(Atlantic) Officials with Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield say Cass County will be recognized as a finalist for the Healthy Hometown Powered by Wellmark Community Award Presentation planned for 6-p.m. Thursday, February 18th. The ceremony will take place virtually this year due, to the pandemic. A link to the ceremony can be found at http://www.iowahealthieststate.com/events/awards/.

The Healthy Hometown Powered by Wellmark Community award recognizes great work being done by communities to make the healthy choice the easy choice and the winner of the award receives $5,000 to spend on community health initiatives.

Cass County is being recognized for many collaborative projects across the county including Cass County COVID-19 Mobile Food For All, Grow Another Row, and park enhancements made at Schildberg Recreation Area and Sunnyside Park.

The Healthy Hometown Award is part of the larger Healthiest State Awards by Iowa’s Healthiest State Initiative, a nonprofit organization with the goal to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation.

Healthy Cass County is a community-focused volunteer network formed to promote the health and well-being of Cass County residents. Follow Healthy Cass County on Facebook @HealthyCassCounty (https://www.facebook.com/HealthyCassCounty/). Reach out to Cass County Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoegh at bhoegh@iastate.edu or call 712-249-5870 more information.

(Radio Iowa) – Two Republicans in the Iowa Senate have agreed to advance a bill that would prohibit Iowa businesses and health care facilities from requiring that employees get vaccinations. A 97-minute-long subcommittee hearing on the bill was dominated by critics of vaccinations in general. Shanda Burke, a lobbyist for a group called Informed Choice Iowa, says she quit her job as a medical assistant because her employer required flu shots.

The bill also lets parents claim a conscientious objection to having their child meet vaccination requirements for school attendance. Medical groups oppose the bill. Lena Tucker Reinders, executive director of the Iowa Public Health Association, says social media posts are fueling vaccine hesitancy.

Dr. Amy Shriver, a Des Moines pediatrician, says bills that grant exceptions to vaccinations have a dramatic effect.

Senator James Carlin, a Republican from Sioux City who just announced he’s running for the U.S. Senate, chaired the hearing. He says there are legitimate concerns on both sides of the debate.

Health insurance companies would be prohibited from denying coverage based on a lack of immunizations if the bill as currently written becomes law.

(Radio Iowa) – A fifth person associated with the City of Armstrong has been arrested in connection with a long-term investigation of alleged misconduct. Former City Clerk Mary “Kate” Staton was charged Monday with one count each of 3rd degree theft and tampering with records stemming from a multi-year investigation by the Emmet County Sheriff’s Office and Division of Criminal Investigation after discrepancies were allegedly found during a routine annual audit of city records.

Staton turned herself in at the Emmet County Courthouse Tuesday, just days after Police Chief Craig Merrill was taken into custody in Minnesota. Mayor Greg Buum, City Clerk Tracie Lang and former City Clerk Connie Thackery was all arrested last Friday.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An election watchdog group has filed a federal lawsuit in Washington claiming the Iowa-based nonprofit organization Iowa Values violated election laws by failing to register as a political committee while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the reelection of Sen. Joni Ernst. Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based nonprofit campaign finance watchdog group, filed the lawsuit on Friday. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare that Iowa Values became a political committee as of June 2019 and order the group to register, file documents and to provide information on fundraising and expenditures. The lawsuit also seeks a civil penalty against Iowa Values along with court and attorney fee costs.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Years of corruption and mismanagement allegedly preceded the arrests of a northwest Iowa town’s mayor, police chief and three current and former clerks who are charged with theft and fraud. Officials in the city of Armstrong stole tens of thousands of dollars in public funds, falsified public records to conceal their wrongdoing and used city property for personal gain. Prosecutors allege in a court document that some of the wrongdoing dates back to 2013 and continued in 2020. The arrests over the weekend stunned the city of 900 people, which is located near Iowa’s border with Minnesota and about 40 miles from the popular Okoboji vacation destination in the state’s northwest corner.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A 56-year-old Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to receiving more than $1.2 million in loans in a fraud scheme involving federal programs offering help for coronavirus-related losses. Donald Franklin Trosin, from Champlin, Minnesota, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Sioux City, Iowa, to major fraud against the U.S. and money laundering conspiracy. Federal prosecutors said Trosin conspired to launder funds from loans he received from banks in northwest Iowa and Minnesota. Trosin admitted he defrauded the banks out of Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. After receiving the loans, he wired the money to other people in different states.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors have upgraded charges against an Iowa man who led a crowd of insurgents in taunting a police officer up several flights of stairs inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack. Douglas Jensen has been seen frequently in video wearing a QAnon shirt and leading an angry mob toward an officer protecting the Capitol. An updated indictment filed in federal court in Washington D.C. now includes dangerous weapons charges to reflect that Jensen carried a knife in his pocket during the attack. Jensen remains in custody and has a court hearing on Feb. 23.