(Radio Iowa) – The state unemployment rate increased slightly in May as more people entered the job market. The rate bumped up to three-point-nine percent in May from the three-point-eight percent in April. Iowa Workforce Development says the total number of Iowans in the workforce increased by 65-hundred, while the number of people with a job increased by five-thousand in May.
The unemployment rate one year ago in May during the height of the pandemic was eight-point-three percent.
(DES MOINES, Iowa) – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has announced additional support for child care providers across the state of Iowa including increased Child Care Assistance (CCA) rates, stipends to accelerate COVID recovery efforts, and enhancements to programs promoting educational opportunities for child care providers. Her office says the additional assistance will be critical for child care providers as the Governor’s Child Care Task Force continues to review and develop policy recommendations in advance of the 2022 legislative session.
The Governor says “Access to affordable child care is critical to Iowa’s sustained economic recovery from COVID-19. Keeping child care open during the COVID-19 pandemic was a central component to our targeted and balanced approach, and now through the Child Care Task Force we are working to ensure that quality child care remains available for working families across the state. As the Task Force continues its important work, we are announcing today interim steps to support our child care providers, and in turn, the children and families they serve.”
In an effort to further the State of Iowa’s support for child care workers’ pursuit of higher education, the Department of Human Services (DHS) will expand the T.E.A.C.H. and Child Care WAGE$ program statewide through Fiscal Year 2022. T.E.A.C.H. is a comprehensive scholarship program that provides education opportunities to the early childhood workforce. With a proven record of reducing turnover, the WAGE$ program provides education-based salary supplements to the early care and education workforce. To support those providers accepting federal Child Care Assistance, DHS has completed an updated 2020 Market Rate Survey, resulting in increased rates effective July 1, 2021. Currently, providers are being paid at a 2017 rate, and it is imperative that rates are increased to reflect the current market.
Lastly, DHS will continue to pay providers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic monthly stipends and unlimited absent days for CCA until August 31, 2021. Supporting child care providers through the summer will continue to stabilize child care for working families as Iowa continues on our recovery from COVID-19. DHS Director Kelly Garcia says “Our child care providers worked throughout the pandemic as a vital support to our larger workforce – even as others shifted to remote options. I am proud to offer child care providers continued support as they fulfill their critical role of caring for Iowa’s children and preparing them for the future.”
On March 10, 2021, Governor Kim Reynolds signed Executive Order 8, launching a new Child Care Task Force to develop a comprehensive strategy to address the child care shortage and barrier to work in Iowa. The task force, representing business, non-profit and community organizations, providers and local government, has been working vigorously and will complete their 100-day challenge in July 2021.
(Red Oak) A Red Oak man was arrested Tuesday for Involuntary Manslaughter and Burglary 1st Degree, in connection with a reported “shots fired” incident that is alleged to have indirectly resulted in the death of a 41-year-old male. The incident took place at around 5:24-p..m. Police Chief Justin Rhamy said Wednesday (today), 41-year-old Christopher Mickel Mattingly was arrested following an investigation. He was being held at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on a $25,000 cash-only bond.
Chief Rhamy said Red Oak Police were called to the 100 block of West Joy Street in Red Oak for a report of shots fired. Upon arrival of officers in the area, they were directed to a residence located at 103 E. Joy Street, where they located a man who was down in the back yard. Rescue was called to provide medical assistance. Also located in the back yard was another male that was exiting the residence. The second subject (Later identified as Mattingly) was placed into handcuffs and detained.
Officers then returned to the man laying on the ground, in order to provide any immediate medical assistance to that person. The subject on the ground complained of dizziness, but was not shot. Rescue arrived on scene and began providing medical treatment to the man on the ground. He was then transferred to an ambulance and transported to a medical facility. Unfortunately, according to police, the man entered into a cardiac arrest rhythm related to the initial incident and later succumbed to the cardiac arrest. His name was not immediately released.
Upon further investigation into the incident, it was determined Mattingly had gone to the victim’s house armed with a pellet gun, in an attempt to retrieve money that the victim allegedly owed Mattingly. Mattingly began using the pellet gun in an attempt to shoot out surveillance cameras that were on the outside of the residence. Police say once Mattingly arrived at the back door of the residence, he forced his entry by kicking in the door.
Police says it’s not clear what transpired once Mattingly entered the home, but they know that the 41-year-old male resident was able to exit the residence into the back yard where officers originally located him. Agencies assisting Red Oak Police at the scene, included the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, and Red Oak Fire Rescue.
The Iowa Department of Public Health’s Coronavirus Dashboard, Wednesday morning, indicated there were 124 additional, positive cases of COVID-19 over the previous 24-hours, for a pandemic total of 404, 070. There were no additional deaths reported, which leaves the statewide total at 6,117. Deaths at Iowa’s Long-Term Care facilities since the start of the pandemic, amount to 2,372.
Long-Term Care (LTC) facility outbreak data is unchanged from Tuesday. Officials say there are a total of 26 positive cases among patients and staff at two facilities, and five persons who have recovered. For several days prior to Tuesday’s data, there were three LTC outbreaks. Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate edged-up slightly, to 2.1%. The seven-day positivity rate is up a bit, to 2.1%.
There are a total of 69 Iowans hospitalized with COVID. Health officials report 21 patients are in an ICU; 19 COVID patients were admitted to a hospital, and 12 patients are on a ventilator. In RMCC Region 4 (hospitals in western & southwest Iowa), there are two people hospitalized with COVID-19, one person was in an ICU. No one was admitted over the previous 24-hours, and there are no COVID patients on a ventilator in the area.
In the immediate KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County (since the beginning of the pandemic) and the total number of deaths (Since the beginning of the pandemic) in each county to date:
Cass, 1,478 cases; 55 deaths
Adair, 995; 32
Adams, 356; 4
Audubon, 553; 11
Guthrie, 1,317; 32
Harrison County, 1,937; 73
Madison County, 1,789 19
Mills County, 1,807; 24
Montgomery, 1,116; 38
Pottawattamie County, 12,367;174
Shelby County, 1,380; 37
Union County, 1,383; 35
(Radio Iowa) – A 66-year-old man was found dead inside a burned home in southeast Iowa. Jefferson County officials say a “good Samaritan” called 9-1-1 just before 5:30 Tuesday morning to report a house in a rural area near Batavia was on fire. The house was fully engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived.
The resident of the home, David Headley, was located in the remains of the structure and an autopsy will be performed to determine his cause of death. Several surviving dogs were recovered from the scene of the fire.
Effective Noon today (Wed., June 23rd), a Burn Ban is in place for all of Audubon County. Audubon Fire Chief Tyler Thygesen, acting on behalf of all fire departments in the County, requested the ban be issued by the State Fire Marshal’s Office. The ban prohibits any open burning due to the fact conditions in the County are such that any such activity would constitute a danger to life or property.
No person in Audubon County shall engage in open burning in the County – except as specifically permitted by Iowa Code, until such time as Thygesen notifies the State Fire Marshal that the dangerous conditions no longer exist. Any violation of the Burn Ban is a simple misdemeanor.
(Radio Iowa) – Hail storms blanketed large sections of the state Tuesday afternoon and heavy crop damage is reported in northwest Iowa’s Plymouth County — with thousands of acres impacted. Bill Tentinger, who farms east of Le Mars, says he has extensive hail damage to his corn, especially to the rows that run east-west. “A lot of that in the center of the storm is 100% wiped out. It’s sawed off clear down to the ground,” Tentinger says. “This is corn that was waist high. The rows going north and south have a lot of damage but they’re not sawed off quite that far.”
Photos posted on social media by farmers in the region show hail covering the ground and resembling snow. Tentinger says he may still try to re-plant his soybean acres, though it’s too late in the season to re-plant the cornfields, especially with the chemicals he used.) “On the corn ground, yes, that’s right, there’s herbicide carry-over,” Tentinger says. “I don’t know what the options are on that yet. For those of us that use our corn crops as feed, it’s going to be a pretty good-sized loss.”
Hail damaged corn on the Bill Tentinger farm
Tentinger says the hail that hit his crops was nickel-sized, but he noticed larger hail stones as he traveled south towards Kingsley. There was damage to windows at farmsteads, along with damaged siding, and some tree damage. Tentinger is facing another challenge — providing for his animals. “I raise mostly corn because I feed it all to my livestock,” Tentinger says. “I’m going to have to replace that somewhere and all of the grain merchandisers in the area are telling me that they have very little corn. Because of the weather, people are reluctant to forward sell.”
The National Weather Service says the largest reported hail in Iowa on Tuesday was in Linn County near Walker with half-dollar-sized stones, while winds topped 66 miles an hour near Des Moines in Waukee.
(Iowa DNR News) – One of Iowa’s newest public wildlife areas is in the backyard of Council Bluffs and outside of a few keen-eyed hunters who noticed the green signs last fall, not many people know about it. Yet. “There’s a huge constituency in Council Bluffs with limited places to hunt and this is about five miles away,” said Matt Dollison, wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The 513-acre Green Hill Wildlife Area is in the early stages of being transformed from row crops and introduced brome grass, into native prairie.
Standing on a ridge looking northwest over the Google campus, the skyline and noise of Omaha and Council Bluffs fades and the sound of Field sparrows, vesper sparrows, eastern towhees, common yellowthroats replaces the sound of traffic. Cattle grazed on a portion of the area, but have been removed and Dollison plans to burn it next spring to see what native plants come back. Walking one of the terraces, he points to big bluestem, blazing star, purple prairie clover, leadplant, whorled milkweed and Indian grass. “Native prairie is coming up in the brome so that tells me that when we burn this, we’ll be in business,” Dollison said. He’s working with two seed dealers and the DNR wildlife unit in Onawa to source local loess hills prairie grasses and flower seed to fill in the gaps and keep the reconstructed prairie here as close as possible to what was initially here.
Green Hill Wildlife Area offers visitors a chance to unwind, go hiking, birdwatching, mushroom hunting, or just to look at and enjoy the prairie. It’s also a place close to home to hunt deer, turkeys, squirrels and pheasants and quail. Photo courtesy of the Iowa DNR.
The plan is to covert 20-30 acres of the former crop ground into prairie each year for the next four years. They planted a 27-acre field this spring. “We’re going to leave about 10 percent for row crops, alfalfa, food plots and sunflowers fields, but the rest will go to prairie,” Dollison said. They’ve been working with a farmer in the area to plant the crops and sunflower fields, and to help with mowing and spraying. They plan to work with a producer to continue grazing cattle on part of the area. “Grazing will continue to be one of the management practices here, alternating grazing with an idle year or two in between. That will help our cooperator and the disturbance will help diversify the native prairie,” he said.
Green Hill is across 221st Street (old Hwy. 275) from Folsom Point Preserve, a private preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy. The preserve is home to the Great Plains skink, plains pocket mouse, ornate box turtle and Henslow’s sparrow – all species in need of more habitat. A western prairie fringed orchid has been found a mile east of Green Hill. It’s possible that once Green Hill is converted to prairie, that those species could call it home as well. “I asked our wildlife techs to keep their eyes out for rare species when they’re working over here,” he said.
About 20 percent of Green Hill is timber and most of that is a mix of oak and hickory. Dollison will work with the district forester to write a forest wildlife management plan for the area. In the not too distant future, the trees will be gone in an effort to enhance prairie habitat, and Green Hill will look quite a bit different than it does today. Green Hill offers visitors a chance to unwind, go hiking, birdwatching, mushroom hunting, or just to look at and enjoy the prairie. It’s also a place close to home to hunt deer, turkeys, squirrels and pheasants and quail. Just be sure to keep a sharp eye out for the gravel access lanes off 221st Street.
Battling the invaders
Green Hill Wildlife Area has its share of unwanted invasive species and among the worst is black locust and crown vetch. It also has tree of heaven, Siberian elm and honeysuckle. “If you cut black locust and tree of heaven and spray the cut stump, they can send suckers up from their roots and that makes them difficult to kill,” Dollison said. “We’re using a technique of spraying around the base of the trunk to kill it slowly which prevents them from sending out the suckers.”
Partners in Green Hill
The acquisition of Green Hill was years in the making and finalized on June 29, 2020, through a partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and the Iowa DNR, using multiple funding sources including the Iowa West Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Pittman-Robertson.
Tuesday’s Scores
Texas 8, Tennessee 4 – Tanner Witt pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout relief for the horns. Eric Kennedy had two hits with a home run and 3 RBI.
Mississippi State 6, Virginia 5 – Bulldogs scored 6 runs in the 8th inning to grab the win. Tanner Allen had a three run homer in that barrage. Kellum Clark delivered a two-run single as well. Mississippi State advances to Friday’s Semifinals. Virginia will square off against Texas in an elimination game on Thursday night.
Wednesday’s Schedule
Game 9: Vanderbilt vs. Stanford | 7 p.m. | ESPN
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