State Fairs in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin are offering free COVID-19 vaccinations. In Iowa, a vaccination booth among corn dog and funnel cake stands vaccinated 150 people in the first four days of the fair alone. And at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee, 608 people were vaccinated over 11 days, perhaps enticed by the promise of a free cream puff pastry. The Iowa State Fair, which runs through Sunday, does not require attendees to wear masks.
Meanwhile, this is the first year that all vendors at the Iowa State Fair are accepting credit cards as a form of payment. All vendors at the fair were required to buy and use a new cash register system, called Clover. The model that most vendors are using costs up to $750. Not only is it a contactless option for fairgoers, but other features of Clover include paperless receipts, inventory management, and sale tracking with item level reporting. But despite these new upgrades for vendors, fairgoers haven’t quite caught on. One vendor noted that more than 70% of its sales are still made with cash.
A new Iowa school superintendent is apologizing for plagiarizing parts of a welcome letter she sent to district families, acknowledging she copied several phrases word for word from a similar letter a New York superintendent wrote four years ago. Dr. Christine Trujillo, who recently started as superintendent of public schools in Gilbert, admitted that her Aug. 10 back-to-school letter was copied from a 2017 letter by Superintendent Gerard Poole of the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District in New York. Trujillo says she had no personal connection to Poole and she was in a hurry to get the letter out while preparing for the school year. Trujillo previously served as assistant superintendent of learning and leadership for Tempe Schools in Arizona.
Authorities say a 7-year-old girl has died from injuries she received in a go-cart accident in northern Iowa. It happened Sunday night near Rockwell. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called around 8:30 p.m. to a home after 7-year-old Bryclynn Blue Blackdeer was injured. Investigators say the girl was driving a homemade go-cart when it collided with a boat trailer. The girl died from her injuries.
A state official says the first Iowa redistricting maps will be delivered on Sept. 16, beginning the process for redrawing political boundaries for legislative and congressional districts. Ed Cook, legal counsel for the Iowa Legislative Services Agency, says the agency received updated software and U.S. Census data from a state vendor on Monday and will begin drawing new maps. Once the maps are delivered, state law gives a state commission 14 days to hold public hearings to gather public comment and prepare a report for the Iowa Legislature. Three days after they receive the report, lawmakers may meet in special session to vote on the maps. Normally, the maps are set by September 1, but census delays made it impossible to meet that goal.
Businesses in the Des Moines suburb of Johnston are complaining about smoke and ash billowing from a trash pile in the city that’s been burning for more than 10 days. A massive pile of construction materials, mulch and trees has been burning in front of Tyler Excavating since Aug. 6. Jeff Stephens is owner of Stephen’s Auto Sales, just a few doors down from the fire. He says his lot’s cars are covered in ash every day, requiring his employees to detail the cars repeatedly. The Johnston-Grimes Metropolitan Fire Department is equally unhappy, saying it’s been called out about a dozen times to extinguish fires that continue to erupt in the pile.
Police are seeking a man they say started his father’s home on fire over the weekend, leaving the elderly man to escape out of a bedroom window. Des Moines Police say 48-year-old Shane Lorenz is wanted in connection with a fire early Saturday morning. Lorenz’s father suffered minor injuries as he escaped the home. Police believe Lorenz intentionally set the fire. He is described as 5’9” and weighs about 190 pounds.
