(Radio Iowa) – The pace of vaccinations appears to be trending up slightly in Iowa as the number of patients hospitalized in Iowa for treatment of Covid grows. In the past 40 days, the number of Covid patients in Iowa hospitals has grown from 46 to more than 200 — a 77 percent increase.

The Iowa Department of Public Health’s weekly report shows the state averaged about 500 new cases of Covid in each of the past seven days. That’s about seven percent higher than daily case counts a year ago. The state website shows just over 47 percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated — a three-tenths of a percent increase from the previous week.

Leonard Management Group, a family-owned company that owns local McDonald’s restaurants, is donating more than 75 school supply kits to local teachers. In Atlantic, the giveaway takes place Thursday, August 5th, from 9-a.m. until 11-a.m., at the McDonald’s located at 1510 E. 7th Street.

Management Group officials say this donation is a way to show appreciation for teachers and all they provide for their students. The kits include pencils, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, tissues, paper, post-it notes and more. Quantities are limited; to receive a kit, teachers must sign up for a time slot.

In addition to the school supply kits, teachers will have a chance to win prize giveaways. In all, Leonard Management Group is donating more than $30,000 in school supplies to teachers across Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports a man was arrested Wednesday (today), after Deputies followed-up on an anonymous tip about illegal drug activity in Shenandoah. They observed a large Marijuana plant that did not appear to be a wild plant. The resident of the property was confronted about the growing plant.

A subsequent search of the residence and property conducted by the Page County Sheriff’s and Shenandoah Police Department resulted in the arrest of the resident, 29-year-old Corbin Mackenzie Moody, of Shenandoah. He was charged with Possession of a controlled Substance – Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and False Report to Law Enforcement.

Corbin Moody

Moody was transported to the Page County Jail and held on a $1,600 bond, pending further court proceedings.

(COUNCIL BLUFFS) — The Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Agency reports, earlier today (Wednesday), the Regional Water Rural Water Association had announced the lifting of boil orders in Shelby and Harrison Counties. Those areas also included some facilities in Pottawattamie County such as Tri-Center Schools; the Minden Casey’s General Store; and near Shelby, the Menards Distribution Center and Love’s Travel Center properties.

Around 3:00 p.m., with the return of passing water test results, other areas and residential properties that were affected are also starting to be released from boil orders that went into effect just over one month ago.

Regional Water customers in Pleasant Township (North of Rosewood Rd., South of York Rd/I-80, East of 360th St. and West of 420th St.) and Valley Township (North of G30, South of Rosewood Rd., East of 420th St., and West of Hwy 59) are now lifted from the boil advisory. If your account number starts with A15, C15, or C17, you can now use the water as normal.
Regional Water also informed those customers that for those who have an automatic ice maker, they recommend you flush it before consuming any ice.

If you do not have any other guidance from your manufacturer on how to do so, we recommend that you throw out all ice that was made during the boil advisory and let the ice maker run for a full twenty-four-hour cycle; throwing out any ice made during that time before using it normally. If your ice maker comes with different instructions on how to flush it, follow those instructions instead of their provided recommendation.

Updates will continue to be provided on the emergency management agency’s website at https://pcema-ia.org, twitter feed, and Facebook page. Regional Water system updates, alerts, and additional information can be obtained directly from Regional Water Rural Water Association’s website at https://www.rwrwa.org/.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State University graduate whose company builds life-size sculptures out of LEGO bricks will create a tribute to one of the Ames institution’s most famous graduates during the Iowa State Fair. Chris Ihle, who runs We Build U, was hired by his alma mater to create a LEGO George Washington Carver, but the innovative inventor won’t be depicted just standing there.

“We definitely didn’t want to build him as a Civil War statue because he’s a person,” Ihle says. “We found a black-and-white photograph that shows him in a lab coat, working with the beakers. It really captures the science of what Washington Carver did.” Ihle and three other team members will spend an estimated 300 hours during the fair making the sculpture — which will use about 44-thousand LEGO bricks. We Build U just marked its third anniversary and Ihle has a client list that ranges from rappers to pets to presidents.

“I surely didn’t invent LEGOs and I surely didn’t invent self portraits, so I just combined the two,” Ihle says. “Nobody ever wakes up and says, ‘Today, I’m going to go buy a life-size LEGO statue of myself or a loved one,’ and we’re the only place in the world that offers that.” Ihle has created LEGO sculptures for musicians, reality TV shows, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the Ultimate Fighting Championship — and even Iowa native opera singer Simon Estes.

“If you’re awesome, we can build you and if you’re not awesome, go do something awesome and then we’ll build you,” Ihle says. “If you can’t do anything awesome, go ask your mother because I’m sure she thinks you’re awesome and in that case, we’ll build your mother in LEGOs. And I guarantee you, she’s going to cry when she sees it because everybody loves themselves and everybody loves LEGOs.” Carver was Iowa State’s first black student and faculty member.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of Carver receiving his master’s degree at I-S-U. His research resulted in the creation of more than 300 products from peanuts, more than 100 products from sweet potatoes, and hundreds more from a dozen other plants native to the South. Fairgoers will be able to see the statue as it’s being built in the fair’s Varied Industries Building and once the fair is over, the LEGO Carver will go on display on Iowa State’s campus in a location to be determined.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports a young adult from Panora was injured during a rollover accident late Monday morning. Authorities say 18-year-old Paul Richard Hansen was driving a 2001 Buick Century Custom west on 120th Street – a gravel road – at around 11:30-a.m., when the car went out of control. The vehicle entered the eastbound ditch before it entered the westbound ditch and struck a large rock.

The car rolled over and came to rest in a cornfield. Hansen was wearing a seat belt. He complained of pain and possible injury before being transported by his parents. No citations were issued. The vehicle sustained $1,500 damage and was declared a total loss.

(Radio Iowa) – A Fort Dodge man facing a bank robbery charge in a Greene County had pleaded guilty. Twenty-seven-year-old Zachary Michael Wailes has admitted to entering a bank in Scranton while armed with a pistol in Late February. Twenty-six-year-old Tyler Mattingly of Carroll, entered a guilty plea to first-degree theft, as part of plea deal for his role in the robbery. Court documents show that Mattingly admitted to calling in a false report of a car accident on the other side of Greene County, to draw law enforcement away from Scranton during the robbery.

A sentencing date for both Wailes and Mattingly is still pending.