DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Gov. Kim Reynolds says she will take the coronavirus vaccine publicly. On Thursday, she announced that about 26,000 Pfizer vaccines will arrive in the state the week of Dec. 13. A second batch of Pfizer and the first batch of Moderna vaccine will arrive the week of Dec. 20. The state should have about 172,000 doses by the end of the month. State officials have decided to give the vaccines to health care workers first. They announced a deal to work with major pharmacy chains to give the vaccines to people in long-term care facilities.

GLENWOOD, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Department of Human Services is facing a whistle-blower lawsuit connected to a care facility in western Iowa. The lawsuit references the troubling allegations at Glenwood Resource Center, where former Superintendent Jerry Rea was accused of spearheading human experiments on Iowans with severe mental disabilities.

SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – A woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for fatally stabbing another woman in April 2018 in Sioux City. Melissa Camargo-Flores was sentenced Thursday in the death of 24-year-old Kenia Alvarez-Flores. Prosecutors say 22-year-old Camargo-Flores, of Dakota City, waited outside Alvarez-Flores’ house and stabbed the victim as she left for work. The reason for the stabbing isn’t clear, but police said Camargo-Flores told them she had been involved with Alvarez-Flores’ boyfriend.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – The Cedar Rapids Police Department is seeing an increase in violent crime and shots fired. Police Chief Wayne Jerman says the increase is mirrored across America, and one of the main reasons is the pandemic. He says increases in stress level due to the loss of jobs and the level uncertainty is behind the increase.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Department of Education is allowing more school districts to go 100% online because of the pandemic. But the state still prefers in-person teaching. The director of the Iowa Department of Education said reading proficiency tests show younger students who learn online-only scored lower than they did last year. Decreases range from 5% for kindergarten to 21% for first grade.