The U.S. Justice Department has found that a care center for people with intellectual disabilities run by the State of Iowa likely violated the constitutional rights of residents by subjecting them to human experiments, some of which were deemed dangerous. A report released earlier this week identified broad failures at the Glenwood Resource Center, including poor treatment of residents and failure of the Iowa Department of Human Services to respond. The DOJ began investigating in November of last year after reports of a high rate of deaths. The Department has outlined detailed steps for improvement. Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa DHS say they have cooperated with the investigation and will work with DOJ to resolve the problems.
Police in the community of Lake Park in northwest Iowa are investigating the death of a woman as a homicide. Lake Park officers were called to a home around 11:30 Tuesday morning and found the woman inside. Her name and cause of death were not publicly released. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Dickinson County authorities are assisting in the investigation. Lake Park is a town of about 1,100 residents that sits along Silver Lake near the Minnesota border.
A woman from Minnesota has died after an accident near the western Iowa town of Rockwell City. The Iowa State Patrol says 28-year-old Rose Kallemeyn of Jackson, Minnesota, died Tuesday afternoon. The patrol says her vehicle was rounding a curve on Highway 4 when it crossed the center line and struck another vehicle. Kallemeyn was ejected and died at the scene. The man driving the other vehicle was not hurt.
Time change for Monday’s UNI men’s basketball game against Missouri State. The tipoff is now set for 7 p.m., with pregame on KXEL starting at 6:30. The Panthers’ Missouri Valley Conference season starts the day before, on Sunday, also against Missouri State…we go on the air at 2:30 that afternoon.
The vaccination of Iowa’s nursing home residents is set to begin next week, after an error in the distribution of vaccines threatened to delay the process. State officials said Tuesday that to be able to begin vaccinating people at long-term care facilities on Dec. 28, as planned, the state had to have at least 50% of the vaccine needed for its nursing home population held in reserve, according to a federal rule. The government, however, eased that regulation since the state was shorted on its initial vaccine shipment.
Meanwhile, another 15 people in Iowa died of the coronavirus and there were 1,999 confirmed infections in the most recent 24-hour reporting period. The state Department of Public Health reported the 15 deaths raised the total death toll to 3,668. Total number of confirmed cases in Iowa now stands at 271,019. In the past 14 days, Iowa has had about 708 new confirmed cases per 100,000 people, ranking the state 41st nationally.
New data from Iowa Workforce Development shows that both initial and continuing unemployment claims increased last week. IWD reports 7,645 new jobless claims for the most recent week, an increase of 1,119 from the previous week’s total. Construction and manufacturing were the leading industries tied to folks filing new claims. Continuing claims also increased in the state by 200, with 38,318 filings last week.
A new task force in Des Moines will promote urban agriculture and other measures in hopes of bolstering resources for residents with limited access to healthy diets. City Council members there unanimously approved the food security task force earlier this week. The seven-member group will work on a volunteer basis with city officials to promote urban farming, research and recommend potential policies, and create an online resource guide with information about where to find tools, compost, seeds, laying hens, honey bees and other supplies.
