Iowa #COVID19 Update By The Numbers:
96 additional positive cases / total of 1,995 positive cases
4 additional deaths (1 each in Allamakee, Clayton, Johnson, Polk) / 53 total Iowa deaths
171 hospitalized / 908 Iowans have recovered
A judge has suspended an Iowa sheriff who is charged with assaulting his wife and then an officer as he was being arrested. The judge Tuesday suspended Calhoun County Sheriff Scott Anderson without pay after he was arrested Saturday at his home in Manson. Anderson is accused of dragging his wife into their bedroom and choking her as she cried for him to stop. A criminal complaint claims he later headbutted a Manson police officer during his arrest and that it took six officers to get him into a patrol car after he was handcuffed. Anderson has been charged with domestic abuse and assault on police officers.
A group of agriculture economists are estimating the coronavirus pandemic will cause billions of dollars in damage to Iowa’s crop and livestock industries. A report released Wednesday by the Iowa State University Center for Agricultural and Rural Development says the ethanol industry will see $2.5 billion in losses due to lower fuel demand…the state’s hog industry could suffer $2.1 billion in losses. Damage to corn is estimated at $788 million, soybeans at $213 million and cattle $34 million. The economists note the numbers will change as the pandemic evolves.
Confidence in the Midwest economy is at a record low, according to Creighton University economist Ernie Goss…Goss’ new Mid-American Business Conditions Index report was released this morning…as for recovery, Goss has some concerns about governmental involvement. More with Ernie Goss later today on KXEL Live & Local; the program is from 9 to 11 a.m.
Sioux City police have charged a South Carolina man with murder after two people were stabbed and one later died at a hospital. Police charged 30-year-old Paul Belk, of Beaufort, South Carolina, with first-degree murder and willful injury. The Sioux City Journal reports the arrest came after officers were called about 6 p.m. Tuesday to a disturbance at an apartment building and found two people with stab wounds.
Gov. Kim Reynolds says she’s asking federal agencies and business leaders for help in preventing coronavirus outbreaks at Iowa food processing plants, and responding to the two that already have infected workers. Reynolds said that she was calling the leaders of 18 major meat packing and food plants to assess how the pandemic is affecting their workplaces and how the state can help. She says she also has a call scheduled with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and is inquiring with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control “to see if they can provide some assistance at our packing plants as well.”
Four people have been charged with violating social distancing rules in connection with a shooting at Bever Park in Cedar Rapids last week. It is the first time charges have been filed in Cedar Rapids for violating social gathering restrictions. All four have been arrested for violating the Iowa Department of Public Health code for willingly going to a gathering of more than ten people…they range in age from 16 to 19. On Wednesday, April 8, callers reported to police that about 20 juveniles were fighting in the park when gunshots rang out. An 18-year-old female was found at the scene with a gunshot wound. She has since been released from the hospital. The shooting suspect has not been charged at this time, but police say more arrests are likely.
Some 50 Black Hawk County restaurants, bars, salons and small retailers received a combined $935,511 in grants last week from the small business relief program established at the Iowa Economic Development Authority…part of a statewide $24 million pool of funding established by Gov. Kim Reynolds to help small businesses forced to close or limit operations starting last month to prevent spreading coronavirus. The grants, ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each, were for businesses with two to 25 employees. In Black Hawk County, the assistance went to about 25 bars and restaurants, eight salons and barber shops, and 17 other businesses impacted by the statewide restrictions.
Authorities have identified two men killed in a March 31st helicopter crash in west-central Iowa. Passenger, 23-year-old Benjamin Peterson of Des Moines, and pilot, 30-year-old Ryan Doolittle, of Minneapolis, died. Peterson worked for Western EcoSystem Tech as an aerial wildlife surveyor. This happened in Audubon County, a few miles east of Hamlin. Authorities say the aircraft hit a power line before it went down. The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration.
