(Radio Iowa) – The Centers for Disease Control’s latest COVID data indicates nearly 62 percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated. The older an Iowan is, the more likely they are to have gotten COVID shots. For example, 87 percent of Iowans 65 and older fully vaccinated, while around half of 12 to 29 year olds have been vaccinated. Nearly a quarter of five to 11 year old Iowa kids are fully vaccinated. State officials have confirmed more than 95-hundred Iowans have died of COVID since the pandemic began in 2020.

The Mayo Clinic currently identifies three of Iowa’s 99 counties as COVID hot spots, based on a seven day rolling average of positive COVID cases. The three are Mitchell County along the Minnesota border, Ida County in western Iowa and Jefferson County in southeast Iowa.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – An adult female was injured this (Wednesday) morning in Atlantic, during an incident involving her pickup truck. Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue says the accident happened at around 10:55-a.m. on 18th Street, between Crest Drive and Oak Street. He said contrary to the initial dispatch report, it was more of a runaway vehicle as opposed to a collision.

He said the was no collision that resulted in someone being hit, as previously dispatched and reported. The owner was transported to the Cass County Hospital by Cass EMS to be checked out and treated for injuries, as needed. Her name was not immediately released.

Chief Hogue said both vehicles sustained damage, but a dollar estimated amount was not immediately available.

Atlantic Fire and Cass EMS were called to the scene of a two-vehicle accident at around 10:55-a.m. Wednesday (today). The collision happened at 18th and Oak Streets. One of the vehicles involved struck a pedestrian following the collision. No other details are currently available.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Capital Dispatch is reporting that a state trooper who contracted COVID in January of last year is suing the state for back pay and benefits. Matthew Eimers of Fort Dodge is a former Iowa National Guard soldier who worked in Ogden’s police department for nearly nine years before becoming a state trooper in March of 2001. The lawsuit indicates Eimers has heart and lung problems caused by COVID and has been unable to work for the past 15 months. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the state quit paying Eimers his salary after 60 days and he’s been using sick leave and other benefits to get by.

Eimers’ lawsuit cites an Iowa law that requires the state to pay troopers who are incapacitated due to work-related injury or disease until they recover or are declared permanently disabled. Eimers previously asked a judge to order a medical review board to determine if Eimers is disabled and eligible for benefits from the State Peace Officer Retirement System. A hearing on that case is scheduled later this week.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa woman arrested in New Mexico with illegal drugs has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison. Forty-one-year-old Heather Sorgdrager and another person were caught with more than 42 pounds of meth a year ago. Sordrager admitted in court she planned to bring the drugs from New Mexico to Sioux City. She pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to distribute meth in and around Sioux City.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, set the date and time of a Public Hearing on an Amendment to the County’s FY22 Budget. The hearing takes place during their meeting on May 18th, at 9:15-a.m., at the courthouse, in Greenfield. Their action followed an explanation from County Auditor Mandy Berg, on some of the reasons for changes in revenue and expenditures, which included new money into the Clerk of Court, Juvenile Services and Sheriff’s Offices.

Some of the expenditures/changes include those for the Secondary Roads Dept., the Conservation Service, Medical Examiner and DHS.

You can review additional details at the Adair County Auditor’s Office. The Board also passed two Resolutions pertaining to $5-million in General Obligation Urban Renewal Bonds.

The second resolution authorized and provided: for the issuance and levying of a tax to pay the bonds; approval of the tax exemption certificate, and continuing disclosure certificate.

And, the Supervisors approved a Right-Of-Way contract for the N5 Richland Bridge. County Engineer Nick Kauffman said bid letting on the estimated $820,000 project is expected to take place May 23rd. A Public Hearing on vacating the western portion of 305th Lane in Adair County, will take place next month as well, but the date and time have not yet been set.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says a woman from Oakland was arrested Tuesday night, following a reported disturbance at a residence in the 400 block of S. Chautauqua, in Oakland. A Deputy made contact with a man who he had made contact with the night before, during a verbal disturbance. Authorities say 27-year-old Amanda Wheeler, of Oakland, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault on the parent of a child, and two counts of Child Endangerment with Substantial Risk. She remained held in the Pott. County Jail Wednesday (4/27), on a $2,300 bond.

And, 37-year-old Jonathan Keith Brown, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Tuesday afternoon, on a warrant for Probation Violation. He was taken into custody at the Sheriff’s Office after turning himself-in, and was booked into the Pott. County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – Anytime you see or hear about a ground-breaking or a grand opening, do you ever wonder where those golden shovels or giant scissors for ribbon-cuttings come from? They were likely purchased through a central Iowa company whose founder is being named the Iowa Small Business Person of the Year by the U-S Small Business Administration. Kimberly Baeth  is president and owner of Golden Openings of Urbandale. “We are a preferred vendor for the White House. We do things for Oprah, Disney, Fortune 500 companies, colleges, universities — those are some of our main repeat customers,” Baeth says. “We grew 32% every year for 24 years. Last year we did 84%, phenomenal growth.”

The company was founded in 1991 as a one-stop-shop for ceremonial products for grand openings, ribbon cuttings and ground-breaking events. Over 25 years, Golden Openings has helped tens of thousands of businesses open their doors and make an impact in their communities. Before venturing off on her own, Baeth was working for a chamber of commerce when a new business asked for help with a ribbon cutting ceremony, but there were no giant scissors to be found. “I had my dad make a pair of wood scissors with razor blades that met and then our chamber phones started ringing off the hook. We couldn’t keep them in stock,” Baeth says. “We had Target wanting a pair of red and white ones. We had General Mills wanting a pair with all their logos and their cereals on it. Other chambers were calling to borrow them and they were dangerous. You could get cut, it just was crazy, but the demand was so high so I knew this could be a business.”

Owner Kimberly Baeth

While the Iowa business offers some 20-thousand ceremony-related products, things like balloons, banners, red carpets, shovels and hard hats, those specialty scissors remain one of the top sellers. “Now, there’s probably over 100 different kinds of scissors between gold, chrome,” Baeth says. “The smallest ones are six-inch. We have plastic ones that don’t cut for prisons and preschoolers, all the way up to the world’s largest scissors and they’re called 40-inch world’s largest scissors. Different colored handles, you can customize them.”

Golden Openings has 14 employees and has done business on every continent on the globe but one, and Baeth says she’s working to change that by supplying the ribbon and scissors for a marathon foot race on Antarctica. Baeth will represent Iowa at National Small Business Week activities next week.