Gazette Daily News Podcast, August 19

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, August 19.

It will be another hot one Thursday. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 91 degrees. The wind will be calm, hovering around 5 mph.

Amid the deadly Delta variant surge, federal health officials announced Wednesday that they will be recommending COVID-19 vaccination boosters to Americans starting next month.

The recommendation, which only applies to Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, comes as new studies show the vaccine’s ability to protect against less serious disease declines over time. The intent is to boost the protection against severe illness and hospitalizations.

The Biden administration and other federal health officials recommended that all Americans aged 18 and older who have received a two-dose vaccine series from Pfizer and Moderna should get a third coronavirus shot eight months after their second dose.

Just like flu shots, health officials say COVID vaccine boosters could be recommended regularly as the virus changes and bounces throughout populations from one part of the globe to the other.

Female inmates at a central Iowa state prison have been enlisted in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the state Department of Corrections, women incarcerated at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville are being paid to assemble COVID-19 at-home test kits.

The voluntary program is a joint project in which Iowa Prison Industries will assist the Iowa Department of Public Health and State Hygienic Lab with assembling the test kits and preparing them for shipment.

Iowa Prison Industries officials estimate the female inmates — who normally produce other products for Iowa Prison Industries — can assemble 25,000 test kits per week for shipment across Iowa. It’s possible to scale up production of 100,000 per week, if needed to boost the state's testing stockpile, they said.

Police arrested a 13-year-old boy and cited a 20-year-old woman Tuesday night in connection with a drive-by shooting in southwest Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids police said officers were on patrol just after 11 p.m. when they heard several gunshots coming from the 600 block alley between 16th and 18th avenues SW.

Officers immediately responded and saw a dark-colored sport utility vehicle with no headlights heading east in the alley before entering Sixth Street SW.

Police said officers initiated a “high-risk” traffic stop in the 500 block of 16th Avenue SW. Additional officers arrived, and multiple people were removed from the SUV.

After the traffic stop, police arrested a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of discharging a firearm at an occupied residence in the 600 block of 16th Avenue SW. The boy had been a passenger in the SUV.

The driver of the vehicle — identified as 20-year-old Kiara Dana Lyn Peoples — was cited for unsafe entry onto a roadway and failure to use headlamps when required.

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