The Iowa Department of Public health, Monday, said there were 126 new COVID-19 positive tests over the previous 24-hours, and one additional death. The total number of COVID-related deaths statewide amount to 5,985. The health department reports 397,710 total positive tests since the start of the pandemic. The state’s positivity rates were up a bit, with the 14-day rate 3.8%, and the seven-day rate at 3.6%.

COVID hospitalization data show: There are 169 hospitalized, 45 persons in an ICU (an increase of 6 from Sunday), 21 people were admitted, and 19 were on a ventilator (an increase of 7 from Sunday). In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western/southwest Iowa), there are 15 COVID patients hospitalized; six are in an ICU; three people were admitted, and one person was on a ventilator.

There have been more than 2.5-million doses of a COVID vaccine administered in Iowa, and over 1.19-million persons who have completed their respective vaccination series.

The state reports there is still just one Long-Term Care Facility Outbreak. The Urbandale Health Care Center has 19 positive cases among residents and staff,  with 17 total recoveries. The state reports 2,325 care facility deaths since the pandemic began.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:
Cass, 1,462 cases; {+1}; 54 deaths
Adair, 983; {+0}; 32
Adams, 349 {+0}; 4
Audubon, 526 {+1}; 10
Guthrie, 1,290 {+0}; 29
Harrison County, 1,926; {+1}; 73
Madison County, 1,755; {+1; 19
Mills County, 1,785; {+1}; 22
Montgomery, 1,109;{+0}; 38
Pottawattamie County, 12,189; {+5}; 168
Shelby County, 1,365 {+1}; 37
Union County, 1,361; {+0}; 33

The broadcast news at 8:05-a.m. from Ric Hanson.

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Two people were arrested over the past couple of days on drug charges, in Union County. Creston Police report 52-year old Darryn Dugan, of Nodaway, was arrested at around 11:17-p.m. Sunday, in the 800 block of W. Taylor Street. Dugan was taken into custody for Possession of Paraphernalia and on two counts Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd offense. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $10,300 bond.

And, at around 1:17-a.m. today (Monday), 44-year-old Kari Wilkinson, of Red Oak, was arrested in the same location (800 block of W. Taylor), for Possession of Paraphernalia and on two counts Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense.  She was later released from the Union County Jail on a $2,300 bond.

The on-air news from 7:06-a.m., with KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Cass County Board of Supervisors are set to meet 9-a.m. Tuesday, during their regular weekly session in their courthouse Boardroom, in Atlantic, and via Zoom. Discussion and/or action items on their light agenda include: A provision of services for HIPAA Training, the Employee Handbook and other Human Resource services, re: Ahlers & Cooney law firm; and, the Board will act on an abatement of Tax for a parcel owned by the City of Cumberland at 216 Adams Street.

The Supervisors will also receive (as available), reports from various department heads.

A traffic stop in Red Oak at around 7:15-p.m., Sunday, resulted in an arrest. Red Oak Police report 50-year-old Richard Bryan Jenkins, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving While (license is) Suspended. Jenkins was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on bond amounting to $491.25.

A man from Ankeny accused in the accidental shooting death last year of his pregnant girlfriend, has accepted a plea deal that could result in 10-years in prison. WHO-TV reports Donault Logan is pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and possession with intent to deliver in the death of 17-year-old Mia Holmes.

Logan was 18 years old when police say he accidentally shot Holmes in a hotel room at WoodSpring Suites in Ankeny in August 2020. According to court documents, Logan admitted he was there to sell marijuana. He initially faced additional charges including non-consensual termination of a pregnancy and sexual exploitation of a minor. Those charges have been dropped as part of the plea.

Logan is scheduled to be sentenced June 18th.

Police in Des Moines say a man shot and killed a woman before later killing himself, Friday night.

KCCI reports authorities say 39-year-old Christina Marie Dirks died Friday from gunshot wounds she suffered in an apartment at 4024 Hubbell Avenue. Investigators said they believe 42-year-old Rustin Dean Rice intentionally shot and killed Dirks before returning to the apartment and turning the gun on himself.

According to police Dirks and Rice had a “prior personal relationship” and had lived together in a Hubbell Avenue apartment until Dirks moved out May 6th. Dirk’s death is the third Des Moines homicide of 2021.

The West Des Moines Police Department has identified a woman who was found dead near I-35. KCCI reports officers responded at around 11:50 a.m. Sunday to the scene off I-35 northbound, mile marker 70.5. A passerby told authorities they found what appeared to be a deceased individual off the shoulder of the interstate north of Mills Civic Parkway.

Police found the body of 38-year-old Stephanie Waddell, of Oskaloosa. The preliminary investigation finds that Waddell may have been hit by a vehicle overnight. The West Des Moines Police Department are still investigating the scene, but said there is no indication of an ongoing threat to the public.

Anyone with information is asked to call the West Des Moines Police Department at 515-222-3399.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House and Senate have voted to let alcohol sales in Iowa to begin two hours earlier on Sunday mornings.  “Creating uniformity across each of the days of the week.” That’s Senator Craig Johnson of Independence, who guided the bill through the Senate. Under current law, a business has to get a special permit to sell alcohol on Sundays, and can’t sell booze before 8 a.m. The bill that passed the House and Senate last week would let Sunday sales begin at 6 a.m. Before 1973, alcohol sales were not allowed in Iowa on Sundays.

It wasn’t until 1992 that beer, wine and liquor could be sold before noon on Sundays. In legislative action this week, Senate Republicans have scheduled a subcommittee hearing today (Monday) on legislation that would implement the tax plan Republican Governor Kim Reynolds introduced last week. Republicans in the HOUSE continue to oppose part of the plan that would cut some property taxes and have the state take over paying for the mental health system. House Speaker Pat Grassley.

“We feel strongly about a lot of the positions that we’re taking,” Grassley says, “or obviously we wouldn’t have taken them.” On Friday, Representative David Maxwell, a Republican from Gibson, expressed his frustration over a House bill that the Senate twice sought to change. “One of the most important things that I think legislators need to have is common sense,” Maxwell said, “and the thing that I have figured out working on this bill is there’s not a whole lot of common sense in this building and there’s virtually none across the rotunda.”

Maxwell’s slap at the Senate drew laughter and clapping from other House members.