The season’s first snowstorm is over and it left plenty of the white stuff behind. Snowfall totals from Tuesday (12/29) range from an inch and a half in Albia, two inches in Montezuma, and four inches in Ottumwa, to six to eight inches in Pella, eight and a half inches in Monroe to ten inches of new snow in Knoxville. Keep in mind some of the precipitation came in the form of freezing rain and ice. So give yourself extra time to travel…and if you left your vehicle outside overnight, give yourself extra time to scrape the ice off your windows. Crews are out plowing highways and streets. If you are traveling, give yourself plenty of travel time, be cautious on bridges and overpasses, and keep a safe distance from snow plows.
Fate of Trump’s $2,000 checks now rests with GOP-led Senate
By LISA MASCARO and JILL COLVIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s push for $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks now rests with the Senate after the House voted overwhelmingly to meet the president’s demand to increase the $600 stipends, but Republicans have shown little interest in boosting spending.
The outcome is highly uncertain heading into Tuesday’s session. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has declined to publicly address how he plans to handle the issue. But Democrats, sharing a rare priority with Trump, have seized on the opportunity to force Republicans into a difficult vote of either backing or defying the outgoing president.
After bipartisan approval by the House, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned, “There is no good reason for Senate Republicans to stand in the way.”
“There’s strong support for these $2,000 emergency checks from every corner of the country,” Schumer said in a statement late Monday. He called on McConnell to make sure the Senate helps “meet the needs of American workers and families who are crying out for help.”
The House tally was a stunning turn of events. Just days ago Republicans blocked Trump’s sudden demands for bigger checks during a brief Christmas Eve session as he defiantly refused to sign the broader COVID-19 aid and year-end funding bill into law.
As Trump spent days fuming from his private club in Florida, where he is spending the holidays, dozens of Republicans calculated it was better to link with Democrats to increase the pandemic stipend rather than buck the outgoing president and constituents counting on the money. Democrats led passage, 275-134, but 44 Republicans joined almost all Democrats in approval.
Senators were set to return to session Tuesday amid similar, stark GOP divisions between those who align with Trump’s populist instincts and others who adhere to what had been more traditional conservative views against government spending. Congress had settled on smaller $600 payments in a compromise over the big year-end relief bill Trump reluctantly signed into law.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared, “Republicans have a choice: Vote for this legislation or vote to deny the American people the bigger paychecks they need.”
The showdown could end up as more symbol than substance if Trump’s effort fizzles out in the Senate.
The legislative action during the rare holiday week session may do little to change the $2 trillion-plus COVID-19 relief and federal spending package Trump signed into law Sunday, one of the biggest bills of its kind providing relief for millions of Americans.
That package — $900 billion in COVID-19 aid and $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies — will deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and avert a federal government shutdown that otherwise would have started Tuesday, in the midst of the public health crisis.
But the outcome will define Trump’s GOP, putting a spotlight on the Georgia runoff election Jan. 5 where two Republican senators are in the fights of their political lives against Democrats in a pair of races that will determine which party controls the Senate next year.
Together with votes Monday and Tuesday to override Trump’s veto of a sweeping defense bill, it’s potentially one last confrontation between the president and the Republican Party he leads as he imposes fresh demands and disputes the results of the presidential election. The new Congress is set to be sworn in Sunday.
Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged the division and said Congress had already approved ample funds during the COVID-19 crisis. “Nothing in this bill helps anybody get back to work,” he said.
Aside from the direct $600 checks to most Americans, the COVID-19 portion of the bill revives a weekly pandemic jobless benefit boost — this time $300, through March 14 — as well as a popular Paycheck Protection Program of grants to businesses to keep workers on payrolls. It extends eviction protections, adding a new rental assistance fund.
The COVID-19 package draws and expands on an earlier effort from Washington. It offers billions of dollars for vaccine purchases and distribution, for virus contact tracing, public health departments, schools, universities, farmers, food pantry programs and other institutions and groups facing hardship in the pandemic.
Americans earning up to $75,000 will qualify for the direct $600 payments, which are phased out at higher income levels, and there’s an additional $600 payment per dependent child.
Meantime the government funding portion of the bill keeps federal agencies nationwide running without dramatic changes until Sept. 30.
President-elect Joe Biden told reporters at an event in Wilmington, Delaware, that he supported the $2,000 checks.
Trump’s sudden decision to sign the bill came as he faced escalating criticism from lawmakers on all sides over his eleventh-hour demands. The bipartisan bill negotiated by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had already passed the House and Senate by wide margins. Lawmakers had thought they had Trump’s blessing after months of negotiations with his administration.
The president’s defiant refusal to act, publicized with a heated video he tweeted just before the Christmas holiday, sparked chaos, a lapse in unemployment benefits for millions and the threat of a government shutdown in the pandemic. It was another crisis of his own making, resolved when he ultimately signed the bill into law.
In his statement about the signing, Trump repeated his frustrations with the COVID-19 relief bill for providing only $600 checks to most Americans and complained about what he considered unnecessary spending, particularly on foreign aid — much of it proposed by his own budget.
While the president insisted he would send Congress “a redlined version” with spending items he wants removed, those are merely suggestions to Congress. Democrats said they would resist such cuts.
For now, the administration can only begin work sending out the $600 payments.
Most House Republicans simply shrugged off Trump’s push, 130 of them voting to reject the higher checks that would pile $467 billion in additional costs. Another 20 House Republicans — including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, a Trump confidant — skipped the vote, despite pandemic procedures that allow lawmakers to vote by proxy to avoid travel to the Capitol. McCarthy was recovering at home from elbow surgery, his office said.
A day after the signing, Trump was back at the golf course in Florida, the state where he is expected to move after Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20.
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Colvin reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
Monday coronavirus update
No deaths from coronavirus were reported in Iowa Monday (12/28). That keeps the state’s COVID-19 death total for the pandemic at 3745. There were 540 new positive tests for COVID-19 reported Monday, bringing the state total to 275,473. 15 new positive coronavirus tests have been reported in Wapello County, six in Jasper County, five in Monroe County, Marion, Mahaska and Poweshiek Counties each reported three new positive tests, and there was one in Keokuk County.
Four long-term care facilities come off Iowa’s outbreak list
Four long-term care facilities in the No Coast Network listening area have been taken off the state’s coronavirus outbreak list. Manor House in Sigourney, Sigourney Health Care, The Cottages in Pella and Ridgewood Specialty Care in Ottumwa were able to come off the outbreak list after no new positive COVID-19 tests had been reported for 28 days. Long-term care facilities that are still on the outbreak list are: Accura Newton East, Keota Health Care, Mayflower Home of Grinnell, Grinnell Health Care and Montezuma Specialty Care.
Winter Storm Warning for region
The season’s first major snowstorm is on its way. A Winter Storm Warning goes into effect starting at 9am Tuesday (12/29) through 6pm Wednesday (12/30) for the No Coast Network listening area. The National Weather Service says we can expect 4 to 6 inches of snowfall in the region….and then we get a wintry mix, including freezing rain late tonight that will make travel difficult. The weight of the snow and ice could also knock down power lines and tree limbs. Again, this Winter Storm Warning starts at 9am Tuesday through 6pm Wednesday. Keep tuned to the No Coast Network for the latest weather updates.
The City of Sigourney will have a snow emergency in effect starting at noon Tuesday (12/29) until 24 hours after the storm stops. This means no vehicles can be parked on city streets. If your vehicle is still on the street, it could be ticketed and/or towed away.
Trump relents, signs COVID relief, averts federal shutdown
By JILL COLVIN, LISA MASCARO and ANDREW TAYLOR
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed a $900 billion pandemic relief package, ending days of drama over his refusal to accept the bipartisan deal that will deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and avert a federal government shutdown.
The deal also provides $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September and contains other end-of-session priorities such as an increase in food stamp benefits.
The signing Sunday, at his private club in Florida came as he faced escalating criticism over his eleventh-hour demands for larger, $2,000 relief checks and scaled-back spending even though the bill had already passed the House and Senate by wide margins. The bill was passed with what lawmakers had thought was Trump’s blessing, and after months of negotiations with his administration.
His foot-dragging resulted in a lapse in unemployment benefits for millions and threatened a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic. But signing the bill into law prevents another crisis of Trump’s own creation and ends a standoff with his own party during the final days of his administration.
It was unclear what, if anything, Trump accomplished with his delay, beyond angering all sides and empowering Democrats to continue their push for higher relief checks, which his own party opposes.
In his statement, Trump repeated his frustrations with the COVID-19 relief bill for providing only $600 checks to most Americans instead of the $2,000 that his fellow Republicans already rejected. He also complained about what he considered unnecessary spending by the government at large.
“I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed,” Trump said in the statement.
While the president insisted he would send Congress “a redlined version” with items to be removed under the rescission process, those are merely suggestions to Congress. The bill, as signed, would not necessarily be changed.
Democrats, who have the majority in the House, immediately vowed to prevent any cuts. Democrats “will reject any rescissions” submitted by the president, said Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, chair of the Appropriations Committee.
Lawmakers now have breathing room to continue debating whether the relief checks should be as large as the president has demanded. The Democratic-led House supports the larger checks and is set to vote on the issue Monday, but it’s expected to be ignored by the Republican-held Senate, where spending faces opposition. For now, the administration can only begin work sending out the $600 payments.
Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, a conservative who supported Trump’s extraordinary and futile challenge of the election results, counted himself Monday among the opponents of a more generous relief package and Trump’s call for higher payments.
“It’s money we don’t have, we have to borrow to get and we can’t afford to pay back,” he said on “Fox and Friends.” ”Someone’s got to show me how we’re going to pay for it. How far before we all go into debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy?”
But Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York said she was open to the idea of $2,000 checks. “Many Americans are in dire need of relief,” she said on the show.
Altogether, Republicans and Democrats alike swiftly welcomed Trump’s decision to sign the bill into law.
“The compromise bill is not perfect, but it will do an enormous amount of good for struggling Kentuckians and Americans across the country who need help now,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “I thank the President for signing this relief into law.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the signing “welcome news for the fourteen million Americans who just lost the lifeline of unemployment benefits on Christmas weekend, and for the millions more struggling to stay afloat during this historic pandemic and economic crisis.”
Others slammed Trump’s delay in turning the bill into law. In a tweet, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., accused Trump of having “played Russian roulette with American lives. A familiar and comfortable place for him.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would offer Trump’s proposal for $2,000 checks for a vote in Senate — putting Republicans on the spot.
“The House will pass a bill to give Americans $2,000 checks,” Schumer tweeted. “Then I will move to pass it in the Senate.” He said no Democrats will object. “Will Senate Republicans?”
Democrats are promising more aid to come once President-elect Joe Biden takes office, but Republicans are signaling a wait-and-see approach.
Congress will push ahead Monday, with the House expected to vote to override Trump’s veto of an annual Defense bill, confronting the president on another big issue in the final days of the session. The Senate is expected to follow on Tuesday.
In the face of growing economic hardship, spreading disease and a looming shutdown, lawmakers spent Sunday urging Trump to sign the legislation immediately, then have Congress follow up with additional aid. Aside from unemployment benefits and relief payments to families, money for vaccine distribution, businesses and more was on the line. Protections against evictions also hung in the balance.
“What the president is doing right now is unbelievably cruel,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said of Trump’s delaying tactic before the president signed the law. “So many people are hurting. … It is really insane and this president has got to finally … do the right thing for the American people and stop worrying about his ego.”
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said he understood that Trump “wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks, but the danger is he’ll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire.”
Toomey added: “So I think the best thing to do, as I said, sign this and then make the case for subsequent legislation.”
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said too much is at stake for Trump to “play this old switcheroo game.”
“I don’t get the point,” he said. “I don’t understand what’s being done, why, unless it’s just to create chaos and show power and be upset because you lost the election.”
Washington had been reeling since Trump turned on the deal. Fingers pointed at administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, as lawmakers tried to understand whether they were misled about Trump’s position.
“Now to be put in a lurch, after the president’s own person negotiated something that the president doesn’t want, it’s just — it’s surprising,” Kinzinger said.
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Mascaro and Taylor reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Alexandra Olson in New York contributed to this report.
Scientists work to save farm-friendly bats from deadly disease
BY
Researchers are making progress in trying to combat what’s known as white-nose syndrome, which has killed many thousands of bats in Iowa and millions across the continent.
Jeremy Coleman, the national white-nose syndrome coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says scientists are working to create an aerosol spray to genetically silence the fungus that causes the disease without hurting the bats.
“We would use what’s called RNA interference to silence genes within the fungal pathogen and reduce the severity of the disease on bats,” Coleman says. “Any tool that would come from that is pretty far off, at this point. This is just the initial stab at getting a look at that technology.”
Some native bat species are being pushed the brink of extinction by the disease and Coleman says bats are very important to agriculture, as they eat tons of insects that harm crops. He says researchers are also working on a vaccine that would put a halt to white-nose syndrome in bats.
“They wouldn’t have to be injected. What we’re looking at is an oral vaccine,” Coleman says. “They could consume the vaccine and share it within a site. The benefit of that is, we don’t have to treat them while they’re in hibernation. We would treat them when they’re still in the maternity colonies and then they would take the vaccine, ingest it and take the benefits of that back into hibernation with them.”
White-nose syndrome, which was first discovered in the U-S in 2007, is killing up to 90-percent of the bats in some colonies. Bats are critical pest controllers and in the U.S. alone, Coleman says bats save farmers at least $3.7 billion per year in pest control services, a figure he says is conservative.
“They are the primary consumer of night-flying insects and there are a number of crop pests and human pests that bats consume nightly,” Coleman says. “With the disease spreading, that’s resulting in tons of insects that are now not being consumed and that have to be addressed with pesticide.”
Due to the drastic reduction in native bat populations, he says millions of insects are feeding on trees and crops, which can impact forestry, agriculture and human health. White-nose syndrome is caused by a fungus which can look like white fuzz on bats’ muzzles and wings. The fungus thrives in cold, damp places and infects bats during hibernation. It’s confirmed in Iowa and 34 other states as well as seven Canadian provinces.
Feenstra raps meat packers over livestock prices
BY
Congressman-elect Randy Feenstra says it’s time for the U.S. Department of Justice to address allegations of price fixing in the livestock industry.
“The packers, they’re making all kinds of profits, so we’ve got change it,” Feenstra says. “We’ve got to break up the monopoly.”
Four companies — JBS, Smithfield, Cargill, and Tyson — control more than 80 percent of the beef packing industry. And, while beef consumption and consumer prices soared during the early months of the pandemic, profits did not trickle down to producers. The prices for cattle sold at market fell. Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says his in-laws raise livestock, so the financial reality hits close to home.
“It’s just painful to see, especially when live cattle is at $1.50, if you can get that now,” Feenstra says, “and then you have boxed beef at a high of $227 or somewhere thereabouts.”
Boxed beef is the wholesale price of cuts of meat. Feenstra, who hopes to become a member of the U.S. House Ag Committee when he’s sworn into office on January 3, 2021, says it’s time for congress to examine the Packers and Stockyards Act. The law was drafted to assure fair competition and fair trade practices in the livestock industry.
“That act has been on the books for decades and we don’t use it and there is a problem,” Feenstra says. “There is a massive concern.”
The law was originally passed in 1921. A major update in 1976 gave the USDA authority to issue fines for anti-competitive practices in the meat packing industry.
Feenstra made his comments during a recent appearance on the Iowa Press program on Iowa PBS.
Music City Bowl is canceled
BY
RADIO IOWA – The Music City Bowl has announced that Wednesday’s game between Iowa and Missouri has ben canceled. The move comes after a rise in COVID-19 cases in the Mizzou program.
“I want to thank the hard work of those involved in helping plan this year’s bowl, which we were prepared to host this week,” Scott Ramsey, President & CEO of the TransPerfect Music City Bowl said. “Unfortunately, Missouri’s high positive COVID-19 numbers have resulted in the cancelation of this game. We look forward to planning for 2021.”
After having no interruptions the first eight weeks of the season The Hawkeyes had their final two games called off. Their Champions Weeks game against Michigan was canceled due to an outbreak in the Wolverine program. Iowa finishes the season with a record of 6-2.
“We are extremely disappointed to have our season end today”, said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. This is a remarkable group of players and men, and it has been an honor to coach them. This has been a very special team. I am incredibly proud of this entire team and saddened that we will not have one more chance to get out and compete together.”
Nurses fear what’s to come: ‘Walk down our unit for a day’
By STEFANIE DAZIO
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The nurses of California are afraid.
It’s Christmas Eve, and they aren’t home with their families. They are working, always working, completely gowned up — and worn down.
They’re frightened by what people are doing, or not doing, during a coronavirus pandemic that has already killed more than 320,000 nationwide and shows no signs of slowing down.
They’re even more terrified of what’s next.
“Every day, I look into the eyes of someone who is struggling to breathe,” said nurse Jenny Carrillo, her voice breaking.
A charge nurse at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, Carrillo is haunted by the daily counts of COVID-19 patients. Dark shadows circle her eyes.
By Tuesday evening, the hospital had 147 coronavirus patients — a record for Holy Cross but a tiny fraction of the nearly 2 million cases recorded in California since the pandemic began.
Close to 18,000 people were hospitalized in the state Tuesday, and models project the number could top 100,000 in a month — unimaginable for medical systems that are already running out of room. More than 23,000 people with COVID-19 have died in California, and the number is only expected to climb.
Dr. Jim Keany, associate director of Mission Hospital’s emergency department in Southern California’s Orange County, wonders how much more they can handle.
“Are we going to have the resources to take care of our community?” he said.
The first COVID-19 case in California was confirmed Jan. 25. It took 292 days to get to 1 million infections on Nov. 11.
Just 44 days later, the number was closing in on 2 million.
On Tuesday, Holy Cross had 147 coronavirus patients across its 377 beds, more than double the record seen at the hospital in the first wave of the pandemic earlier this year.
“If you had told us in April that we’d have 147 patients?” said Elizabeth Chow, Holy Cross’ executive director of critical care and a nurse leader. “Never in my wildest dreams.”
And the nightmare is expected to get worse.
Despite health officials’ pleas that people stay home, millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year’s, much like they did last month for Thanksgiving.
Hospitals in California — and elsewhere — already have been pushed to the brink. They have hired extra staff, canceled elective surgeries and set up outdoor tents to treat patients, all to boost capacity before the cases contracted over Christmas and New Year’s show up in the next few weeks.
Holy Cross and Mission Hospital have sprinkled holiday decorations throughout the hallways: poinsettias perched on counters, scraggly miniature trees in patients’ rooms, caricatures of the Grinch doodled at nurses’ stations.
But the bright colors don’t distract from the constant cacophony: ventilators belching like foghorns, monitors beeping, machines whirring — all trying to keep even one more person from adding to the death toll.
Still, there are hopeful moments.
On Monday, Mission Hospital celebrated a milestone: 100 patients who had been in the isolation intensive care unit — reserved for the sickest of the sick — have survived and gone home.
In Holy Cross, “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles plays throughout the hospital when a COVID-19 patient is discharged.
The new pandemic tradition has happier roots — hospitals often sound a lullaby each time a baby is born.
It’s a few seconds of respite, but it’s not enough. For every patient who goes home, more are admitted.
Holy Cross charge nurse Melanie LaMadrid tends to her patients in 12-hour shifts, holding their hands in her purple gloves.
“It’s all we can do,” she said. “Watching them suffer is hard.”
These nurses are not only exhausted, they are angry with those who flout pleas to stay home, stay safe.
“It’s not some selfish person who doesn’t want to wear a mask,” Carrillo said. “I wish they could just walk down our unit for a day and look at the faces of some of these patients.”
You can be our messengers, nurse Genyza Dawson tells her patients when — or if — they get discharged. Dawson, who has a scar forming on her nose from the tight masks, begs them to spread the word.
“Now you know how it is,” she tells them. “You were one of the lucky ones.”