DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines have arrested a woman accused of keeping 11 exotic birds in deplorable conditions. The Des Moines Register reports that 63-year-old Deborah Barber faces charges of four counts of animal neglect. She was arrested Tuesday after police conducted a search of her home in late October and discovered the living conditions of the birds.

Animal Rescue League of Iowa spokesperson Stephanie Filer says three Moluccan cockatoos, four Goffin’s cockatoos, two Amazon parrots and two cockatiels were rescued from Barber’s home. Filer says the birds were found in “filthy enclosures” and suffered health problems, including one that had self-mutilation wounds caused by stress.

The Creston Police Department reports three people were arrested on separate charges, Tuesday, and one person was arrested this (Wednesday) morning. Tuesday afternoon, 40-year-old Aaron Riepe, of Creston, was arrested at his residence on two counts of Theft 2nd. He was released from the Union County Jail on a $10,000 bond. And, 36-year-old Amanda Speed (Jones), of Creston, was arrested in the 400 block of N. Mulberry, on the charge of Violation of a Protection Order. She was being held in the Adams County Jail while awaiting bond hearing.

Tuesday evening, 31-year-old Kenny Cunningham, of Shannon City, was arrested at Taylor/Birch in Creston, for Driving While Suspended. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $300 bond. And, at around 2:50-a.m. today (Wednesday), 34-year-old Cory Mitchell, of Thayer, was arrested at 1700 W. Townline, in Creston, for Public Intoxication. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

The Iowa Department of Public Health’s Coronavirus dashboard today (10-a.m. Wednesday), show that since 10-a.m. Tuesday, there have been 2,818 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide, for a pandemic total of 136,047, and 26 additional deaths, for a total of 1,781. Pre-existing conditions account for 1,164 of the total deaths, while Long-Term Care facility deaths are up 10 to 865. Cass County has one more death (for a total of 6), and 21 more Positive cases, for a total of 527. Pottawattamie County has two more deaths from the virus, for a total of 47.

The number of Long-Term Care facility (LTC) outbreaks is 84. In Cass County, two facilities: Atlantic Specialty Care and the Griswold Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, have a combined total of 140 positive cases (15 more than on Tuesday), with 27 recovered. Harrison County still has 253 cases among three facilities, and 178 recovered.  (For more data not seen here, go to https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/)

Hospitalizations set another record in Iowa, jumping from 730 on Tuesday to 777 today. And , there is another record for COVID patients in an ICU, at 182 (compared to 170 Tuesday). There was also a substantial jump in admissions: 164 as of today, compared to 92 on Tuesday. And there are four more persons on a ventilator, for a total of 63. In western/southwestern Iowa: there are five more people hospitalized with COVID, at 47; one more is in an ICU, for a total of 13, and seven people were admitted. There is now one person on a ventilator, one less than reported Tuesday.

The IDPH reports a total of 994,735 Iowans have been tested for the virus, with 856,984 testing Negative. The Individual Positivity rate is up to 13.7%, and the 14-day rolling average is up to 15.7%. There are 18 counties with a Positivity rate of 20% or greater, up from 11 on Tuesday. Cass County has a Positivity rate of 20.7% (compared to 20.3 Tuesday).  Taylor County is at 22.3%, and Page County has a Positivity rate of 20.5%.  Wayne County, in eastern Iowa has the State’s highest Positivity rate, at 33.3%

Officials say 96,648 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,

• Cass, 527 cases {+21}; 336 recovered; 6 deaths
• Adair, 252 {+13}; 85; 1
• Adams, 92 {+2}; 54; 1
• Audubon, 212 {+8}; 111; 1
• Guthrie, 459 {+11); 303; 15
• Harrison County, 760 {+12}; 428; 18
• Madison County, 409 {+7}; 288; 3
• Mills County, 495 {+6}; 245; 3
• Montgomery, 222 {+7}; 183; 7
• Pottawattamie County, 3,667 {+73]; 2,647; 47
• Shelby County, 445 {+9}; 374; 2
• Union County,  311 {+18}; 237; 5

(Radio Iowa/updated 10-am) – This (Wednesday) morning, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate announced on Twitter that Iowa has shattered the previous voter turn-out record — by nearly 100-thousand votes. The previous record was nearly one-million-five-hundred-99 thousand ballots cast by voters in 2012. Pate and his staff had an inkling voter interest was spiking. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in people going to our website, as well as just as our social media tracking,” Paul says. “We’re seeing all-time high numbers of people seeing what we’re tweeting out, see what we’re putting on our Facebook.”

The Secretary of State’s website is the portal where Iowans were able to track their absentee ballots, plus it has a page where voters could plug in their own address to find the precinct location for Election Day voting. Pate says the pandemic may have had a role in this year’s increased turn-out, as social activities have been limited.  “There weren’t as many distractions, because I have this activity to go to or that activity to go to, those were taken off the table somewhat, so voting became a higher issue,” Pate says. “And just in general terms the economy and the pandemic itself got people’s attention and they felt that voting would send a message on how they wanted their government to respond.”

Pate says there are outstanding absentee ballots that may be counted in the next few days and added to the voter turn-out tally. More than a million Iowans asked for an absentee ballot and were sent one. The latest data on the Secretary of State’s website shows about 56-thousand absentee ballots had not been RECEIVED by county auditors by Monday evening. State law allows mailed-in absentee ballots to be counted if they have a November 2nd postmark and are delivered to a county auditor’s office by November 9th.