WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of the Democratic National Committee is calling for a “recanvass”of the results of Monday’s Iowa caucus. Technical problems and delays have marred the first contest on the 2020 election calendar. The current results show Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders nearly tied with almost all the votes counted. But the race remained too early to call early Thursday, with 97% of precincts reporting. Party officials are scrambling to verify the remaining results three days after Iowans gathered at caucus sites across the state to begin choosing which Democrat will take on President Donald Trump in November.

A 56-year old man working for Cramer and Associates in Grimes died from injuries he suffered during a fall this (Thursday) morning, on Des Moines’ north side. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the man – whose name was not immediately released – died after falling from a scaffolding while working on a river bridge near mile marker 133 on westbound Interstate 80. The man fell about 30-feet, according to officials. The accident happened at around 8:26-a.m.

Deputies found the man unresponsive, and suffering from a head injury. He was transported to a local hospital, where he died upon arrival.

(Radio Iowa) — A report that ranks the states on how prepared they are for emergencies now places Iowa in the highest tier of best-prepared state, up from the middle tier in 2019. Rhea Farberman, spokeswoman for Trust for America’s Health, says Iowa is doing very well in the ten main categories, including things like infection control, vaccination rates, access to safe water and public health funding. She notes 60-percent of Iowans who work have access to paid leave. “When someone has access to paid time off, be that personal time, vacation time or sick time, they tend to stay home when they’re sick and that helps control the spread of infectious disease,” Farberman says. “When someone does not have access to paid time off, they tend to go to work when they’re sick, and that spreads infectious disease.”

One category where Iowa lagged behind was in the percentage of hospitals that are part of a health care coalition. About 80-percent of Iowa’s hospitals have such alliances, while the national average is 89-percent. Farberman says those compacts are vital as resources are often taxed during an emergency, whether it’s a disease outbreak or a weather-related disaster. “They might need help from a neighboring county or a neighboring state,” Farberman says. “They might need more doctors or more nurses or more epidemiologists. Participating in these compacts and coalitions allows one jurisdiction to borrow medical personnel from another jurisdiction so the community needs are met during an emergency.”

There is growing global concern over the spread of coronavirus and officials from the Iowa Department of Public Health are already working to educate the public about the facts and the risks. “Coronavirus is just the latest example of why these indicators are important, why measuring preparedness is important, and why a standing, ready public health infrastructure is so important,” she says.

Iowa joins 24 other states in the high performance tier. There are 12 states in the middle tier and 13 in the low tier. See the full report, “Ready or Not: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism,” at the website: www.tfah.org

(Radio Iowa) — The latest competitiveness check released by the Iowa Business Council shows the lack of available workers remains the biggest threat to Iowa’s long-term growth. Vermeer Corporation chairwoman Mary Andringa of Pella is also chair of the Iowa Business Council. “Iowa faces a persistent shortage of available and skilled workforce and, indeed, as have been for a while we have more job openings than we have people unemployed,” she says, “so we definitely have a need to bring more people into the state.”

Vermeer manufactures heavy equipment that’s sold around the world and Andringa says 25 different languages are spoken by the company’s employees.  “We need to have immigration reform. It’s an outdated system. It’s cumbersome. I’ve got a lot of employees who have come from other countries to our country and it has taken 10 years to get their citizenship,” Andringa says. “There should be a better way.”

Andringa says Iowa’s cost of living and the short commute to work are also appealing to people who’ve moved from places like California and Portland, Oregon to work at Vermeer. During 2019, 163-thousand people worked companies that are members of the Iowa Business Council — and those 23 businesses had a total payroll of seven-and-a-half BILLION dollars.

BONDURANT, Iowa (AP) – The online retailer Amazon says it will be moving into a new warehouse in the Des Moines suburb of Bondurant. The Seattle-based company said Thursday it plans to hire 1,000 people for its fulfillment center. A smaller operation is being opened in Grimes, about 15 miles southwest of Bondurant. Local, state and company officials had tried to keep Amazon’s involvement in what was called Project Bluejay a secret. In November the Bondurant City Council approved six years of tax incentives for the project. Bondurant also agreed to improve the area infrastructure.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a Page County Jail inmate, 38-year old Jonathan Lynn Gray, of Shenandoah, was transported to the Pott. County Jail, Wednesday. He was transferred to Pott. County to address a warrant for Escape from Custody. Gray’s bond was set at $1,000. And, early Wednesday afternoon, 35-year old Bethany Lynn McCoy, of Lincoln, NE., was arrested following a report of a reckless driver. McCoy’s vehicle was located parked near McClelland, in the middle of the road, in the 29,100 block of 298th Street. Deputies determined she was impaired, and placed her under arrested for OWI/1st offense.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA — Democrat Iowa Third District Representative Cindy Axne has announced a grant amounting to over $1.2-million ($1,239,123) for Head Start projects was awarded to Family, Inc., an education non-profit and Early Head Start provider based in Council Bluffs. The grant funds come from the Department of Health and Human Services. Axne says “Providing a quality education to Iowa children starts with programs like Head Start, and countless studies show the endless benefits that early childhood education can have on a child’s future.”

Records show Axne has voted multiple times in her first term in Congress to increase investments in Head Start programs. In December, Rep. Axne joined her Democratic and Republican colleagues in supporting a Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations package that included $10.6 billion for Head Start, an increase of more than $500 million over Fiscal Year 2019. Her office says  Rep. Axne has also been focused on making government grants more accessible and transparent.

Last year, President Trump signed the Axne-sponsored Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act of 2019 into law, streamlining the outdated and burdensome federal grant process, making it easier and cheaper for Iowans to apply for grants, and allowing taxpayers to better track government spending.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A judge won’t let evidence of internet searches be used in the trial of a Manchester man accused of killing a high school girl in Cedar Rapids more than 40 years ago. Jerry Burns is charged with killing 18-year-old Michelle Martinko. Court documents say investigators found under Burns’ username a browsing history that included stories involving assault, rape, strangulation, murder and other violent acts. The Telegraph Herald reports that the judge ruled that the timing of the internet activity — conducted at least 38 years after the slaying — was prejudicial and would harm Burns’ right to a fair trial.