DES MOINES – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has directed $490 million of the $1.25 billion in Coronavirus relief funds Iowa was provided through the CARES Act, to be deposited into Iowa’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.  The deposit will ensure that eligible Iowans continue to receive unemployment insurance benefits, and will also enable Iowa employers to remain in Tax Table 7 for 2021.   Reynolds  says “As we move forward with recovery, I want to minimize the pandemic’s impact on employers so they can focus on growing and reinvesting in Iowa,” said Gov. Reynolds. “Iowa’s employers continue to do an outstanding job during these unprecedented times and today’s action will provide them greater certainty. This move also ensures that our trust fund remains healthy and in a position to weather any storm, including COVID-19.”

According to the Governor, “From the beginning of the pandemic, Iowa has not been charging employers with claims made by laid off employees to ensure employers would not see their tax rates go up because of these claims,” Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend added “Keeping employers in Tax Table 7, saves them over $400 million in unemployment taxes.”

For more information about the Iowa Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, please review https://www.iowaworkforcedevelopment.gov/2019-status-report-iowa-unemployment-compensation-trust-fund

(Radio Iowa) – State Fire Marshal Dan Wood says the number of licenses approved by his office to sell consumer fireworks was down this year. “We are at 550 for 2020, in 2019 we had 621. In 2018 — it was our high year — we had 891. And in 2017, our first year, we had 674,” according to Wood. He says the pandemic is the likely reason for the drop. “I would say one of the reasons we are down is probably the COVID. I know there was also some question about the availability of product — so that would have something to do with it also,” Wood says.

His office issues the licenses and inspects the places where the fireworks are sold. The rules regarding the use of fireworks is left up to local leaders. “Each local jurisdiction has the ability to set their own hours and dates accordingly. And some don’t and some do,” Wood says. Consumer fireworks can be sold from June 1st through July 8th.

There’s are three more positive cases of COVID-19 in Cass County. The Iowa Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 20 cases of COVID-19 in Cass County as of 11:40-a.m., and 17 persons have recovered. Not much change was reported though, in the surrounding counties:

• Adair County has 15 cases/11 recovered
• Adams County has 8 cases & 8 recovered
• Audubon County has 16 cases of COVID-19, with 15 recovered
• Guthrie County reports 64 cases & 58 recovered
• Montgomery County shows 10 cases & 8 recovered
• Pottawattamie County has 714 cases & 601 recovered
• Shelby County reports 110 cases, & 89 recovered.

The IDPH says there were no new deaths from the virus over the past 24-hours. The toll remains 717. However, a total of 29,966 have tested positive. Negative test results amount to 285,897 (over 7,000 more than yesterday). More Iowans are continuing to recover from the virus, with at least 310 added over the past 24-hours, for a total of 23,868.

In Regional Medical Center Coordination (RMCC) data: 145 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized (compared to 149 yesterday); 36 are in an ICU (37 yesterday); 18 were admitted to a hospital (compared to 29 in Wednesday’s report), and 18 are on a ventilator. That’s 3 less than reported earlier. There was no change in the RMCC Region 4 (western/southwest IA) data.

Long-Term Care (LTC) facility outbreaks is back up to 21. At those facilities, 559 persons (Staff & patients) have tested positive,. Recoveries from the virus amount to 420, while COVID-19 deaths at LTC’s amount to 381.

(Radio Iowa) – Many traditional 4th of July weekend festivals and fireworks displays have been called off this year due to the pandemic, and Iowans who plan gatherings with friends and family are urged to take health precautions. Mask wearing is still very important, according to Shelby Kroona, Hamilton County’s public health director. She fears a sharp uptick in COVID-19 cases if people don’t use common sense. “We want to see our friends and neighbors, but please do it responsibly,” Kroona says. “Wear a mask and keep yourself distanced away from people.”

Maintaining that six-foot space can be irritating, especially after many of us have been isolated for so long. Still, Kroona says it’s crucial. “If you’re feeling ill, please don’t go,” Kroona says. “I know it’s hard to stay home, but we could potentially see a spike here in five to seven days.”  With warm weather in the holiday weekend forecast, Kroona fears thousands of people will be drawn to Iowa’s parks, beaches, lakes and rivers, raising the risk for transmitting the disease.

A man from Carroll was arrested Wednesday morning on a Mills County warrant. 19-year old Michael John William Lyons was arrested at the Carroll County Jail, on a Mills County  warrant for Violation of Probation. Lyons was being held in the Mills County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

(9-a.m. News)