Iowa public health officials say they are temporarily stopping the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine as federal health agencies investigate incidents of rare blood clots. The Iowa Department of Public Health announced the pause yesterday at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of a severe type of blood clot in individuals after they received the J&J vaccine. More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S. Iowa was to receive 1,800 doses of J&J vaccine this week alone. The state is still expecting to get more than 43,200 doses of Pfizer vaccine and 31,800 doses of Moderna. A student vaccination clinic for the J&J vaccine was cancelled yesterday at the University of Northern Iowa; more than 500 students had signed up to get the single shot vaccine.
Iowa lawmakers for the fourth time have approved restrictions aimed at stopping animal welfare activists from trespassing to document animal care at livestock farms. The latest bill passed the Iowa House on Monday night after getting through the Senate last week. The bill received bipartisan support in both chambers and is likely to be signed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has supported such efforts in the past. Courts threw out or suspended two previous laws. A third, passed last year that is still in force, allows someone to be charged with criminal trespassing for entering a food operation without consent.
A man charged in the February killing of an Ames woman has entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the case. 33-year-old Richard Fleck submitted a written plea of not guilty this week. Police in Des Moines arrested Fleck in March following an attack on a Des Moines woman who was hospitalized with serious facial injuries. After Fleck’s arrest, Des Moines police learned he had been sought for several weeks following the death of Ranea Bell of Ames. Fleck is charged with first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a gun, among other counts, in connection with Bell’s death.
The funeral will be held Friday morning for Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, who was killed while trying to arrest a man barricaded in his Grundy Center home last Friday night. The patrol and Smith’s family announced a visitation will be held from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow at Reiff Family Center-Funeral Home and Crematory in Independence. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Independence Community High School. The public is welcome to attend, but masks are required. Smith, a 27-year-veteran of the patrol, was shot and killed during a standoff with 41-year-old Michael Thomas Lang. Authorities have charged Lang with first-degree murder. He remains hospitalized at last report.
An Iowa man has been sentenced to nearly three decades in federal prison for making and receiving child pornography. Federal prosecutors for the Southern District of Iowa say 49-year-old Ryan Don Andrew Ford of Centerville was sentenced this week to 27 years in prison. There is no parole in the federal system. Investigators say that in 2018, Ford secretly recorded three minors using hidden cameras he had placed around his home, including in the shower. Prosecutors say Ford then distributed some of the images he had captured to others. Officials say from 2018 to 2019 Ford also downloaded hundreds of images and videos of child pornography from the internet.
Multiple people were arrested after a brief investigation following a report of a disturbance near the center of town in Ossian. 19-year-old Michael Foland of Calmar, 20-year-old Joshua Koller of Calmar, 20-year-old Carson Larson of Fayette and a fourth individual, Sydney Winter, all arrested and charged with various drug possession with intent to deliver charges. This all happened when Winneshiek County officials received a report of a vehicle on Main Street with two intoxicated person…fireworks and alcohol containers were also in the area and a gun was found in the vehicle.
A man was arrested for assaulting a woman and abducting his two-year-old child Monday evening in Fayette County. Officials say 36-year-old Joshua Sandhagen went to a house in Westgate and took the child after assaulting a woman. Sandhagen was located and arrested in Hazelton and the child was safely located at a residence in Lamont. He’s been is charged with Domestic Assault Causing Bodily Injury and was taken to the Fayette County Jail.
