(Radio Iowa) – For three consecutive days, the number of Covid patients in Iowa hospitals has dipped below 100. The last time Iowa had fewer than 100 hospital patients being treated for the virus was in early April of last year. On Tuesday night, the state website indicated 95 Covid patients were hospitalized in Iowa. Department of Public Health director Kelly Garcia says having fewer than 100 Iowans hospitalized with Covid-19 is a significant milestone.

The pace of vaccinations in Iowa has been lagging for several weeks. Garcia says her agency will continue to work with local partners to educate and answer any questions Iowans may have so they can feel confident about getting vaccinated.

About 58 percent of eligible Iowans have had at least one Covid shot. Infectious disease specialists warn if Iowa’s vaccination rate doesn’t rise, more contagious variants of Covid may take hold here as is the case in Britain.

(Radio Iowa) – After the pandemic hit to the Iowa economy a year ago, state tax receipts now are soaring. The state’s fiscal year ends June 30th. Net tax revenue for the state of Iowa in the past 11 months is more than seven-point-three BILLION dollars. It’s about a billion dollars more than same 11 month period in the previous fiscal year. Consumer spending is up. Sales and use tax payments to the State of Iowa jumped 10 percent from July through the end of last month.

Corporate income tax payments to the state more than doubled and personal income tax payments were up nearly 16 percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate has fallen by about two-thirds of what it was at the height of Covid-related shutdowns. In April of 2020, the state unemployment rate hit its pandemic peak of 11-point-one percent.

Iowa’s unemployment rate in April of this year was three-point-eight percent. Thousands of Iowans have dropped out of the job market. The latest figures indicate 90-thousand fewer Iowans are employed in non-farm jobs compared to February, 2020 — before the pandemic hit.

Both drivers and a passenger were injured during a collision Monday afternoon in Mills County, between a pickup and an SUV. The Iowa State Patrol reports the accident happened at around 1:35-p.m. at the intersection of Kidd Road and Highway 34, when 43-year old James Joseph Belt, of Glenwood, failed to yield.

Authorities say his 2007 Chevy Avalanche K1500, which was northbound on Kidd Road, struck a 2021 Ford Explorer broadside on the passenger side of the SUV, which was traveling west on Highway 34.Following the impact, the pickup went off the road northwest of the intersection and rolled into the ditch. The SUV also went off the road and came to rest in the ditch.

Belt, and the driver of the SUV, 63-year old Connie Sue Bowen, of Emerson, along with a passenger in the pickup, 14-year-old Elias Belt, of Glenwood, were injured.

Bowen was transported by LifeNet to the UNMC in Omaha, Joseph and Elias belt were transported to the hospital by private vehicle. All three of the accident victims were wearing their seat belts.

(Radio Iowa) – The search for a missing Montezuma boy who was last seen late Thursday morning continues in Poweshiek County. Hundreds of volunteers turned out Sunday on Xavior Harrelson’s 11th birthday to search in areas within one mile of the boy’s home and in rural areas around Montezuma. Iowa D-C-I assistant director, Mitch Mortvedt gave an update today (Tuesday) on FOX News, and was asked why an Amber Alert hasn’t been issued.

“What we concluded thus far is that it could probably be one of four avenues,” according to Mortvedt, “it could be a walk-away or runaway situation. Whether he was somewhere and had a horrible accident and we have not been able to locate him year. Or it could be criminal. With the criminal element and the Amber Alert in Iowa, his disappearance thus far has not met the criteria for an Amber Alert in Iowa.” He says investigators are going over their plan to be sure they cover all angles.

“Reviewing everything that we’ve done thus far — yet getting new information in and trying to find where Xavier is,” he says. Mortvedt noted many of the same people who searched for Mollie Tibbetts near Brooklyn three years ago helped search for Harrelson. He says they have brought in search dogs and have searched Diamond Lake.

“We’ve done everything possible, and anything we can think of,” Mortvedt says. Mortvedt says this is classified as a missing child case — NOT a kidnapping. Searchers have gone door-to-door in Montezuma and dive teams have searched Diamond Lake which is about a mile west of Montezuma.

Police in Glenwood report three arrests took place over the holiday weekend, and the theft of several flags. Today (Tuesday), the Glenwood Library reported the theft of two American flags. And on Monday, the Loess Hills Funeral HOme and Glenwood Fire Department reported the theft of five and one American flag, respectively.

On Monday, 27-year-old Edward Parrott, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on a warrant for Domestic Assault. He was being held in the Mills County Jail without bond. And, 33-year-old Christopher Carbis, of Glenwood, was arrested Monday for OWI/2nd offense. His cash of surety bond was set at $2,000. On Sunday, 30-year-old Cody Perez, of Omaha, was arrested in Glenwood for being a Fugitive from Justice. He was being held without bond.

One person was transported to the Audubon County Memorial Hospital, following a motorcycle accident Tuesday afternoon, near Brayton. According to Audubon County Sheriff Todd Johnson, the accident happened at around 2:38-p.m. on the Highway 71 curves, north of Brayton.

A motorcycle failed to negotiate one of the southbound curves and went off the northwest corner of the road. The single male operator of the cycle was injured and transported to the hospital by Exira Rescue.

No other details were immediately available.

(Updated) (Radio Iowa) – A Whiting man is in custody and charged with second-degree murder following a Memorial Day shooting in rural Woodbury County that left one person dead and another injured. Twenty-year-old Marvin Hildreth Junior is facing the murder charge and a charge of going armed with intent. Woodbury County Sheriff Chad Sheehan says emergency crews responded to a rural resident near Luton around 1:3o p-m Monday. “Upon arrival, a female and male were found in the front yard of 1932 250th Street, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds,” Sheehan says.

Marvin Hildreth, Jr.

Forty-year-old Russell Mohr or rural Mapleton died at the scene of the shooting. A woman who has not been identified was shot in the leg and hospitalized with what are called non-life-threatening injuries. Sheehan says they had a good description of a vehicle and a deputy spotted it on Highway 141 less than 20 minutes after they arrived on the scene. He says a witness called in and reported seeing the vehicle and the deputy stopped it and the driver was taken into custody without incident.

Sheehan says the shooting suspect and the victims knew each other — but the motive for the shooting is not known at this time. He asks anyone with information on the shooting to call the sheriff’s department at 712-224-3333.

Michael Lee Rose, Sr.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports that on May 27th, Deputies were called at around 1-a.m., to 112 2nd Street, in Hepburn. The call was with regard to a verbal dispute involving a firearm. An investigation was made and a weapon was located in the residence. The Sheriff says Michael Lee Rose Sr. was arrested for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm (a Class D Felony). His cash or surety bond was set at $5,000.

(Radio Iowa) – A southeast Iowa man who will be arraigned this month for exposing himself to a teenager was sentenced last week to two years in prison for another child-related crime. Twenty-nine-year-old Matthew Reynolds of Sigourney received a two year sentence for enticing a minor in Wapello County. The incident occurred in 2018. The Sheriff’s Office says video evidence showed Reynolds driving a blue Pontiac in downtown Eldon and following a 9-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother.

Reynolds eventually rolled down a window and told the girl to get into the vehicle. Both children ran and were not harmed. Reynolds also faces an indecent exposure charge in Mahaska County. His arraignment for that case is scheduled for June 21st.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican U-S Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is blasting Democratic President Joe Biden’s six-trillion dollar budget proposal, which was unveiled on Friday afternoon. Grassley calls the budget “reckless” and the timing “one of the oldest tricks in the book,” suggesting the administration was hoping no one would notice, heading into a three-day holiday weekend. “Biden’s budget would shatter previous records for spending and debt,” Grassley says. “Under his plan, debt would reach 117% of gross national product. That’s well beyond World War Two levels, even adjusted for inflation.”

The spending plan, which Grassley calls “massive,” aims to make good on many of Biden’s campaign promises, including reinvesting in education and infrastructure.  “It also includes a slate of new taxes which would be felt at all income levels across the country,” Grassley says. “Keep in mind, this is on top of this administration’s nearly $7-trillion spending proposals Biden already sent to Congress.” Grassley says presidential budgets usually arrive on Capitol Hill the first week in February with much fanfare, but the Biden plan is “bad news,” in Grassley’s words. “As a member of the budget committee, I’ll push to restore some sanity to government spending,” Grassley says. “We simply cannot continue this reckless spend and tax strategy.”

Friday on Twitter, Biden tweeted that the budget “builds on the progress we’ve made over the last few months and makes historic investments that will help our nation build back better for decades to come.”