MARION, Iowa (AP) — More than a year after his death, an Iowa soldier has received a promotion. KCRG-TV reports that 22-year-old Mason Webber, of Marion, was killed on Sept. 5, 2019, in an accident on the military base in Fort Hood, Texas. On Monday, Webber was posthumously promoted to specialist. His mother, Tonya Grefe, called the promotion “a good part of the closure.” Grefe received her son’s honor at the National Guard Armory in Marshalltown.

(Radio Iowa) – The annual Farm Bureau survey finds the cost of a typical Thanksgiving dinner for ten people has dropped by two dollars this year. The Iowa Farm Bureau’s director of agriculture analytics and research, Sam Funk, says the drop in overall meal cost comes as the turkey cost fell seven percent — to around one-dollar, 21 cents per pound. The other dishes include: stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk. Funk says the producers of some of the side dishes haven’t had the easiest year. “Some of the dairy products — such as the whipped cream that might be going on that pumpkin pie — or you think about of some of these other products coming to the marketplace, overall its been a year of ups and downs, but overall it ends up being a more affordable Thanksgiving dinner,” he says.

Funk says some people like to have a ham for the holiday too — and they did a side survey on their cost and found no change. “While we may have an unchanged price for hams to go on the table, according to the survey, that’s still a pretty good factor to think about the recovery that the meat industry has been able to have — that they have enough hams through all this adversity through this pandemic to again put hams on your plate,” according to Funk.

Funk says the actual cost for the meal came in at 46-dollars, 90 cents. He says the inflation-adjusted price was lower than we have had in a very long time. “That’s a multiplied blessing for a lot of families.” Funk says farmers have seen some recent increases in commodity prices, but he says they go into next year with concerns. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty as you look at it going forward. I think one of the aspects that we need to consider now and to be thankful for is the fact that we have an abundance of food in the United States,” Funk says. “We still have one of the lowest costs of food that you’ll find. The percentage our disposable income that we will pay for food in the United States is frankly one of the lowest that you will find across the world.”

This is the 35th year the Farm Bureau has conducted its Thanksgiving dinner survey.

Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard today (Tuesday), shows 19 additional deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 since Monday’s 10-a.m. report, for a total of 2,224. The number of deaths attributed to a pre-existing condition statewide are up two, to 1,312, while deaths at Long-Term Care facilities amount to 1,008, four more than on Monday. There is one more death to report in each of Adair and Shelby Counties.

Officials say there have been 3,860 new confirmed, Positive cases of the virus reported since yesterday, for a total since the pandemic began, of 215,512. Cass County has 11 new, Positive cases of COVID, for a total of 755. There are 24 more Long-Term Care facility (LTC) outbreaks, for a record total of 143. Those care facilities report 4,553 positive cases and 1,944 recovered. Cass County’s three LTC facilities have a total of 205 confirmed positive cases and 121 recovered.

After five days of lower hospitalization rates, the stats nearly doubled, from 1,333 Monday to 1,351 today. There are: 275 patients in intensive care; 165 patients admitted in the last 24 hours, up from 135 a day earlier, and there are 155 people on a ventilator, 20 more than on Monday. In western/southwestern Iowa: there are 71 COVID patients in the hospital (Up 6 from Monday); 18 are in an ICU (4 less than yesterday); 13 people were admitted to a hospital (8 more than Monday), and seven people are on a ventilator, an increase of two from yesterday.

The state’s data shows that 1,177,279 Iowans have been tested for coronavirus. Test results received yesterday amounted to 8,101, with 6,288 coming back Negative and 1,800 Positive. Iowa’s 14-day positivity rate is 19.7%, and the Individual Positivity rate is 18.3%. Cass County’s Positivity rate is at 19.9%. Union County has the highest rate in southwest Iowa, at 25%, followed by Taylor County, at 24.1%. Audubon County is the lowest, at 11.5%.

The IDPH says 119,685 Iowans have recovered from the virus. In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, along with the 24-hour change in case numbers {+#}; the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began,

• Cass, 755 cases {+11}; 494 recovered; 19 deaths
• Adair, 415 {+7}; 189; 7
• Adams, 155 {+3}; 82; 1
• Audubon, 283 {+2}; 151; 1
• Guthrie, 708 {+8); 394; 15
• Harrison County, 1,024 {+10}; 669; 28
• Madison County, 648 {+7}; 364; 4
• Mills County, 992 {+12}; 404; 6
• Montgomery, 432 {+6}; 202; 10
• Pottawattamie County, 5,867 {+121]; 3,354; 66
• Shelby County, 727 {+8}; 436; 5
• Union County,  710 {+24}; 277; 6

Red Oak Police have arrested two people on separate charges. At around 2:22-a.m. Tuesday (today), 23-year old Skylar Lee Bingham, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 500 block of E. Nuckols Street, on a Cass County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding air flow. Bingham was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $2,000 bond. And, at around 10:32-p.m. Monday, Red Oak Police arrested 18-year old Angel Rose Arzola, of Red Oak, for Simple Assault. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.