The first COVID-19 vaccines in the Cedar Valley arrived yesterday at UnityPoint and MercyOne hospitals in Waterloo, and those taking care of COVID-19 patients were among the first to receive them. UnityPoint Health Waterloo Chief Medical Officer Dr. Russell Adams, who is also a practicing physician, received the first known vaccination in the Cedar Valley over the noon hour. While MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center also vaccinated its first employee — Janel Clark, a respiratory therapist – around 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, it’s not clear why Iowa will receive fewer doses of coronavirus vaccine than initially promised by the federal government. The Iowa Department of Public Health said yesterday the state’s allocation would be reduced by about a third…and that distributions were also being lowered to other states. No explanation was given for the change in allocation amounts. Iowa has received 26,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, with another 19,500 doses expected Sunday. In addition, 53,800 doses of the Moderna vaccine, approved by the government for use yesterday, may arrive in Iowa before the end of the weekend…total vaccines of more than 138-thousand before the end of the month. Iowa reported an additional 97 deaths in a 24-hour-period ending Thursday, making the state’s death toll 3,451.
A judge has ruled that the federal government must pay landowners on the lower Missouri River for flooding damage caused by the Army Corps of Engineers’ efforts to protect endangered species. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Nancy Firestone ruled this week that the Corps caused increased flooding by changing habitat on the river to comply with the Endangered Species Act. She says that violated constitutional protections against taking property without compensation. The ruling affects property owners along the Missouri from Sioux City to St. Louis, although not all landowners will qualify for payments. The ruling doesn’t cover all flood-related damages.
The former manager of a northwest Iowa credit union has entered a plea of not guilty in connection with a nearly $1.5 million scheme. Janine Keim is charged with embezzlement and making false statements. Prosecutors say Keim and at least one other employee at Consumers Credit Union in Denison embezzled the money between May 2012 and March 2018. She also is accused of filing false reports to conceal the missing money. The business is now called Cobalt Credit Union. The credit union’s former head teller, Brenda Jensen of Denison, is awaiting sentencing after entering a plea of guilty in October to embezzlement.
A new monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy is improving in rural parts of Iowa and 9 other Plains and Western states. But Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said the region still has about 95,000 fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic began, and it will take many months of growth to erase all the job losses. The overall index for the region improved to 51.6 in December from November’s 46.8. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy.
The U.S. Border Patrol says a man later determined to be wanted in connection with an Iowa homicide was fatally shot after his vehicle went around an immigration checkpoint in southern New Mexico. The Border Patrol says it wasn’t immediately known whether the man killed himself or was struck by Border Patrol agents’ gunfire when they returned his fire during a pursuit Wednesday. The incident began at a checkpoint on a highway near Las Cruces and ended west of Truth or Consequences. The Border Patrol said a female passenger in the car was taken into custody. No identities were released and no details were provided on the Iowa homicide.
An Iowa man who was 16 in 1994 when he fatally shot a 15-year-old classmate after the two argued over a girl has been granted parole. The Iowa Board of Parole decided to release 42-year-old Michael Coffman after a hearing Wednesday. Coffman was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Jeremy Allen at Ottumwa High School and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who kill can’t automatically be sentenced to life with no chance of parole. That led Coffman’s sentence to be changed in 2017 to allow for the possibility of parole…which was, in fact, granted this week.
