(Radio Iowa) – All ballots cast in Jasper County in this year’s General Election were recounted this weekend and a hand recount will be done today (Monday) in a precinct in Mingo. The preliminary results — added to vote tallies from the 23 other counties in Iowa’s second congressional district — show Democratic candidate Rita Hart now leading Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks by 163 votes. The secretary of state ordered the recount after Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott notified state officials that a clerical error in his office had given Miller-Meeks and other candidates on the ballot too many votes out of the Mingo precinct. Parrott says Saturday’s recount came up with the tally he expected.

“Which was the corrected results we send to the Secretary of State on Thursday, so I’m very happy, very elated,” Parrott said. “The process is a perfect process. It catches things.” The Miller-Meeks campaign has questioned the auditor’s operation and asked Parrott to provide more information about the error. Parrott says he stands by the results of the recount, which was done in the presence of election observers.

“It was watched by many eyes,” Parrott said. “It was very transparent. You saw everything that took place.”
All results are still unofficial until Tuesday, when the Jasper County Board of Supervisors convenes to conduct what’s called the official canvass. There’s no declared winner in Iowa’s second congressional district race yet. It’s possible one or both campaigns may seen recounts in selected precincts or in certain counties.

(Radio Iowa) – Covid trend lines in Iowa continue to escalate. More than a thousand Covid patients were being treated in an Iowa hospital Sunday evening, the highest patient count at any time during the pandemic and 38 percent more than were hospitalized at the end of October. A record 92 nursing homes have an active Covid outbreak among residents and the state website on Sunday evening showed more than 25-hundred nursing home residents had the virus.

Over the past two weeks, 40 percent of Jones County residents who’ve taken a Covid test had the virus — the highest positivity rate in the state. A record 81 counties have a positivity rate of 15 percent or above.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa casino officials worry they will lose business when several Nebraska casinos open now that voters in that state have approved gambling. Iowa officials said they worry that when casinos are built in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, they could hurt Iowa gaming revenues, especially in Council Bluffs, where four casinos currently operate. Other Iowa border towns with casinos include Sioux City, Onawa and Sloan. Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association said the development of casinos in Nebraska could be another blow to Iowa casinos already reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The number of coronavirus cases in Iowa has surged from 100,000 to more than 150,000 in less than a month. The state said Sunday that 3,977 more cases of the virus had been reported to give Iowa 152,368 cases of COVID-19. The state topped 100,000 cases on Oct. 12. The state said 13 more deaths were reported Sunday to give Iowa 1,842 deaths. Officials said 81 of the state’s 99 counties had a 14-day positivity rate at or above 15%. Seventeen other counties had positivity rates between 10% and 15%. Ringgold County in southwest Iowa was the only county with a positivity rate below 10% at 8.8%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has tried to erect a protective shield around nursing homes, but coronavirus cases are surging within facilities in states hard hit by the latest wave of COVID-19. An analysis of federal data from 20 states for The Associated Press finds that new weekly cases among residents rose nearly four-fold from the end of May to late October, from about 1,100 to nearly 4,300. Resident deaths more than doubled, from 318 a week to 699. That’s according to University of Chicago health researchers. The administration says nursing home outbreaks involve complex dynamics and the government has provided billions of dollars to help nursing homes as well as thousands of fast-test machines.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for two sexual assaults. Forty-year-old Richard Siemer Jr. was sentenced after he pled guilty to second-degree sexual abuse and third-degree sexual abuse as part of a deal with prosecutors. Assistant Pottawattamie County Attorney Malina Dobson said these latest crimes are the fourth and fifth sexual assault convictions on Siemer’s record. Dobson said the most recent offenses occurred in July and August 2019 after Siemer befriended women whom he worked with and invited them to his apartment and attacked them. Siemer will have to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

The CAM Community School District’s Board of Education will meet during a regular session 6:30-p.m. Monday, Nov. 9th, at the CAM High School Superintendent’s Office. Discussion/Action items on their agenda include:

• Open bids and approve contract for snow removal.
• Consider bid for truck purchase.
• Resolution approving the Revenue Purpose Statement (RPS), ordering an election on a RPS to authorize expenditures from revenue received from the State Secure and Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) Fund, and ordering the publication of a Notice of Election.
• Facilities Studies and Community Meetings.