[Updated] (Radio Iowa) Former Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids is launching a campaign for the U-S Senate today (Thursday) — with a video on social media that appears to be an announcement to a room of supporters. “I wanted to just talk to Iowans and talk to folks in this room and so that’s what we’re doing,” she said to start the video. Finkenauer, a Democrat, is a former state legislator who was elected to the U.S. House in 2018 and lost her bid for a second term in 2020. Dave Muhlbauer (MULL-bow-er), a former Crawford County Supervisor, announced he is running the Iowa Democratic Party’s U-S Senate nomination last month.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has been raising money for his campaign account, but has not yet said whether he’ll seek reelection in 2022. Finkenauer’s campaign news release says she’ll focus on blue collar values and does not mention Grassley. But Finkenauer’s announcement VIDEO mentions politicians who’ve been in Washington for decades. “You see it’s politicians like Senator Grassley and Mitch McConnell that should know better, but they are so obsessed with power that they oppose anything that moves us forward,” she says in the video.

Abby Finkenauer

Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann says had a disastrous record as a member of the U.S. House and — in a reference to her 2020 loss — Kaufmann says he looks forward to seeing even more Iowans reject Finkenauer in 2022. Grassley has said he’ll announce this fall whether he’ll seek an eighth term in the U-S Senate.

Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Division of Insurance report a Davenport man, 31-year-old Dustin Cory Jungvirt, recently pled guilty to one (Class D) Felony count of Insurance Fraud – Presenting False Information. The charge and plea was the result of an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau.

Jungvirt’s plea stems from an investigation that began in April 2018 which determined Jungvirt made material misrepresentations in a renter’s insurance claim by lying about the date and time of loss in order to obtain benefits he would not have been entitled to.

Following his guilty plea, Jungvirt was sentenced to five years in prison to be served consecutively with recent convictions on unrelated offenses. Jungvirt was also ordered to pay court costs along with a suspended fine of $750.

Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.

On Thursday, July 22, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) announced the approval of Iowa’s American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) plan and distributed remaining ARP ESSER funds to them. Iowa’s plan details how the state is using and plans to use ARP ESSER funds to safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and equitably expand opportunity for students who need it most, particularly those most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, the Department distributed two thirds of the ARP ESSER funds, totaling $81 billion, to 50 states and the District of Columbia. The remaining third of the funding to states will be made available once state plans are approved. Iowa is receiving $775 million total in ARP ESSER funds, and today’s approval of their plan will result in the release of the final $258 million. Additionally, the Department approved plans for Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, and New Mexico. Earlier this month, the Department approved the plans for 11 other states and the District of Columbia.

The ARP ESSER state plans approved by the Department today, including Iowa’s, show how states are using federal pandemic resources to support safe in-person instruction and meet the social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs of students—with a focus on the students most impacted by the pandemic. For example:

• Addressing the Academic Impact of Lost Instructional Time: The Iowa Department of Education (IDOE) will support school districts to implement evidence-based interventions and practices to be determined that address accelerated learning in the context of COVID-19. The IDOE also will train and provide coaching through a statewide implementation network and provide curated lists of evidence-based interventions and practices from reviewed organizations.
• Investing in Summer Learning and Expanded Afterschool Programs and Supporting Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Needs: The IDOE will support school districts to select and implement evidence-based interventions and practices that address summer school programming in the context of COVID-19. IDOE also will use ARP ESSER funds to support implementation of evidence-based comprehensive after-school programs that integrate before- and after-school programs and wraparound care.

A total of 41 states and the District of Columbia have submitted their ARP ESSER state plans to the Department. The Department is reviewing the plans expeditiously and is in contact with states to ensure their plans meet all necessary requirements in order to access the remaining funds, as outlined in the ARP. The Department also is in contact with states that have not yet submitted plans, the vast majority of which are due to state board of education or legislative review requirements.

The distribution of ARP ESSER funds is part of the Department’s broader effort to support students and districts as they work to reengage students impacted by the pandemic, address inequities exacerbated by COVID-19, and build our education system back better than before. In addition to providing $130 billion for K-12 education in the American Rescue Plan to support the safe reopening of K-12 schools and meet the needs of all students, the Biden-Harris Administration also has:

• Released three volumes of the COVID-19 Handbook.
• Held a National Safe School Reopening Summit.
• Prioritized the vaccination of educators, school staff and child care workers. As of the end of May an estimated 84% of teachers and school staff were fully vaccinated.
• Provided $10 billion in funding for COVID-19 testing for PreK-12 educators, staff, and students.
• Launched a series of Equity Summits focused on addressing inequities that existed before, but were made worse by the pandemic.
• Released a report on the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on underserved communities.
• Developed a Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse elevating hundreds of best practices to support schools’ efforts to reopen safely and address the impacts of COVID-19 on students, educators, and communities.

In addition to the actions the Biden Administration has taken to reopen schools, the President has proposed critical investments through his Build Back Better agenda that will enable schools to rebuild stronger than they were before the pandemic, such as investing billions to build a diverse educator workforce, expand access to pre-K to all families, and invest in school infrastructure, among other provisions.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Public Health’s website shows the number Covid patients in Iowa hospitals has been increasing over the past three and a half weeks. In RMCC Region 4 (southwest & western Iowa), the data show nine patients are hospitalized with COVID, three are in an ICU, three people were admitted over the previous 24-hours, and one person was on a ventilator. Statewide, the largest group of current confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations, as of today (Thursday), were in the 50-to 59 age bracket.

Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa is an eye doctor who’s the former director of the state health department. She went on the floor of the U.S. House yesterday (Wednesday) to urge Iowans to get vaccinated. “For the last few months, I have traveled across my district administering vaccines to Iowans. It has been a pleasure to see my constituents and the entire country have a renewed sense of freedom and a return to normal,” Miller-Meeks said, but fully engaged living is threatened the Delta variant, which is causing increased hospitalizations and deaths, especially among those unvaccinated.”

Miller-Meeks says if you haven’t gotten a shot and have concerns, talk to your doctor. “It is miraculous to have three safe and effective vaccines for Covid-19 so rapidly,” Miller-Meeks says. “…Decades of research informed the development of these break-through vaccines and millions have been vaccinated with tremendously low risk.”

As she spoke, Miller-Meeks, who is a Republican, positioned a large photo showing her giving a Covid shot to the chairman of the Iowa G-O-P. Forty-seven percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated according to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s data.