(Radio Iowa) – Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, told an online audience of Iowa Democrats that the outcome of the 2020 election will affect every part of our lives. “The future of health care hangs on top of it all because President Trump is in the Supreme Court right now, trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act,” Harris said. Harris was the closing speaker during the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual fall fundraiser last (Sunday) night. It was held online this year because of the pandemic. In her recorded message, Harris called President Trump’s approach to Covid wreckless.

“This is the greatest failure of any American presidency and make no mistake, his failure to contain this virus has what has wreaked havoc on our economy,” Harris says. “Of course he’s not alone. Trump’s Republican Party has followed his lead, including many here in Iowa.” Harris, a California Senator, promised a Biden Administration would invest in the nation’s infrastructure and take action on rural issues. “We’ll reverse the disastrous trade war that has hurt our farmers,” Harris said, “and we’ll stand with our corn growers and bolster the ethanol industry.”

Iowa Democrats featured a “battleground beverates tour” during the fundraiser, with virtual “stops” in each congressional district. Recipes came from the Town Square Coffee House in Orange City, the Primrose in Corning, the Atlantic and Pacific Club in Knoxville and Vivian’s Soul Food in Cedar Rapids.

The Creston Police Department reports six arrests occurred over the past few days. On Sunday (Oct. 18), Creston Police arrested 47-year-old Walter Hall, Jr., of Creston, on a warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Assault causing bodily injury. Hall was later released on a $500 bond. 27-year-old Steven O’Brien, of Cave City, AR., was arrested early Sunday morning, for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on $1,000 bond. And, just before 2-a.m. Sunday, 42-year old Lindsey Woolums, of Creston, was arrested for Driving While Suspended. She was cited and released from the scene, on a Summons to Appear in court.

Saturday night, 25-year old Jacob Maly, of Bryant, WI., was arrested in Creston for Public Intoxication. He was later released on a $300 bond. Friday evening, 23-year old Trey Mills, of Creston, was arrested on a Union County warrant for Simple Assault. He was later released on a $300 bond. And, Friday morning, 61-year old Kathy Beemer, of Bedford, was arrested in Creston, on a Taylor County warrant for Failure to Appear. Beemer was transferred to the custody of Taylor County Deputies.

Creston Police said also, a woman reported Friday, that at around 11-p.m. Thursday, someone broke a window on her vehicle while it was parked in the 900 block of W. Adair Street. A purse was reported missing. The loss was estimated at $610,

The Iowa Department of Public Health reports, as of 10-a.m. today (Monday), there are 508 additional, positive test results for COVID-19 statewide, for a total of 107,570 since the beginning of the pandemic.  Including Monday’s confirmed numbers, Iowa has reported nearly 3,000 new confirmed positive coronavirus cases in the last three days. The state Department of Public Health reported 1,595 confirmed cases Saturday, another 915 on Sunday. Cass County reports two new cases since Sunday, for a total of 303. The number of deaths across the state that have been attributed to the virus, is up six, to 1,534. Of the deaths statewide, officials say 1,028 of the persons had a pre-existing health condition.

There have been 901,746 Iowans tested for the virus, to date. The IDPH says 3,167 test results have been returned since 10-a.m. Sunday, with 2,770 coming back Negative, and 387 Positive. The total number of Negatives results to date, is 792,548. The Individual positivity rate remains 11.9%, and the 14-day rolling average is unchanged at 9.6%.  Those who have recovered from the virus number 82,056.

There are 16 Iowa counties reporting a positivity rate greater than 15% over the last 14 days, up from 15 the previous day. Public schools in Harrison (25.8%), Sioux, Osceola, Delaware, Taylor (19.3%), Plymouth, Carroll (19%), Monroe, Emmet, Humboldt, Crawford (16%), Decatur, O’Brien, Cass (15.4%), Woodbury and Mahaska counties can apply for a waiver to provide 100% virtual learning. Harrison and Sioux counties report 25.8% and 23.2% positivity rates respectively. Atlantic School District Superintendent Steve Barber told KJAN News “If you look at the 10-percent absenteeism [which Atlantic does NOT have], the answer [to whether Atlantic will pursue 100% online learning] is No, we’re not going to do that. We’re not going to change right now.” Barber says he can’t speak for what the other school districts in the County might do.

Hospitalizations are up slightly, at 480 (compared to 475, Sunday). ICU stats are up, too, from 108 Sunday, to 113 today. There have been 63 Iowans with COVID-19 symptoms admitted to hospitals around the state since the last report (Compared to 84 previously), and 45 patients on a ventilator. The IDPH says there are: 38 people are in hospital across western/southwest Iowa, compared to 34 yesterday; 10 people are being treated for COVID-19 in an ICU, compared to eight previously; six people have been admitted to a hospital (Compared to five, Sunday), and one person remains on a ventilator.

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks are up slightly, from 63 yesterday, to 64 today. Officials say: there are 1,632 positive cases among staff and patients at those facilities; 643 staff/patients have recovered from the virus, and there have been 771 deaths since the pandemic began.

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, 302 cases {+2}; 222 recovered; 2 deaths
• Adair, 123; 64; 1
• Adams, 67; 35; 0
• Audubon, 128; 65; 1
• Guthrie, 367 {+4); 224; 14
• Harrison County, 571 {+10}; 193; 8
• Madison County, 339 {+2}; 207; 2
• Mills County, 336 {+2]; 173; 1
• Montgomery, 154 {+2}; 125; 5
• Pottawattamie County, 2,942 {+2]; 2,151; 44
• Shelby County, 341 {+1}; 298; 1
• Union County,  209 {+1}; 176; 3

(Radio Iowa) – In Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, Republican incumbent Joni Ernst and Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield frequently cite grim events in their past as examples of their grit. Greenfield speaks about being widowed at the age of 24. “After my first husband died and I got that first job, it was for $8 an hour and I worked my fingers to the bond to build my career and raise my boys,” Greenfield said on Iowa PBS. Ernst first spoke publicly in 2018 about being abused by her ex-husband and being raped by a college boyfriend and she’s referred to that in all three televised debates. “I am fighting for survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence because I’ve been there myself,” Ernst said on Iowa PBS. Both candidates say being open about these personal experiences leads to important conversations with voters.

Greenfield spoke with Radio Iowa recently in Buffalo Center, the town she was living in when she got the news her husband had died at work. “I know that when we tell our stories and when we take time to listen to stories it’s how we learn from people about what their priorities are,” Greenfield says. Ernst told Radio Iowa she sees a bit of herself in some of the women who talk to her about their own abuse. “Because I was exactly like this, when they come up and say something to me, it’s quite obvious that they haven’t shared that experience with anyone else,” Ernst said.

Iowa State University journalism professor Kelly Winfrey is the research coordinator at I-S-U’s Center for Women in Politics. She says it’s notable Ernst and Greenfield are talking openly about being fragile, yet resilient.”They’re showing their humanity and their experience as women in ways that we haven’t always seen women candidates do, because that was risky,” Winfrey says. Winfrey says it may be less risky in this race, though, because both candidates are women.

(Radio Iowa) -An online sports gambling company and two casinos have been fined by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission for violations. Racing and Gaming Commission administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says DraftKings was fined for a late download of new self-ban list information. He says an audit by the commission determined the list was not uploaded within the required seven days — and he says they did note that no one on the ban list signed up or played. He says this was the first violation for the company. “DraftKings agreed to a stipulated agreement in the amount of five to 20-thousand dollars. The Commission reviewed the facts and set the penalty at five-thousand dollars,” according to Ohorilko.

The Rhythm City Casino in Davenport was fined for a violation involving surveillance cameras. “There was an instance in November of 2018 — the facility started experiencing some surveillance system issues — there was a complete loss of coverage on January first of 2019. It did include critical areas of the facility,” Ohorilko says. He says the problem happened again. “There was a second situation in February where there was the intermittent loss of critical areas for approximately four-and-a- hours. In that particular situation, the commission and D-C-I were not notified,” he says.

Ohorilko says it was determined that some updates that were needed by the casino’s vendor did not happen and that contributed to the problem. Rhythm City was fined 75-hundred dollars. Ohorilko says the Diamond Jo Casino in Worth County had a similar issue. “There was an instance in November in 2019 where a series of camera outages occurred as a result of some upgrades that were being performed on the system. The facility was not aware those outages occurred and as such — it never really was reported,” Ohorilko explains. He says an investigation was conducted on the problems.

“It was determined that much like the Rhythm City situation — there was a series of updates that did not occur and that contributed to a loss of surveillance coverage in areas that normally would require dedicated surveillance coverage,” he says. Ohorilko says the owners of the casino has agreed to an upgrade of the overall system. “Approximate cost of the upgrade will be about 750-thousand dollars, and so that was one factor that went into the decision — specifically the fine. Diamond Jo Worth had agreed to a fine of up to 10-thousand dollars and they were fined 75-hundred dollars,” Ohorilko says.

The Racing and Gaming Commission took action on the fines at their recent meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – State officials have drafted a plan for distributing Covid-19 shots when a vaccine becomes available. Each state was to draw up a plan and submit it to the Centers for Disease Control. Iowa’s was released late Friday and says Iowa will follow federal guidelines unless needs in Iowa are substantially different. The state’s report does refer to long-term care facilities as a priority for the first wave of vaccinations, along with E-M-Ts, nurses, doctors and others who work in health care.

The Iowa Department of Public Health suggests it will likely require more than one dose, so officials are advising health care providers to be ready to notify patients they must schedule follow-up shots.