OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has announced its new special agent in charge of its Omaha Division that covers all of five Upper Plains states. The agency named Justin King as the division head overseeing the division’s 11 offices, according to a news release sent Thursday. King began his new duties on Monday, replacing Richard Salter Jr., who retired from the DEA in January.

King’s territory includes Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and a handful of counties in western parts of Wisconsin and Illinois. King is a 19-year veteran of the agency and comes to the Omaha Division after serving three years as assistant special agent in charge of the Little Rock District Office.

As reported earlier, Iowa 3rd District Democrat Congresswoman Cindy Axne entered self-quarantine on Monday, and is now seven days past exposure to positive case. On Thursday (today) Representative Axne said in a statement: “I’m pleased to share that I received a negative test result for COVID-19, and I’m still not showing any symptoms for the virus.” She says “My team and I have talked to everyone who joined us last Wednesday to let them know about the exposure, and some thankfully have told us that they too have received negative COVID-19 tests in the past 48 hours.”

Axne adds, “I hope that this unfortunate diagnosis on my team can serve as a reminder to folks about the ongoing threat that the COVID-19 pandemic poses to our state ­– and how important it is for us to follow the advice of our public health experts. I am confident that my office’s policy of using masks, following social distancing, and engaging in rigorous contact tracing allowed us to avoid a more dangerous outcome from last week’s public events.

As my team member recovers from COVID-19, I want to thank all those who reached out to me and my office. I will continue to operate with caution by conducting my work remotely this week – participating in vital hearings and critical floor votes in the U.S. House that focus on the priorities that matter to Iowa.”

(Radio Iowa) – The presidents of Iowa’s three state universities say their budgets have taken a hit during the pandemic and they’re asking legislators for an extra 18 million dollars in the next state budgeting year, which begins July 1st. University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld says despite federal assistance to cover pandemic-related costs, there’s still a hole in the university’s budget. “People ask: ‘Isn’t it a lot cheaper to operate online?’ Well, no,” Harreld says. “We haven’t closed any of the buildings. We’ve actually had to change out the air handling equipment…I can’t think of a more expensive way to operate. We have nightly cleaning of our facilities, for obvious reasons, so we’ve added more economic activity to keeping the campus open and safe and yet we don’t have as many people in classrooms. This is a very difficult time.”

University of Northern Iowa president Mark Nook says 80 percent of U-N-I classes are being held in person, but they had to spend money to set up new classroom space — with microphones and speakers so students could hear professors wearing masks. “It has meant a lot of changes on campus,” Nook says. “We took many of our spaces, including spaces like the ballroom in our union, which is not an academic space at all, was able to divide that into three classrooms…using lobbies and lounges that are in our residence halls for spaces as well.”

Nook says if legislators are able to provide the five-and-a-half million dollars in additional spending for his university, U-N-I’s tuition rate will remain flat. Iowa State University president Wendy Wintersteen says the extra funding from the state is essential, because when it comes to administrative costs, there’s not much to cut. “We are all very efficient and you get to a place where you cut more, you really start to impact — in a very negative way — the quality of the work done at the institution,” Wintersteen says.

Wintersteen says I-S-U’s administrative costs are 75 percent less per student than the University of Minnesota and 35 percent less than the University of Wisconsin.

The Atlantic Police Department, Thursday (Today), reports two arrests. This (Thursday) morning, 46-year old Benjamin Eddleman, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication and Harassment with Personal Contact. On Wednesday, 26-year old Bryce Baker, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication and Disorderly Conduct. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

The Iowa Department of Public Health’s Coronavirus dashboard, today (Thursday) shows there are 977 new, positive cases of COVID-19 in test results since 10-a.m. Wednesday, for a pandemic total of 322,513. The IDPH says there were 58 additional deaths recorded over the previous 24 hours, for a pandemic total of 5,033. Officials attributed 4,555 deaths to an Underlying Cause, while COVID was a contributing factor in 478 deaths. In western and southwest Iowa, there was one additional death reported in each of Madison and Shelby Counties.

Long-Term Care (LTC) facility data show there are 47 current outbreaks among those facilities in Iowa. Those facilities account for 1,365 of Iowa’s positive cases, while 841 LTC patients have recovered from the virus. LTC deaths make up 2,064 of the State’s total number of deaths.

The IDPH reports there are 360 people hospitalized with COVID symptoms. Officials say 77 COVID patents are in an intensive care unit (ICU), the number of patients admitted over the past 24-hours is 54, and there are 31 people on a ventilator. In RMCC Region 4 (Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa),  25 are hospitalized with COVID symptoms, 10 are in an ICU, five were admitted since, and three people are on a ventilator.

The Health Dept. reports also, 275,706 doses of the vaccine have been administered. Of those doses, 137,242 persons have received their first, or initial dose, while 69,232 have received their second dose.  The State’s 14-day positivity rate is 9.3%, and the seven-day average is 7.4%. A total of 290,011 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, 1,197 cases; {+8}; 46 deaths
• Adair, 717; {+6}; 24
• Adams, 310; {+0}; 3
• Audubon, 440 {+1}; 9
• Guthrie, 1,061 {+2}; 27
• Harrison County, 1,624; {+7}; 67
• Madison County, 1,322; {+4}; 13
• Mills County, 1,414; {+8}; 20
• Montgomery, 930; {+2}; 32
• Pottawattamie County, 9,418; {+18}; 130
• Shelby County, 1,106; {+2}; 30
• Union County,  1,153; {+2}; 29

The Page County Sheriff’s Department reports, 60-year old Edward Paul Swanson, of rural Braddyville, was arrested Wednesday on a Page County Warrant for Failure to appear. Swanson posted a $1,000 bond, and was released pending future court appearances.

Edward Swanson

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that would make contraceptives like “the pill” available to adult women without a prescription is now eligible for debate in the Iowa House. Governor Kim Reynolds announced her support of the move in 2018 and the Republican-led Iowa Senate endorsed it two years ago, but key Republicans in the House opposed the idea. If this year’s bill becomes law, Republican Representative Ann Meyer of Fort Dodge says women who show a photo I-D to a participating pharmacist could get a three-month supply of contraceptives from behind-the-counter, then another year’s worth after that. “It requires consultation with a primary care or a woman’s health care practitioner after the initial 27 months,” Meyer says.

Today, Iowa women must go to a doctor and get a prescription for birth control patches and pills. Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell of Ames, a Democrat, says the bill will help women who can’t afford frequent doctor’s visits. “This is a good step forward,” Wessel-Kroeschel says. “Since we lost the Medicaid Family Planning Waiver, many women have been really struggling to find birth control.”

Contraceptives wouldn’t technically be over-the-counter medications, so they’ll still be covered by insurance if the bill becomes law. It passed the House Human Resources Committee on a 15-to-two vote Tuesday afternoon.