A fifth person working at the Iowa Capitol has tested positive for coronavirus. Iowa House Chief Clerk Meghan Nelson says in a notification sent yesterday that the individual was last in the building last Thursday. She says the person worked on the House side of the building and had worn a face covering at all times. Two cases were reported this past Saturday and Rep. Amy Nielsen of North Liberty confirmed she was one of them which marked the first known case of an Iowa lawmaker contracting the virus during the session.
Democrats in Nevada are making a play to bump Iowa and New Hampshire from their early spots on the presidential primary calendar. If the move is successful, it would upend a half-century of political tradition in Iowa. Supporters say Nevada would give a more urban and racially diverse group of voters a greater say in picking the party’s nominee. The behind-the-scenes lobbying seeks to capitalize on the party’s discontent with what happened last year when the national party interfered with both Iowa’s and New Hampshire’s processes…and the party’s eventual nominee finished back in the pack in each state.
The Kerry food company is closing its Fredericksburg plant. The company said it has a capacity surplus and will streamline operations by moving the Iowa-based frozen food operations to one of their more than 50 other facilities in the U.S. The plant’s 81 employees will remain on the job through the end of March.
A suburban Des Moines insurance agent has been charged with multiple felony counts after state officials say he collected thousands of dollars in premiums for nonexistent insurance policies after his license was revoked. The Iowa Insurance Division says 35-year-old Adam Hocking of Windsor Heights has been charged with insurance fraud, theft, fraudulent sales practices and forgery. The division’s fraud bureau said yesterday that Hocking actively engaged in the business of insurance after his license had been revoked for a period of five years last October. Officials say he also created fictitious insurance policies and collected insurance premiums, leading victims to believe they had valid insurance coverage.
The month of February sees a long-time event returning to downtown Waterloo…it’s Taste of Loo, which has been held for more than 20 years. A dozen restaurants are participating in the event…Jessica Rucker, director of Main Street Waterloo, explains why February was chosen as the month for this year’s Taste of Loo. Learn more by going to mainstreetwaterloo.org.
Tom Vilsack’s nomination for another term as U.S. secretary of agriculture was voted out of the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously yesterday. In his testimony, the former Iowa governor heavily endorsed boosting climate-friendly agricultural industries such as the creation of biofuels.
A Des Moines group has launched a $3 million campaign to bring back and revamp the iconic Varsity Theatre near the Drake University campus in Des Moines. The movie theater was a go-to venue known as an “art house” cinema that showed mostly independent and foreign films from the 1960s until it closed three years ago. The Des Moines Film Society’s campaign seeks to transform the one-screen theater into a modern cinema and film center dedicated full-time to screening first-run, foreign and independent films, among other screening events. The effort comes as Drake, developers and business owners are investing millions to improve and expand the University Avenue business district known as Dogtown.
