Nikoel Hytrek

Strong condemnations for Tyson and Gov. Kim Reynolds came out of a coronavirus briefing in Black Hawk County this afternoon. It culminated in multiple calls for Tyson to either voluntarily shut down its Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Waterloo or for the governor to step in and order it. The Tyson Fresh Meats plant in…

Iowa’s coronavirus case numbers continue to rise. On Friday, 191 new cases were reported from Thursday for a total of 2,332. That is now the biggest single-day jump in new cases. The number of positive cases in Iowa have increased by over 600 this week, with the lowest single-day increase being 96 cases. Deaths have…

To deal with its response to the coronavirus, Iowa is working closest with the same governors it did during last year’s flooding, Gov. Kim Reynolds said this morning. Those states, she said, include Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas and Missouri. She said she thinks they’ve also reached out to Kansas. Apart from Missouri and…

The growing number of coronavirus outbreaks in the Midwest’s meat packing plants is getting worse. Various governors in the region continue to ignore or downplay outbreaks, and many plants continue to operate despite employees testing positive for COVID-19, the highly contagious, unpredictable respiratory disease. Starting Line found many meat packing plant employees deeply concerned about…

Sen. Joni Ernst announced today that she’s been named to the president’s task force formed to determine when to re-open America’s economy. The task force is called the Opening Up America Again Congressional Group, and is composed of a bipartisan list of congresspeople and senators. Today, Trump talked to members on the phone. “The dialogue…

Iowa has chosen not to be part of a coalition of states formed to address the spreading coronavirus across the region. Today, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Illinois will partner with Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Kentucky to work together to coordinate how to reopen the Midwestern economy. Despite bordering three of those states,…

In response to further outbreaks, increased restrictions have been implemented for a region of Iowa, but the new restrictions only apply to the social sphere, not to businesses in the region. Today, Region Six, which encompasses Northeast Iowa, was rated a 10 on the state government’s metric to judge the severity of outbreaks in Iowa.…

It seems Iowa could be one state to host full vote-by-mail elections this year. Last week, Iowa Sec. of State Paul Pate raised the possibility of Iowa sending out ballots to all voters for the November general election rather than have people physically at the polls. Because of the coronavirus, people across the country have…

It seems Iowa could be one state to host full vote-by-mail elections this year. Last week, Iowa Sec. of State Paul Pate raised the possibility of Iowa sending out ballots to all voters for the November general election rather than have people physically at the polls. Because of the coronavirus, people across the country have…

Testing capabilities have long been one of the biggest obstacle to Iowa’s ability to address the spread of COVID-19 in the state, and as cases increase, that limitation is becoming more serious. Sarah Reisetter, the deputy director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said surveillance testing is definitely going to happen in Columbus Junction,…