The Guthrie County Department of Public Health today (Wednesday), confirmed another three deaths have been associated with novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Guthrie County. One individual was 52 and two individuals were older than 80. All individuals had underlying medical conditions. The total number of deaths associated with COVID-19 as of today is ten.

Guthrie County Public Health Director, Jotham Arber said “We want to extend our deepest condolences to the individual’s family. We are all in this fight together. Guthrie County Public Health and all of our partners continue to work to limit the spread and impact of COVID-19 in our communities.”

Arber reminds residents they should:

■Wear cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures and other hygiene practices are difficult to maintain.

■Stay at least 6 feet away from others to minimize exposure.

■Anyone who is high risk for more severe COVID-19 illness should continue to stay home.

■Stay home when even mildly ill (the kind of illness that normally wouldn’t prevent you from your everyday activities)

■Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your elbow/upper arm.

■Wash hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

For up-to-date information on COVID-19, visit the county webpage at www.adairguthriecountycovid.org

Numerous area fire departments are battling flames in a field in eastern Pottawattamie County. Griswold Fire was dispatched to the scene at 49968 Highway 6, at around 2:19-p.m.  Other departments responding include Walnut, Oakland and Hancock Fire.

The flames were being fanned by northwesterly winds at 25-to 35 miles per hour. Additional information is not currently available.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s Attorney General is joining an effort to target abusive and illegal debt collectors. Attorney General spokesperson, Lynn Hicks says it has become a nationwide problem. “We are calling this Operation Corrupt Collector and our office is working with other A-G’s and the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies,” Hicks says. “Part of it is the enforcement — but a lot of what we are doing here is just educating people what their rights are.”

He says the pandemic has created a lot of stress for people and some debt collectors are trying to take advantage of that. “So we want to make sure people understand that if they do get calls for debt — maybe a debt they already paid or don’t think that’s theirs — or if they are getting threatening and harassing calls, that they are armed with the information that they need” Hick says. He says the people on the calls may not have the legal authority to collect the debt, but sound like they do. “Sometimes they seem to have enough information, a little bit of information to fool people into thinking this might be real,” Hicks says. “One of the things we say is to make sure you get the name of the collector and the collection company and all that information. And don’t give out personal information out over the phone,” according to Hicks.

Hicks says a common tactic is to try and scare people with threats of legal action if you don’t pay right away. “If somebody tries to threaten you like that — especially if they try to threaten to arrest you or suspend your driver’s license — things like that — you can just hang up. And you can also report them, report them to us or report them to the F-T-C,” he says.

You can call the F-T-C at: 1-877-F-T-C-HELP (382-4357). Or contact the Iowa Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 515-281-5926 (in Des Moines area) or 888-777-4590.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa sheriff asked farmers to temporarily halt the harvest, fearing high winds would carry sparks from combines and set off fires. Several grass and field fires were reported Tuesday afternoon in Sioux County while under a ‘red flag’ warning that was issued from the National Weather Services. County resources were stretched thin fighting the fires as they spread quickly in the dry and windy conditions. As a result, county authorities issued a request, asking farmers to refrain from harvesting until conditions improved. The same is expected today as the National Weather Service has issued another red flag warning for portions of northwest Iowa from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m.

A corn field fire was reported late this (Wednesday) morning north of Massena, but dispatch reports indicated there were no structures nearby that were in danger of being consumed by the flames.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has rejected a request that would have let some Iowa grocery stores quit accepting empty bottles and cans and repaying the deposit fee. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that the Iowa Grocery Industry Association asked the D-N-R to write a new rule for administering the state’s “bottle bill.” It’s the 41-year-old anti-littering law that’s set up to let consumers go to grocery stores to redeem their nickle deposits on empty cans and bottles. Grocers had asked the D-N-R director to let stores within a 15 mile drive of a redemption center to be excused from the requirement to accept empties and pay back deposits. D-N-R director Kayla Lyons says it’s prudent for the agency to wait on legislators to make a decision, since lawmakers have been discussing significant changes to the Bottle Bill.

Grocers have long complained about being required to accept empty bottles and cans in stores, arguing it’s unsanitary. Legislators for decades have DISCUSSED changes to the Bottle Bill, but have never come up with an acceptable alternative.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests. At around 2:18-a.m. today (Wednesday), 46-year old Sean Robert Collins Freeman, of Belle Plain, was arrested on two counts Possession of a Controlled Substance, and for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $2,300. And, at around 10:50-a.m. Monday, 36-year old Shane Michael Schumacher was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Failure to Appear. His bond was set at $300.

(Radio Iowa) – Shoppers looking for their favorite cuts of meat should soon see plenty of them. Beef and pork production are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels after disruptions this spring when outbreaks of COVID-19 sent workers home and meat plants cut production. Farmers and feedlots had to leave animals on site longer than expected, but livestock economist Derrell Peel says now very few beef cattle remain backed-up. “It’s taken the rest of the summer and here into the fall to sort of catch up,” Peel says. “I think we are largely caught up at this point, the indications are that we have largely addressed the backlog.”

Most backlogged pigs have also made it to market. Despite estimates claiming millions of market-weight hogs might be euthanized and not reach the food supply, the actual numbers were much lower. Farmer Mike Paustian of Walcott, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, didn’t lose any of his hogs. “There were some big numbers getting thrown around about what potentially, how many pigs might have to be euthanized,” Paustian says, “and when it was all said and done, that ended up being far, far fewer pigs than what a lot of people were expecting.”

Paustian says he bought extra barns so he could house big pigs longer. He and others also changed the animals’ diets so they could eat without gaining weight. About 65-thousand market-weight pigs were killed on farms in Iowa. Reports say two-thirds of those belonged to one company.

(Reporting by Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) -A COVID-19 outbreak is reported at the Webster County Jail in Fort Dodge.  Webster County Sheriff Jim Stubbs said that all 68 inmates and staff were tested last Friday. Eight inmates and seven staff members all tested positive for the coronavirus. Stubbs said that those who have tested positive are being separated from those who are negative in the jail which is already at full capacity.

The jail was originally built to hold 29 inmates but as of earlier this week, the inmate count was at 61. As mass testing was conducted last week, the count was at 56 inmates.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The murder trial for a Cedar Rapids man accused of killing another man over a pack of cigarettes has been moved to 2021. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that the first-degree murder trial for 37-year-old Jermaine Walker was originally scheduled for November 2. A judge agreed to reset the trial to Jan. 25 at the request of Walker’s lawyer. Walker is accused of fatally shooting 31-year-old Wayne Jones of Cedar Rapids on Nov. 2, 2019.

Authorities say Walker was at a party smoking other peoples’ cigarettes when Jones called him out for being “cheap,” prompting the shooting.