(Corrected spelling on Barnes’ name) The Creston Police Department Monday (Today), reported three arrests. Sunday evening, 21-year old Jeffrey Arnold and 23-year old Tylea Barnes, both of Creston, were arrested at the Creston Wal-Mart, for 5th Degree Theft. Both were cited and released on a Summons to Appear in Court. And, Saturday night, 29-year old Jessica Schalpia, of Creston, was arrested for Violation of a No Contact Order. She was being held in the Clarke County Jail, while awaiting a bond hearing.

(Iowa News Service) DES MOINES, Iowa — Non-profits are navigating a path of financial stress and uncertainty amid the pandemic and the economic crisis it’s causing. In Iowa, a key health organization said it’s seeing the effect and making changes. The American Heart Association (AHA) division that serves greater Des Moines is expanding a key fundraising initiative to run year-round. David Stark, president of UnityPoint Health and an AHA board member, said money that’s still coming is prompting a shift in priorities. He noted there’s a lot of focus right now on short-term research looking at the effects of the coronavirus. “[For example], the impact of high blood pressure as it relates to susceptibility for coronavirus,” Stark outlined. “So very specific, very focused effort on hypertension.”

Fundraising Concept Closeup on Laptop Screen in Modern Office Workplace. Toned Image with Selective Focus. 3D Render.

Some short-term research is being done in Iowa, and Stark said that means donations can have a local impact. Hypertension awareness is part of the group’s annual “Heart Ball” campaign, which now runs an entire year to maximize donor potential. A report released this fall by the Charities Aid Foundation of America showed 9 in 10 nonprofits worldwide are being squeezed by the crisis.  Stark explained other priorities, such as childhood obesity outreach, are on the back burner for now, in part because safely connecting with students in schools isn’t possible.

Bob Montgomery, vice president and general manager of OnMedia, chairs the Heart Ball campaign and works with other local non-profits. He said there’s been consistent declines in contributions.  “It’s interesting really because what I have seen in most of these is that the number of supporters if you will – people who make donations and support the cause – is actually up for most folks,” Montgomery observed. “But the size of those donations is down and in some cases, considerably.”

He added they hope by making this year’s Heart Ball a 12-month campaign, they can attract enough support so there won’t be a drastic reduction of outreach and research done in Iowa. The actual event, the Ball, has also been pushed back from February to June.

Iowa coronavirus deaths continued to increase in the past two weeks as the state ends November posting 687 deaths. That’s a 34% increase from the 512 deaths reported in October. Iowa reported 28 additional deaths on Monday (Today), pushing the state total to 2,403. The IDPH says 1,336 of those who died had a preexisiting medical condition. Long-Term Care (LTC) facility deaths account for 1,063 deaths statewide.

There were 1,200 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours,  for a pandemic total of 228,996. Hospitalizations continued to fall but some health care officials are expressing concern that they may rise again if Thanksgiving gatherings caused additional virus spread as expected. Hospitalization data show: 1,162 Iowans are in a hospital facility; 224 COVID patients are in an ICU (Compared to 235 Sunday); 138 were admitted (compared to 131 Sunday), and 147 COVID patients are on a ventilator. Hospitals in southwest/western Iowa (RMCC Region 4) report: 63 hospitalized (Compared to 56 yesterday);  16 are in an ICU; nine were admitted (Compared to 7 Sunday), and eight COVID patients are on a ventilator.

LTC data show: a record 156 current outbreaks; 4,950 patients/staff have tested positive; 2,077 have tested negative. Area LTC data show: 211 positive cases and 129 recoveries at the three facilities in Cass County; 127 positive and 22 recovered in Shelby County (2 facilities); 139 positive and 117 recovered in Harrison County (1 facility); and 232 positive cases along with 75 recoveries at three LTC’s in Pottawattamie County.

Iowans who have recovered from the virus number 132,210, while 1,211,086 have been tested, to-date. There were 3,786 lab results returned yesterday, with 2,923 negative results and 853 positive. The individual positivity rate is 18.9%, and the 14-day rolling average is 17.8%. Cass County’s positivity rate is 19.2%. A total of 979, 932 negative results have been returned since the pandemic began. The IDPH says 132,212 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, 816 cases {+8}; 507 recovered; 23 deaths
• Adair, 441;{+1} 229; 8
• Adams, 170 {+1}; 87; 2
• Audubon, 296 {+1}; 195; 2
• Guthrie, 754 {+2); 439; 15
• Harrison County, 1,077 {+10}; 723; 29
• Madison County, 686 {+6}; 398; 4
• Mills County, 1,048 {+8}; 488; 7
• Montgomery, 463 {+1}; 212; 11
• Pottawattamie County, 6,319 {+74]; 3,594; 70
• Shelby County, 765 {+3}; 443; 11
• Union County,  772 {+5}; 303; 6

(Radio Iowa) – Today (Monday) is the date Secretary of State Paul Pate is to certify Iowa’s election results and on December 14th the state’s six presidential electors will gather at the state capitol to cast their votes in the Electoral College. Kurt Brown of Primghar will be one of them.

“Since Donald Trump won Iowa, the six presidential electors from the Republican Party will be casting their vote,” he says. “Four years ago, since Donald Trump took Iowa, I was also a presidential elector for the Republicans, and then four years prior to that I was a presidential elector for the Republicans, but since Barack Obama won the election (in Iowa) then the Democrats got to cast their six electoral vote at that time.” However, Brown says there’s no state law that requires him to cast his Electoral College vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in Iowa.

“In some states they require you to vote as the voters chose,” Brown says. “In other states, the presidential electors can be removed for not voting the way their state law requires.” Brown says as a result, he’s used to getting all sorts of pressure on how to vote.”I had hundreds of phone calls,” Brown says “Four years ago, I had thousands of phone calls and emails trying to sway me.”

Iowa currently gets six votes in the Electoral College, one from each congressional district and two at-large electors. Brown is one of the at-large electors, chosen along with five others at the state G-O-P convention in June.  “You just basically go through a process of throwing your name out there at the county convention, the district convention and the state convention,” he says.

The Iowa Democratic Party approves its slate of electors at the party’s state convention. Other presidential candidates submit the names of electors with their nominating petitions, as Kanye West did this year when he qualified for the Iowa ballot.

(Radio Iowa) – The state website tracking coronavirus data shows while hospital numbers are improving, more Iowans have died of Covid this month than during any previous month of the pandemic.

On November 1st, there were 676 Covid patients in Iowa hospitals and that surged to more than 15-hundred by November 17th. There’s been a more than 20 percent decline in hospitalizations over the past two weeks, but the death rate is accelerating. Nearly 28 percent of all the Covid-related deaths reported in the state during the pandemic have been confirmed by state officials this month. Last night the state website showed 23-hundred-75 Iowans have died of Covid.

The state website also shows a record 153 Iowa nursing homes have current coronavirus outbreaks among residents. Active infections have been confirmed among nearly 49-hundred residents and nursing home staff.