(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s fourth congressional district race features a Republican who knocked out G-O-P incumbent Steve King in the June Primary and a Democrat who came within three points of defeating King in 2018. Republicans have a 77-thousand voter registration edge over Democrats in the fourth congressional district. Democrat J.D. Scholten of Sioux City, a former professional baseball player who is a paralegal, is counting on his strategy of visiting all 374 communities in the district this year. “I think one of the biggest strengths of our campaign both last cycle and this cycle is showing up,” Scholten says. “We went to all 39 counties at least three times last cycle. Last fall, we did the ‘Don’t Forget About Us’ tour where we went into towns of under a 1000 people and did town halls there.”

Republican Randy Feenstra of Hull, a Dordt University business professor, is a former Sioux County Treasurer who promises to push for more federal tax cuts. “I’ve served in the Iowa Senate the last 12 years where I have produced results time and time again,” Feenstra says. “…When I get to congress, I’ll do the same thing. I’ll also fight against the Green New Deal and the government take-over of health care.” Feenstra says he wants to serve on the House Ag Committee if elected and help write the 2022 Farm Bill. “We’re the second largest district in the nation when it comes to agriculture,” Feenstra says. “Virtually everything pivots around agriculture. When our agriculture is successful, our Main Streets are successful.”

Scholten says he’ll pressure federal agencies to break up the monopolies in agriculture. “Right now in hogs, four companies control 70% of the market share,” Scholten says. “Right now cattle, four companies control 85% of the market share.” Scholten says if elected, he will not support giving Nancy Pelosi another term as House Speaker and will press for campaign finance reform. Feenstra met with President Trump in the Oval Office in late September and Trump, who won the 4th district overwhelmingly in 2016, has tweeted his “compete and total endorsement” of Feenstra.

(Radio Iowa) – With just over a week to go in the campaign, incumbent Republican Senator Joni Ernst spent the weekend in D.C. taking procedural votes before today’s (Monday’s) vote to confirm a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Theresa Greenfield, the Iowa Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate candidate, campaigned in seven counties this weekend. Greenfield started out Saturday touring a Waukee hardware store that’s been in business for 140 years. She stood in the back near the shop where snowblowers were being prepped for winter to visit with people, including local Y-M-C-A director Eric Kress. “If there was a topic I’d advocate for, it’d be relief for non-profits in any stimulus funding,” Kress said.

Greenfield’s stops at small businesses, farms and a public park featured face masks and small groups. “We’re working hard to follow public health guidelines as best we can,” Greenfield says. The “Team Joni” bus made campaign stops Saturday for Ernst — with Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig doing the talking. Senator Ernst spoke with Radio Iowa by phone from Washington, D.C. “It is hard because I’d much rather be in Iowa, covering as many miles as possible,” Ernst said. Ernst, though, says she has a duty to stay in D.C. to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. “How important it is that we continue to fight for Iowa values and she is going to be an incredible Supreme Court justice,” Ernst says. “…We’re hearing that from Iowans, too…Those that watched the hearings, I think her support has just become more and more firm.”

This race is the most expensive in Iowa history and Iowans are being bombarded with advertisements. Ernst says with eight days left in the 2020 campaign, the ground game is what’s most important to her. “Those ads are becoming ineffective, I believe,” Ernst says. “But what we’ve told supporters is: ‘Talk to your neighbors. Talk to people on the fence, because they will believe you more so than they will some random TV ad.'” Greenfield is emphasizing the ground game, too. “We’re on the phones, we’re texting and we’ve really been working hard to build what I call more of a neighbor-to-neighbor contact program where you’re responsible for your block, for your neighborhood — just talking to people when they’re out mowing the lawn, more casual relationship building,” Greenfield say. “Must be working. People are voting.”

As of Saturday, more than 722-thousand Iowans had already voted early.

(Radio Iowa) – Open enrollment is now underway for Medicare for thousands of Iowans and others across the country. The administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Seema Verma says it’s time to review your plan. “They can stick with the traditional program if they like what they have, they don’t have to make any changes,” Verma says. “But what’s really interesting about this year is that over the last few years, the president has been really working to strengthen and modernize the program, and because of that, we are seeing significant price decreases.”

She says one of the new programs is for insulin. She says if you are taking insulin you can get it for 35 dollars a month. “So a lot of new choices, a lot of new plans.” Verma says there are some other options for services in the plans as well. “Maybe you just need a ride to the doctor’s office, or you are recovering from surgery and you need a little bit of help in your house and they can send you a meal service. Or you are having trouble going up and down the stairs — they may install a ramp,” she says. “It’s just giving a little bit more flexibility to the health plan.”

Verma says you can do everything online. She says it will let you enter the medications you take into the system and it will tell you if the plan covers those medications. Verma says you can still call the helpline if you have questions and want to talk to someone. The helpline is 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).  You can also go to medicare.gov to review your plan. There are more than 637-thousand Iowans on Medicare.

Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard, today (Monday), reports (as of 10-a.m.), two more deaths were attributed to the virus, bringing the state total to 1,636. Officials say 1,080 deaths have been attributed to pre-existing medical/health conditions.

There are 677 new, Positive cases of COVID-19, as confirmed by State Labs.  Health officials say 4,742 test results were returned since 10-a.m. Sunday, with 3,969 coming back Negative, and 763 returned as Positive. The total number of tests completed thus far is 939,561, with 821,463 total Negative results and 116,452 total Positive results. The individual positivity rate is 12.4%, and the statewide 14-day rolling average is up to 10.7%. There are currently 17 Iowa counties reporting a positivity rate greater than 15% over the last 14 days. Harrison County tops the State at 23%. Cass County isn’t far behind at 21.5%. The IDPH says Carroll County has a 14-day rate of 18.6%, and Adams County’s rate is 16.4%. Public schools in counties with a 15% or great positivity rate are eligible to apply for a waiver to provide 100% virtual learning.

The IDPH says 87,964 Iowans have recovered from COVID-19. In the KJAN listening area, there are: four more positive cases in Cass County (390 total), and 11 more in Mills County. There are three or less new cases in other area counties. (See the chart below).

There are currently 561 Iowans hospitalized with the virus, which is up from 541 Sunday. There are 129 patients in an ICU, 10 more than previously mentioned. IDPH show 73 persons were admitted to a hospital statewide, down from 85 on Sunday. There are 45 patients on a ventilator, three more than previously reported. Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa report: 40 hospitalized; 12 are in an ICU (compared to 13 previously); three persons were admitted (compared to 8, Sunday), and one person remains on a ventilator.

Long-Term Care facility (LTC) stats show: 66 facilities have outbreaks (one less than Sunday); 1,969 patients/staff at those facilities tested positive for COVID-19; Patients/staff who have recovered at LTC’s amount to 766, and those who have died number 808, one more than reported Sunday.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, along with the 24-hour change in case numbers {+#}; the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began,

• Cass, 390 cases {+4}; 269 recovered; 3 deaths
• Adair, 162 {+3};70; 1
• Adams, 81 {+2}; 41; 0
• Audubon, 144 {+2}; 84; 1
• Guthrie, 392 {+4); 245; 15
• Harrison County, 656 {+3}; 268; 11
• Madison County, 360 {+1}; 240; 2
• Mills County, 408 {+11}; 192; 3
• Montgomery, 173 {+3}; 146; 7
• Pottawattamie County, 3,236 {+4]; 2,346; 44
• Shelby County, 372 {+1}; 327; 1
• Union County,  232 {+3}; 203; 4