Floyd Valley Healthcare To Hold Virtual Fund Raiser
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Healthcare will hold its annual beer and wine tasting fund raising gala this Saturday, however, because of the COVID-19 virus, the event will be virtual. Amy Harnack serves as the Foundation Director for Floyd Valley. She says the activities will be featured online beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Harnack says she will be the emcee for the evening’s activities. She says the auction will feature many unique and wonderful items.
Harnack says originally officials at Floyd Valley had established a goal of raising $60,000, but that was before COVID-19 had struck. She says the local hospital did not designate a specific item of need for the hospital with this year’s fund raiser.
The Floyd Valley Foundation Director again offers the website where the auction items can be found.
Reynolds Holds Second COVID-19 News Conference This Week
(Des Moines) — Governor Kim Reynolds held yet another news conference today addressing the continued surge of COVID-19 cases across the state. Reynolds says since October 1st more than 37,000 new cases of positive COVID-19 have been reported statewide. The governor says the average positivity rate
across the state is at 21.8 percent. Reynolds says new cases were primarily with adults.
Reynolds says the spread of the coronavirus is all across the state, and now it isn’t isolated to the more dense populated communities.
The Iowa governor reported that hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients continues to climb.
Reynolds reports that most Iowa hospitals are still performing elective surgeries, although they may scale back on the number of procedures performed, if additional beds are needed to accommodate COVID-19 virus patients.
Reynolds says from this point forward, health department officials will have a breakdown of the ages of hospital patients as it relates to COVID-19 positive cases.
Some Schools Across Iowa Are Going To Online Learning Programs
(Des Moines) — Because of the increase and continued spread of COVID-19 virus across the state, some schools are reporting they will implement either a hybrid learning system, or an entire online education program. Ann Lebo, the Director of the Iowa Education Department attended the governor’s news conference today, and offered an update on the schools.
Lebo says the state’s education department has sent updated information to school superintendents notifying them of new restrictions and changes.
Lebo urged school administrators to contact the Iowa Department of Education if they had questions, or if they are needing guidance and assistance during the era of the pandemic.
Belmond-Klemme School District Mourns Loss of Teacher to COVID
(Belmond, IA) — The Belmond-Klemme Community School District is mourning the loss of one of its teachers. The family of 38-year-old Jason Englert says he tested positive for coronavirus three days before he was found dead in his home November 8th. The school district did a mass testing last week due to a rise in COVID cases in Wright County. Englert’s family says his
results came back positive and he started having headaches. Superintendent Dan Frazier said, “Jason was always such a pleasure to have because he had such a positive attitude, a lot of energy and the rapport with he had with students was remarkable.”
1st District Congresswoman-elect Hinson Tests Positive For Coronavirus
(Marion, IA) — First District Congresswoman-elect Ashley Hinson says she tested positive for COVID-19. Hinson’s campaign says she learned of her positive test on Wednesday night and “feels great and is quarantining at her home in Marion until advised to do otherwise by her physician.” Hinson will
participate in new member of Congress orientation virtually. The G-O-P state representative defeated Democratic Congresswoman Abbey Finkenauer in the November election.
Hart Seeks Full Recount of Iowa’s Second Congressional Race
(Wheatland, IA) — Democratic candidate Rita Hart is seeking a complete recount in all 24 counties of Iowa’s Second Congressional District. The current tally shows Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks ahead by just 47 votes. Miller-Meeks is already claiming victory. Hart’s campaign manager cites what he calls “consequential errors” that were discovered in Jasper and
Lucas Counties in making the request — adding Iowans “deserve to know categorically that their ballots have been accurately counted.” Secretary of State Paul Pate says he does not certify the election until November 30th, so there are two weeks for the recount, although the second week includes the Thanksgiving holiday. Election officials are recounting all ballots cast in
Lucas County today (Thursday).
One Dead, One Injured in Burlington Shooting
(Burlington, IA) — Authorities in southeast Iowa are investigating a shooting that left one person dead and one injured in Burlington. Officers called to a report of shots fired Wednesday night found a man and woman wounded. A 24-year-old woman died at the scene and a 26-year-old man was
taken to the hospital. The victims’ names haven’t been released. No word on any arrests in the case. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call police or Burlington Area Crime Stoppers.
