was taken into custody not long after landing and taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. The plane then took off for the flight’s original destination — the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Kult is now back on base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, but on a 14-day quarantine following international travel.

(Radio Iowa) — The mayor of a western Iowa city that’s home to two packing plants is asking state officials to establish a “Test Iowa” site in her community. Pam Soseman, the mayor of Denison, says “I remain very concerned and I have been concerned for weeks, knowing that plants are hot spots and have been historically hot spots in the past month.”

State officials confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks Tuesday at packing plants in Perry, Waterloo, Tama and Columbus Junction. Smithfield operates a pork plant in Denison, with about 12-hundred-50 hourly workers. A few hundred others work at the Quality Meats plant in Denison. Denison is in Crawford County and the latest state report shows there are now 103 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Crawford County.

“I am very concerned about those numbers,” Soseman says. “We keep communicating with our state representatives and our governor.” National data indicates meat packing has more foreign-born workers than any other industry in the country. Soseman is worried the Test Iowa app that screens people for testing may not be understandable to all the packing plant workers in Denison.

“With 26 languages spoken in our high school, that is a deep concern of mine,” she says. “I also have a concern with those who may not have access to a computer to be able to sign up online, so I’m asking for those who can help to communicate this to people who may be in danger or at risk, to communicate with those people and assist them with that website.”

Last month state officials sent test kits to Columbus Junction and Waterloo after concerns that dozens of workers had contracted COVID-19 and the virus was spreading in the community. The state has also sent what Reynolds calls “strike teams” to test nursing home employees in areas where outbreaks have been identified in long term care facilities.