(Update 10-a.m. Friday) The Iowa Department of Public Health, Friday, said there were 738 new positive cases of COVID-19 test results returned from the labs over the past 24-hours, for a pandemic total of 327,993 positive cases. There were 27 additional deaths reported, for a total of 5,223. Statewide, 4,714 COVID deaths are attributed to Underlying causes. COVID was a contributing factor to 509 deaths. Deaths at Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities account for 2,136 deaths. There were two more deaths in the KJAN listening area: one each in Montgomery and Pottawattemie Counties (see more data below).

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks went from 38 Thursday to 37 on Friday. Officials say 1,018 LTC patients have tested positive for the virus, and 659 have recovered. Iowa’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their lowest level since August.

The State data show 249 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is down from 273 in the previous report. Officials say 59 patients are in an ICU, 41 were admitted over the previous 24-hours, and 33 patients are on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa), 13 are hospitalized with COVID symptoms, six people are in an ICU, one person was admitted over the past 24-hours, and one person was on a ventilator.

Iowa’s statewide positivity rate Friday, was 8.2%, compared to 8.4% Thursday. The 7-day average was up slightly to 6.3%. Adair County remains the only county in Iowa with a 14-day positivity rate greater than 15%. Adair County reports a 22% rate. The next highest county, Crawford County, reports a 13.5% rate. Mitchell County reports the lowest average in the state at 2.1%.

A total of 300,365 Iowans have recovered from the virus.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases by County; The # of new cases since yesterday {+} – if any; and the total number of deaths in each county to date:

• Cass, 1,226 cases; {+3}; 46 deaths
• Adair, 758; {+3}; 25
• Adams, 315; {+2}; 3
• Audubon, 450 {+1}; 9
• Guthrie, 1,068 {+1}; 28
• Harrison County, 1,643; {+3}; 68
• Madison County, 1,353; {+1}; 16
• Mills County, 1,452; {+6}; 20
• Montgomery, 952; {+3}; 36
• Pottawattamie County, 9,551; {+13}; 139
• Shelby County, 1,121; {+5}; 32
• Union County,  1,166; {+1}; 31

(Radio Iowa) – Democrats in the Iowa legislature are proposing a tax break at the state level for the expanded unemployment benefits congress approved during the pandemic. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City says it would mean the additional 600-dollars in jobless benefits approved last summer would not be subject to state income taxes. “This is a no-brainer,” Prichard says. “The Covid crisis…should be the focus. It is the issue of the day that we should be dealing with to help Iowans through this.”

Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, is making a similar proposal in the U.S. House — to exempt up to 10-thousand dollars of unemployment benefits from FEDERAL income taxes. Axne says tens of thousands of Iowans are affected. “As the tax deadlines for 2020 near, there is a potentially devastating tax bill waiting for those Iowans,” Axne says. “Since unemployment benefits are subject to income taxes, Iowans in need will find these benefits on their tax bill this spring.”

Axne joined Democrats from the Iowa House and Senate to discuss these proposed tax breaks at the state and federal level. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville says businesses that got federal Paycheck Protection Program grants aren’t paying income taxes on that money.  “We just want to make sure that we’re providing this fairness for worker who lost their jobs in the same way,” Wahls says.

Wahls says many Iowans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in their lives and may not have known that money was subject to income taxes.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill eligible for debate in the Iowa Senate would set the state on a course that COULD make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Senator Jeff Reichman, a Republican from Montrose, says “It’s a good bill. I’ve had a lot of great feedback about it.”   The Senate State Government Committee has approved a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent all year — but Reichman says that would only happen if the six states that surround Iowa make the same move.

“We couldn’t be an island of Daylight Saving Time in the Midwest here,” Reichman says. “This gives all bordering states 10 years to come on board with this, pass their own legislation.”

Critics of the twice-a-year time change say it disrupts sleep schedules and is actually a temporary damper on the economy. Last year, bills were introduced in 32 states that called for observing Daylight Saving Time year round.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a long-vacant hotel in Davenport has agreed to demolish the building and market the site for a new use. Hotel owner Alex Patel told the Quad-City Times his company had considered keeping a hotel at the site along with retail and offices but now plans to clear the site and put it up for sale. The former Hotel Davenport and Conference Center, located south of Interstate 80, sits on an 8-acre site and has been vacant for more than three years.

The 125,000-square-foot building has deteriorated and officials last fall ordered the owner to rehabilitate it or demolish the structure. The hotel was build in the 1970s as a Holiday Inn.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A woman accused of driving three men suspected of firing a barrage of shots into a Sioux City home during a New Year’s party and killing a woman has pleaded not guilty to gun charges. The Sioux City Journal reports that 20-year-old Liliana Gutierrez, of Sioux City, pleaded not guilty Thursday to intimidation with a dangerous weapon and three counts of reckless use of a firearm.

Police say Gutierrez drove Christopher Morales, Carlos Morales and Anthony Bauer to the house shortly after midnight on Jan. 1. The three men are charged with firing at least 27 shots into the house, where 20-25 people were at a New Year’s party, and killing 18-year-old Mia Kritis. Three others were wounded.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a man from Adair County escaped injury during a single-vehicle accident Thursday night. Authorities say 56-year old Jimmy Alen Robertson, of Bridgewater was driving a 2014 Chevy Cruze north on Highway 25 at around 8:45-p.m., when the car hit the east shoulder. Robertson over-corrected, causing the vehicle cross the road and end up in the west ditch, on the passenger side. He was trapped in the car by his seat belt, which was cut-off by rescue personnel.

After Medics checked him out, Robertson was released from the scene. His vehicle sustained about $3,000 damage. No citations were issued.