Jim Field visits with Nishna Valley Family YMCA Director Dan Haynes about a community discussion planned for November 17 at 6:30 pm at the Cass County Community Center focusing on the fu8ture of recreation in Atlantic.
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The Audubon Community School District’s Board of Education, Wednesday night, approved, during a Special Session, the Project Plans, Specifications, and Form of Contract (FOC), for the District’s Middle School/High School Renovation Project.
Superintendent Eric Trager…
(Said their action followed a public hearing on the matter, and means the District can put out a Request For Bids. The bid documents will be published and sent out next Tuesday (Nov. 10th). Bid proposals will be due on Dec. 8th.)
This past Spring, District patrons approved a $7.5-million bond issue for the entire project. Mr. Trager said the portion approved Wednesday night (including Design and Engineering) amounts to about $6-million of the total project cost.
He said there were no comments from the public during the meeting, and both he and the Board is happy to keep moving forward with the project.
The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.
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The City Council in Walnut will meet this evening in-person at the Walnut Community Center, beginning at 5 o’clock. The public is welcome to attend the meeting in-person or online via GoToMeeting (Using this link or by dial-in to 1-(872)-240-3412, access code 948-919-373). Among the items on their agenda for tonight is:
The Creston Police Department reports a man was arrested Wednesday on a charge of Domestic Assault/simple assault. 22-year old Kane Farlow, of Creston, was arrested at his home. He also faces a charge of Interference with Official Acts. Farlow was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a bond hearing.
The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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Iowa has passed the one-million mark on tests for COVID-19. The State’s Coronavirus dashboard (as of 10-am. today) shows 1,005,088 Iowans have been tested for the virus. Since 10-a.m. Wednesday, and a record of 4,562 tests have come back Positive for COVID-19, for a total of 140,609 since the beginning of the pandemic, and there have been nearly 862,788 total Negative tests. The IDPH says 20 more deaths have been reported since Wednesday, for a total of 1,801. There was: one more death in Cass County attributed to the virus (for a total of 7); One more death in Harrison County (19 total), and one more in Union County (total of 6). Cass County also has 13 more Positive cases of COVID, for a total of 538. Double-digit cases increase were also reported in Guthrie, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery and Shelby Counties. Pottawattamie County has 106 new cases since 10-a.m. Wednesday.
Statewide, pre-existing conditions account for 1,176 of the total deaths, while Long-Term Care facility deaths are up five, to 870. The number of Long-Term Care facility (LTC) outbreaks is 84. In Cass County, two facilities: Atlantic Specialty Care and the Griswold Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, have a combined total of 144 positive cases, with 31 recovered. Harrison County has 258 cases among three facilities, and 186 recovered. (For more data not seen here, go to https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/)
Hospitalizations set another record in Iowa, jumping from 777 on Wednesday to 839 today. There are five more COVID patients in an ICU, at 188. Admissions dropped from 164 Wednesday to 156 today. And there are three fewer persons on a ventilator, for a total of 60. In western/southwestern Iowa: there are seven more people hospitalized with COVID, at 54; Two more are in an ICU, for a total of 15, and three more people were admitted, for a total of nine. There are now two persons on a ventilator, one more than reported yesterday.
The State’s Individual Positivity rate is up to 14.0% from 13.7% previously, and the 14-day rolling average is up to 16.9%, compared to 15.7% on Wednesday. There are 21 counties with a Positivity rate of 20% or greater, up from 18 previously. Cass County has a Positivity rate of 21.3%. Taylor County is at 22.4%, and Page County’s Positivity rate jumped from 20.5% to 26.5%. Wayne County, in eastern Iowa still has the State’s highest Positivity rate, at 33.6%
Officials say 97,944 Iowans have recovered from the virus. In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, along with the 24-hour change in case numbers {+#}; the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began,
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s seeing temperatures some 15 degrees warmer than normal the past few days, but forecasters warn much colder weather will arrive late Sunday, with snow possible. Today (Thursday) is Winter Weather Awareness Day and National Weather Service meteorologist Cory Martin says it’s an appropriate time for a refresher about the dangers we may soon face. “Wintertime possesses a wide range of threats to the public, whether it be exposure to extreme cold, vehicle accidents, slick roads and other hazards caused by heavy snowfall,” Martin says. “It’s just a day that we take a look at those hazards that we can expect through the duration of winter.”
Wide sections of Iowa already had an early, heavy snow during a squall that hit in mid-October, dumping up to nine inches of snow in some areas. “It was definitely a little taste of what’s probably to come,” Martin says. “We know that even in winters where we see well-below-normal snowfall, we still usually get something that comes through and has a significant impact on transportation and other aspects of our lives.” Some forecasters predict a harsh winter is ahead, but Martin says we’re just starting to make some educated guesses.
“We’re in a La Nina pattern as we go into this winter,” Martin says. “What that means for Iowa, it’s not a strong signal necessarily one way or the other. Usually, just to our north, you’re looking at below-normal temperatures and maybe a snowier winter than what you’d typically see. Will that drop as far south into Iowa? We’re going to have to wait and see.”
(Radio Iowa) – Ashley Hinson of Marion will be sworn in as Iowa’s first district congresswoman in January after defeating Democratic Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer in this week’s election. Hinson says she’s ready to get to work — and will attend orientation programs in Washington, D.C. next week. She also spoke yesterday (Wednesday) with Congresswoman Cindy Axne of West Des Moines, a Democrat who was just reelected to a second term. The two talked about how they can collaborate.
“She’s serving in the majority. I want to make sure that I am a partner for her in the minority,” Hinson says. “I think it’s important that we do have that amplified voice and Iowans work together as a delegation.” Axne says voters want solutions. “I think women just know how to get things done and that’s the clear message from constituents, that they’re sick and tired of seeing gridlock,” Axne says.
Three women will represent Iowa in the U.S. House next year. That third woman will be either Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa or Democrat Rita Hart of Wheatland. Current returns in Iowa’s second congressional district show Miller-Meeks leading by 282 votes. Miller-Meeks has not declared victory, but her campaign has said she expects to hold the lead as eligible absentee ballots arrive at county auditors’ offices and are added to the vote total. Hart’s camp says the race is too close to call and all votes legally cast should be counted.
(Radio Iowa) – The 2020 Harvest is speeding toward completion. Ninety-seven percent of soybeans have been harvested. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says about one-and-a-half MILLION acres of corn was left to be combined when the week started — that’s equal to just 13 percent of this year’s corn crop.
“We’ve had a historic pace in terms of getting the crop out here, several weeks ahead of the five year average,” Naig says. “We’re well ahead of pace and we’ve got plenty of time here, but it’s especially nice when the weather cooperates as it has here when we flipped the calendar into November.” It’s not unusual at this point in the season to have crop still standing in southern Iowa fields.
The growing season is longer in southern compared to northern Iowa. In the fall of 2019, there was a propane shortage as Iowa farmers were using the fuel to power the driers in grain bins. “This year hasn’t been nearly as much of a demand for propane because the corn has dried down in the field and just simply hasn’t needed it as much, so that’s been a bright spot for farmers,” Naig says. “They’ve been able to save some on that drying cost and that’s always appreciated.”
Up to four million acres of corn was damaged or destroyed by the August 10th derecho. Naig says that contributed to a slower harvest pace in fields where farmers were trying to harvest damaged stalks. “They’ve had to literally go slower or maybe even go one direction in a field,” Naig says. “We also know that there were the compounding issues of grain storage that was damaged due to the wind storm.”
Naig says some farmers had to opt to pile corn on the ground because their grain bins were hit by the derecho.
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