3:53 p.m. – Iowa astrophysicist is eager to see what the massive new NASA telescope will find
NASA’s new space telescope will allow researchers around the world to look toward the edges of the universe.
A scientist at the University of Iowa hopes to learn more about how stars and galaxies are made.
The James Webb Space Telescope is more than double the size of the Hubble telescope and designed to see infrared light that’s just now reaching Earth from the first galaxies created after the Big Bang.
University of Iowa astrophysicist Keri Hoadley studies how stars form out of clouds of gas. She says with the Webb telescope, scientists will be able to look back in time to see how the process worked in the beginning. “The Big Bang created the universe, but how did we get from there to today, where we see galaxies all over the place, and we see those galaxies full of stars, and we have planets around all these stars?”
The rocket carrying the Webb telescope is scheduled to launch early Christmas morning, but the real gifts of the mission won’t begin arriving until around six months later, when it’s expected to be up and running.
Hoadley says the data captured by the Webb telescope will all be archived and will eventually be made public for researchers around the world.
3 p.m. - Adventureland, Iowa’s largest amusement park, sold to global chain
Adventureland, the family-owned amusement park in Altoona, Iowa, has been sold to the subsidiary of an international company.
Adventureland opened in 1974 and has 100 rides. According to a news release from the City of Altoona, the new owners plan to add 10 new rides in the next two years.
Palace Entertainment is based in Pennsylvania and operates two dozen entertainment venues in the United States, including Noah’s Ark Waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells. It’s part of a global chain based in Spain.
The Adventureland property includes a hotel, water park and campgrounds and is valued at $24 million by the Polk County Assessor. The terms of the sale to Palace Entertainment were not disclosed.
A spokesman for the company told The Des Moines Register he could not comment on whether liability for a lawsuit over an accident in the park this summer would transfer to the new owner. The family of a boy who drowned in the now-closed “Raging River” ride have accused Adventureland of negligence.
1 p.m. - USDA overpaid corn farmers by $3B in 2019, says federal watchdog agency
The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019, and farmers in the South were paid more for the same crops than those elsewhere in the country, a federal watchdog agency has found.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday that international disputes resulting from tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump hurt farmers, but that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s county-by-county methodology for computing the extent of damage was flawed, leading to overpayment and inconsistent compensation.
“Though corn yields are higher in the Midwest and West, corn producers received an estimated average of $69 per acre in the South, $61 in the Midwest, $34 in the Northeast, and $29 in the West,” the report said.
GAO also estimated that payments to corn producers were approximately $3 billion more than USDA’s estimate of trade damage to corn, while payments to soybeans, sorghum, and cotton producers were lower than their estimated trade damages.
National Corn Growers Association CEO Jon Doggett said the USDA’s higher compensation for corn farmers in 2019 included items the GAO did not consider in its analysis, including the trade damage value for corn ethanol and a high protein livestock feed byproduct of ethanol production.
“Both 2018 and 2019 were terrible years for farmers who experienced net losses due to decisions in Washington and adverse weather conditions. In fact, farmers suffered a $6.3 billion loss in 2018 alone during that time because of the tariffs.”
GAO recommended that the USDA Office of the Chief Economist revise its internal review process to ensure transparency of its documentation and that the agency conduct a review to ensure proper baseline methods are used in analysis.
Reporting via the Associated Press
11:12 a.m. - State reports 119 additional deaths, 10,381 new cases of COVID-19 over the last week
Weekly COVID-19 numbers for Iowa (from Dec 15 to Dec 22) 10,381 new cases Total: 563,279 119 new deaths Total: 7,799 747 hospitalized (823 last week) 81.5% not fully vaxed 4,522,702 number doses administered 1,820,063 (55.5%) IA residents fully vaccinated@IowaPublicRadio
Iowa health officials are reporting COVID-19 hospitalizations and test positivity rates have dropped, but experts are still warning Iowans to be cautious over the holidays.
State health officials announced Wednesday that 747 Iowans are hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s down from 823 last week.
The 14-day test positivity rate has fallen to 10.8 percent from 11.3 percent last week.
But experts say Iowans shouldn’t let their guards down, as the highly transmissible omicron variant continues to spread.
Mike Brownlee is the chief pharmacy officer at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. “There are still a large number of unvaccinated individuals in the state of Iowa, a number of individuals that are not boosted yet. And those that are at the highest risk at this point for potentially getting COVID and leading to a hospitalization.”
Experts say the state’s health care system is strained. “In the near future, we're trying to make sure that we can maintain our workforce that continues to be a struggle not only for us, but for hospitals around the state of Iowa,” says Brownlee.
State officials confirmed an additional 119 deaths in the past week and 10,381 new infections.
8 a.m. - Des Moines water utility board approves plans to begin negotiations over regional water system
Des Moines Water Works is ready to move forward with negotiations to create a regional water utility in central Iowa. The question now is whether suburban water systems will join.
Preliminary talks about a Central Iowa Water Works have been going on for years. The Des Moines Water Works board says passing a non-binding resolution shows the utility is serious about pooling resources with suburban water systems.
The idea involves sharing source water that would be sold back to the member utilities at a price set by the regional system.
Des Moines Water Works CEO Ted Corrigan says after years of discussion, it’s time to make decisions.
“We need to know who’s going to be involved because who is involved will make a big difference in how this will work.”
Next month the West Des Moines and Urbandale Water Works will vote on whether they will join the talks over creating a regional utility.
1:07 p.m. – Iowa House Minority Leader says workforce crisis is her top priority ahead of the legislative session
The top Democrat in the Iowa House of Representatives says her number one priority for the upcoming legislative session is addressing the state’s workforce crisis.
House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst says addressing the workforce crisis should include increasing education funding and making more affordable housing and child care available.
Konfrst and other Democrats are attributing Iowa’s workforce shortage to Republican leaders’ policies over the past few years, even as the whole country is facing workforce problems. “Iowa really has a lot to offer and could have a unique space in that workforce challenge if we took the bold steps needed to try to attract people here. Instead, we’re talking about crazy social media conspiracies that are turning into legislation that then make national headlines that then make people decide, ‘I don’t want to go live in that state when they’re talking about putting teachers in jail.’”
She was referring to some Republican lawmakers’ push for legislation to punish teachers who make so-called obscene books available to students.
Konfrst says Republican-led efforts to fix the workforce shortage in recent years haven’t worked.
12:14 p.m. - Iowa Democrats say they’re working on their own tax change proposal after GOP lawmakers said they want to cut income taxes
The top Democrat in the Iowa House of Representatives says Democrats are working on their own proposal for tax changes.
That’s after Republican leaders — who control the statehouse — say they want to cut income taxes next year. Some are saying their goal is to eliminate the income tax.
House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst says eliminating the income tax is extreme and would gut half the state budget. “I think that when we do look at tax policy in the state of Iowa, it all needs to be focused on those middle class families who’ve been left out of previous tax cuts, right? Corporate tax cuts haven’t helped middle class families, tax cuts on the rich haven’t helped middle class families. If we’re going to talk tax cuts, let’s make sure it’s for the people who deserve them.”
Republican and Democratic leaders have not yet released specific tax cut plans.
The next legislative session is scheduled to begin Jan. 10.
8:30 a.m. - Dec. 15 storms classified as derecho
A line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that swept across the north-central U.S. last week was the result of a serial derecho — the first on record in December, officials with the National Weather Service said Monday.
At least 45 tornadoes have been preliminarily confirmed in the Dec. 15 storms that crossed the Great Plains and Midwest amid unseasonably warm temperatures, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center. Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota took the brunt of the damage.
Bunting said at least 12 of the tornadoes were rated EF-2. Many of the thunderstorms also carried winds of up to 80 mph. Five deaths were blamed on the weather.
Bunting said that normally in December, air from the Gulf of Mexico has cooled, and colder air is present in the upper Midwest — factors that reduce the risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. But this year, “we haven’t had much of a winter,” he said.
“So you had a very strong storm system with really somewhat unprecedented access to very warm, humid air that flows northward, and those are the ingredients that you look for severe thunderstorms,” Bunting said. “The result was quite remarkable for December.”
A derecho is often described as an inland 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, unlike a tornado where the damage is more spotty.
The weather service said a wind damage swath extending more than 240 miles with wind gusts of at least 58 mph along most of its length can be classified as a derecho.
A derecho was also declared in August 2020 when storms packing 100 mph winds lasted several hours and caused damage from eastern Nebraska, across Iowa and into parts of Wisconsin and Illinois.
There was a difference: The August 2020 storm was a progressive derecho, while last week’s was a serial derecho. The weather service said a progressive derecho is fueled by a hot and moist environment with relatively strong winds aloft. Serial derechos are produced by storms with strong winds that bow outward, the service said. They sweep across an area both long and wide, driven by the presence of very strong winds in the atmosphere.
The unprecedented December warm spell included temperatures that rose to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) as far north as Wisconsin, creating evening temperatures that weather historian Chris Burt compared to that of a “warm July evening.”
Entry via the Associated Press
8 a.m. – Following threats to school, law enforcement encourages parents to monitor students’ social media
Woodbury County law enforcement is encouraging parents to monitor students’ social media after threats of violence from students last Friday.
The Sioux City Police department arrested nine students last week for making threats to their schools over social media.
County Sheriff Chad Sheehan says the police will continue to ensure school districts remain safe for children. “This is not a joke. It’s not funny whether it’s on TikTok or Snapchat or whatever it is. This is very serious. It will be taken very seriously and you will be held accountable.”
School district officials say the students will face punishment from the school as well, but they implore parents to have conversations with students on the impact of social media posts.
3:45 p.m. - Top Republican in the Iowa House hasn’t committed to bill that would prohibit vaccine requirements
The Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives hasn’t committed to passing a bill that would prohibit employers from requiring vaccines.
A group of House Republicans has been working on a bill to ban employer vaccine mandates. About two months ago, the legislature passed a new law that expanded the ability for workers to refuse COVID-19 vaccines, and some Iowans who were still fired have claimed unemployment benefits under the new law. Some Republican lawmakers and groups that oppose vaccines said the law didn’t go far enough.
Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, says there’s a lot of uncertainty with ongoing court cases against federal workplace vaccine mandates. “So as far as a bill that would completely ban it, again, some of that is going to see how that plays out. But I always remind everyone with this topic, we did take some significant action to make sure we could provide that level of support for Iowans who may be wanting to make an alternative choice.”
Gov. Kim Reynolds has joined legal challenges of all three federal mandates. Two are currently blocked by courts.
3:45 a.m. - Speaker of the Iowa House says cutting taxes is his number one priority
The top Republican in the Iowa House of Representatives says his number one priority for the upcoming legislative session is cutting taxes.
House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, says he wants to get money back to Iowa taxpayers “as quickly as possible,” as recent inflation makes some things more expensive.
Grassley says Iowa’s current budget surplus leaves room for tax cuts without having to cut funding for services. “And I don’t think anyone has settled on ‘hey, this will be the plan,’ but I think what we want to be able to do is continue to show that we’re making progress on Iowa’s income tax rates.”
Senate Republicans have called for major cuts with the goal of eliminating the income tax. Grassley says they’re not on the same page in terms of the details of potential tax cuts, but they have the same end goal.
Republican lawmakers passed tax cuts earlier this year, but they don’t take effect until 2023.
Democratic leaders say cuts should be targeted to middle and low income Iowans, and that eliminating the income tax would be a catastrophe for the state.
3:32 p.m. - Review of Iowa prisons finds crowding and staffing are still problems
A review of Iowa prisons finds that security procedures have improved since two staff members were killed in March. But crowding and staff recruiting are still two of the main problems within the system.
According to a report summary by the consulting firm CGL Companies, Iowa corrections facilities are holding more than 8,000 inmates, 16 percent more than they were designed to handle.
It also says workers are required to work many hours of overtime to make up for staffing shortages. The report recommends retention bonuses to encourage workers to keep their jobs.
The Iowa Department of Corrections ordered the review after nurse Lorena Schulte and correctional officer Robert MacFarland were killed by two inmates attempting to escape the Anamosa State Penitentiary.
Thomas Woodard and Michael Dutcher pleaded guilty to the murders and were ordered to serve life sentences in prisons outside of Iowa.
11:59 a.m. - State reports 10.8% 14-day test positivity rate
Monday COVID-19 numbers for Iowa 10.8% 14-day test positivity rate 7,680 total deaths 788 hospitalized (80.9% not fully vaccinated) 69.9% IA residents 18+ fully vaccinated 73.6% IA residents 12+ with at least one dose@IowaPublicRadio
11:29 a.m. - Iowa’s cow-calf producers face new challenges from 2021 drought
Iowa cow-calf producers are dealing with a host of challenges following this year’s drought. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has some meetings planned in the new year to help them.
Dustin Puhrmann says his 20 cows grazed his O’Brien County pastures down farther than he would’ve liked to see this past summer. The grass didn’t get enough moisture to grow back.
Puhrmann says many farmers he worked with had to feed their cows and calves supplemental proteins and feed to get through the summer months. Now farmers buying hay in the winter are paying more.
“To feed those cows is going to cost me a lot more money this winter to get them back to where they're grazing again next summer.”
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will hold a series of meetings in late January in northwest Iowa to help producers recover.
They’ll talk about how producers can repair pastures and what financial assistance is out there.
Updated from 8 a.m. entry
11 a.m. - Ernst, Miller-Meeks say there’s more to do to address sexual assault in military
The two members of Iowa’s congressional delegation who are military veterans say more must be done to reform how the military justice system handles sexual assault cases.
Policy inserted in a military funding bill makes sexual harassment a crime in the Uniform Code of Military Justice for the first time in the history of the U.S. military. However, commanders will still be allowed to choose witnesses and the jury members who’ll decide such cases. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak who is a retired Iowa National Guard commander, says while she’s disappointed the policy doesn’t go as far as she’d like, some changes are being made.
“We have seen a number of momentous steps forward, very critical steps forward so that we can help prevent sexual assault and hold accountable those who commit atrocities against our service members,” Ernst says. “but we still have a long ways to go.”
Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottuwma, a Republican who retired after a career in the Army, says while the original proposal was “watered down,” there has been some progress.
“There are individuals, both who have been in the military and who have not but have had a lot of experience with the military, that were concerned about circumventing the chain of command or going through an individual legal process, a prosecutorial process without it going through the chain of command,” Miller-Meeks says. “I think for sexual harassment, that was an important part of the bill and we’ll continue to work on that issue.”
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has supported having independent prosecutors handle sexual assault and sexual harassment cases in the military for more than a decade. Ernst signed onto the proposal this summer.
9 a.m. – Substance use among teens dropped in 2021
Substance use among teens decreased in 2021 according to data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed 32,000 teens at more than 300 schools about illicit drug use.
This year, 25 percent fewer teens reported using marijuana, alcohol or nicotine in the past year compared to 2020. It’s the largest year-to-year drop in teen substance use in the 46 years the survey has been conducted.
Lead researcher Richard Miech says the decline is likely due to school closures during the pandemic.
“If you stick your kid at home all day, and you don't let them out, they have much less opportunity to use drugs.”
Overall, one in ten 8th graders, one in five 10th graders and one-third of all 12th graders said they used illicit drugs in the past year.
Entry via Side Effects Media
5:09 p.m. - State reports 11.1% 14-day test positivity rate
Friday COVID-19 numbers for Iowa 11.1% 14-day test positivity rate 7,680 total deaths 810 hospitalized (81.1% not fully vaccinated) 69.8% IA residents 18+ fully vaccinated 73.4% IA residents 12+ with at least one dose@IowaPublicRadio
3:37 p.m. - Cedar Rapids hospitals cite rising COVID patient count, postpone elective surgeries
The two hospitals in Cedar Rapids have postponed all elective surgeries that had scheduled “through Christmas” due to a rising number of COVID-19 patients.
St. Luke’s and Mercy Hospitals in Cedar Rapids issued a joint statement, saying throughout the last few weeks there’s been a marked increase in patients with COVID-19 who require inpatient care.
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the COVID-19 patient count in all Iowa hospitals exceeded 800 this week, a record high for the year. The two Cedar Rapids hospitals say their staff are physically and emotionally exhausted as this fourth wave of the disease caused by the coronavirus infections hits.
The hospitals’ joint statement ended by urging people to get vaccinated, wear a mask in public and avoid large gatherings.
11:47 a.m. – Episcopal Diocese of Iowa will ordain its first female bishop
The first female bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa will be ordained this weekend.
Rev. Betsey Monnot will be the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. She will also be the first female bishop to serve since the Diocese was organized in 1853.
Monnot was elected last summer out of three other candidates, all of them women.
“That stained glass ceiling is breaking. It is shattering. And I want to say that in Iowa, more than half of our congregations are primarily led by female clergy. So there’s been a lot of cracks in that stained glass ceiling and tomorrow, it will shatter.”
The church’s presiding bishop Rev. Michael Curry says there is plenty of room for everyone, not just in the church, but in life. And he wants the church to serve as an example of that. “And then let the church help the society learn how we can be a place where there's room for everybody equally. And when that begins to happen, we'll have a different world, not just a different church, but a different world.”
Monnot’s ordination and consecration service will be this Saturday. More than 400 people are expected to attend the event, which will follow COVID-19 precautions.
11:45 a.m. – Tyson to spend $1.3 billion to automate plant processing lines
Meatpacking giant Tyson Foods plans to spend $1.3 billion over the next three years to automate parts of its processing lines.
Tyson says the automation will cut more than 3,000 difficult, hard-to-fill jobs in its plants through 2024, primarily debone-ing roles in chicken operations.
Economist and researcher Daron Acemoglu says it’s a sign of the times.
“The agricultural part of automation is something that’s very active right now. Companies are trying to develop robots for picking fruits, other parts of the agricultural production chain. I think it’s the next frontier in some sense.”
The robotization is driven by labor shortages and soaring demand for meat, according to Tyson.
10 a.m. - Media groups sue Gov. Reynolds over open records law
Three media organizations and their reporters sued Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday, alleging she has repeatedly violated the state’s open records laws by ignoring requests for government records.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is representing Laura Belin, who operates the left-leaning Bleeding Heartland blog; Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council; and Clark Kauffman, a reporter for the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
The reporters say they have tried to get public records from Reynolds’ office starting as early as April 2020 without success, despite waiting for months and, in some cases, well over a year. Often, the governor’s office didn’t acknowledge the records requests or respond to inquiries.
The lawsuit seeks an order finding that Reynolds’ office violated the law, compelling her office to provide the requested records to the reporters and an order for the governor’s office to comply with future requests in a timely manner.
A spokesman for the Republican governor did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the lawsuit.
Iowa’s Open Records Law is designed to guarantee the public has access to the public records of government bodies at all levels, with no exception for the governor’s office. The law does not allow public officials to delay access to records for an unreasonable amount of time.
Reynolds also has been seeking to dismiss lawsuits filed by Utah attorney Suzette Rasmussen, who asked for documents from Reynolds’ office and the Iowa Department of Public Health in March that included information about the state’s contracts with Utah-based Nomi Health for COVID-19 testing. Reynolds and the health department provided information months later, after the lawsuit was filed, then argued the cases were moot because the state complied.
Reporting via the Associated Press
8 a.m. – Iowa dentists ask state to add more to Medicaid budget for dental care
Iowa dentists are asking the state to add more than $30 million to the Medicaid budget for dental care.
Laurie Traetow is the executive director of the Iowa Dental Association. At the governor’s public budget hearing Thursday, she said the amount dentists get paid for treating patients who rely on Medicaid for their insurance has been the same for 20 years.
“For reference, dental Medicaid rates in Iowa now only reimburse between 30 cents to 40 cents for each dollar of care provided. Due to the ongoing underfunding of this program, Iowa has seen a decrease in dentists taking on new Medicaid patients, which creates access to care issues for the children and adults receiving Medicaid dental benefits.”
Traetow says patients often have to travel to get dental services and are put on long waitlists
The state of Iowa has a large budget surplus, and Republican leaders are advocating for using that for more tax cuts.
8 a.m. – Reynolds says next legislative session is opportunity for tax cuts
Gov. Kim Reynolds says she thinks the next legislative session is an opportunity for “generational tax relief.”
At her public budget hearing Thursday, several business groups and others asked Reynolds to use the state’s budget surplus to enact sweeping income tax cuts on top of those passed earlier this year.
Reynolds says she wants to send that money back to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts.
“We’re not competitive. We’re not near where we need to be. I’m looking forward to working with you and the legislature in really passing generational tax relief. Which I believe we have the capacity and we absolutely should be moving in that direction.”
Reynolds and other top state Republicans have not yet released specific plans for tax cuts. Democrats say any tax cuts should be targeted to middle and lower income Iowans.
Business groups also asked for corporate tax cuts, but Republican leaders have said they’d like to reform corporate tax credits first. The next legislative session is scheduled for Jan. 10.
8 a.m. – Iowa universities to face off at championship game Saturday
Two Iowa universities will face off at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Football championship Saturday.
This is the first time Morningside University in Sioux City and Grand View University in Des Moines will vie against each other for the title.
Morningside students and faculty cheered for their football team as they hit the road for Durham, North Carolina Tuesday.
Junior Garrett Arbuckle was among the over 60 fans gathered to send off the team. “The atmosphere on campus since last Saturday when we won against Northwestern has been pure and utter excitement. Everyone’s ready to get done with the semester and get out to North Carolina to support Mustang football.”
This is the third time in the last four years Morningside has played in the title game. It will be Grand View’s first appearance since winning the championship in 2013.
Arbuckle says he’s excited to know the title will be coming home to Iowa either way, but he hopes it ends up in Sioux City.
The game starts at 6 p.m. at Durham County Memorial Stadium.