(Radio Iowa) – The 2020 Iowa General Election ballot asks voters if there should be a convention to revise the state constitution. The question must be submitted to Iowa voters once every 10 years. Todd Pettys is a constitutional law professor at the University of Iowa. “If you’re at all risk averse, the idea of a constitutional convention ought to be a very frightening thing,” Pettys says. “It’s really the appropriate thing to do only if you think the system is fundamentally broken and needs to be changed in lots of ways.”

Pettys says voters in the 1920 election asked for a constitutional convention, but the legislature refused to follow through and organize one. Any changes convention delegates drafted ultimately would have to be approved by voters, but Pettys says delegates could propose dramatic changes in how Iowa government is structured. “So you’re really opening up a Pandora’s Box,” he says, “and then whatever they propose, whatever document they come up with gets sent out to the people of Iowa to get voted on in one up or down vote.”

The state’s original — and only — constitution was ratified in 1857 and it includes a requirement that voters be asked every 10 years if they wish to hold a constitutional convention to consider changes to the document. There’s a SEPARATE process for proposing AMENDMENTS to the Iowa Constitution and, over the past 154 years, the state’s voters have approved 48 amendments.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric)

The Creston Police Department reports two recent incidents. A man residing in the 600 block of W. Adams Street, reported that someone has taken an electric hedge trimmer from his truck. The loss was estimated at $150. And, a man residing in the 400 block of Wyoming Avenue, in Creston, reported to police that someone broke a window out of his Cutlass Ciera. The damage was estimated at $300.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Updated 10-a.m., 10/9) – The State of Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard today shows Cass County has seven more positive cases of the virus, for a total of 212 cases since the pandemic began.  There are 26 new cases in Pottawattamie County and 34 more cases in Harrison County. There was also one more death attributed to the virus in Pott. County, for a total of 43 since the outbreak began. (See more detailed info. below)

Statewide, there are 1,184 new cases of COVID-19 since 10-a.m. Thursday, for a total of 97,041. There have also been 14 more deaths statewide, for a total of 1,433. The IDPH says of the reported deaths, 968 were related to a pre-existing medical condition. There have been a total of 847,700 Iowans tested for COVID-19 to-date, with 750,096 total Negative results. There were 8,154 results received since Thursday, with 7,166 of those Negative, and 977 Positive. The 14-day rolling average is  8.9%.  Officials say 11.4% of persons tested had a positive test result.  Iowans who have recovered from the virus number 75,041. Fourteen counties in Iowa report 14-day positivity rates above 15%, including Lyon, Taylor, Sioux, Harrison, Fremont, Page, Carroll, Delaware, Adams, Plymouth, Guthrie, Osceola, Emmet and O’Brien counties.

Hospitalizations continue to rise, from a record 449 yesterday to 461 this morning. The IDPH says: eight fewer patients were in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), for a total of 104; 77 people with COVID symptoms were admitted to a hospital (compared to 66 Thursday); and 38 patients are on a ventilator (down from 39 previously). Western/Southwest Iowa hospitals report 25 people hospitalized, five are in an ICU, eight were admitted and no one was on a ventilator.

There are currently 56 Long-Term Care (LTC) facility outbreaks in Iowa (3 more than previously reported), 1,154 positive cases of COVID among patients and staff at those facilities, and there have been 731 deaths since the outbreak began (6 more than the last report). The IDPH reports 614 persons recovered from the virus at LTC’s.

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, 212 cases {+7}; 179 recovered; 2 deaths
• Adair, 88 {+2}; 56; 1
• Adams, 52 {+3}; 30; 0
• Audubon, 112 {+2}; 41; 1
• Guthrie, 320 {+8}; 194; 12
• Harrison County, 399 {+34}; 186; 5
• Madison County, 284 {+6}; 191; 2
• Mills County, 254 {+7}; 147; 1
• Montgomery, 125 {+9}; 97; 5
• Pottawattamie County, 2,497 {+26}; 1,929; 43
• Shelby County, 301 {+8}; 271; 1
• Union County,  175 {+16}; 115; 3

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

UNDATED (AP) — A White House task force focusing on the coronavirus pandemic has told Iowa officials that many of the deaths caused by the high level of virus spread in Iowa were preventable. The report was released to the media a day after Gov. Kim Reynolds said Iowans shouldn’t let the virus dominate their lives. Average daily deaths have increased over the past two weeks to 10 per day. State health data shows 1,515 new cases were identified through testing over the last 24 hours on Thursday and five additional deaths bring the state death toll to 1,419.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City hospital has informed state officials it plans to lay off 29 employees because of losses suffered during the coronavirus outbreak. The Gazette reports that Mercy Iowa City filed notice of the layoffs with Iowa Workforce Development, noting that the layoffs will be effective Nov. 21. According to Mercy Iowa City spokesman Aaron Scheinblum, the layoffs will affect a variety of non-specific areas in the hospital. The notice was filed days before the hospital announced last month that it would close its inpatient mental and behavioral health unit. Scheinblum says the layoffs are not specifically tied to that unit.

UNDATED (AP) — Federal agriculture officials are awarding $22 million in grants to gas stations, convenience stores and fuel distribution sites in 14 states to upgrade pumps, fuel lines and storage tanks as part of a program designed to increase the use of higher blends of ethanol fuel and biodiesel. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the grants in several stops on Thursday including two locations in Iowa. In May the government announced it would allocate $100 million for a program to help businesses upgrade gas pumps, fuel lines and storage tanks to sell gas and diesel fuels with higher ethanol content such as E15. Critics called the announcement a Donald Trump administration election year stunt.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The city of Cedar Rapids is preparing to undertake more than $7.4 million in construction work next year on its flood control system. The Gazette reports that the city will open bids this month for key projects, including demolition of a bridge and construction of a permanent levee and gatewell in Czech Village. Bids will also open for construction of a flood wall, pump stations and watermain protecting the Quaker Oats plant along the riverfront. Cedar Rapids, the state’s second-largest city, was devastated by historic flooding in 2008 flood that wiped out downtown neighborhoods.

(Radio Iowa) – The U-S Drought Monitor out today (Thursday) shows around 47 percent of the state in moderate drought — and more than two-thirds of the state is still abnormally dry. Iowa D-N-R hydrologist, Tim Hall, says there’s also a surplus of moisture in parts of the state. “It’s kind of a mixed bag in the state. Northeast Iowa has a surplus of water and west-central and southwest Iowa has a deficit of water. On average it’s not too bad. But you really can’t look at averages this year,” Hall says.

He says central Iowa is doing okay for water — but things change as you move west. “In Audubon, Guthrie, Carroll, Greene, and Shelby counties — driest April to September on record for that part of the state. So those folks in some of those places they are more than 15 inches behind where they should be on rainfall for that time period,” according to Hall. The end of September brought the end of the growing season and concern about the crops having enough water. Hall says the focus now shifts to other water needs.

“We’re looking ahead towards the next growing season certainly, and we are also looking ahead to the point where the ground freezes up and we have less ability to move water into the soil,” Hall says. “And any water that gets into the soil and eventually into the groundwater typically will end up not just being a source of water for plants, but a lot of communities pump groundwater out and use that for their drinking water supplies,” Hall says rainfall usually slows down this time of year — but any rainfall in the dry areas can help.

“We come out of a dry summer, if we go into a dry fall and the ground freezes up and sort of cuts off the ability of moisture to get down into the soil — folks is those parts of the state who have been really suffering this summer from dryness are going to find themselves in the same dryness hole next spring and it’s going to be hard to get out of,” Halls says. The counties now in extreme drought include Palo Alto, Clay, Dickinson, Osceola, O’Brien, Lyon, Sioux, Plymouth, and Cherokee.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County, Thursday, said a man from Monroe, Louisiana reported Thursday morning, that sometime during the overnight hours, someone entered his vehicle while it was parked at 1804 Virginia Lane, in Creston. Authorities say a Ruger .380 pistol, serial number 372243442,was taken from inside the vehicle. The weapon was valued at approximately $200.

A Lake Mills man also reported to authorities, Thursday morning that his vehicle, parked in the same location as the one mentioned above, was also entered. Taken from inside, was a tackle box with tackle, 5 DeWalt batteries, angle grinder, ½” impact driver, and blank checks. The combined value of those items was estimated to be around $800.

UPDATE: 10/9/2020 the juvenile returned home safe and sound.

Original story posted Thursday evening:

The Council Bluffs Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a missing juvenile, 17-year-old Stacey Gomez was last seen at around 9:30-p.m. Wednesday, in the area of 2200 S. 7th St., walking towards Sunset Park in Council Bluffs.

Stacey Gomez

Authorities say Stacey is roughly 5’3” tall, 135 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes and wearing glasses. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, pink shoes, a gray t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on the front and carrying a black sweatshirt.

Her family is worried for her safety and we are asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to call the Pottawattamie County Communications Center at (712)328-5737. Thank you for your help!

The City of Atlantic issued a notice on Thursday afternoon that due to the burn ban and windy conditions the compost site is closed until further notice. We’ll update you with more information as it becomes available.

(Radio Iowa) – A report from Iowa’s largest auto insurer shows the state is still one of the most dangerous for drivers at risk of hitting wildlife, as well as pets and livestock. Kelly Pargett, a spokeswoman for State Farm Insurance, says Iowa drivers have a one-in-58 chance of colliding with an animal while on the road. She says the company had 40-thousand Iowa customers report incidents involving animals in the past fiscal year.

Pargett says, “Iowa is ranked 7th in the nation for animal collisions, most of which are still deer, but there were other animals — dogs, cats and then, of course, farm animals for this part of the country were a huge category this year.” It’s mating season for deer, plus, it’s harvest season across Iowa and the hundreds of tractors and combines are driving deer by the thousands out of the fields and onto the highways. While 67-percent of the reported animal collisions involved deer, other animals drivers had unfortunate encounters with included: cows, squirrels, turtles, raccoons, rabbits, rats and opossums.

“Iowa being the Hawkeye State, a lot of birds — birds is a big category this year,” Pargett says. “They swoop down and they’re doing enough damage to have the driver file a claim and nationwide, 15,000 of those in the bird category are turkeys.” The likelihood of an animal collision more than doubles during October, November and December. 2020 being the year of coronavirus, so many people were staying home at the start of the pandemic, the number of drivers on the roads dropped — and so did the number of accidents.

“One thing we did see this year is the difference in March of this year compared to March of last year,” Pargett says. “This year we saw a 20% decrease, which is over 70,000 less claims reported.” Iowa’s seventh-place ranking this year is down from fifth last year. Those above Iowa for the riskiest states for animal collisions are, number-one: West Virginia, followed by Montana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Michigan and Wisconsin.