A Marion teenager who was critically injured in an amusement ride accident that killed his younger brother was released yesterday after a month in the hospital. An attorney for 16-year-old David Jaramillo and his family say the teen was released from Blank Children’s Hospital, where he was placed on life-support following the July 3 accident on the Raging River raft ride at Adventureland Park in Altoona. Jaramillo’s 11-year-old brother, Michael Jaramillo, died a day after the accident. Attorney Ryan Best says David is talking, texting and making phone calls, and has been able to run. But Best says the teen still faces rehabilitation to address balance issues and improve his fine motor skills.
The City of Cedar Rapids is now requiring everyone to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, inside any city-owned building. The change is in response to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention face-covering recommendations to protect against COVID-19 and the Delta variant. Both Linn County Public Health and Black Hawk County Public Health are recommending everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas with substantial and high transmission, such as those two counties.
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa filed an amendment yesterday afternoon to the controversial infrastructure package pending in the chamber that would prohibit funds for any state “in which the governor of such State has been found, by the relevant State or Federal authorities, to have sexually harassed employees while holding the position of governor.” The move is targeted at the state of New York, where the state attorney general yesterday issued a report declaring Gov. Andrew Cuomo was guilty of multiple actions of hostile work environment and sexual assault. Sen. Ernst is herself a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Tyson Foods will now require all employees in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by this fall. The announcement yesterday means Tyson will require all office employees to be fully vaccinated by October 1st and all other employees by November 1st. The United Food and Commercial Workers is raising concerns about the mandate, however. UFCW is the union for 10,000 Iowa frontline food workers, including Tyson meatpacking plants in Perry and Waterloo.
The Cedar Rapids Jaycees have cancelled this Friday’s “Uptown Friday Night” concert. They made the announcement in a Facebook post, calling the cancellation “due to circumstances beyond our control.” The group later issued a statement singling out one member with oversight over the concert series, and cited a lack of transparency and fiscal mismanagement. The Jaycees say they’ll issue refunds for tickets already purchased, including a pro-rata refund for season pass holders. It is unclear if the remaining shows will be canceled, including concerts scheduled for August 20th, 27th, and September 3rd.
The North Iowa Fair in Mason City is saying their event will go on starting tomorrow despite the absence of a major component. The fair, which runs Thursday through Sunday, says the carnival it contracted to appear has canceled. An event spokesperson calls it “not ideal and disappointing,” but says the lack of a carnival will allow it to expand its area for inflatable attractions and feature a specific section for small children in addition to inflatables for older kids and adults. The fair has a number of other activities, including three nights of outdoor music.
Police have arrested and charged the husband of a woman whose remains were found in the Des Moines River. Authorities say 61-year-old Gregory Allen Showalter turned himself in at the Wapello County Law Enforcement Center yesterday morning in connection with the death of 60-year-old Elizabeth Showalter. Her body was found by a hiker Sunday afternoon, a day after she was reported missing by family members. Ottumwa police have not said how she died, but that her death was a result of foul play. Gregory Showalter has been charged with first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a gun.
A Des Moines man accused of killing a 15-month-old boy left in his care has entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree murder in the case. 28-year-old Brandon Greenup is charged in the June death of Tremir Matthews. Officers were called after family members of the boy took his lifeless body to a hospital. Police say they learned that the toddler had been left in Greenup’s care the night before while his mother was at work. Police say that’s when the boy was injured, and that Greenup knew the child was unable to breathe but failed to seek medical help for him.
