(Radio Iowa) – A study conducted by the Iowa and National Restaurant Associations confirms the fears about the impact of COVID shutdowns on the industry. The president of the Iowa association, Jessica Dunker, says the pandemic has been devastating to the industry. She says they entered 2020 with the hope of four-point-four BILLION dollars in revenue and they are now expecting to lose one-point-four BILLION dollars — with the average restaurant seeing a 33 percent decrease. Dunker says that’s not the end of it for the more than six-thousand restaurants, bars, and other venues that serve food and beverages. “The frightening thing is that 88 percent of Iowa operators expect to see an even bigger decrease in sales over the next three months,” she says.

Dunker says winter will shut off the outside dining that has helped some businesses continue to operate. You may go by some establishments and see long lines at their drive-throughs. Dunker says they are the ones that have been able to deal with the pandemic restrictions. “We feel like any restaurant that had a drive-through in place when the COVID measures started to be put in place by the state had a tremendous advantage. And many those are actually seeing increases in sales this year,” according to Dunker. “So, when we talk about these kinds of loses — the drive-throughs are doing fine — and the people that were always set up as a carry-out and delivery, they are doing fine.”

Dunker says the COVID restrictions have hurt the establishments that offer an experience. “It really about the ambiance, the environment, as well as food that presents beautifully when you serve it straight from the kitchen. Those are the people who were not able to turn their business model quickly into something that would transfer for carryout and delivery,” she explains.  She says 61 percent of people surveyed say they are looking for an experience when they eat out. Dunker says they predicted early on they might lose one-thousand restaurants. “We started out hoping that we were wrong — that it wouldn’t get to a thousand. Now we hope that our numbers are right and it will only get to a thousand,” Dunker says.

The Iowa Restaurant Association has joined thousands of small business advocacy organizations across the nation calling for the Federal Government to immediately pass a relief bill which includes additional Paycheck Protection Program grants. Dunker says they are also asking state agencies and lawmakers to create relief measures including directing additional CARES Act money toward small business grants, forgiving and/or deferring sales and payroll taxes, and giving a minimum of one year respite on alcohol and other state license fees. “Forty-one percent of operators say they don’t see how they can stay in business for another six months if federal programs aren’t renewed,” she says.

Dunker is encouraging operators across the state to contact state and federal lawmakers throughout December and invite them to visit their businesses to see firsthand the toll COVID-19 has taken.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, reported three recent arrests. On Wednesday, 31-year old Krista Jo Lynn McKee, of Malvern, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. McKee was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail. And, there were two arrests on Tuesday: 47-year old Laurie Elizabeth Holmes was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held without bond; 34-year old Jared William Rye, of Plattesmouth, NE., was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on a Possession of Controlled Substance, charge. Rye was being held on $1,000 bond in the Mills County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – One quarter of the inmates and 14 staff members at the state’s maximum security prison currently have Covid and one of the inmates died of the virus early Thursday morning. According to a news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections, Mark Steven Bailey was transferred several days ago from the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison to University Hospitals in Iowa City, where he died likely due to complications related to Covid-19.

Bailey, who was 63, had been in prison since 2007, serving a 20-year sentence for two second degree robbery convictions in Polk County. He’s the 12th inmate to die after contracting Covid in the state’s prison system. In November, staff members at the prisons in Clarida and Mitchellville died with Covid.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:05 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa public health officials have posted another 99 coronavirus related deaths, raising the state’s death toll to 3,120. The state this week modified the methodology for counting COVID-19 deaths and that added 399 deaths to the state total in the past three days. Iowa coronavirus positive cases increased by 2,246 Thursday pushing the state total to 251,028. Hospitalizations and admissions are lower with 863 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Hospitalizations and new positive cases have been trending lower, giving health care officials hope that Iowa may have avoided a post-Thanksgiving surge. Concerns remain around Christmas and New Year holiday gathering activities.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor prevented Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller from joining on Thursday a brief opposing the Texas legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election in four other states filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller says if he had been asked to join a Republican led brief supporting the Texas lawsuit he would have declined because he believes the 2020 elections were fairly and safely conducted by election officials of both parties. He said he was asked Thursday by a group of Democratic attorneys general to join a brief supporting the four states the Texas attorney general is suing but Reynolds refused to allow him to join.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The Trump administration has carried out its ninth federal execution of the year in what has been a first series of executions during a presidential lame-duck period in 130 years. Federal prison officials in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Thursday executed a Texas street-gang member for his role in the 1999 slayings of an Iowa religious couple. The case of 40-year-old Brandon Bernard was a rare execution of a person who was in his teens when his crime was committed. He was 18 when he and four other teenagers abducted and robbed Todd and Stacie Bagley, of Iowa, on their way from a Sunday service in Killeen, Texas. Four more federal executions, including one Friday, are planned in the weeks before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor prevented Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller from joining on Thursday a brief opposing the Texas legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election in four other states filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller says if he had been asked to join a Republican led brief supporting the Texas lawsuit he would have declined because he believes the 2020 elections were fairly and safely conducted by election officials of both parties.

He said he was asked Thursday by a group of Democratic attorneys general to join a brief supporting the four states the Texas attorney general is suing but Reynolds refused to allow him to join.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. government advisory panel has endorsed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, in a major step toward an epic vaccination campaign that could finally conquer the outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommendation issued Thursday by its expert advisers. The group concluded that the shot appears safe and effective against the coronavirus in people 16 and older. A final FDA decision is expected within days.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds released the following statement Thursday, on FDA emergency approval of the Pfizer vaccine:   “The FDA approval for the Pfizer vaccine is great news for the state of Iowa and the entire country, and will allow us to move forward in our recovery from COVID-19 with even greater certainty.  Because of our proactive planning, our state is ready to receive shipments and quickly distribute them so that our health care workforce and long-term care residents will be vaccinated first.

“While this is a positive step forward, it will take time until the vaccine is widely available. Until then, we must continue to mitigate the virus by practicing public health measures so we can protect the most vulnerable and preserve hospital resources, while keeping our economy open and our kids in school.”