A sharply divided Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a former prisoner’s claim for damages due to wrongful imprisonment. In strongly worded dissenting opinions, two of the Iowa justices called the majority’s decision in the case on Friday “frightening” and “profoundly wrong,” warning that it could remove any disincentive for state […]
Iowa Department of Corrections
Posted inCommunity/News
Judge holds Iowa DOC in contempt for denying incarcerated plaintiffs access to reading material containing nudity amid lawsuit
Remarking that it’s not feasible to jail the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) for deliberately violating a court order, a Polk County judge has fined the agency $1,500 for contempt of court. The penalty stems from a lawsuit that 13 prison inmates, then housed at Anamosa State Penitentiary, filed against the DOC in 2018. The […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of transgender worker in landmark employment discrimination case
In a decision handed down Friday morning, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 2019 jury verdict that found the Iowa Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against transgender people based on their gender identity. Jesse Vroegh, a transgender man and former Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) employee, sued that agency and the Iowa Department of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
COVID-19: Iowa has more than 1,000 hospitalized patients, Linn County sets a new one-day record and the outbreak in Iowa prisons gets worse
It took Iowa 226 days to reach 500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, but it only took 20 days to go from 500 to 1,000 patients. On Monday morning, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 1,034 COVID-19 patients in the state’s hospitals. A total of 184 of those patients were being treated in intensive care units. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
IDPH knew for weeks it was misreporting COVID-19 data; Reynolds says it was a minor problem
The Iowa Department of Public Health knew for weeks it was publishing inaccurate information about the spread of COVID-19 in the state, IDPH Medical Director Dr. Caitlin Pedati said in an interview with the Gazette on Wednesday. Pedati told reporter Michaela Ramm she was aware by the end of July that IDPH’s data management system […]
Posted inCommunity/News
White House task force leader warns Iowa needs to do more to mitigate the spread of COVID-19
During White House Coronavirus Task Force conference call with governors on Tuesday, Dr. Deborah Birx singled out a group of states seeing increases in COVID-19 cases and test positivity rates, and advised their governors to take new mitigation steps, including mandating face coverings and closing bars. Iowa was one of those states. The 13 “yellow […]
Posted inCommunity/News
COVID-19: Another 368 Iowans test positive, Johnson County’s surge continues and cases at Fort Dodge prison more than double in a week
The Iowa Department of Public Health reported another 368 Iowans tested positive for COVID-19 during the 24-hour period ending at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. The new cases brought the state’s total to 35,830, according to IDPH. The statewide positivity rate — the percentage of people tested who were confirmed as having COVID-19 — was 8.8 […]
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COVID-19: 21 more cases in Johnson County, Gov. Reynolds discusses Iowa’s ‘little uptick’
Johnson County saw another day of double-digit increases in COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, as the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 21 more county residents tested positive for the virus during the 24-hour period ending at 10 a.m. The county has now had three weeks of double-digit daily increases in the number of confirmed cases, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Reynolds responds to Trump’s plan to end the National Guard’s pandemic work, while Iowa’s updated COVID-19 site reports questionable data
The changes to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 information site announced on Monday are now complete. New graphs and charts have been added, and according to the department, case numbers are now being updated in real time, instead of once a day. Introducing the revamped site at her press conference on Tuesday, Gov. […]
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‘It has been three weeks,’ Gov. Reynolds defends Test Iowa’s performance, announces its tests have now been validated
The State Hygienic Laboratory has finished its validation of Test Iowa’s equipment, Gov. Reynolds announced at her press conference on Thursday. According to the governor, the Test Iowa processing equipment were 95 percent accurate when determining if a sample was positive, and 99.7 accurate when determining if a sample was negative. As part of the […]
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After COVID-19 exposure, Reynolds plans to partially self-isolate, continue relaxing restrictions in Iowa
“I want to assure Iowans that I’m healthy and feeling good, and I’m fully focused on leading Iowa’s response to the pandemic on our economic recovery efforts,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said at her press conference on Monday. That assurance came after it was reported Reynolds’ was in contact with an aide to Vice President Pence […]
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Vice President Pence says Iowans are ‘blessed’ to have Kim Reynolds as governor, praises meat processing plants during visit to Iowa
“The people of Iowa have been blessed by the leadership of Gov. Kim Reynolds,” Vice President Mike Pence said during his visit to the state on Friday. Pence was speaking to a group of religious leaders at Westkirk Presbyterian Church in Urbandale, one of two scheduled public events on Friday. “One of the things the […]
