Today: Mostly sunny. High around 75. N @ 10.
Tonight: Fair to Partly cloudy. Low 50. Winds light & variable.
Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy w/scattered showers. High 70. E @ 5-10.
Sunday: Mo. Cldy. High 72.
Monday: A chance of showers & thunderstorms early, otherwise P/Cldy. High near 80.
Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 81. Our Low this morning, 48. Last year on this date, the High was 73 and the Low was 56. The record High on May 29th in Atlantic was 104 in 1934. The record Low was 29, in 1947.
Officials with the Cass County Health System (CCHS), Thursday afternoon, reported the number of positive COVID-19 cases in the County was holding steady at 11. Of those, eight patients have recovered from the virus.
A total of 377 residents of the County have been tested to date. The result was 354 negative tests returned, and 12 tests that were pending analysis and return data. None of the aforementioned results had changed as of early this morning.
Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A construction worker who was electrocuted and fell from a building is suing the city of Sibley, Iowa. Victor Maldonado, of Worthington, Minnesota, and his wife contend the city knew a high-voltage power line did not meet safety codes and was a danger to those working near it. The couple is seeking more than $75,000 in damages. Worthington was working on the roof of the building in September 2018 when the power line sent a current through his body, causing him to fall 20 feet to an alley below. He suffered severe electrical burns, fractures, a brain injury, and blindness in one eye.
JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Health officials are confirming another coronavirus outbreak in an Iowa meatpacking plant on the same day that the number of residents who have died from the virus topped 500. Of more than 2,500 employees tested at the Tyson pork processing plant in Storm Lake, 555 have tested positive. Department of Public Health Deputy Director Sarah Reisetter said Thursday that businesses in Iowa are not required to report outbreaks, and state law only requires disclosure of a business name when it’s necessary to protect the public.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new reports shows Iowa saw a jump in the number of people filing for unemployment last week compared to the week prior as the country deals with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. A report released Thursday the by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed 14,586 new claims filed between May 17 and May 23. That was an increase from the previous week, when 13,040 people filed unemployment claims in Iowa. The release says more than $661 million in benefits has been paid out since April 4. Those industries with the most claims last week included manufacturing, which saw more than 3,800 claims, health care and social assistance, with right at 1,400 claims and retail, with more than 900 claims.
WARSAW, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Highway Patrol says three people from Iowa died in a crash in eastern Missouri. The victims of the crash Wednesday in Benton County were all from Fort Dodge, Iowa. The patrol says 20-year-old Richard Davis lost control of his car on a curve on Missouri 7 and went off the left side of the road and hit a tree. Davis, 18-year-old Matayah McLouglin and a 14-year-old male whose name was not released all died in the crash. They were not wearing seat belts.
Pottawattamie County Public Health (PCPH) officials said Thursday, there were eight more positive cases of COVID-19 to report. Seven of the cases are residents of Council Bluffs, and one is from Crescent. One of the patients is under the age of 17. Two are 18-to 40 years of age. Four range in age from 41-to 60, and one is 81 years of age or over. Those persons were tested between May 19th and 25th.
Health officials said also, so far, 2,898 Pott. County residents have been tested for COVID-19, and a total of 260 have tested positive (as of today). Seven persons are hospitalized from the virus, 91 are self-isolating. Based on PCPH contact tracing investigations, a total of 76 Pott. County COVID-19 cases are the result of community spread.
Across the State of Iowa (as of 6:15-a.m. today, Friday):
In western/southwest Iowa,RMCC data show 9 hospitalized, 9 in an ICU, 2 were admitted to a hospital, and 5 people were on ventilators. Here are the latest County COVID-19 numbers from the IDPH COVID-19 dashboard (# of cases/# of persons recovered):
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A construction worker who was electrocuted and fell from a building is suing the city of Sibley, Iowa. Victor Maldonado, of Worthington, Minnesota, and his wife contend the city knew a high-voltage power line did not meet safety codes and was a danger to those working near it. The couple is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.
Worthington was working on the roof of the building in September 2018 when the power line sent a current through his body, causing him to fall 20 feet to an alley below. He suffered severe electrical burns, fractures, a brain injury, and blindness in one eye.
(Iowa City, AP) – Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is not ruling out having a full stadium for home football games. Barta told reporters the school is planning for several different scenarios, and one of them is opening 69,250-seat Kinnick Stadium to “as many fans as want to join us.”
Barta said the number of fans allowed into the stadium will be determined by directives of state and local health officials. On Tuesday, Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard wrote in a letter to fans that he anticipated Jack Trice Stadium would host games at 50% capacity, or about 30,000 fans.
Even if there are no attendance limits at Iowa, Barta said there could be modifications, such as limiting the number of stadium entrances and open concession stands.
(Radio Iowa) — More Iowans are buying food directly from farmers during the pandemic, with Facebook groups and other social media connecting producers and customers. Jenna Anthofer, of Breda, started the group I-A Farm 2 Table on Facebook May 10th and now has more than two-thousand people signed on from Iowa and neighboring states. She says the group is strictly for direct-to-consumer sales of farm products and is her reaction to the challenges COVID-19 has thrown at farmers.
“I really just wanted to help offset that, if possible, by hooking up farmers and producers with consumers,” Anthofer says. “I’m actually in a larger nationwide farm-to-table group and they had suggested that each state have their own sort of offshoot branch.” Anthofer says it’s easy enough to find buyers for vegetables, eggs, honey and processed meat, while she says many people are newly-interested in buying meat directly from farmers.
“Not everybody feels confident buying a whole pig and then having to process it themselves,” she says, “although I’ve tried to put some resources in the group for people. It’s not that hard to break down a hog, here’s a video to show you how to do it.”
Across the Midwest, people are using websites, Reddit, op-ed pieces and other tools to spread the word about buying food directly from farmers. Reddit users compiled a list of “farms that are delivering” and launched a U-R-L with that name.
(By Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have moved — not actually, but legally. The Royals changed their legal home from Missouri to Delaware last fall during the process of the team’s sale from David Glass to a group headed by John Sherman. The switch was mentioned in court papers in a suit by minor leaguers against Major League Baseball.
Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., a Missouri corporation, became Kansas City Royals Baseball Club Inc., a Delaware corporation, on Nov 19. That corporation became Kansas City Royals Baseball Club LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.
(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Agriculture has launched a program to help pork producers deal with hogs they can’t take to market after coronavirus shut downs at packing plants. Ag Secretary Mike Naig says it’s something no producer wants to deal with. “Farmers are doing everything they can to avoid having to take the step of euthanizing and disposing of animals,” Naig says.
“They are finding alternate ways to market, they are selling direct to consumers, they’re changing their feed ration to slow down the rate of gain — they are doing everything they can. This truly is an action, a decision of last resort.” The Ag Department is offering producers 40 dollars for each animal to help cover some of the disposal costs for market-ready hogs. “It won’t cover all costs, but it is a part of the cost that they’ll incur to euthanize and dispose of animals,” he says.
Naig says they are still hoping for federal help to cover the loss of revenue from the hogs. Iowa State University estimates that by mid-May there were approximately 600-thousand pigs in Iowa that were unable to go to the packing plants. Iowa producers were faced with killing thousands of chickens and turkeys during the bird flu outbreak five years ago — and Naig says they learned some things then. “One of the key learnings from that was to really empower producers to make decisions and to take control of the situation,” according to Naig. ”
They know their operations better than anyone else. And they also know the resources at their disposal better than anyone else. We learned that back in 2015.” He says they will hand out the funding in at least three rounds. “The first round closes Friday of this week, and farmers will need to reach out to our office. They can call the main number or they can go to IowaAgriculture.gov, and there is a way to apply there. And then we will subsequently roll out rounds two and three,” Naig says.
Naig says this will help producers deal with the short-term problem. In the long-term, he says they need to continue to get making the packing plants safe for workers. He says that it will allow the employees to confidently show up and know that they can work safely. “That’s ultimately what it takes to return to full processing capacity. Today in Iowa we are running at about 75 percent of our normal processing capacity — an again that number steadily improves each day,” Naig says.
He says this could continue to be a problem throughout the summer. Each applicant who is approved will receive funding for at least one-thousand animals and up to 30-thousand each round, depending on the number of applicants. The money comes from federal coronavirus relief funding.
ERIC JON SORENSEN, 58, of Harlan died Wednesday, May 27th at Elm Crest Retirement Community. Funeral services for ERIC JON SORENSEN will be held on Monday, June 1st at 2:00 p.m. at Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Harlan.
Visitation will be held on Sunday, May 31st from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Harlan. Visitation will resume on Monday, June 1st at 9:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. also at the funeral home.
Burial will be in the Harlan Cemetery.
ERIC JON SORENSEN is survived by:
Sister-in-law: Donna Sorensen of Harlan.
Nieces, Nephews, other relatives, and friends.
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