GRUNDY COUNTY, Iowa [KCCI] — A Grundy County woman is accused of using her position as a caregiver to steal medication from her patients. KCCI reports investigators allege Andrea Raffield diverted dozens of tablets of Tramadol — a strong painkiller — for personal use.Criminal complaints say Raffield, who was a nurse at Westbrook Acres in Gladbrook, ordered extra pills that were not needed. She’s accused of destroying records before taking the pills for herself. Her next court date has not been set.

(Radio Iowa) – As the end of the year nears, Iowans are being warned about a sharp rise in bogus phone calls over the paying of your taxes. I-R-S spokesman Christopher Miller says scammers are calling, trying to convince you that you need to pay taxes over the phone. “They are always busy trying to steal your personal information and your passwords to do all sorts of bad stuff,” Miller says, “including filing a tax return using your information and trying to steal your refund.”

The Caller I-D may show that the call is from the I-R-S, but Miller says that’s part of the sophisticated scam. Miller says there are also reports of scammers trying to pressure people into paying tax debts that don’t exist. “We don’t call to demand immediate payment by telling you how to pay, like through a gift card,” Miller says, “and we don’t threaten to bring in police or have you arrested for not paying.”

Miller says the I-R-S will never call and demand payment over the phone, and the agency won’t send the sheriff’s department to your house. If you get a threatening call, he says to just hang up. If you have concerns about possible tax bills, contact the IRS yourself at I-R-S-dot-gov.

(Radio Iowa) – The updated Iowa Drought Monitor shows 97 percent of the state is in drought or near-drought conditions. Much of the state is in severe or extreme drought. The area of extreme drought in eastern Iowa goes from the border with Minnesota to the Missouri border. It includes the northeast Iowa cities of Cresco, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids and the areas around Mount Pleasant, Bloomfield and Ottumwa in southeast Iowa. The area of exceptional drought also sweeps through central Iowa and over to Aububon and Cass Counties in western Iowa.

Iowa Drought Monitor map issued on 12/28/23 (Image courtesy of NOAA/NCEI)

There are only three areas of the state that aren’t in some level of drought or exceptionally dry conditions. One area is in the eastern edges of Jackson, Clinton and Scott Counties that abut the Mississippi River. The others are in northwest Iowa in the parts of Plymouth and Woodbury Counties that border the Missouri River as well as where the four corners of Cherokee, O’Brien, Clay and Buena Vista Counties meet.

(National News) – The Powerball jackpot has rolled again, reaching an estimated $760 million after no ticket had the winning numbers in Wednesday’s drawing. Those numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were white balls 4, 11, 38, 51, 68, and red ball 5. The Power Play was 3X. While nobody matched all six winning numbers, a ticket sold in Texas matched all five white numbers and the Power Play, making it worth $2 million. A ticket in California matched all five white numbers, making it worth $1 million.

The current jackpot — now worth an estimated $760 million with a cash value of $382.5 million — has been building since October, when a California ticket landed a prize worth $1.765 billion. Should the jackpot be won this month, it would be the largest-ever December prize in Powerball history, according to game records. That title is currently held by a $298.3 million jackpot won by a New York ticket on December 26, 2018.

The current jackpot also ranks among the largest in Powerball history, coming in behind a $768.4 million prize won by a 2019 ticket in Wisconsin.

(Radio Iowa) – U-S-D-A Rural Development is funding two rural Iowa projects to repair and rehabilitate housing. Iowa Rural Development director, Theresa Greenfield, says the funding is through the Housing Preservation Grant program. “Its goal really is to get some dollars into the local communities so that they can make upgrades to some of the housing stock throughout their communities,” she says. The Region 12 Council of Governments received a grant of nearly 102-thousand dollars ( $101,663) to help rehabilitate housing that is owned and occupied by very-low income people in rural Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, Greene, and Sac counties. New Hampton received a 61-thousand-dollar grant

“It’s just one of a few ways that we help support rural communities with housing,” Greenfield says. “We also provide direct home mortgage loans to low and very low income Iowans. We have no down payment, we have really low interest rates.” Greenfield says they have other help for those who need to fix up their homes. “We do offer 10-thousand dollar grants to our seniors and very low income Iowans so they can make repairs to their home and stay in their home. And I’ll tell you, as I travel the state, that doesn’t really matter what little town I’m in, but I was just in Moltan, and talk to some of their community leadership. And they were excited to hear about this grant opportunity because their parents and their grandparents, they want to stay in their hometown,” she says. Greenfield says the money can be used in a variety of ways.

“Fix windows there, or remodel a bathroom if it needs to become more accessible, or replace a furnace. Or anything really, that can help make that home repair that home so folks can stay in their home,” Greenfield says. Greenfield says they have ten area offices around the state and you can reach out to one of those U-S-D-A offices if you are interested in the grant program.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, early this (Thursday) morning, arrested a man on an assault charge. Authorities say 33-year-old Steven Jon Cook, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 12:21-a.m. for Domestic Abuse Assault-1st offense. Cook was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Vaccination rates in Iowa for both the flu and COVID-19 are lagging behind recent years, and health professionals are referring to the trend as “vaccine fatigue,” as some people would like to forget the whole pandemic happened. Infection preventionist Megan Meller, with Gundersen Health System, says when the COVID vaccine was first released, people in so-called “essential” jobs got first dibs, there were waiting lists, and long lines of socially-distanced people clamoring to get the shot.

“But since then, we’ve really seen a decrease in overall vaccination rates,” Meller says. “This is not just like influenza and COVID vaccines, but in a lot of other vaccines as well. I think a lot of that is playing into what we’re seeing this year in terms of people not opting to get the flu shot, and the same with the COVID vaccine.” Many of us have heard of instances where someone who was vaccinated got sick anyway, which can be a deterrent to others. Meller says vaccines are -not- meant to prevent illness, but rather to prevent -serious- illness.

“One of the reasons why it’s important to get the COVID shot, and it’s just like the flu shot, is that the goal of those vaccines is really to reduce hospitalizations,” Meller says. “If someone’s hospitalized because of that respiratory infection, that means they’re really, really sick, and the vaccines, sure, you can still come down with COVID or the flu, but you’re going to recover a lot faster.” The flu and COVID shots have been available for months, yet some people are holding off. Meller says it’s never too late to get vaccinated, noting, even if you’ve been sick, you can get the shot after you recover to be inoculated against -other- strains.

“We’ve seen with the flu where previously healthy people get the flu and then end up needing hospitalization,” Meller says. “This is where, again, I just always say, ‘Would you rather be sick for a day or two and bounce back really fast or be down for the count for a week?'” A recent report found about 45-percent of Iowa nursing home residents and just eight-percent of staff members are up-to-date on their COVID vaccines. A year or two ago, those rates would have been much closer to 100-percent.

“There was such a big push to getting the vaccine and trying to get it every year that people are just kind of exhausted and they would like to forget,” Meller says. “We just have to gently remind them that COVID is here to stay and these vaccines, they really are important.”

While Iowa’s numbers for nursing home residents getting vaccinated for COVID are low at 45-percent, a C-D-C report shows the national average is only 27-percent. State health officials say the number of new COVID cases in the general population is on the rise. The Gundersen Health System includes a hospital in West Union, and clinics in Fayette, Decorah, Waukon, Lansing, Postville and Calmar.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says it’s time for a comprehensive review of Iowa’s nine Area Education Agencies that mainly provide services to children with disabilities. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says the A-E-As are a bureaucracy that’s been in place for 50 years. “It really hasn’t had a lot of oversight or kind of reevaluating,” Whitver says. “We want to make sure we’re getting the best bang for the buck that we have in those services and so taking a look at that is the job of the legislature.”

The governor says changes are necessary in Area Education Agencies after statewide tests found students with disabilities scored up to 50 points lower on math than the statewide average. Whitver says the per pupil cost of A-E-A services is above the national average. “We need to figure out why that is and what we can do to make it better,” Whitver says. “We need to probably need to focus more on the original mission of the AEAs and make sure that the AEAs are set up for success going forward.”

About 70 percent of the work at A-E-As supports children with disabilities, but the A-E-As provide other services like speech therapy for students and curriculum advice for teachers. House Speaker Pat Grassley expects the governor to make a proposal that refocuses the A-E-As on the core mission of special education services. “We need to make sure that there’s accountability for the students,” Grassley says, “but also for the taxpayer as well.”

Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum says reducing A-E-A services would be a hit to rural school districts. “In Dubuque or Des Moines or some of the urban centers, we do have services locally that might be able to fill in some of those gaps,” Jochum says. “Rural Iowa does not.” The A-E-As provide serves to children with disabilities from birth until the age of 21. Jochum’s daughter, Sarah, was born in 1977 with a unique intellectual disability and Jochum says she benefited from A-E-A guidance when Sarah was a toddler.

“Even though I was the oldest of six and watched a lot of children when you have a child with a disability there are some new techniques that you simply wouldn’t know that they help teach you as a parent to help your child,” Jochum says, “and for that, I will always be grateful.”Jochum says that assistance is critical for a child with disabilities who will be entering their local school system in a few years.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Police in Council Bluffs have identified the driver of a vehicle which struck a man standing on a street near a vehicle, Sunday morning. Authorities say 47-year-old Angela H. Thurman, of Pacific Junction, was driving the vehicle that struck 74-year-old Juan Avalos outside of his home, at around 3:21-a.m, Sunday. Avalos died at the scene.

The accident occurred near the intersection of Poplar Dr. and Birch St. in Council Bluffs. Police haven’t said what led up to Thurman hitting Avalos. The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed at this time.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports four recent arrests. On Tuesday, 34-year-old Ashley Flint, of Glenwood, was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Failure To Appear. She posted a $1,000 cash-only bond and was released.

On Sunday, 51-year-old Shanon Ballinger, of Glenwood, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Ballinger posted a $1,000 bond and was released.

There were two arrests last Saturday, in Glenwood: 21-year-old Nicholas Jenkins, of Glenwood, was arrested for Reckless Use of a Firearm. He was released on a $300 bond; And, 24-year-old Morgan Hamling, of Glenwood, was arrested on two-counts of Theft in the 5th Degree. Bond was set at $600. She was released on her Own Recognizance.