(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Democrats are using a lack of members on the Iowa Board of Health to criticize Republican Governor Kim Reynold’s handling of the pandemic. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn told reporters the Board of Health does not have enough members for a quorum and had to cancel its July 14th meeting. “We need real leadership to help us reverse the course that we are on — and I am calling on Governor Reynolds to do her job and appoint individuals to the state Board of Health so we can continue to have that advice. To have that public input, to have the professionals on the State Board of Health to give that support and that advice as we continue to recover from the pandemic,” Wilburn says.

Seven of the 11 seats on the board are currently open. Democrat State Senator Liz Mathis of Hiawatha, is on the Human Resources Committee which oversees the Board of Health. “Governor Reynolds needs to get to this, she needs to fill these positions so that the state Board of Health is able to function through this pandemic, during this pandemic, and after this pandemic quite frankly– because there is a lot of planning that needs to go into effect,” Mathis says. Mathis says there are other positions on boards that have not been filled they talked to a liaison in the governor’s office.

“We really pushed it, we pressed it. He got back to us with an answer and the answer was that there was someone absent or missing from the decision-making process,” according to Mathis. “This should have been done by now. This is mismanagement and it is going to slow any kind of potential solutions on what will go on with the pandemic and overall public health.”

Mathis says they believe there were enough people interested in serving on the Board of Health. The governor’s office has not responded with a comment on the issue.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is the latest state to dedicate Highway 20 as the nation’s “Medal of Honor” highway. Ceremonies this weekend in Sergeant Bluff at American Legion Post 662 marked the occasion with new signs. Local attorney Rene LaPierre led the push to get it done. “I thought Iowa needed to get on board. What that sign represents is truly the uncommon valor of individuals who gave their life for many of them,” LaPierre says. “So, I decided I was going to do more than sit and talk about it and took an active role get this legislation passed, get it signed.”

Lapierre talked with state lawmakers to drum up support and got the bill to the Governor’s desk and she signed it about one month ago. “Truly pleased by seeing this and it is a joint effort,” he says.

Highway 20 stretches more than three-thousand miles from Newport, Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports just one arrest over the past week. 57-year-old Douglas Wayne Ruse, of Corning,was arrested Thursday evening, on an Adair County warrant for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. Ruse was held without bond until his initial court appearance, and released the following day on a $300 cash or surety bond.

Seven people under the age of 13 were injured during an accident Saturday evening, in Mills County. Sheriff’s officials reports the Mills County Communications Center received a 9-1-1 call at around 6:30-p.m. about a single-vehicle accident that had just occurred at the intersection of Levi and Mahaffey Roads. The accident resulted in multiple injuries. When first responders arrived, they determined the injured included five juveniles ranging in age from five-months to 13. Three of the juvenile occupants were unsecured in the bed of the vehicle at the time of the crash.

All seven occupants were transported to the UNMC in Omaha by medical helicopter or ambulance. Their injuries were determined to be non-life threatening. The crash remains under investigation by the Mills County Sheriff’s Office. No names are being released at this time.

The Mills County S/O was assisted by Glenwood Police, Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputies, the Iowa State Patrol, Glenwood Fire and Rescue, Pacific Junction Fire and Rescue, and LifeNet.

(Radio Iowa) – Rental assistance programs are bracing for a spike in eviction filings in August after the federal hold on some evictions ends this week. As of last week, the state had only distributed seven-million dollars of the nearly 200-million it received to help Iowans who are behind on rent payments. A separate Polk County program has given more than twice as much money to renters as the program meant to serve all 99 counties. Eric Burmeister is executive director of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, one of the program’s partners. “Let’s not panic, certainly tenants, don’t panic because there is assistance available,” Burmeister says. “The tenants have legal rights.”

Burmeister says Polk County has given about 16-million dollars to renters through the program so far with the goal of keeping people in their homes. “That’s our hope, is that we’ve reached a big chunk of those folks with the rental assistance,” he says. “If not, I think we’re prepared here in Polk County to meet that surge.”

The state’s only distributed a small portion of the money it was given for rental assistance due to a deluge in requests. An Iowa Finance Authority spokesperson says the agency hopes to get through a backlog of applications by July 30th. Iowans facing eviction in any county can go to iowa-finance-dot-com for more information about assistance.

(By Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

For a time, it seemed as though in mid-June, Iowa was winning the war against COVID-19, with the positivity rates falling to 2-percent or less, depending on the day. Now (As of July 26th), however, the 14-day positivity rate has increased to 4.6%, and the seven-day rate is 4.2-percent. Positive tests (PT) over the last seven-days have increased in several area counties:

Cass – 7 total PT (10% rate); Adair – 6 TP (17%); Adams – three PT (11% rate); Guthrie – 2 PT (4% positivity rate); Harrison –  5 PT (17%); Madison – 3 PT (5%); Mills – 1 PT (3%); Montgomery – 4 PT (10%); Shelby 4 PT (9%). (See the County pandemic totals below). Fortunately, the number of deaths since June 25th in southwest Iowa have not increased as dramatically, with most counties reporting no change in the statistics. One month ago, the pandemic death toll stood at 6,124. The latest Coronavirus dashboard data show 6,170 people have died from COVID.

There are two Long-Term Care (LTC) outbreaks in Iowa. The number of persons hospitalized with COVID in Iowa, has increased from a low of 46 on June 25th, to 106 as of July 26th. Health officials report 39 patients are in an ICU, 23 were admitted over the past 24-hours, and 13 patients are on a ventilator. In RMCC Region 4 (which was down to zero hospitalizations, no ICU patients, zero new admissions, and no one on a ventilator on June 25th), there are currently nine hospitalized, 3 in an ICU, 3 were admitted, and one person was on a ventilator.

In the immediate KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County (since the beginning of the pandemic) and the total number of deaths (Since the beginning of the pandemic) in each county to date:
Cass, 1,494 cases; 55 deaths
Adair, 1,027; 32
Adams, 360; 4
Audubon, 547; 13
Guthrie, 1,328; 32
Harrison County, 1,956; 73
Madison County, 1,820 19
Mills County, 1,806; 24
Montgomery, 1,149; 38
Pottawattamie County, 12,449;174
Shelby County, 1,337; 38
Union County, 1,376; 35

(Radio Iowa) – Authorities are now releasing the name of the Hampton teenager who was killed in a head-on weekend crash in Mason City. The Iowa State Patrol says 17-year-old Cammie Haack was driving northbound on US Highway 65 at about 6:30 Saturday morning when her vehicle drifted into the center turn lane and then into the inside southbound lane, colliding head-on with a vehicle driven by 30-year-old Joanna Gautier of Charles City.

The State Patrol confirmed that Haack died from the accident, while no condition update was provided for Gautier. The accident remains under investigation