(Radio Iowa) – The latest survey by a group representing 22 of the largest businesses in the state finds a big jump in optimism for the third quarter of this year. Iowa Business Council executive director Joe Murphy says the overall survey index is up by more than 14 points. “We’re very excited to report for the first time in 2020 the Iowa Business Council is projecting a positive economic outlook over the course of the next six months — and that’s really a significant increase in optimism,” Murphy says.

The survey measures expectations for sales, capital spending, and employment for the next six months. Murphy says the survey optimism is at its highest level since the fourth quarter of 2019. “While we are not out of the woods on the pandemic or the pending recession, I think there’s some glimmers of hope out there for Iowa businesses and for Iowa employment,” according to Murphy. One key is the survey number for expected sales. “More than 55 percent of them have said that they expect sales to increase over the next six months,” he says, “which is really important not only for our members but for all Iowa businesses. When you think about the Iowa Business Council, their business partnerships, their customers and clients are really focused in on those Iowa companies as well. We view this as a positive metric for the state.” He says capital spending is another area where the businesses show a lot of optimism. “Forty-five-percent of our members expect an increase in capital spending over the next six months. Which is a huge number when you think about the level of pause that was going on in the first six months of the year, nine months of the year,” Murphy says.

Murphy says a lot of the optimism comes from the businesses seeing how the pandemic has played out and adapting. “We’ve been in this now going on seven months and businesses in Iowa are very capable of adapting to new realities,” Murphy says. “And I think you are seeing businesses — both our members’, large companies in the state — but also medium and small businesses in the state as well, learning but also adapting to this new reality,” Murphy explains. Forty-one percent of the I-B-C businesses expect employment to increase in the third quarter. Murphy says that’s part of moving forward with the knowledge gained from what has happened so far with the pandemic. “I think just getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is a good way to think about it. However you slice it, the fact that we’re projecting optimism, positive economic sentiment, is certainly a good thing for us to celebrate right now,” Murphy says.

While there is optimism, he says I-B-C members continue to cite challenges with attracting and retaining a talented workforce as an issue that was there before the pandemic and continues now.

For more on the survey, go to www.iowabusinesscouncil.org.

Two men from Glenwood were arrested recently, on separate charges. Wednesday (today), 31-year old Logan West was arrested for OWI/1st offense. West has since posted a $1,000 cash or surety bond. And, on Tuesday, 63-year old Russell Fuller was arrested in Glenwood on a Mills County warrant. His cash/surety bond was set at $25,000.

Three people were transported to the Shenandoah Memorial Hospital following an accident Tuesday afternoon. The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports deputies responded at around 2:11-p.m. to a two vehicle accident with injuries, at the intersection of Highways 2 and 59. An investigation determined a car driven by 60-year old Denise Renee Bryant, of Coin, was traveling south on Highway 59. As she attempted to make a left (east) turn onto Highway 2 eastbound, 57-year old Carol Lynn Kirkpatrick, of Westboro, MO. was driving an SUV northbound on Highway 59.

Bryant said that she was looking at an ambulance that was stopped at the eastbound stop sign of the intersection on Highway 2 waiting for traffic to clear. The ambulance did not have any
emergency lights activated. When Bryant turned east from Highway 59 into the path of the Kirkpatrick SUV, the front passenger side portion of the Kirkpatrick vehicle struck the front passenger side fender / front end of the Bryant vehicle. Bryant’s 2011 Mercury Milan vehicle spun around and came to rest in the northbound lane / shoulder part of Highway 59, north of Highway.  Kirkpatrick’s 2014 Jeep Cherokee veered in a northeast direction coming to rest in the east ditch of the intersection.

Authorities say it appears that both vehicles went over the westbound Highway 2 stop sign of the intersection. Bryant, Kirkpatrick, and a passenger in the SUV, 57-year old Helen Marie Settles, of Westboro, MO., were transported to the hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries. Deputies cited Bryant for Failure to yield upon left turn.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Clarinda Ambulance service, the Shenandoah Ambulance service, the Shenandoah Police department, the Shenandoah Fire Department, and the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.

(Corrects location) 9-a.m. News…(In an update to our previous reports…) The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says a Wiota man was injured during a single-vehicle accident Tuesday night, east of Atlantic. Deputies responded to the scene off White Pole Road (Highway 6), just west of 650th (Highway 71), around 9:24 p.m. Upon their arrival, a vehicle was found upside down in a cornfield. The lone male occupant, 44-year old Joseph Lewis Grimes, of Wiota, was extricated from the vehicle by rescue crews and was taken to Cass County Memorial Hospital.

Grimes was later flown by Life Flight to an unknown hospital, for treatment of serious injuries. An investigation into the crash is ongoing. The Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Cass County EMS, Atlantic Fire and Rescue, and the Iowa State Patrol.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A 42-year-old Iowa woman convicted of a 1993 stabbing death when she was a teenager has been granted work release. The Courier reports that Ruthann Veal was granted the transitional status Tuesday following an interview with a three-member panel of the Iowa Board of Parole. Veal was a 14-year-old runaway from Mason City when she was charged as an adult in the 1993 killing of 66-year-old Catherine Haynes, of Waterloo.

Police said Haynes had been stabbed to death in her home and her credit cards stolen. Veal was sentenced to life in prison, but the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that such sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional.

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

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(Radio Iowa) – One of the county auditors who distributed partially-filled-out forms for requesting absentee ballots says at least 75 percent of the voters in WOODBURY County who mailed BACK those requests have submitted a SECOND form that complies with court rulings. Two district court judges ruled the forms auditors in Woodbury, Linn and Johnson Counties mailed this summer should NOT have included the voter’s address and voter I-D number and should have been blank. Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill. “A big percentage of those folks have already requested a ballot through a different form, so we feel pretty good about that,” Gill says.

Gill says it’s time to move on from the court fight — and focus on in-person early voting. “Most of the people who had their requests invalidated have already requested a new ballot and a lot of them are already showing up at the Long Lines Family Rec Center to vote in-person absentee,” he says. The Iowa Supreme Court intervened yesterday (Tuesday) and issued a stay, setting aside a Polk County District Court judge’s ruling that might have validated some of the nullified absentee ballot request forms in Woodbury, Linn and Johnson Counties.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Two people were arrested on separate charges, Tuesday, in Creston. Authorities say 42-year old Brandie Whitney, of Creston, was arrested at around 1:10-a.m. in the 600 block of S. Maple Street, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Whitney was transported to the Union County Jail, and later released on a $2,300 bond.

And, at around 5:30-p.m. Tuesday, 28-year old Steven White, of Creston, was arrested for Public Intoxication. White was being held in the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

The State of Iowa’s COVID-19 dashboard today (as of 10-a.m., Wednesday), shows 15 more deaths attributed to the virus have occurred since 10-a.m. Tuesday, for a total of 1,414, including one more in Guthrie County. Deaths attributed to a pre-existing medical condition number 960. There are also 919 new, Positive cases, for a total of 94,342. In the KJAN listening area, there are: four new cases in Cass, Adams & Union Counties; 27 more positive cases in Pottawattamie County; eight additional cases in Guthrie County; seven more cases Harrison County; six each in Adair and Mills Counties; three in Audubon & Shelby Counties; two cases in Montgomery County, and one more case in Madison County.

The IDPH says there have been 3,213 lab results returned since 10-a.m. Tuesday, with 2,873 coming back Negative for the virus, and 329 being positive. The total number of tests administered to-date, amount to 832,909, with 736,998 total Negative results. The 14-day rolling average is 8.6%. Health officials say 73,237 Iowans have recovered from the effects of COVID-19.

Hospitalization data due to COVID-19 show: 444 are hospitalized (compared to 413 Tuesday); 104 patients are in an ICU; 97 people have been admitted to a hospital (previously 61), and 42 COVID patients are on a ventilator. In western/southwest Iowa, 23 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, seven are in an ICU, three were admitted since Tuesday, and one person remains on a ventilator.

There are currently 54 long-term care facilities with coronavirus outbreaks, in Iowa (one less than yesterday). IDPH reports 1,104 positive cases and 613 recoveries within those facilities. There have been 723 deaths in Iowa’s long-term care facilities, six more than reported Tuesday.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began:

• Cass, 198 cases; 173 recovered; 2 deaths
• Adair, 85; 55; 1
• Adams, 47; 28; 0
• Audubon, 110; 40; 1
• Guthrie, 305; 186; 12
• Harrison County, 340; 185; 5
• Madison County, 273; 189; 2
• Mills County, 239; 144; 1
• Montgomery, 115; 95; 5
• Pottawattamie County, 2,395; 1,863; 41
• Shelby County, 291; 264; 1
• Union County,  159; 108; 3