KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
KJAN News can be heard at five minutes after every hour right after Fox News 24 hours a day!
Keep up-to-date with Fox News Radio, Radio Iowa, Brownfield & the Iowa Agribusiness Networks!
Members of the Atlantic City Council are set to receive a presentation Wednesday, with regard to Child Care in the community and in Cass County. On November 5th, Officials with Childcare Resource & Referral of Southwest Iowa (CCR&R) reported multiple childcare programs in Atlantic had closed their doors over the previous two-weeks, for a variety of reasons. That left almost 100 children without childcare, and prompted CCR&R to host a “Child Care Ready ” series, an online recruitment event, with hopes to recruit, retain, train and support quality childcare and early education providers.
CCR&R officials said that have partnered with the Iowa Women’s Foundation to provide a small $250 incentive grant to each participant who completes the series. Funding will be primarily used to pay for costs associated with the start-up of becoming a childcare home provider opening a Child Development Home business.
During Wednesday’s 5:30-p.m. Council meeting, officials with the Cass-Atlantic Development Corporation (CADCO), Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, and CCR&R will appear before the Council to discuss the program and other, childcare-related matters. Due to new COVID restrictions, the meeting will be held via Zoom.
Southwest Valley Community School District Superintendent Chris Fenster, Friday, announced on social media, that a mask mandate would begin today (Monday), for all students. Saying ” It’s time to Step Up and Mask Up!”
(Fenster says students will be required to wear face masks or gaiters. He says those students without face coverings will be sent home.)
SWV has had two new cases in the teaching ranks, one at Southwest Valley Middle School and one at Corning Elementary. The students affected have been contacted, and the staff members are at home recuperating. On Friday, there was a 19-percent positivity rate in Adams County. Today (Monday), the rate is 18.3-percent. The mask mandate, Fenster said is an added layer of protection in order to keep students in school and not have to go to remote learning.
(He said the staff will try and give the students as many breaks as possible from the face coverings. The students aren’t going to like it, but they’re doing this for our students and staff’s safety so we can have school.)
More Guidance will follow on High School sports before the first game on November 30th.
Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard as of 10-a.m. Monday (today), indicated there are six additional deaths attributed to COVID-19 since Sunday’s report, for a total of 1,991. The number of deaths attributed to a pre-existing conditions statewide are 1,261, while deaths at Long-Term Care facilities amount to 934, two more than yesterday.
Officials say since 10-a.m. Sunday, there have been 2,335 new confirmed, Positive cases of the virus, for a total since the pandemic began, of 187,020. Cass County has two new, Positive cases of COVID, for a total of 649. Double-digit Positive case increases were reported in Harrison, Mills and Pottawattamie Counties. (see the list below).
There remain 100 Long-Term Care facility (LTC) outbreaks. Those care facilities report 2,916 positive cases and 1,387 recovered.
Hospitalization rates continue to climb, from 1,279 yesterday to 1,392 today. The IDPH says 271 COVID patients are in the ICU (24 more than Sunday), 243 patients have been admitted to a hospital (35 more than Sunday), and there are 123 on a ventilator (compared to 115 yesterday). In western/southwestern Iowa: there are 70 COVID patients in the hospital (5 more than yesterday); 21 are in an ICU (4 more than Sunday), 12 people were admitted to a hospital (compared to 4 on Sunday), and there are eight people a ventilator.
Iowa lists approximately 2,790 available hospital beds, 354 available ICU beds and 850 available ventilators. Health department data shows 1,019 of hospitalized patients were admitted for a primary COVID-19 diagnosis, while 373 were hospitalized for a different reason but tested positive. The state reports 75% of hospitalized patients are over the age of 60. The state now reports 2% of hospitalized patients are under the age of 18.
The state’s data shows that 1,105,476 Iowans have been tested for coronavirus. Test results received yesterday amounted to 6,334, with 4,613 coming back Negative and 1,698 Positive. The total number of Negative results since the beginning of the pandemic is 915,770. The state receives test results from prior days and adds them to the overall total. Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate is 23.2, and the Individual Positivity rate is 16.9%. The IDPH says 108,174 Iowans have recovered from the virus.
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,
Police in Red Oak report the arrest at around 12:45-a.m. Monday (Today), of 37-year old Stephen Ray Adams, of Red Oak. Adams was taken into custody on a Class-B Felony charge of Arson in the 1st Degree. Adams was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $25,000 bond.
Sunday afternoon, Red Oak Police, assisted by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies, arrested 30-year old Dylan Thomas Griffeth, of Red Oak, for Public Intoxication. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.
(Radio Iowa) – After disappointing statewide election results for their party, Democrats in the Iowa Senate have chosen a new leader, but Democrats in the House are keeping theirs. Zach Wahls of Coralville is the new minority leader for the 18 Democrats in the Iowa Senate. He says it’s clear his party has rebuilding to do.
“One of the the things that’s ahead of us is really clearly defining what it means to be an Iowa Democrat…There may may be some folks who look at what happened here in Iowa and say, you know, the problem is the Democrats are spending too much time talking about, you know, this issue or that issue…I think the reality is the Democratic Party has always stood — probably since the New Deal — for civil rights and workers rights,” Wahls says. “…The work ahead of us is to clearly define that brand.”
Wahls, who is 29, was elected to the state senate in 2018 and comes from Johnson County, an urban county dominated by Democrats. His district includes rural areas, however — including the home of the Iowa Republican Party’s chairman. Wahls says voters in rural areas of his district want to see change. “My message whether it’s in rural Iowa or in Iowa City or Des Moines or anywhere else is going to be very consistent,” Wahls says, “which is that the Democratic Party is here to make sure that we are supporting every Iowan, not just the wealthiest Iowans.”
Todd Prichard of Charles City, the leader of House Democrats for the past two years, was re-elected this weekend as the group’s leader. “We need to learn from this election. We need to find ways to expand our reach to voters and find ways to bring people into the Democratic Party,” Prichard said. “But I don’t think that, you know, the conclusion was…everything that happened in this last election is…in our immediate control.”
Democrats were aiming to win more seats and majority control in the Iowa House, but Republicans expanded their majority to 59 of the 100 seats in the House. Prichard says good Democratic candidates just got swept aside in a Republican wave election. “Unfortunately they weren’t successful in a way that we wanted to be successful,” Prichard says. “…I’m proud of them for fighting the good fight.”
The 2021 Iowa legislative session is scheduled to begin January 11th.
(Radio Iowa) – There were nearly 14-hundred Covid patients in Iowa hospitals Sunday evening. That’s three times as many as a month ago and nearly double the number that were hospitalized on November 1st. Dr. Dan Diekema is director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa.
“I think the word unprecedented is probably being overused this past year, but the type and degree of spread that we’re seeing now in the state — it is really unprecedented,” he says, “…record numbers of patients who are in the hospital with Covid-19, in our intensive care units.”
There were 271 patients in Iowa intensive care units Sunday night — a 61 percent increase from October 15th. Diekema says Iowa hospitals are converting general wards to areas for Covid patients only and retraining staff who work in other areas to care for Covid patients. “Oftentimes you’ll read or see on public health websites, for example, numbers of beds available or ventilators available, but often that isn’t the limiting factor,” he says. “The staffing becomes the real issue.”
Diekema made his comments during an appearance on Iowa Public Radio. This weekend, public health officials in Polk County said staffing is the biggest issue facing hospitals in Des Moines. A statement from the Polk County Public Health Department used words like “dire” and “alarming” to describe the continued escalation in cases of the coronavirus.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus in Iowa set another record as the recent surge in cases continued. The state said 1,279 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa on Saturday, up from 1,261 the day before. Iowa also reported 4,432 new cases and 13 additional deaths as of Sunday morning to give the state 184,685 cases and 1,985 deaths. Over the past week in Iowa, one out of every 95 people in the state was diagnosed with COVID-19, and the rate of new cases in the state remained the third-highest in the nation,
BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Roger Jepsen who represented Iowa in Washington D.C. in the early 1980s has died. The 91-year-old Republican died Friday at a hospice facility in Bettendorf, Iowa. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Jepsen served the state well during his single term in the Senate from 1979 to 1985. While in Congress, Jepsen led the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and served on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees. After losing his re-election bid to Democrat Tom Harkin, Jepsen was appointed chairman of the National Credit Union Administration Board and helped oversee more than 14,000 credit unions nationwide from 1985 until 1993.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque firefighter is suing the city because she says she has endured sexual harassment on the job since she started in 2011. Jami Boss cites a number of incidents in her lawsuit including being told by a lieutenant that she was only hired because she was a girl. Boss said male firefighters used the women’s restroom and sometimes walked in on Boss while she was in there. And in one incident, a coworker shoved his hand down the back of Boss’ pants, according to the lawsuit. City officials denied most of the allegations in a formal response to the lawsuit
ELMWOOD, Neb. (AP) — The biggest reason coronavirus infections are soaring in the Midwest isn’t because residents don’t understand the dangers of the virus or how to protect themselves. It’s because many of them aren’t that concerned. In much of the region, as in other pockets of the country, some look at statistics showing that most people quickly recover from the virus and ask, why should I stop living my life the way I want to avoid catching an illness that probably won’t hurt me much anyway? The perception, coupled with a lack of government mandates requiring masks and other safety precautions, is a huge concern for local public health officials. They worry that soaring caseloads will soon overwhelm their hospitals.
BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Roger Jepsen who represented Iowa in Washington D.C. in the early 1980s has died. The 91-year-old Republican died Friday at a hospice facility in Bettendorf, Iowa. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Jepsen served the state well during his single term in the Senate from 1979 to 1985. While in Congress, Jepsen led the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and served on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees.
After losing his re-election bid to Democrat Tom Harkin, Jepsen was appointed chairman of the National Credit Union Administration Board and helped oversee more than 14,000 credit unions nationwide from 1985 until 1993.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque firefighter is suing the city because she says she has endured sexual harassment on the job since she started in 2011. Jami Boss cites a number of incidents in her lawsuit including being told by a lieutenant that she was only hired because she was a girl.
Boss said male firefighters used the women’s restroom and sometimes walked in on Boss while she was in there. And in one incident, a coworker shoved his hand down the back of Boss’ pants, according to the lawsuit. City officials denied most of the allegations in a formal response to the lawsuit
The Griswold, Exira-EHK and Audubon School Boards all have (separate) meetings set to take place Monday evening. In Griswold, the Board will elect a Board President and Vice President, set the regular Board meeting date and Time, and possibly take action on a Mask Mandate, after some discussion. On a related note, the Griswold School Board will discuss, and possibly act on Remote Learning Limitations, and consider cancelling Wrestling Cheerleading for 2020-21. Their meeting takes place 5:30-p.m. in the Conference Room.
In Elk Horn, the Exira-EHK School Board will gather at 6-p.m. for a meeting in the Conference Room, as well. On their agenda is personnel matters, including the resignations of: Rick Nielsen, Instrumental Music; Andrea Nulle, Asst. Volleyball Coach; and Doug Newton, Junior High Football. The will also act on hiring: Trent Megchelsen and Alex Hansen, JH Boys Basketball; Andrea Nulle and Courtney Peppe, JH Girls Basketball. The Exira-EHK Board will elect new officers, as well as approve early graduation requests, and take action on facial coverings, among other items of business.
And, the Audubon School Board will gather at 6:30-p.m. Monday in the High School Board Room, during a Work Session set aside for Policy Review. They’ll begin their regular meeting at 7-p.m. with a Public Hearing on the proposed issuance of about $4.2-million in School Infrastructure, Sales, Services and Use Tax Revenue, and Refunding Bonds. Afterward, they’ll adjourn the retiring Board and elect new officers. Their action items include a Resolution supporting the aforementioned proposed issuance of about $4.2-million in Bonds.