From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.)
MOUNT AYR, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa woman whose husband died from a breakthrough COVID-19 infection is blaming Americans who refuse to mask or get vaccinated. The Des Moines Register reports that Ardith Keplinger said “that kind of attitude” killed Gary Keplinger. The Mount Ayr man was 77 when he died Aug. 11. The family held a small graveside service for him on Sept. 5, at a cemetery next to the farm where he grew up north of town. His widow said he had a rare autoimmune condition called myasthenia gravis that may have made him particularly susceptible to complications from the coronavirus.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A federal judge has ordered the state of Iowa to immediately halt enforcement of a law that prevents school boards from ordering masks to be worn to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Judge Robert Pratt said in an order signed Monday that the law passed in May substantially increases the risk of several children with health conditions of contracting COVID-19. Several parents with children that have various medical conditions sued the state. Pratt says he has looked at data on the effectiveness of masks to reduce spread of the virus and agrees with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics on mask wearing in schools. Gov. Kim Reynolds says the state will appeal.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The owners of a popular central Iowa park known for winter sledding and tubing have announced that Polk County plans to buy the park. The Des Moines Register reported the development Monday, saying Polk County will buy Sleepy Hollow Sports Park in Des Moines and take over winter sports operations at the park in 2023, with owners Rick and Mary Flatt running its camping operations and special events such as concerts and Halloween attractions that year. Polk County will take over all operations in 2024. The 76-acre facility opened in 1994 on Des Moines’ east side.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police are investigating after a woman was killed at a Des Moines home. Police say in a news release that someone called police around 8:30 p.m. Sunday to report a disturbance at the home and expressed concerns about a woman at the residence. Arriving officers found the body of 42-year-old Amber Burton, of Des Moines, and say she had been killed. Police did not say how she died. Detectives interviewed witnesses and gathered evidence, but police did not immediately report any arrests in the case. Burton’s death marked Des Moines’ seventh homicide this year.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Congressional Democrats have set out to pass ambitious bills with historic expansions of the social safety net and long-sought new programs. But that’s not how many politically vulnerable Democrats are selling them at home. For them, Washington’s spending boom has become a chance to deliver the goods, and win headlines and perhaps bipartisan support in their districts. Iowa rep. Cindy Axne was slow to get behind a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and was unhappy none of the money was targeted for a home state industry, ethanol and biodiesel. In the weeks since, she’s won assurances from congressional leaders that a separate multitrillion-dollar budget blueprint will include money for the renewable fuels. And now she’s on board.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) – Kansas’s state animal – the buffalo – is being celebrated at the State Fair this year with a 700-pound butter sculpture. The Hutchinson News reports that a sculptor from Iowa, Sarah Pratt, had to do some research on buffaloes before she designed this year’s butter statue. Pratt said that if she winds up with any extra butter she may add a buffalo calf or some sunflowers. Pratt, who teaches school by day, lives in West Des Moines with her husband and three children, all of whom help her out with sculpting – from the Kansas State Fair to fairs in Iowa or Illinois.
