Tyson Fresh Meats suspended operations at its Waterloo plant indefinitely yesterday. The plant is the company’s largest pork plant, processing about 19,500 hogs per day, about 4 percent of the total U.S. pork processing capacity. The plant’s 2,800 workers will be invited to come to the facility later this week for COVID-19 testing. Iowa Department of Public Health deputy director Sarah Reisetter discussed testing timelines during yesterday’s news briefing. Plant workers affected by the closure will continue to be compensated. Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart issued a statement praising the move…he notes that while he is pleased that Tyson has closed for now, it is just one piece of the puzzle. The mayor also revealed there have been three positive cases at Waterloo Fire Rescue and now one Waterloo police officer. The mayor is scheduled to join us live on KXEL Live & Local just after 9 this morning.
Cedar Rapids Police say a 16 year old is dead following an early morning shooting yesterday. Police identified him as Judeah Dawson. Police received several reports of shots being fired just before 12:30 yesterday in the 200 block of 15th Street Northwest. Officers found Dawson suffering from several gunshot wounds. Ambulance crews arrived a short time later, but Dawson died at the scene. Police call this an active, ongoing homicide investigation…with no arrests yet being made.
COVID-19 in Iowa by the numbers now…107 additional positive cases were reported yesterday for a statewide total so far of 3,748. Another 7 deaths were confirmed…2 in Black Hawk, 2 in Muscatine, and 1 each in Linn, Tama, and Woodbury counties. A total of 90 people have succumbed to the virus in Iowa…half, 45, were residents of long-term care centers.
Today is the first day for absentee voting in Iowa in advance of the June 2nd primary election. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is urging voters to submit absentee ballots instead of actually going to the polls, due to the virus. His office is sending ballot request forms to every Iowa voter. More with Secretary Pate on KXEL Live & Local; the program now airs weekdays from 9 to 11 a.m.
A second man has been charged with one count of attempted murder in connection with a shooting Monday night in Coralville. 39-year-old Tony Watkins was charged yesterday. On Monday, 41-year-old Tyris Winters of Peoria, Illinois, was charged. Around 7:30 Monday night, Coralville police responded to a report of shots being fired in the 600 block of First Avenue. Officers located a single victim with gunshot wounds to the head and foot…the injuries were not life-threatening.
The 2,800 workers at the Tyson plant in Waterloo are off work indefinitely; the company closed the plant, it’s largest in the country, yesterday morning after an outbreak of COVID-19. Tyson says four percent of the nation’s pork supply comes from that single plant. Workers will continue to be paid during the shutdown, and all workers will have the chance to be tested for the coronavirus later this week, a point noted by Gov. Kim Reynolds in her daily news briefing yesterday.
Des Moines police say in newly-released court documents that a man intentionally ran over and killed a Des Moines college instructor. We now also know that 49-year-old Jason Sassman was using meth on April 5 when he hit 38-year-old Lauren Rice as she walked her dog, which also died. Police say Sassman believed Rice was a criminal about to kill someone. Sassman has been charged with first-degree murder and animal neglect.
The 51st Winnebago Grand National Rally scheduled for July 13-17 has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Winnebago officials say they will resume the event in 2021. The rally brings around 1,000 Winnebago units and their owners to Forest City in north central Iowa for a week-long event.
