(Updated with ISP corrected info).) A two vehicle accident in the Denison High School parking on Friday night ended with a fiery vehicle and two teens injured. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident took place Friday night at 10:45 p.m. in the north parking lot of the school.

A 2014 Chevy Silverado driven by 17-year-old August J. Boettger of Arion and a 2004 Ford Ranger driven by 16-year-old Eduardo Gutierrez of Denison, collided head on while both traveling at a high rate of speed. Both vehicles came to rest a short distance away from the crash and the Silverado caught on fire.

Gutierrez was taken from the scene by EMS personnel to Crawford County Memorial Hospital and later flown to UNMC in Omaha by Lifenet. Boettger was safely removed from the Silverado and taken by personal vehicle to Crawford County Hospital to be checked out.

No status on the two individuals is known at this time and no further details of the crash have been provided.

(Des Moines, IA) Following the announcement Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have lifted the pause on the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) recommends that any vaccine provider in the state who has available Johnson & Johnson vaccine resume administration, effective immediately. 

The pause was recommended after reports of six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals following administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The FDA and CDC are confident that the vaccine is safe and effective in preventing COVID-19 symptoms. They have stated that they will remain vigilant in investigating the risk of TTS blod clots but data suggests the risk is very low.

More information can be found on the CDC website here.

The State of Iowa has a new Medicaid director. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced the hiring of her current health policy adviser Elizabeth Matney to the Medicaid post. Matney will take over as director on June 1st. Matney has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from Drake University and a bachelor’s in psychology and philosophy from Texas State University.

Iowa’s Medicaid program oversees care for more than 700,000 poor and disabled Iowans. The program has been much maligned since former Governor Terry Branstad turned it over to private insurers.

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand says he hasn’t made a decision about the 2022 campaign. Sand, a Democrat, won a four-year term as state auditor in 2018 in his first race for elected office.  “Looking at reelection, potentially running for governor, maybe running for U.S. Senate,” Sand says. Last fall, Sand questioned the 21 million dollars in federal pandemic relief funds Republican Governor Kim Reynolds spent on new computer software for some state agencies — the state legislature this year provided state funds instead for the purchase.

“The bigger issue to me is that we’ve got — at this point it’s late April — close to $1 billion sitting in the state’s accounts while Iowans are suffering,” Sand said, “and at any point a special (legislative) session could have been called, the legislature could have passed something to get that money out there to struggling small business owners to make sure that they can get through this pandemic and Iowa’s culture in our small towns maintains what it used to be, so we have a normal to come back to.”

Governor Reynolds has said the state doesn’t have the resources to make all businesses whole after pandemic-related losses. Sand cites the Iowa Restaurant Association’s prediction that a thousand restaurants will close due to the pandemic.  “You have people who have poured their lives into creating a gathering place for their community and it might be the only one there and now this pandemic comes along and through no fault of that business owner they’ve had to shut down and they’ve lost their business,” Sand says. “The fact that they have been unwilling to help, unwilling to assist, to me is wild.”

Sand says Reynolds should have used the state budget surplus to help because federal aid came too late for a lot of Iowa business owners. “It was bizarre to me to see the governor of Iowa say: ‘That’s the federal government’s job,'” Sand said. “She’s elected to look out for the state of Iowa, to serve the people of Iowa and instead of Iowans getting what they need in this time of need, she’s going to do with that money what she wants.” Sand says his critiques of Governor Reynolds aren’t a signal he’s running for governor, however, and may choose to seek reelection as state auditor.

“I’ve got a 4 and a half year old, a freshly-minted 7 year old at home,” Sand said. “These are big questions. They’re hard to balance and there are certainly things that weigh in both directions and I just haven’t finished weighing them.”

Sand made his comments during taping of the “Iowa Press” program which airs tonight (Friday) on Iowa P-B-S. Last weekend, Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig was on the program and Naig, a Republican, announced he plans to seek reelection in 2022.