(Council Bluffs) – An Iowa Girl Scout troop is helping sweeten the deal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. KCCI-TV reports the girls are part of a troop based at a Council Bluffs homeless shelter who had a record year of cookie sales. Some of their customers even bought boxes to be donated to worthy causes.Those cookies went to the Pottawattamie County Health Department to give to people after they get vaccinated.

In all, the health department received nearly 2,400 boxes of treats like Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs.

(Radio Iowa) – A top Republican says there’s still a chance the Houses will vote this year to make changes in Iowa’s Bottle Bill, but House Speaker Pat Grassley says it’s very difficult to find a resolution. “The same thing happens every time we even have these conversations is every group that’s involved goes into their corners and no one’s willing to move,” Grassley says. “And so it just makes it really hard to not only find an agreement, but a bill that’s palatable to any caucus.” Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, has been involved in negotiations to reform the Bottle Bill. “This has been a topic that’s been around for decades,” Kaufmann says. “I think we’re as close as we’ve ever been, without saying we’re 100% there yet, to having support for passage in the House.”

For several years, grocers have asking legislators to end the requirement that grocers accept empty bottles and cans and repay the nickel deposits. This year Fareway hired two former Republican legislators as lobbyists to make that pitch. Former State Representative Chip Baltimore, who represented Boone in the House, calls the Bottle Bill a dinosaur. “It was originally enacted as a litter control system, trying to clean up ditches, but since then it has simply turned into a trash collection system,” Baltimore said. “…When you go to a restaurant and they give you a styrofoam box to take your food home in, you don’t have to take your styrofoam box back to the restaurant to allow them to recycle or redeem it.”

Former Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix is also lobbying for Fareway. Dix has publicly expressed support for an approach that would let grocers opt out of accepting the empties if a redemption center was within 20 miles of their store. “This is conceptually a bill that Fareway is interested in seeing continue to move through the process,” Dix said, “…with possible tweaks and changes to improve it along the way.”

That concept has stalled in the Senate and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver says there is no single solution that has emerged with enough support to pass the Senate.

The Glenwood Police Department says no injuries were reported after a car struck a convenience store/gas station, Friday night. Police were called to the Fas Mart at 1202 S. Locust Street in Glenwood at around 8:30-p.m., for a vehicle that struck the building. An investigation revealed a 2001 Toyota Camry driven by 75-year-old Bernard Stanek, of Glenwood, was pulling into a parking in front of the building, when he stepped on the accelerator pedal instead of the brake. The car jumped a curb and crashed through the front window of the business, causing serious damage.

Fire and Rescue arrived on the scene to check on Stanek, who claimed he was not hurt, and refused medical treatment. Damage to the building was estimated to be $10,000. The car sustained $1,500 damage. No citations were issued.

Authorities said also, 28-year-old Patrick Eggerling, of Avoca, was arrested Thursday, for driving while barred. While in custody, Eggerling was charged also, with Possession of contraband in a correctional facility. His cash or surety bond was set at $5,000. And, on April 23rd, 48-year-old Kirk Baldwin, of Omaha, was arrested in Glenwood, for Violation of a No Contact Order.

(Radio Iowa) – President Biden is approaching his 100th day in office this week and his administration is getting a back-handed complement from Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley as to how Biden is handling the pandemic. Grassley says, “I think that he is doing an outstanding job of carrying on the outstanding policies of the Trump administration.”

President Biden is scheduled to provide an update today (Tuesday) as to how his administration has responded to COVID-19. Grassley, a Republican, says the groundwork to attack the virus was already in place, thanks to the previous administration. “Because of what President Trump did and what President Biden followed through on, we’re at a point where we aren’t worrying about people getting enough doses to get it stopped,” Grassley says. “We’ve got more doses than we have people.”

Biden set a goal of delivering 200-million shots in his first 100 days in office. That goal was reached last week, on his 92nd day, what Biden called “an incredible achievement for the nation.” Grassley offers little credit to the current president but says he’s satisfied by what’s been accomplished with the vaccine. “Normally, you’d have to wait for the thing to be approved, which was in November, and then another six months for the stuff to be manufactured and start vaccinating people in July,” Grassley says. “We got it all done because of President Trump and then President Biden doing a good job to carry it out.”

It’s expected the president today will discuss easing restrictions on people who’ve been vaccinated, as a way of acknowledging their lower risk and to also offer more prompting for everyone to get the shots. Grassley tested positive for COVID in November and went into isolation, but said he experienced no symptoms.

Two people were injured Monday, when the motorcycle they were riding struck a deer, west of Wiota. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the cycle was driven by 22-year-old Austin Boggs, of Atlantic. His passenger was identified as 29-year-old Paige Boken. The pair were traveling east on White Pole Road at around 7:13-p.m., when a deer entered the roadway from the south ditch, near 662nd Street.

When the cycle hit the animal, Boggs and Boken were ejected. The cycle and occupants slid across the gravel shoulder and onto the south shoulder of the roadway.  Both occupants were transported to Cass County Memorial Hospital by Cass County EMS with serious, non-life threatening injuries. Anita Fire and Rescue, Wiota Fire and Rescue, and Cass County EMS assisted the Cass County Sheriff’s Office at the scene.

(Des Moines) – The Iowa Department of Public Health, Tuesday (Today), reported there were 348 additional positive COVID-19 cases, for a pandemic total of 392,911, and for the second day in a row, no additional deaths. That leaves the statewide total at 5,927 since the start of the pandemic. Deaths at long-term care facilities in Iowa account for 2,313 of the total number of deaths statewide.

Iowa’s positivity rates are down slightly. The 14-day average is 4.1%, and the 7-day average is 3.9%. Virus hospitalizations amount to 184, up from 179 a day earlier. There are 35 patients in ICU (compared to 42 the previous day), and 23 patients on ventilators. There were 18 persons with COVID symptoms admitted to hospitals in Iowa over the previous 24-hours.

In RMCC Regional 4 (hospitals in western/southwest Iowa): 14 COVID patients are hospitalized; seven are in an ICU; two people were admitted with symptoms of the virus, and there remain five people on a ventilator.

Vaccinations administered as of Monday amount to over 2.23-million, with more than 991,430 of those vaccinated having their series completed.

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, 1,446 cases; {+1}; 54 deaths
Adair, 973; {+2}; 32
Adams, 343 {+0}; 4
Audubon, 515 {+1}; 9
Guthrie, 1,273 {+1}; 29
Harrison County, 1,909; {+1}; 73
Madison County, 1,701; {+0; 19
Mills County, 1,768; {+4}; 21
Montgomery, 1,097{+0}; 37
Pottawattamie County, 11,987; {+14}; 164
Shelby County, 1,351 {+0}; 37
Union County, 1,317; {+0}; 32

Our News broadcast at 8:05-a.m., w/Ric Hanson.

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The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports an arrest has been made in connection with a death that took place last June. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says on Monday, April 26th at 4:00 p.m. officers arrested 51-year-old Melissa Renee Pedersen, of Clarinda, on a Page County warrant for felony dependent adult abuse. Pedersen was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Page County Jail where she is being held on $11,000 cash only bail.

Melissa Renee Pedersen

Sheriff Palmer says the arrest of Melissa Pedersen stems from an investigation conducted by the Clarinda Police Department and the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office into the death of Thomas Joseph Pedersen, who was found dead in his home at 600 West Lincoln Street on June 2, 2020. Melissa Pedersen and Thomas Pedersen were married and resided together at the time of Thomas Pedersen’s death.

Reports have been forwarded to Page County Attorney’s Office for decisions concerning the filing of formal charges.

Police in Creston say a man residing in the 700 block of Hickory Street reported on April 24th, that someone broke into his vehicle and stole his backpack and a silver Apple Mac Book Pro laptop computer. The loss was estimated at $1,800.

Our 7:07-a.m. News broadcast from News Director Ric Hanson.

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