(Algona, Iowa) – Agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation were requested following an Officer-involved shooting that took place early Thanksgiving Day. Authorities say at 12:15 a.m., Thursday, Algona Police Officers responded to a disturbance at the Super 8 Motel. As a result of circumstances upon arrival, one officer discharged his firearm. A high-speed pursuit then ensued with the suspect. The pursuit ended with the driver losing control of his vehicle. No officers were injured as a result of the incident.

Per Algona policy, the involved Algona Police Officer has been placed on paid administrative leave. At the request Kossuth County Attorney, the Division of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent investigation into this shooting. All investigative findings will be forwarded to the Kossuth County Attorney’s Office.

The Algona Police Department was assisted by the Kossuth County Sheriff Office, Kossuth County Attorney Office, Iowa State Patrol, and the Division of Criminal Investigations. This is an ongoing investigation. Additional information will be released later date.

(Radio Iowa) – This holiday marks a return to visits in nursing homes for some who were not able to see family for the holidays last fall and winter as long-term care facilities kept visitors out to try to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks. AARP state director, Brad Anderson, says it’s a much better situation for many this Thanksgiving. “It’s remarkable because 12 months ago, we were handing out iPads, and people were celebrating Thanksgiving over Zoom in nursing homes. And we were seeing people from outside their windows, knocking on windows and trying to connect with them through panes of glass. And it was just heartbreaking,” Anderson says.

Anderson says Iowans need to do everything they can to prevent more nursing home lockdowns, and he says that starts with getting vaccinated. “The vaccine is the best gift of all this holiday season. And it’s allowing us to safely be with the people we love. And what more could you ask for?,” Anderson says.

Brad Anderson. (AARP photo)

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported Wednesday that there were COVID outbreaks in 27 of the state’s 430 long-term care facilities. One-third of the nursing homes in the state had COVID outbreaks at this time last year.

(By Katrina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Former Governor Terry Branstad says as President Trump’s ambassador to China, he routinely accepted criticism of the United States from Community Party officials in a formal setting. Branstad says the process has a name in diplomatic circles. It’s called a demarche.  “A demarche is getting chewed out by the other country,” Branstad says. “…I represented the United States of America. I’m the highest official there, so the Chinese would call me in to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they’d call me in to chew me out…and then I’d dutifully promise to deliver that message to the president.” Branstad was called to hear complaints about statements other Americans were making about China or if someone from Taiwan had visited the United States.

“When Uighurs are denied their religion or their culture in Xinjiang, China, or if the people of Hong Kong no longer have freedom of speech or assembly, that’s of concern to us. Unfortunately, the Chinese have a different viewpoint on that,” Branstad says.

Terry Branstad

“They look as what’s happening in Xinjiang or Hong Kong as their internal business and we have no business even asking about it.” Branstad, who held weekly news conference when he was governor, says as an ambassador, it was often frustrating to clear his own public statements through the U.S. State Department. “There were times when the Chinese said something that I wanted to counter and it’s 12 hours difference between Beijing and Washington, D.C., and then it would take two or three days to get it cleared,” Branstad says. “By that time, it might be too late.”

Branstad says he’s able to freely talk about much of his work in China, now but some of it must remain top secret. Branstad hosted China’s president twice in Iowa, once in 1985 when Xi Jinping was a lower-level community party official and then just before Xi became president of China. Xi uses the phrase “old friend” to describe Branstad and others, including President Biden. “The Chinese term ‘old friend’ is kind of a term of art for them. If they have known you for a long period of time and you’ve had a good relationship, they call you an ‘old friend,’ so Xi Jinping calls me an ‘old friend’…because we treated him very well and he feels real good about it,” Branstad says. “I think that’s a good thing, having that personal relationship.”

Branstad, who is 75, has set up an office on the Drake University campus and has been given the title of “ambassador in residence.” He is planning to host a conference and U.S. and Chinese relations next October.

(Radio Iowa) – State Ag Secretary Mike Naig says he is hearing good things as the harvest is almost done. “They’re telling me that they are thrilled with the yields and the grain quality given what they thought could be the case with the drought that we had across the state,” Naig says. “We really had historic levels of drought this year and folks are seeing yields that are much better than we had expected as we were coming through the summer months.” He says farmers are also thankful for replenishing fall rains. “We got rain late in the season — and even as we got into fall we started to get some rain — which is a double-edged sword — we desperately needed the moisture and if you were still working on the harvest, of course, that delays things some. But we’ve seen a dramatic improvement,” according to Naig.

He says there will be less worrying about soil moisture heading into the spring. “We’ve still got some areas that have rain deficits of six plus inches — but we’ve had exactly the kind of fall we needed — good moisture coming, it’s soaking in, the ground is not frozen, it’s absorbing into the soil profile and that’s good news,” he says. Naig says supply chain issues were a concern during the harvest — and they are not over yet. “Logistics continues to be a great challenge in ag — and certainly, that’s getting input to the farm and then also getting grain off the farm,” Naig says. “Farmers have a mix of things, many will have, most will have some ability to haul their own grain, but they do rely on coops and trucking companies and ag retail to help them out as well. Finding drivers we know has been a challenge for folks this year.”

Naig says there’s a lot of good to reflect on over the Thanksgiving holiday. “It’s a time to be thankful. We’ve had a very good year all things considered from a weather standpoint, and the markets are strong. But with that has come an increase in input costs. So when you look at the ’22 growing season farmers are looking at the price of fertilizer, the price of the crop protection things they need, feed and equipment — all of those things are on the rise. And of course with the issues around logistics — can you get the things that you need?”

The soybean harvest is completed and the corn harvest has less than five percent of the crop still in the fields.

(Radio Iowa) – With its first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, Iowa is always a focal point for politics and some campaigns are already launching fundraising efforts — but who can you trust when a caller asks for money? Consumer protection specialist Lara Sutherlin says you should treat unsolicited messages to donate to a political campaign the same way you treat spam or possible scams. Sutherlin says, “Pop-up emails, pop-up social posts, pop-up texts, all of those things could have nefarious links in them, could lead you into a space where they’re trying to actually steal your information, steal your money.”

Earlier this year, she says some political action committees — or PACs — were caught signing people up for high monthly donations without giving them the proper notice. “There was a recent report in the New York Times about elderly individuals spending an inordinate amount of money on PACs,” she says. Sutherlin says some political action committees have been masquerading as charities or representing themselves as donating money to candidates when they really aren’t. “Sometimes you can’t tell who you you’re talking to, right?” Sutherlin says. “Sometimes you think it’s a charity and it’s actually a PAC and there’s very, very little money going to the actual cause that they’re calling you about and it’s really hard to figure it out.”

Much like donations to charities, Sutherlin says you should investigate the groups you’re considering sending money, and find out how much of that money actually goes toward a candidate or a cause before making a donation.