Author: Iowa Radio News

ALTOONA, IA (IRN) – The Iowa State Patrol says three people have died in a head-on crash near Altoona at around 12:48 a.m. Saturday morning. Troopers say a Volkswagen got onto the interstate in the wrong lane. It then hit a semi-truck head-on. Two adults and a baby inside the Volkswagen were killed in the crash. The truck driver was not seriously injured.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – After facing a workforce shortage for months, Iowa awarded an emergency $2.3 million contact-tracing contract to a company that has worked for the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Gov. Kim Reynolds and is owned by a Republican insider. The Iowa Department of Public Health selected Iowa City-based MCI for the contract out of 14 applicants, saying it submitted the best proposal and that political considerations did not play a role.

IOWA (IRN) – The Iowa Department of Public Health has reported 84 more COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the most ever for a one day period since the pandemic began.

WATERLOO, IA (IRN) – An Iowa man has admitted that he threatened to find someone to assassinate U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York. During a hearing Friday in federal court, Kenneth Dean Brown, 56, of Waterloo pleaded guilty to transmitting a threatening communication.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags in Iowa at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Monday, December 7th, in honor of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

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.

IOWA (IRN) – Iowa will follow federal guidance in prioritizing health care workers and nursing home residents when distributing COVID-19 vaccinations, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday. She said she expects the first distributions of the vaccine to start Dec. 13, with a shipment of 26,000 doses of a vaccine developed by Pfizer. Reynolds said more doses should come weekly, including a vaccine from Moderna, for a total of 172,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of December. The vaccines require two doses, and the limited qualities mean general distribution will not happen immediately. Iowa Department of Human Services Director Kelly Garcia said she expects that to start in mid-2021.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – More than 60 percent of Iowa’s rivers and streams are polluted or otherwise compromised, according to a report from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The DNR says much of the problems with waterways across the state can be tied to Iowa’s agriculture industry, with manure and nutrients from fertilizer making their way into waterways.

IOWA (IRN) – A dispute in the nation’s closest congressional race in decades may be headed to a decision by the Democratically-controlled U.S. House. Former state senator and Democrat Rita Hart announced plans Wednesday to file a petition in the coming weeks under the Federal Contested Elections Act, challenging the outcome in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. The result has already been certified by the state, and officials declared Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks the winner — by just six votes.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The coronavirus pandemic is “severely” affecting the current Des Moines budget, subtracting a total of $25 million in expected revenues this fiscal year.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A University of Iowa student has been charged with Extortion. The 20-year-old woman is accused of threatening to go to the police and report she was sexually assaulted by the victim unless they paid her $1,000. She was released on her own recognizance and ordered not to have any contact with the victim.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – An Iowa City agriculture startup that uses drones to seed cover crops and apply herbicides and pesticides says it received $7.5 million in investment to expand. Rantizo, which provides precision in-field applications, said Wednesday it raised $7.5 million from investors, led by Leaps by Bayer, a unit of ag giant Bayer that helps finance new innovations and startups.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Rita Hart’s campaign announced Wednesday that the Democrat will challenge the Iowa U.S. House District 2 election results. Hart lost the election after the State Canvassing Board certified Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks as the winner of the race by just six votes. Hart’s campaign alleges that legally cast ballots were not considered in the state recount process. The campaign pointed to multiple reporting errors in the district.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – November was Iowa’s deadliest month since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Iowa Department of Public Health reports 657 Iowans with COVID-19 have died since Nov. 1. That’s about 25% of the total COVID-19 deaths in the state. COVID-19 has been particularly deadly in Iowa’s long-term care facilities. The state reports 1,070 deaths within those facilities.

SIOUX CITY, IA (IRN) – Sioux City police are investigating a death inside an apartment used by transients as a homicide. The victim’s body was found Tuesday. Police didn’t release the gender of the victim, who had signs of blunt force trauma. The person appeared to have been deceased for a week.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Gov. Kim Reynolds called on Congress Tuesday to pass another round of COVID-19 stimulus. The governor’s calls for relief came on the same day a bipartisan group of lawmakers released a $908 billion stimulus plan.

AMES, IA (IRN) – The Iowa State Cyclones on Tuesday received its highest College Football Playoff ranking in school history. The latest CFP Top 25 rankings put the Cyclones at No. 9. Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State make up the top four. The Iowa Hawkeyes are ranked No. 19.

IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – The Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team has moved up to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 rankings. It’s Iowa’s highest ranking since the 2015-16 team reached No. 3. Gonzaga and Baylor remained Nos. 1-2 in the poll.

AMES, IA (IRN) – Iowa State announced it will allow fans to return to football and basketball games as it resumes its previous COVID-19 attendance policies. Fans will be able to return to the university’s sports venues starting with Saturday’s football game against West Virginia and Sunday’s basketball games against South Carolina (women) and DePaul (men).

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Election officials certified a six vote lead by Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks over Democrat Rita Hart in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District race on Monday. It’s one of the closest Congressional contests in U.S. history. Hart may challenge the result in court.

LE MARS, IA (IRN) – A former northwest Iowa sheriff’s deputy has pleaded not guilty to stealing prescription drugs from the department’s evidence rooms and homes he was searching while on duty, and committing burglaries at five Plymouth County pharmacies. Forty-one-year-old Aaron Leusink, of Le Mars, is accused of taking prescription drugs from homes he was searching and pills that were evidence in other cases. Agents searching Leusink’s home found more than 1,600 prescription medication pills and several opened evidence bags.

MARSHALLTOWN, IA (IRN) – Marshalltown became the latest Central Iowa community to require face coverings. As of today, everyone in the city must wear a face covering inside any indoor public setting, and outdoors when 6 feet of social distance cannot be maintained.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A promising new antibody treatment for coronavirus is now available in Iowa. MercyOne Des Moines doctors recently administered the hospital’s first doses of bamlanivimab, or “bam” infusion therapy, to COVID-19 patients. The experimental treatment is not yet FDA approved, but MercyOne doctors are among the first to use it following an emergency use authorization.