From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is going into Christmas week with continued high levels of coronavirus activity and no significant gains in vaccination. The Iowa Department of Public Health said 788 people were hospitalized on Monday, a slight decline from Friday’s 810. The agency said 171 people remained in intensive care, one person less than on Friday. The CDC says 64.1% of Iowans have received at least one dose of vaccine, leaving more than 35% of the population still unvaccinated. Eastern Iowa hospitals Mercy Cedar Rapids and UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s announced last week they would postpone elective surgeries that weren’t urgent until after Christmas because of the increased patient load “has placed increasing strain on both hospitals’ capacity and staffing.”
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge in Missouri has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors from being enforced in 10 states that sued. The order Monday comes on top of a nationwide injunction against the mandate issued earlier this month by a federal judge in Georgia. Under orders from President Joe Biden’s administration, all new, renewed or extended federal contracts were to include clause requiring employees to be fully vaccinated Jan. 18. The contractor requirement is separate from vaccine mandates that Biden also has issued for health care workers and for businesses with more than 100 employees. All face legal challenges.
DECORAH, Iowa (AP) — A public memorial service is planned for two teenagers killed in an accident near Decorah. KCRG-TV reports that the public celebration of the lives of 18-year-old Dalton Hemesath of of Ridgeway and 18-year-old Karter Einck of Decorah will be at 5 p.m. Thursday at Decorah High School. Three other teenagers were seriously injured in the accident that happened Friday night in a rural area of Winneshiek County. An accident report said the driver of an SUV lost control. The vehicle rolled three times before landing on its tires.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A prison review that was ordered after two inmates killed a guard and a nurse has found that major staffing problems and overcrowding persist. The Des Moines Register reports that improved training and better pay also were recommended in the summary findings that the Iowa Department of Corrections released Monday. The state paid nearly $500,000 to consulting firm CGL Companies to review security after the April beating deaths of nurse Lorena Schulte and correctional officer Robert McFarland at the maximum-security Anamosa State Penitentiary.
O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that swept across the north-central U.S. last week has been classified by the National Weather Service as a serial derecho — the first on record December. At least 45 tornadoes have been preliminarily confirmed in the Dec. 15 storms that crossed the Great Plains and Midwest amid unseasonably warm temperatures. Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota took the brunt of the damage. Five deaths were blamed on the weather. A derecho shares similarities to a hurricane, but it has no eye and its winds come across in a line. The similarity is in the damage, which is likely to spread over a wide area.
ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Roxy the dog is more than a beloved family pet — she’s a lifesaver. WHO-TV reports that an Ankeny, Iowa, family is crediting Roxy with alerting them when the odorless gas carbon monoxide leaked into their home. It happened Dec. 13. Brad Harbert said Roxy is normally mild-mannered, but that night she was unusually active, jumping up and down on the bed. Harbert then heard the home’s carbon monoxide detector go off. He jumped out of bed and Roxy went to Hartbert’s son’s door and began scratching at it. Harbert gathered his son, father and the dog and left the home. The leak came from a fireplace.
