A small group of health care workers were the first people in Iowa to get the coronavirus vaccine, starting a multi-month campaign to deliver shots to state residents. The arrival of the vaccine marked a milestone in the fight against a virus that has killed one in roughly every 964 residents in our state. Officials at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics say they received 1,000 doses of the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and its German partner yesterday morning. The hospital soon started vaccinating employees, saying it anticipated more than 50 would receive the first of two doses of the vaccine yesterday alone.
Iowa’s six Republican electors cast their votes for President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, affirming their win in an election that saw record turnout and victories for the GOP ticket in 93 of the state’s 99 counties. Gov. Kim Reynolds presided over the meeting at the Iowa Capitol, where the electors filled out ballots yesterday. The vote was a formality since the electors were required by Iowa law to vote for the candidate who won the state popular vote. Trump won the state 53% to Joe Biden’s 45%. A record 1.7 million voters cast ballots, for a turnout rate of more than 76%.
For the third straight month, sports bettors in Iowa are wagering money at record levels. New data from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission shows more than $87 million was bet on sports at the state’s 19 casinos and through their online sportsbooks in November, shattering the previous record. November marks the second straight month of more than $80 million being wagered in Iowa. Sports betting became legal in Iowa in August of last year…in the 16 months since, more than $682 million has been bet on sports in the state. More than a third of that has come in the last three months alone.
Governor Reynolds has directed the Iowa Department of Management to return $21 million to Iowa’s Coronavirus Relief Fund. The funds were initially allocated for payments related to the state’s contract with Workday, a cloud-based human resources, finance, and planning system being implemented to modernize the state’s IT infrastructure. Of the allocation, only less than four and a half million was spent on the project. The governor says state officials were led to believe by the U.S. Treasury Department that the expenditure would be permitted under the CARES Act, but the Treasury office of the inspector general has now determined that’s not the case. Reynolds says the funds will be returned before the end of the week, and said the implementation of the Workday system, which received bi-partisan support from the Iowa legislature and state elected officials, will continue with funding from other sources. The governor’s office notes that $47.3 million of the original $1.25 billion allocated to the state under the CARES Act remains to be spent by the December 30th deadline. Reynolds says it will be allocated so none will be lost…but she suggested an extension as has been discussed in Washington would allow time to create additional programs and support for Iowans.
An Iowa native won a pro rodeo world championship Saturday night. 26-year-old Jacob Edler of State Center won the National Finals Rodeo average title by placing in 8 of the 10 go-rounds, and finished the year with $200,510 in earnings, edging his nearest rival by just $1,680 to be named world champion steer wrestler. It was Edler’s first National Finals Rodeo. Meanwhile, another Iowa native, Tim O’Connell of Zwingle, was edged out for the bareback riding title…O’Connell has won the world championship three times in the past.
Police in Urbandale say a man arrested over the weekend on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with a woman’s death was the victim’s husband. Police yesterday identified the woman as 29-year-old Mary Sample of Urbandale. Investigators say she was found in a home there around 6:45 Saturday evening suffering from severe head trauma. She died at the scene. Police arrested her husband, 35-year-old Dustin Sample, on Sunday morning and charged him with first-degree murder.
