A public hearing is planned for Tuesday, in Atlantic. The Cass County Board of Supervisors, at 9-a.m., will hold an in-person and via Zoom, hearing on proposed priorities for property tax exemption for natural conservation or wildlife areas – an annual consideration with a slight change in the Iowa Code. The hearing will be followed by action on Resolution establishing priorities for property tax exemption for natural conservation or wildlife areas.

And, in Walnut, the City Council will hold a Special Meeting at the Community Center, beginning at 5-p.m. Thursday. A public hearing will be held during the meeting, on the proposed FY 21-22 City Property Tax Levy, followed by discussion, and possible action on adopting a Resolution Approving The Maximum Tax Dollars From Certain Levies, for the City’s proposed Fiscal Year 2021-22 Budget. City officials say the proposed levy is an increase of three-tenths of a percent. Details on the proposed property tax levy can be found on the City of Walnut’s website.

Afterward, discussion will resume with regard to the FY21-22 Budget.

(Radio Iowa) – Authorities in the Quad Cities say two Davenport men were in a car that plunged through the ice and sank in the Mississippi River early Sunday. Construction workers in Moline, Illinois, spotted tire tracks in the new snow and saw that barricades in a parking lot along the river were gone. On closer inspection, they saw a hole in the ice and found a man lying nearby. The 21-year-old was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

The car was under about eight feet of water and rescue teams were able to pull it out — and inside, found the body of a 32-year-old man. Neither of the Davenporters’ names were released. Moline police say alcohol was likely a factor in the accident.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, Monday, reported 261 new cases of the COVID-19 virus since the previous 24-hour cycle, for a pandemic total of 324,666 positive cases. There were also two deaths reported, including one in Pottawattamie County, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic 5,110.  Deaths attributed to Underlying Causes amount to 4,620, with COVID a contributing factor to 490 deaths. Pre-existing conditions comprise 4,701 deaths. Deaths at Long-Term Care (LTC) Centers account for 2,093 of the total deaths statewide.

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks are down slightly, to 43. LTC patients testing positive amount to 1,382, with 926 having recovered from the virus. COVID-19 hospitalization data show 318 are hospitalized (compared to 316 previously), 69 patients are in an ICU, 34 were admitted, and 35 patients are on ventilators. In RMCC Region 4 (Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa), 16 are hospitalized with COVID symptoms, nine are in an ICU, one person was admitted since Sunday, and three people remain on a ventilator.

Iowa’s statewide positivity rate is down slightly. The 14-day positivity rate is 8.8% compared to 8.9% on Sunday. The 7-day average is up a bit, from 6.1% Sunday to 6.6% on Monday.   A total of 294,119 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, 1,207 cases; {+2}; 46 deaths
• Adair, 721; {+0}; 25
• Adams, 313; {+0}; 3
• Audubon, 445 {+1}; 9
• Guthrie, 1,065 {+0}; 27
• Harrison County, 1,636; {+4}; 67
• Madison County, 1,337; {+0}; 13
• Mills County, 1,429; {+1}; 20
• Montgomery, 938; {+3}; 34
• Pottawattamie County, 9,465; {+5}; 135
• Shelby County, 1,110; {+0}; 32
• Union County,  1,157; {+0}; 30

The Creston Police Department Monday (Today) said two people were arrested over the weekend on drug and other charges. Saturday evening, 21-year old Noah Young, of Creston, was arrested for Driving While Suspended, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Domestic Abuse Assault. His bond at the Union County Jail was set at $1,000. Sunday night, 33-year old Sunita Phipps, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston Walmart Store for Theft in the 3rd Degree, Possession of Meth/1st offense, and Possession of Drug paraphernalia. She was released from the Union County Jail on a $3,300 bond.

Sunday afternoon, 25-year old Tyler White, of Creston, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Union County warrant for Violation of Probation. He remained in the jail Monday, on $1,000 bond. And, Friday morning, 51-year old Tony Fizer, of Creston, was arrested for Driving While Barred. He was later released on $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) Governor Kim Reynolds this weekend lifted the restrictions on businesses and limited face covering requirements outlined in her previous pandemic proclamation. The public health measures Reynolds issued three months ago coincided with escalating numbers of Covid patients in hospitals. A record 15-hundred-27 Covid patients were hospitalized in Iowa on November 17. The patient count has fallen by nearly 80 percent. “Not surprising, we experienced an increase in positive cases following Christmas and New Year’s gatherings, but they were minor in comparison to other parts of the nation and far from the surge that some predicted would occur.”

Reynolds made those comments in late January. She has recently described Iowa’s Covid situation as “stable.” “Our goal continues to be keeping virus activity at a level we can manage over the course of our daily lives and I think we’re demonstrating that we can do that,” Reynolds said. Democrats like Congresswoman Cindy Axne say the governor is sending the message that masks and safety precautions are no longer necessary. House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City says Reynolds is being reckless. “The response has been ridiculous,” Prichard says. “The lack of leadership on Covid from the governor’s office and since the Republicans have brought us into session has been non-existent.”

On Sunday, President Biden’s chief of staff criticized the governor’s decision, suggesting it’s not too much to ask people to wear a mask until more Americans can be vaccinated.

(Radio Iowa) – The presidents of Iowa’s public universities are pushing back against the idea of ending tenure at their institutions. Republicans in the legislature are considering bills that would get rid of the tenure system at the universities in Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls. Iowa State University president Wendy Wintersteen says if Iowa becomes the first state to ban tenure, it would hurt I-S-U’s ability to attract talented professors. “Why would they come here when they could go to Purdue, Wisconsin Illinois? And I just won’t be able to compete in the market,” Wintersteen says. “And it won’t be just the recruitment of the very best faculty for research, teaching and extension, but I will lose faculty because they will see it as an embarrassment that they are now at an institution where tenure is prohibited.”

University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld says getting rid of tenure would have an immediate negative impact. “Our faculty are underpaid relative to their peers at other institutions already,” Harreld says. “You put removal of tenure into the system, I think you should anticipate in the next three to five years — zero to five years, a pretty substantial exodus,” Harreld says.

University of Northern Iowa president Mark Nook says tenure isn’t given, it’s earned. “A faculty member has to spend five to seven years proving their stock,” Nook says, “proving that they are able to educate students, proving that they have the research credentials to make a difference and make a difference in their discipline and in our state.”

Economic development groups and associations representing soybean, pork and cattle producers are opposed to the bill eliminating tenure at I-S-U, Iowa and U-N-I. Republican backers says ending tenure at the schools will make it easier to fire bad professors. One G-O-P lawmaker suggests professors who’ve treated conservative students badly have not been fired because tenure has given them “Teflon coating.”

(Radio Iowa) – It looks like the state, counties, and cities are going to end up in good shape with funding to repair roads after things didn’t look so good at the start of the pandemic. The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson says traffic dropped by more than 40 percent in April — which meant a drop in fuel taxes paid into the Road Use Tax Fund. “Traffic did slowly rebound after mid-April when we were at the peak drop in traffic,” according to Anderson. “It’s grown until about mid-August when we hit about ten to 15 percent below previous levels. And it has really stayed at that level since that point.”

And while regular vehicle traffic dropped off during the pandemic — truck traffic did not. “It’s been at or above previous year levels — which makes some sense because freight still needs to move and people are still buying things. How they are buying them might be different — but there is still a lot of freight being moved on the system.” Truckers carrying that freight continued buying diesel fuel and paying the taxes on it. Fees for the licensing and sale of cars are another component of the road fund. Car sales dropped dramatically early in the pandemic — but Anderson says they also turned around. “They definitely have rebounded,” he says, “and we also have seen vehicle prices increase — particularly in the used car market — because of the heavy demand. And so that has impacted the revenue stream we collect for the Road Use Tax Funds.”

The state receives 47-and-a-half percent of the Road Use funds, counties get 32-and-half percent, and cities receive around 20 percent. Anderson says the state received 122 million dollars in federal pandemic relief funds that will be used to offset loses. “And the COVID impact having been — we are estimating 50 million dollars through the end of June — then this would more than cover the loss of state revenue,” Anderson says. “Local governments to varying degrees have also had their local revenues impacted by COVID-19. However, that has impacted street and road system as well.”

Anderson says they will be making a recommendation this week to the Transportation Commission on the distribution of that federal funding.