(Radio Iowa) – It’s official, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is being named by President-elect Joe Biden as the U-S Secretary of Agriculture, a post Vilsack held during all eight years of the Obama administration. Jeff Jorgenson, president of the Iowa Soybean Association, says Vilsack represents Midwestern agriculture well and he looks forward to working with him again. “As an Iowa farmer and even as a U.S. farmer, with Vilsack being in the system before, we kind of know where he stands on some issues and what we have in agriculture,” Jorgenson says. “We’re going to understand where we’re at in a lot of regards and sometimes that has some bonuses along with that.”

Vilsack was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate eight years ago and is expected to easily win confirmation again in 2021, but Biden’s decision is drawing criticism from some quarters. Some environmental groups charge Vilsack is too closely tied to large-scale, corporate agriculture. A coalition representing black farmers says Vilsack did not do enough as ag secretary to address racial inequities in access to loans for farmland. Jorgenson says one of Vilsack’s main strengths is his knowledge and support of the ethanol and biodiesel industries.  “His understanding of regulations and biofuels and what we deal with as farmers and what we’re trying to get to as a country, I think he has a very good understanding of it,” Jorgenson says. “Really, he’s a very moderating voice. He knows how to get people to the table and work together and try to get through some differences and really move forward.”

Jorgenson says Vilsack knows the importance of trade and our key trading partners. “Vilsack has an understanding of China and he’s dealt with them a lot of years,” Jorgenson says. “He was CEO of the Dairy Council and he understands these exports and where we need to be internationally with trade. This opens him up for every product in agriculture and I think it’s a positive.” Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) President Carl Jardon released a statement saying “ICGA congratulates Tom Vilsack on his nomination to serve as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Being an Iowa native, Vilsack understands the significance of rural America and the importance of corn and biofuels. We had great success when Vilsack served as Secretary for eight years under the Obama Administration, and we welcome the opportunity to work with him again in this key role.”

Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Hill says his organization is very pleased Vilsack has been chosen to once again lead the U-S-D-A. Hill says Vilsack has remained engaged in agriculture since his eight-year stint as U-S ag secretary four years ago and has a deep understanding of the struggles farmers face. Vilsack is a Democrat and he’s getting support from Iowa U-S Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican. In a statement on Tuesday, Grassley said: “I liked what Vilsack did as the secretary of agriculture for eight years and if he was in for another four years, it would be okay with me.”

(Radio Iowa) – The number of unemployment claims shot up in the last week. First-time claims were up by nearly 54-hundred in the last week and the number of continuing claims was up 94-hundred. Iowa Workforce Development says the increase in continuing claims was due primarily to construction and manufacturing claims from Thanksgiving week that were filed last week and were not unexpected.

The information from I-W-D says November through February are typically the months for the most unemployment claims driven by seasonal layoffs. The agency says just more than 59 percent of those who filed claims said those claims were not related to COVID-19.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University research suggests certain foods — including cheese and red wine — may prevent cognitive decline in our later years. I-S-U food science and human nutrition professor Auriel Willette led the review of publicly available data from a study in Great Britain. “We’ve been interested for a while in looking at the impact of diet on cognition and on the brain as we get older,” he says. “We wanted to look at the kinds of different foods that people eat and if there is a relationship with how flexible their thinking is over time.”

Via Pintrest.com

Willette’s research is featured in an article published in the November issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Willette and an I-S-U grad student were granted access to information in what’s known as the “BioBank” in Great Britain. It contains in-depth genetic and health information from half-a-million people. Their most significant finding was that cheese is the food that seemed to provide the most protection against cognitive decline and daily consumption of alcohol, especially red wine, appeared to improve cognitive function. “These things which taste good actually, at least for your brain, might be good for you and that I think is a departure a lot of the diet literature that basically says if you live like a monk, then, you know, you should be good.”

It may be worthwhile to follow up with a clinical trial to test these conclusions, Willette says, as one path in Alzheimer’s research is pursuing the theory exercise and diet can have an impact on cognitive performance as we age.  “But I think more important and more practical is that it doesn’t always have to deal with adding things we usually don’t like and taking away things that we do,” he says. “It’s more complicated than that and we’re hoping that modifying our diet in ways that are fun actually may be a good route to go.”

And Willette says in the midst of a pandemic, he was pleasantly surprised the results suggest responsibly eating cheese and drinking red wine daily may have these side benefits for our brains.

(Radio Iowa) – A study conducted by the Iowa and National Restaurant Associations confirms the fears about the impact of COVID shutdowns on the industry. The president of the Iowa association, Jessica Dunker, says the pandemic has been devastating to the industry. She says they entered 2020 with the hope of four-point-four BILLION dollars in revenue and they are now expecting to lose one-point-four BILLION dollars — with the average restaurant seeing a 33 percent decrease. Dunker says that’s not the end of it for the more than six-thousand restaurants, bars, and other venues that serve food and beverages. “The frightening thing is that 88 percent of Iowa operators expect to see an even bigger decrease in sales over the next three months,” she says.

Dunker says winter will shut off the outside dining that has helped some businesses continue to operate. You may go by some establishments and see long lines at their drive-throughs. Dunker says they are the ones that have been able to deal with the pandemic restrictions. “We feel like any restaurant that had a drive-through in place when the COVID measures started to be put in place by the state had a tremendous advantage. And many those are actually seeing increases in sales this year,” according to Dunker. “So, when we talk about these kinds of loses — the drive-throughs are doing fine — and the people that were always set up as a carry-out and delivery, they are doing fine.”

Dunker says the COVID restrictions have hurt the establishments that offer an experience. “It really about the ambiance, the environment, as well as food that presents beautifully when you serve it straight from the kitchen. Those are the people who were not able to turn their business model quickly into something that would transfer for carryout and delivery,” she explains.  She says 61 percent of people surveyed say they are looking for an experience when they eat out. Dunker says they predicted early on they might lose one-thousand restaurants. “We started out hoping that we were wrong — that it wouldn’t get to a thousand. Now we hope that our numbers are right and it will only get to a thousand,” Dunker says.

The Iowa Restaurant Association has joined thousands of small business advocacy organizations across the nation calling for the Federal Government to immediately pass a relief bill which includes additional Paycheck Protection Program grants. Dunker says they are also asking state agencies and lawmakers to create relief measures including directing additional CARES Act money toward small business grants, forgiving and/or deferring sales and payroll taxes, and giving a minimum of one year respite on alcohol and other state license fees. “Forty-one percent of operators say they don’t see how they can stay in business for another six months if federal programs aren’t renewed,” she says.

Dunker is encouraging operators across the state to contact state and federal lawmakers throughout December and invite them to visit their businesses to see firsthand the toll COVID-19 has taken.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, reported three recent arrests. On Wednesday, 31-year old Krista Jo Lynn McKee, of Malvern, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. McKee was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail. And, there were two arrests on Tuesday: 47-year old Laurie Elizabeth Holmes was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held without bond; 34-year old Jared William Rye, of Plattesmouth, NE., was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on a Possession of Controlled Substance, charge. Rye was being held on $1,000 bond in the Mills County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – One quarter of the inmates and 14 staff members at the state’s maximum security prison currently have Covid and one of the inmates died of the virus early Thursday morning. According to a news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections, Mark Steven Bailey was transferred several days ago from the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison to University Hospitals in Iowa City, where he died likely due to complications related to Covid-19.

Bailey, who was 63, had been in prison since 2007, serving a 20-year sentence for two second degree robbery convictions in Polk County. He’s the 12th inmate to die after contracting Covid in the state’s prison system. In November, staff members at the prisons in Clarida and Mitchellville died with Covid.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:05 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa public health officials have posted another 99 coronavirus related deaths, raising the state’s death toll to 3,120. The state this week modified the methodology for counting COVID-19 deaths and that added 399 deaths to the state total in the past three days. Iowa coronavirus positive cases increased by 2,246 Thursday pushing the state total to 251,028. Hospitalizations and admissions are lower with 863 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Hospitalizations and new positive cases have been trending lower, giving health care officials hope that Iowa may have avoided a post-Thanksgiving surge. Concerns remain around Christmas and New Year holiday gathering activities.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor prevented Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller from joining on Thursday a brief opposing the Texas legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election in four other states filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller says if he had been asked to join a Republican led brief supporting the Texas lawsuit he would have declined because he believes the 2020 elections were fairly and safely conducted by election officials of both parties. He said he was asked Thursday by a group of Democratic attorneys general to join a brief supporting the four states the Texas attorney general is suing but Reynolds refused to allow him to join.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The Trump administration has carried out its ninth federal execution of the year in what has been a first series of executions during a presidential lame-duck period in 130 years. Federal prison officials in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Thursday executed a Texas street-gang member for his role in the 1999 slayings of an Iowa religious couple. The case of 40-year-old Brandon Bernard was a rare execution of a person who was in his teens when his crime was committed. He was 18 when he and four other teenagers abducted and robbed Todd and Stacie Bagley, of Iowa, on their way from a Sunday service in Killeen, Texas. Four more federal executions, including one Friday, are planned in the weeks before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor prevented Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller from joining on Thursday a brief opposing the Texas legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election in four other states filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller says if he had been asked to join a Republican led brief supporting the Texas lawsuit he would have declined because he believes the 2020 elections were fairly and safely conducted by election officials of both parties.

He said he was asked Thursday by a group of Democratic attorneys general to join a brief supporting the four states the Texas attorney general is suing but Reynolds refused to allow him to join.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. government advisory panel has endorsed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, in a major step toward an epic vaccination campaign that could finally conquer the outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommendation issued Thursday by its expert advisers. The group concluded that the shot appears safe and effective against the coronavirus in people 16 and older. A final FDA decision is expected within days.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds released the following statement Thursday, on FDA emergency approval of the Pfizer vaccine:   “The FDA approval for the Pfizer vaccine is great news for the state of Iowa and the entire country, and will allow us to move forward in our recovery from COVID-19 with even greater certainty.  Because of our proactive planning, our state is ready to receive shipments and quickly distribute them so that our health care workforce and long-term care residents will be vaccinated first.

“While this is a positive step forward, it will take time until the vaccine is widely available. Until then, we must continue to mitigate the virus by practicing public health measures so we can protect the most vulnerable and preserve hospital resources, while keeping our economy open and our kids in school.”

DES MOINES, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that on December 3rd, 2020, a United States District Court Judge sentenced 52-year-old Joseph Lee Fultz, of Des Moines, to 324 months (27 years) in prison, for Production of Child Pornography. Fultz was ordered to serve ten years of supervised release to follow his prison term and comply with sex offender registry requirements upon release.

An investigation into his activities began in May of 2019, when the Des Moines Police Department received a report that Fultz produced child pornography of four minors, ages 10 and under, while they were under his care. Subsequently, Des Moines police officers executed a search warrant at Fultz’s apartment where they seized his computers and electronic devices. The investigation showed that Fultz produced and possessed child pornography images of the four minors, as well as two additional children, including an infant. All six children were located and identified.

The case was investigated by the Des Moines Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the United States Department of Justice’s “Project Safe
Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children.

Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.