SPM News

The Iowa Department of Public Health is reporting 13 additional COVID-19 deaths and an additional 468 confirmed cases. In Woodbury County today, there have been 11 new covid-19 cases added to the total case count. There was one additional death reported yesterday, and there have been 220 coronavirus-related deaths in Woodbury County.

A group of South Sioux City High School students has invited the public to join them at a protest today, but school administrators have already said that that type of demonstration is not allowed. Last week, 100 students demonstrated to show concerns about school officials are handling racial equality, religious freedom, and treatment of LGBTQ students. According to a Facebook post, a second protest has been scheduled for 3:30 p.m. across the street from the school. The post said students are

Governor Kim Reynolds today announced she will allocate 11.5 million dollars of federal COVID-relief funds for mental health services in Iowa schools and to support community college job training programs. Reynolds said expanding support services in PreK-12 school will help address the coronavirus pandemic's impact on student's mental health. She says increasing tuition assistance for job training will allow more Iowans to quickly fill high-demand jobs in industries such as health care,

304 041521 Governor Kim Reynolds will allocate 11.5 million dollars from federal COVID-relief funds to build up mental health services in Iowa schools and to support community college job training programs. In a statement, Reynolds said expanding support services in PreK-12 school will help address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on students’ mental health. She says increasing tuition assistance for job training will allow more Iowans to quickly fill high-demand jobs in industries such as

This week on The Exchange, how women can take control of their financial futures by making some simple changes, also what rural Iowans can expect from the state’s broadband expansion plan, and how Morningside College has brought back hands-on learning with its agricultural and food studies program. . We also hear about the progress of wind energy in Iowa and we hear about the online offerings of a First Amendment forum at the Greenlee School of Journalism at Iowa State University, and this week

The Crittenton Center in Sioux City is closing its emergency shelter permanently, after a temporary closure was announced earlier this month. The director says issues related to COVID-19 played a big part in that decision. The center's executive director said in a news release today that staff absenteeism related to COVID and a decrease in new applicants make it challenging to run the center. The emergency shelter was opened in the late 1970s at 3901 Green Ave. In 2020, 180 children were cared

304 041421 Gov. Kim Reynolds says the temporary pause in the use of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine should be manageable for Iowa. Reynolds says the one-dose vaccine accounts for a small portion of its weekly allocation due to manufacturing issues. The governor got the J&J vaccine on March 4. In the meantime, Reynolds urged Iowans to seek out the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and keep an open mind while the state waits for further federal guidance. While news of a serious reaction to

This week on The Exchange, we hear two little-known stories of the Holocaust. We recognize the Days of Remberence of the Victims of the Holocaust, which is, a day of commemoration in Israel for the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and for the many members of the Jewish Resistance. Author Judy Batalion brings alive the stories of some fearless women who joined the resistance in the Jewish ghettos of Poland in her book “The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women

An internal report has found that state police officers in Iowa drew their weapons and used force against suspects significantly more often in 2020 than prior years, due to a major increase in resistance. The Iowa Department of Public Safety's annual report on force incidents found that suspects fled in vehicles and on foot from officers far more often in 2020. It found that officers responded by drawing their handguns, shotguns and rifles 269 times in 2020, an 83% percent increase from the

Nebraska Governor Pete Rickets offered a word of caution during a news conference on Monday. Nebraska is seeing an increase in COVID-19 patients after 18 weeks of falling hospitalizations. Ricketts says there is more of the virus out in the community and reminded Nebraskans to avoid the “three C’s”: closed spaces, crowded places, and close contact. Even though the Iowa Department of Public Health recorded no new deaths due to complications of COVID-19, the average positivity rate is on the way