The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, Friday (2/12), reported the arrest on January 30th, of 29-year old Kindra Prebeck, from Templeton. Prebeck was charged with OWI/1st offense. She was released on her Own Recognizance and appeared before the magistrate at a later date. The charges stem from a traffic stop in the area of 190th Street and Lark Avenue.

DES MOINES– Today (Friday), Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation that will ease transport rules for propane in Iowa. This proclamation will temporarily suspend regulatory provisions of Iowa code §321.449 pertaining to hours of service for crews and drivers delivering propane. High demand, along with hazardous weather conditions in the Midwest, have created challenges to timely access of propane products in the state.

The proclamation is effective at 12:01 a.m. on February 13, 2021, and expires on March 15, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. The proclamation language and rules can be found here.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration announced Friday it would not award a contract for an outside vendor to operate a call center to help residents find information about coronavirus vaccine appointments. The Iowa Department of Public Health informed several companies that had submitted emergency bids for the contract last week that it would not select any of them and was “continuing to evaluate call center solutions.”

The department’s notice did not elaborate but cited an administrative rule that allows for bidding processes to be cancelled when in the state’s interest. The call center was to field inquiries about coronavirus vaccines, including helping screen residents for eligibility and set them up with providers to make appointments.

BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) — Officials identified the Bettendorf police officer who fatally shot a man Feb. 7 as a three-year veteran of the department. The Iowa Department of Public Safety on Friday identified the officer as Zachary Gish. The officer remained on administrative leave as the investigation continues into the shooting of 49-year-old Brian Gregory Scott, of Bettendorf.

Police say the shooting happened after officers were called to a home for reports of a dispute. A man and woman had left the home before officers arrived but were found by officers in a vehicle about 90 minutes later. The woman exited the vehicle and told officers the man, later identified as Scott, had threatened to kill her. Police said Scott refused to comply with officers’ commands before an officer shot him.

(Radio Iowa) – Valentine’s Day is this weekend and Iowans who are looking for love on an online dating platform need to be sure not to hand over their digits. Credit card digits, to be precise. Better Business Bureau spokeswoman, Bao Vang, says scammers are ready to dupe users into believing they’ve found true love, but it may actually be a true crime.

“The way they’re doing that is creating backstories, full-fledged identities, and then they’re tricking you into falling for someone that doesn’t actually exist,” Vang says, “That term, you may be familiar with, is called ‘catfishing’.” Vang says if your online love is sounding like love at first text, take it easy. Many scammers will ask for information about you that could be used to steal your identity, or will ask for money before you even met them, or maybe your credit card info so they can book a flight to see you. All of these should be red flags that someone’s after more than your heart.

Vang says, “Behind some dating profiles lurk scammers who are ready to dupe the users and ultimately leading to stealing someone’s identity or their hard-earned money.” She says you should never send money or personally identifying information to someone you’ve never met in person. Also, never give someone your credit card information to book a ticket to visit you.

(Radio Iowa) – A handful of Iowa counties will not receive doses of the Covid vaccine next week. Iowa Department of Public Health acting director Kelly Garcia says the goal is for counties to get at least 80 percent of weekly doses out the door — and five counties are below that threshold. “We’re going to give them a little bit of a break to catch up,” Garcia says. “That is really a measure not to be punitive to those five counties. We know how hard everyone is working, but it really is to make sure that we’re then giving that chance to those counties that are moving through their vaccine allocation, that we’re getting it out to the Iowans who need it.”

Garcia spoke this (Friday) morning during telephone town hall with A-A-R-P members. She did not name the five counties. “It won’t be a forever withhold,” Garcia says. “The following week they’ll get their allocation back if they reach that 80% threshold.” Many of the questions A-A-R-P members asked Garcia were about scheduling vaccinations. “Every person I call and every person I talk to says we have to have a computer or we won’t get the vaccine and I don’t know what to do. My husband and I are in our 80s and we both are not in good health we need the vaccine, but how do we get it?” Jane said. Garcia replied: “First of all, we absolutely know this is a challenge and we’ve got a number of things in place that we think, Jane, are going to really address these concerns.”

Iowans over the age of 65 can call the Area Agency on Aging for assistance. Garcia says the HyVee stores with Covid vaccine supplies have people on site who can help with registering for a shot. The governor announced this week that a statewide call center is being set up. Until then, Garcia says Iowans can call 2-1-1 for information. Some A-A-R-P members told Garcia the online system Walgreens is using to register people for Covid vaccinations is crashing and Garcia promised to raise that issue with Walgreens executives.

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County, Thursday, arrested a man wanted on a warrant for two counts of Violation of Probation. 25-year old Dylan Elwood Taylor, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail.

Dylan E. Taylor

He was transported to the Page County jail and held on a $4,000 cash only bond, pending future court appearances.

The Walnut City Council, Thursday evening, held a Public Hearing on the proposed FY 2021-22 City Property Tax Levy, which, according to City Clerk Shannon Wood, amounts to an increase of about a nickel per $1,000 assessed valuation. She said the increase is due to one factor over which they have very little control.

Of the four Council members present, the vote was unanimous to approve the levy as proposed. Afterward, the Council held more discussion on the FY 2021-22 Budget, which Wood says was helpful for the latest member of the Council.

The next, regular meeting of the Walnut City Council is March 4^th, which presents a problem, timeline-wise.

(Update 10-a.m. Friday) The Iowa Department of Public Health, Friday, said there were 738 new positive cases of COVID-19 test results returned from the labs over the past 24-hours, for a pandemic total of 327,993 positive cases. There were 27 additional deaths reported, for a total of 5,223. Statewide, 4,714 COVID deaths are attributed to Underlying causes. COVID was a contributing factor to 509 deaths. Deaths at Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities account for 2,136 deaths. There were two more deaths in the KJAN listening area: one each in Montgomery and Pottawattemie Counties (see more data below).

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks went from 38 Thursday to 37 on Friday. Officials say 1,018 LTC patients have tested positive for the virus, and 659 have recovered. Iowa’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their lowest level since August.

The State data show 249 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is down from 273 in the previous report. Officials say 59 patients are in an ICU, 41 were admitted over the previous 24-hours, and 33 patients are on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa), 13 are hospitalized with COVID symptoms, six people are in an ICU, one person was admitted over the past 24-hours, and one person was on a ventilator.

Iowa’s statewide positivity rate Friday, was 8.2%, compared to 8.4% Thursday. The 7-day average was up slightly to 6.3%. Adair County remains the only county in Iowa with a 14-day positivity rate greater than 15%. Adair County reports a 22% rate. The next highest county, Crawford County, reports a 13.5% rate. Mitchell County reports the lowest average in the state at 2.1%.

A total of 300,365 Iowans have recovered from the virus.

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, 1,226 cases; {+3}; 46 deaths
• Adair, 758; {+3}; 25
• Adams, 315; {+2}; 3
• Audubon, 450 {+1}; 9
• Guthrie, 1,068 {+1}; 28
• Harrison County, 1,643; {+3}; 68
• Madison County, 1,353; {+1}; 16
• Mills County, 1,452; {+6}; 20
• Montgomery, 952; {+3}; 36
• Pottawattamie County, 9,551; {+13}; 139
• Shelby County, 1,121; {+5}; 32
• Union County,  1,166; {+1}; 31

(Radio Iowa) – Democrats in the Iowa legislature are proposing a tax break at the state level for the expanded unemployment benefits congress approved during the pandemic. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City says it would mean the additional 600-dollars in jobless benefits approved last summer would not be subject to state income taxes. “This is a no-brainer,” Prichard says. “The Covid crisis…should be the focus. It is the issue of the day that we should be dealing with to help Iowans through this.”

Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, is making a similar proposal in the U.S. House — to exempt up to 10-thousand dollars of unemployment benefits from FEDERAL income taxes. Axne says tens of thousands of Iowans are affected. “As the tax deadlines for 2020 near, there is a potentially devastating tax bill waiting for those Iowans,” Axne says. “Since unemployment benefits are subject to income taxes, Iowans in need will find these benefits on their tax bill this spring.”

Axne joined Democrats from the Iowa House and Senate to discuss these proposed tax breaks at the state and federal level. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says businesses that got federal Paycheck Protection Program grants aren’t paying income taxes on that money.  “We just want to make sure that we’re providing this fairness for worker who lost their jobs in the same way,” Wahls says.

Wahls says many Iowans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in their lives and may not have known that money was subject to income taxes.