Ernst Brings Campaign To Le Mars
(Le Mars) — U-S Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa rolled into Le Mars with her blue Winnebago R-V to hold a political rally. More than 50 people gathered inside the Brown’s Century Theater to show support for Ernst, and to listen to Ernst, and her colleagues, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Iowa’s other Republican Senator, Chuck Grassley, along with Iowa’s Governor Kim Reynolds. The political crew are campaigning to as they say “set the record straight.” Governor Reynolds was the first to address the enthusiastic crowd.
Reynolds told the gathering that Senator Joni Ernst has fought for Iowans and has been a tireless advocate for Iowans and Iowa values. Reynolds then took a jab at the Democratic challenger, Theresa Greenfield, who has not made personal visits to nearly half of Iowa.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz was the next to speak. Cruz reminded the audience that only the states of Texas and Iowa have both senators serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cruz serves with Ernst on both the Senate Arms Committee as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cruz spelled out
what is at stake if the Democrats win Iowa’s Senate race, and win the majority of the Senate.
Cruz then continued to paint a picture of how the government will look if Democrats have control in all aspects of the administration and both chambers of Congress, the House and the Senate.
Cruz also mentioned that if Democrats win Iowa, then they will proceed with actions to “pack the U-S Supreme Court” by adding four more justices to the already nine justices that serve the nation’s highest court. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who serves as the Senate’s longest serving senator, and has the title of Senate Pro-Tem says he is upset over the many lies that have
been told during the television ads that tear down Ernst, and try to build up Greenfield.
Grassley told of other lies that the Democrats have communicated through false television ads.
Following Senator Grassley’s comments, Joni Ernst then delivered her message.
Ernst mentioned that Greenfield says she hasn’t accepted any Political Action Committee donations. However, the Republican Senator informed the group that when the election will be finished, more than $200 million dollars would have been spent in Iowa on political advertising, making it the second
most expensive campaign in the nation. Ernst told the strong Republican gathering that most of the money directed for Greenfield’s campaign is from outside the state of Iowa.
Ernst then told the crowd of the top three cities that have contributed to the Greenfield campaign.
The third city with the most contributions to the Greenfield campaign, according to Ernst, is our nation’s capital, inside the Beltway of Washington D.C.
Following Le Mars, the Ernst “Fighting for Iowa R-V tour” traveled north on Highway 75 to another rally at Sioux Center.
Schools Find It Difficult To Recruit Substitute Teachers
(Le Mars) — Finding substitute teachers can be difficult under normal circumstances, but when you add the coronavirus to the equation, school officials say it has become even more difficulty to get suitable substitutes.
Des Moines Public Schools have needed to resort to offering more money, along with bonus incentives to attract substitute teachers. Le Mars Community School Superintendent, Dr. Steve Webner says he is short-handed when it comes to substitute teachers.
Webner says school officials have needed to become more creative in filling a teacher position.
Despite the fact Plymouth County and other northwest Iowa counties and communities have witnessed an increase of positive COVID-19 cases, Webner says the school has been able to contain and control the spread of coronavirus within the school district.
Another method Le Mars Community schools have adopted to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus is to limit the number of spectators attending a game or other school sponsored event. The Le Mars Community school superintendent says it is very likely that provision will continue on into the late autumn
and winter months activities.
Biden Rallies Supporters at Drive-In Event on Iowa State Fairgrounds
(Des Moines, IA) — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is urging Iowa voters to remain optimistic heading into Tuesday’s election. Biden spoke to about 200 supporters in their cars during a drive-in rally this afternoon (Friday) on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Biden said ” I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus” to honking vehicles. The former vice president claims President Trump’s response to COVID-19 has been awful. Biden said, “Donald Trump has waved the white flag and surrendered to this virus, but the American people don’t give up.” He also said he believes health care is right and warned that the Supreme Court could overturn the
Affordable Care Act.
President Trump Making Campaign Stop Sunday in Dubuque
(Dubuque, IA) — President Donald Trump plans to make one more stop in Iowa before the November election. The Trump campaign says the president will appear at a rally Sunday at noon at the Dubuque Regional Airport. Donald Trump Junior’s scheduled event in Dubuque last Friday was canceled due to
flight issues. Vice President Mike Pence rallied Trump supporters Thursday at the Des Moines Airport.
More Than 885K Iowans Have Already Voted in November Election
(Des Moines, IA) — More than 885-thousand Iowans have already voted in the state. That’s about 56 percent of the total turnout in Iowa for the last presidential election in 2016, so Iowa is setting a record for early voting.
The Secretary of State’s office says there are about 100-thousand outstanding absentee ballots that have been requested, but not cast. Both political parties are encouraging those voters to either deliver their ballots in person at a drop box or to the county auditor’s office by Monday at noon or
show up at a polling site on Election Day with that ballot. Iowa voters can turn over their absentee ballot and get a new one to vote in person on November 3rd. If an Iowan asked for an absentee ballot, but cannot find it, they may cast what’s called a provisional ballot on Election Day.
2621 New COVID Cases in Iowa, Record 606 Hospitalizations
(Des Moines, IA) — The 606 Iowans hospitalized today (Friday) for COVID-19 is another daily record. One-hundred-52 of those patients are in intensive care units and 55 are on ventilators. The state’s coronavirus website shows two-thousand-261 new positive tests for COVID, increasing the state’s total to 124-thousand-534 cases. Fourteen more Iowans died of virus complications which brings the death toll to one-thousand-705. Thirty-one Iowa counties now have a two-week average positivity rate of more than 15 percent. There are 76
COVID outbreaks in long-term care facilities. More than 92-thousand-270 patients are considered recovered from coronavirus.
Reynolds: COVID Patients Account For 11% of All Hospital Admissions
(Stuart, IA) — Governor Kim Reynolds says while escalating COVID patient counts in Iowa hospitals have set records every day this week, hospitals aren’t being overrun and the vast majority of patients do not have the virus.
Reynolds said, “when you take a look at the census, or the people that are hospitalized across the state and the number of individuals that are hospitalized due to COVID, on average it’s about 11 percent.” The state’s coronavirus tracking website shows about 33 percent of hospital beds are available. Reynolds said recently developed therapeutics that were not
available earlier in the pandemic are improving patient outcomes. She said, “while our hospitalizations are going up, we’re actually seeing the stay shortened.”
More Than 300 Johnston Students in COVID Quarantine or Self-Isolation
(Johnston, IA) — More than 300 students in the Johnston Community School District are in isolation or self-quarantine due to possible COVID-19 exposure. School officials say 17 students and seven staff members have tested positive for coronavirus. An additional 371 students are isolated or quarantined. The district also said a member of the Johnston football team
tested positive. Contact tracing by the Polk County Health Department determined the entire team should quarantine. Iowa health officials reported a record number of COVID cases and hospitalizations Thursday.
