One person was injured in a shooting Monday morning, March 21st, the third in Sioux City in a week. This string of gun violence in the community has been a concern for many residents, so Siouxland News spoke to the Sioux City Police Department about what is happening. Sgt. Jeremy McClure says the Sioux City Police Department takes gun violence seriously and has put all the resources the department has into investigating these crimes and getting both the guns and violent offenders off the streets. Sunday night, March 20th, one person was hurt when a tan SUV shot at a man and two kids in a black Chrysler. One person in the car was hurt, though not from gunfire. Police are still searching for that SUV and the people in it. Also, last Monday, March 14th, a woman was shot after entering a man's home trying to purchase meth. Sgt. McClure says these crimes aren't random. They are typically stemming from issues between individuals who are then turning to gun violence to solve their problems. "It's very concerning to the fact that people feel that they need to resort to guns to handle some of these situations. And this is something that I think we're all seeing across the nation as it is," Sgt. McClure said. "I mean, these aren't random events. People just aren't minding their own business and getting shot at. A lot of them are involved in some sort of feud that's going on that precipitates this." So these aren't just random out-of-the-blue events. There's some conflict that's been going on, that leads to this moment.Police are still searching for information regarding the March 21st shooting at 1600 Nebraska and the shooting on Sunday, March 20th near Cook Park. Sgt. McClure says police need the public's help to find those involved. "You need somebody out there who has information that can help get a violent person off the street," Sgt. McClure said. "Give us that tip, give us a chance to help make our streets safer. There's only so much that we can do in our job without a partnership from the community and if this is the kind of community that you want to be safe and to not have violent people, just, you know, shooting randomly at each other, then please give us that information. Help us get these people off the streets." If you have any information on any of these crimes, you can report that information to the Sioux City Police Department by calling (712) 279 - 6960 or, if you'd like to remain anonymous, call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (712) 258 - TIPS. SEE THE VIDEO
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In 2006, Dakota County opened a new $7 million jail after voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase, but that was only phase one. Now the county is hoping to move to a phase two expansion, but this time it won't cost taxpayers anything. Instead, it should bring in money. But the plan has hit a snag that could end up costing residents in the long run. "I said multiple times I'm going to be a harder sell than the board because we don't have the money to do this and we're not going to pass any bond issue to do it because again." Chris Kleinberg has been the head of the Dakota County Sheriff's Office for a little more than a decade, serving as sheriff in Thurston County before that. He knows his way around the law enforcement world. "It's almost like adding a garage to a house you already live in. So it was already designed and built for that." Kleinberg wasn't in Dakota County when the current 136-bed jail was approved and constructed in 2006, but the need for more space has come as the federal government needs beds for their inmates. "This expansion came about when the new administration got in and for my understanding, they signed an executive order that stopped all federal inmates being housed in private prisons," Kleinberg said of why this new expansion is needed. "So what that did was caused the Marshals to be on a scramble because they already were scrambling looking for bed space now." But this expansion is different, the cost won't be footed by taxpayers. It would be paid for by the U.S. Marshals Service and bring in revenue for the county. "It would be millions of dollars in revenue a year once it's built," Kleinberg said, stating that the county is already bringing in funds from the feds for housing around 20 inmates now. "The contract states that every federal inmate in the beds will be at $150 a day per diem for the 30-month term to pay back whatever we borrow to build it." The 112-bed addition will increase the jail capacity to nearly 250 inmates in total and add more than a dozen new correction officer positions. It would also allow the jail to separate the county and federal inmates instead of housing them together. "That the only reason why this is happening is for the federal inmates. It wouldn't be if we didn't house federal inmates. I think there was a year close to $800,000 in revenue we brought in on the backs of my corrections people and my deputies housing these inmates," Kleinberg said of the agreement. And these inmates are local all from the tri-state region and awaiting trial in their respective counties. Dakota County doesn't house federal inmates already convicted of a crime. We don't go to Bad Guy Island and fly a bunch of bad guys here to put in our jail. These are all local from the tri-state area.But Kleinberg has hit a snag. Three of the five members of the Dakota County Board of Commissioners have halted the plans which could lead to the county being sued for breach of contract and a quickly rising interest rate. "It's already went up to 1%. So you know we're getting reimbursed. Yes, but that's they're just the more they wait the more money we spend and they've already signed the contracts to do this," Kleinberg said the three members were recently elected and haven't been here for the years-long discussion about this expansion. "They signed the contracts and now they're dragging their feet and it's just costing us more money for every meeting that they don't bring that construction management company on to get this ball. They're just costing us more money is delaying it more and more." Siouxland News reached out to the Dakota County Board of Commissioners about their reason behind the delay. Janet Gill with the board says they want to make sure this is the right move for the taxpayers. "One of the things that we wanted to have is the numbers reviewed because obviously, construction costs have gone up considerably," Gill said on the phone. "We wanted to have the plans reviewed as well for any code changes or any electrical, H-VAC related to COVID-19 for combined spaces, all of those things. We feel like we need to have a lot more information. We don't want to necessarily commit to a project without knowing all of the details. And we also want the taxpayers of Dakota County to weigh in on this. Is this a project they want us to move forward with?" Kleinberg has called for the resignation of those board members who are stalling this project, saying this move will be the thing that costs taxpayers in the end. He says this expansion will have to come eventually, whether it be 5, 10 or 20 years down the road and doing it now, while the U.S. Marshals can foot the bill, is the smart way to go. "I'd like to acknowledge that this expansion has really nothing to do with county inmates. If it was for the county inmates, we wouldn't be building it." "We have the opportunity to help these Feds and get our extension to our jail built," Kleinberg said. "And even if in 10 years, with a 10-year contract for 85 beds at 130 months at 150 bucks a bit. So even if in five years, they decide we don't want to house Federal inmates, it's already built for, I shouldn't say free again, it's on the backs of my employees. They're the ones doing the work and getting the revenue to pay for it, but it's free to the taxpayers. So even if that happens, it's already paid for and built. We can use it for overflow or whatever. But it's there." Katie Copple: "When will it be too late to make this expansion happen? If these board members still hold off and hold off, when will it be too late to make it happen?" "This is an opinion and I think we're there," Kleinberg said. "I'm almost ready to wash my hands of it." SEE THE VIDEO The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds, or ESSER funds, have helped school districts nationwide recover from the pandemic. Sioux City Schools is no different. Let's take a look at the District's ESSER funding so far: ESSER I WHEN: Spring 2020 AMOUNT: $2.6 million USE: Personal Protective Equipment and Cleaning Supplies ESSER II WHEN: December 2020 AMOUNT: $17.3 million USE: More PPE, cleaning supplies. Plus, additional technology to make sure every student and educator had access to technology for virtual and in-person learning. ESSER III WHEN: March 2021 AMOUNT: $38.9 million USE: To Be Determined The district school board, the community and school officials have discussed many options to use the nearly $39 million in ESSER III funding. During Monday's school board meeting, the board will be presented with a plan on how to best spend the allocated funds. Siouxland News got a preview of that proposal from district superintendent Dr. Paul Gausman and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kim Buryanek. "First of all, we're here to serve students," said Dr. Gausman, "that's our number one principle and so, we've got to take a look at the students and figure out ways in which we can serve them to help them grow." At least 20% of the $39 million must be used to address pandemic learning loss. With this proposal, the district is allocating more than $15 million, or 40% of its budget. ADDRESSING LEARNING LOSS "We've got to take a look at where our students' learning loss has occurred where are the biggest challenges, what subgroup of students is the largest subgroup that is witnessed we've witnessed the greatest learning loss," Dr. Gausman said. This school year is the 3rd under the COVID-19 bubble and the impact the virus has had on kids' education is already being seen. "We see an impact of COVID in our early grades," Dr. Buryanek said of the pandemic's already-felt impact in the district. "There are some foundational skills that students two years ago when they were in second grade or two years ago in first grade, they just missed out on some learning, and now we're seeing the impact of that in our student achievement scores." Part of the 40% will be distributed to other organizations that help student achievement. According to government data, 70% of the district's student body lives in poverty. "If we can equalize the challenges of poverty, we will equalize those scores across racial and ethnic groups, and across those who are learning the English language." Dr. Gausman said, "and so, I really believe that's a civil rights issue for our time to look at serving those students in poverty." Monday night's board meeting will also give the public a first look at student testing data and while preliminary, can help guide the school board and district in the right direction to best help students and teachers. "And when we look at that data, yes we can see some different performance levels among subgroups might be racial groups or ethnic groups, but where we really see the largest challenge is students in poverty," Dr. Gausman said. One way the district hopes to help student achievement is through summer home visits. These voluntary visits will bring a student's teacher to their front door, creating a stronger relationship between the student, their teacher and the family as a whole. Dr. Buryanek said this voluntary visit could do great things for students and staff. "Research studies have been done on home visit programs and those studies show that there is an increase in attendance, there's an increase in parent and student engagement when a successful home visit programs are enacted in schools." The district also has a plan to help their teachers with their own professional learning time. "We've allocated an additional hour a week, that if teachers want to, they can come in, outside of their contract day and work with other teachers of their grade level or their content area and really take a look at students and their proficiency, who is struggling as a student, what can they do differently to help impact their student achievement," Dr. Buryanek said. THE OTHER 24 MILLION But now the challenge is how to best use the remaining $24 million. "Anytime we have a real opportunity like this one, we need to model," Dr. Gausman said about him, the district and the school board. "We as adults working to solve these challenges and use this opportunity. We need to model for our students and our community, how adults deal with challenges.. "This is a challenge because it's one-time money. We can't spend this money over and over again well beyond the 2024 timeline and so we have to be careful about that." One of the largest allocations is slated to be used to hire more educators. The district wants to hire around 45 new teachers to help reduce class sizes district-wide. They’ve set aside $7.5 million for those new hires over the next three years. "Our board has been very clear with us about this, however, that anything you put in here has got to be sustainable, one way or another and yes, we've got a number of staffing positions in there, and yes this money will go away eventually," Gasman said, "but we do have a process design where we can do our best to sustain as many of those members of our personnel, as we move forward." Another position is a Family Support Coordinator. "We know that families in our community have been challenged have challenges with COVID," Dr. Buryanek said, "and so we want to make sure that they have somebody that they can reach out to in our school district that will help connect them with support and resources." The budget also allocated $3.25 million for permanent substitute teachers within the district. Another large line item is upgrades and additions to the district H-VAC systems with $7.5 million also allocated to that project. One part of that project is adding air conditioning to the gyms at East, North and West High, the only areas within the school buildings not cooled. They also hope to bring better air quality to all buildings district-wide. "We want to install a district-wide UV system to treat the air as it comes into our building, to help cut down and prevent any viruses," said Dr. Buryanek, "and not only are we talking about COVID viruses, but it also has an impact on any students that have asthma or other upper respiratory illnesses or challenges. "It really will make a long term improvement well into the future that, that we can sustain." Along with improvements to air quality, comes sustaining the heightened cleaning that the district has had to do since the start of the pandemic. They've allocated nearly $650,000 to hire more than a dozen new custodial staff to help keep the district buildings clean. The district has stepped up cleaning protocols in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another district improvement in the proposal is a $1.5 million project to house the new VIBE Academy, the district's new permanent virtual learning school. "It's paramount," Buryaken said, "it's very important for them to be together in the same space so they can collaborate. They can have conversations about students that are struggling and get them connected back to the school or to resources that will ensure their success." One other budget item allocates $80,000 to purchase rapid COVID-19 tests, creating rapid testing sites at each district building for students and staff. These tests would only be given to students with written parent permission. This line item has also been widely praised by many in the district and community. "So with the board's approval or acknowledgment of this budget," Bruyanek said, "hopefully Monday night, we plan to move forward with acquiring rapid COVID tests on Tuesday." Monday's proposal to the school board is just that. A proposal. With each item and project being approved as needed throughout the next three years. "This is a budget that plans on how we're going to spend money all the way into 2024," Dr. Gausman said. "The currently seated board won't be here, necessarily, then and that board that's here in 2024 might have different ideas then. So I don't think that it's just Monday that we might make some alterations, I think you'll see us bringing this back in front of the board on a regular basis between now and the end of the resources." Overall, Gausman and Buryanek say this plan and the hours dedicated to developing it, has first and foremost student success in mind. "We want to make sure that we use this money wisely and we have the greatest impact on students and student achievement that we possibly can." The Sioux City School Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the district's downtown building and is open to the public. SEE THE VIDEO Misinformation: What it is and how to identify it "A report just came out recently that showed that 65% of vaccine misinformation comes from 12 people on social media." It's not just false information on vaccines that make the rounds online, nothing is truly spared from being the victim of misinformation. From politics to pizza shops, and sometimes a combination of both, misinformation, or the spread of false information perceived as truth, has been around for decades. "Misinformation is anything that's designed to try to put doubt in people's minds about the truth." David Elder is a professor at Morningside University and specialized in misinformation and propaganda. “I teach a class about propaganda,” he said, “and propaganda is just purposeful manipulation of a large group of people. And usually what you see in misinformation, is it will include some hint of truth and then skew it to fit a certain agenda.” Teaching about misinformation isn’t just looking at how it spreads, but how to identify it. One surefire way to know the information is factual is by verifying that it is from a credible source. "And so, to have a credible source you need to make sure that there's an author,” Elder said. “You need to make sure that they have the right background in order to have some sort of opinion on this thing." A credible source doesn’t necessarily mean someone with a familiar name. It’s important that they have the right background to be speaking on the topic. “There are epidemiologists who are on Facebook, trying to tell us what is true and what is not true. But oftentimes, those aren't the people that we recognize,” Elder said. “Just because you recognize someone via your family member your friend or even some pundit on TV that you watch every night. Just because you recognize them doesn't mean they always have the correct information. So, going to a source that has a scientific background can be a great way to stop that spread.” Misinformation has taken on a new meaning in the age of COVID-19. From the virus itself to mitigation measures and vaccines, the spread of false information now can have deadly consequences. "The spread of misinformation may be used to be something about, ‘oh this celebrity is dating that celebrity’ and there's not that much of a consequence,” Elder said, “but now it's misinformation about things that can save your life, and can save your neighbor's life and your friends, your family." Now, you may be thinking what exactly is considered misinformation? "Anything that tries to undermine the sort of the veracity or the trust that people have in that kind of information would be considered misinformation.” Elder says misinformation has been around for a long time, “I think the biggest thing is to be aware of, sort of the erosion of trust in expertise, over the last 30 years, maybe longer." But as social media grows in popularity, the spread of false information ignites faster than a wildfire, with posts about COVID-19 garnishing thousands of shares in a matter of minutes. "Sadly, I'm not sure it's grown during the pandemic because the spread of misinformation on social media, happens all the time,” Elder said. “I think what we're seeing now is that there are more dire consequences." "This is literally life and death for people." But what can you do to combat misinformation? There are a few things:
SEE THE VIDEO Misinformation: What is immunology and how vaccines work with your immune system The immune system has been making headlines the last 18 months as the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, but what exactly is the immune system and how does it work? "The human being is a very complicated system and immunology essentially looks at how different parts of the immune system fight bacteria, viruses, protozoa and fungi, how they keep you healthy overall." Dr. Anni Moore is a microbiologist and teaches immunology at Morningside University. Part of that involves vaccines, their development and how they work. "The short answer here is vaccines essentially stimulate your immune system," Dr. Moore says, "that gives your immune system the tools to target that specific organism, such as the Coronavirus or the flu virus, and essentially stimulate your immune system to fight it." Just like there are many different types of organisms that can attack an immune system, there are also many different types of vaccines in development even before they are needed. "Vaccine development itself is pretty complicated," Dr. Moore said. "However, because we have been doing that for about 200 years now, we do have the tools. We know what goes into it, and it's a much more seamless process, even when we don't have these pandemics going on." "There is a lot of research going into vaccine developments all throughout the world." With scientists around the globe working on vaccine development every day, creating vaccines to fight a global pandemic in a year isn't a surprise because much of the science behind it was already there. The development of vaccines to fight coronaviruses have been in the works for decades, as described in this report from the Journal of Biomedical Science. Dr. Moore says there are many different types of vaccines being created, but the baseline is the same. "It all starts with identifying, of course, the target, the virus, in this case, the Coronavirus and looking at target proteins, for example, that your body would recognize as a foreign." When creating a vaccine to target a specific virus, like COVID-19, scientists need to identify the spike protein in the virus that your immune system fights off. Dr. Moore says a vaccine can use the identified spike protein itself or the gene from that protein, such as mRNA vaccines, and give your immune system the tools it needs for battle before you become infected. "Essentially, it tries to get those into your body to activate your immune system that would then recognize that protein as foreign and start building up the immune arsenal, such as your T cells, such as your antibodies, against that particular protein," Dr. Moore says about the vaccine's job inside a person's body. "So they would identify that virus, or the bacteria, in some cases, by that antigen, we call that, the identifying protein." One of the biggest debates surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines is their lack of full FDA approval, but the medicine behind the vaccines has been approved with the emergency use authorization. The full FDA approval, Dr. Moore says, involves everything else. "We are out of phase three trial, we have been vaccinating with these emergency approved vaccines for months now, and all the data says medically everything is solid," Dr. Moore says. The medicine behind the vaccine has been given the green light. "Now, what else goes into the FDA approval process, complete approval process, is not just the medical stuff, it's everything aside from that. So things that deal with production and storage, and, and, and. So it's all the non-medical stuff that also goes into the FDA approval." "So to say that these vaccines are sort of iffy because they don't have full approval is somewhat short-sighted because the data is there that medically, these vaccines are definitely solid." What about vaccine immunity versus natural immunity? For those who have had COVID-19, your natural immunity may not be as strong as you think. "So, when you get the vaccine, you have a controlled dose. You have an X number of molecules or viral particles that are given to you." When you get sick naturally with the Coronavirus, Dr. Moore says, "then you don't know how much you've got and you don't know how much your body can handle how much your body could. What kind of proportional response, your body is going to get to that Coronavirus dose that you got naturally." The new Delta variant has brought the topic of 'breakthrough cases' into the spotlight with skeptics saying that the vaccines aren't working when someone who has been inoculated tests positive for COVID-19. But no vaccine is 100% effective and has never been touted as such. The flu vaccine each year is typically between 40%-60% effective against the flu strain. The COVID-19 vaccines are between 60%-95% effective, depending on which one you look at. "Whether the virus has mutated a little bit so it sort of slipped past your immune system," Dr. Moore says. "There are always these cases. But what seems to be the overall data right now is that the vaccines, even if they don't 100% prevent you from getting COVID, it will prevent you from getting very, very sick and they prevent hospitalizations." Want to learn more about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta variant? Read this article from the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Moore says that, in spite of the impact this pandemic has had on the world, one positive thing to come out of this is global discussion and interest in science. "A year and a half ago, I don't think people were aware of things like contact tracing and a lot of people did not know how vaccines work and or what viruses are and I think as tragic as this has been, I think it has also been a good public education on epidemiology and public safety, and overall biology." SEE THE VIDEO Misinformation: Debunking Facebook comments with local experts Misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines has been widespread since the start of the pandemic, but how do you know if the information you are reading is true or false? Simple, you need to find a credible source. "To have a credible source, you need to make sure that there's an author," said Morningside University Professor David Elder, who specializes in propaganda and misinformation. "You need to make sure that they have the right background in order to have some sort of opinion on this thing." Whenever we share a COVID-19 or vaccine-related story on our Siouxland News Facebook page, there are many comments with claims that aren't necessarily true. We decided to take some of those comments and debunk them with local experts. One of the most common comments is that the vaccine does more harm and isn't safe because it isn't fully FDA-approved. "Vaccines are safe. They do have some side effects like any of them do, but generally, they're very well-tolerated for most people." Dr. Jeffrey O'Tool is a physician at UnityPoint Health - St. Luke's. We didn't want to just take his word for it, so we asked MercyOne Family Medicine Doctor David Ensz the same question. "The thing with COVID-19 vaccines, even though it came out really quick, you know, within a year which it had to do because we're going through a pandemic," Dr. Ensz said. "These vaccines have been tested through hundreds of 1,000s of people, millions of people, and they are safe, they do prevent illness." Another claim that often comes across our page and many others are that if you are vaccinated and get COVID-19, it proves the vaccine doesn't work. Both doctors say that's not the case. "You can absolutely still get COVID-19 after having the vaccine," Dr. Ensz said in response to this claim, "but all that means is that the virus is in you." "I think generally the vaccine's working pretty well," said Dr. O'Tool. "People who have been vaccinated tend not to get as sick as those that have been vaccinated or may not have any symptoms at all with COVID-19." Immunologists say the vaccine's goal is to reduce your risk of severe illness, which it largely has done. Dr. O'Tool says that UnityPoint Health has seen some positive cases in people who have been vaccinated, "but a lot of our positive cases here recently have been in those that have not been vaccinated." How about another claim that's been around since the beginning of the pandemic. That masks make you sicker. With mask mandates being reinstated with the rise of the Delta variant, we asked Dr. Ensz, who wore masks as part of his job as a doctor before COVID-19, if this was actually the case. "There's that sensation that you're breathing through a mask, but it doesn't worsen any chronic breathing conditions or breathing in somebody who's healthy," Dr. Ensz said on this claim. "The theory is. "okay I'm so close to my breath, and I'm going to be breathing that in". But all the data show that there's no increase in respiratory illnesses, allergies any of that." Dubbed "anti-vaxers", the voices of those with distrust or hesitation in vaccines have gotten louder in recent months, but vaccines have been around for decades and have eradicated deadly diseases and viruses. Dr. Ensz listed several vaccines that kids need to have and several diseases eradicated thanks to vaccine science saying, "one of the reasons we don't hear about polio anymore is because everybody got vaccinated for polio, and we don't see it, We don't see, you know, kids who aren't walking because polio affected their legs. These vaccines work." "Vaccines are distrusted in this country, anyway," Elder said. "Again from a bunch of false information, but it's a belief that has taken over so adding one more step to the mistrusted vaccines isn't seen as that too far of a bridge." Vaccines aren't 100% effective at preventing any illness, and that's never been said by medical professionals. "Overall, the COVID-19 vaccines seem to be much more efficient than many other vaccines that people are getting all the time." Dr. Anni Moore is a microbiologist and teaches immunology at Morningside University. "Up to 95% effective. There's always that 5%, either the vaccine didn't work properly. Whether the virus has mutated a little bit so it didn't, it sort of slipped past your immune system. There are always these cases." "Generally speaking, vaccines will help," said Dr. O'Tool. "Nothing is perfect. Influenza successful years or 60% protective effect from an influenza vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine can be much more effective, probably in the high 90s, which has been reported all the way along." For those worried about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, our local experts say while these were developed quickly in a sense, "vaccine development itself is pretty complicated. However, because we have been doing that for about 200 years now, we do have the tools. We know what goes into it, and it's a much more seamless process, even when we don't have these pandemics going on. There is a lot of research going into vaccine developments all throughout the world." "There's been millions and millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine given around the world," said O'Tool. "We all hear reports of side effects and things like that. But those are a very, very small number compared to the total number of doses have been given." "You know, honestly, that's something we don't know at this point," said Dr. Ensz. "You know the one thing we do know is that we're going through a pandemic right now and this virus is still killing people. It's killing healthy people, it's killing ill people. And the best defense we have against it right now is this vaccine." Doctors say that even if you have had COVID-19, getting the vaccine is still recommended. As medical professionals work tirelessly to treat COVID-19 patients and make improvements to the vaccines available, Ensz and O'Tool have one final message for Siouxlanders. "Bottom line is if you're on the fence about getting the vaccine. My recommendation is to absolutely do," said Dr. Ensz. "So that's the only way we're going to get rid of this pandemic. We're already seeing the mask mandate come back in certain states. If you have questions about it, ask your healthcare provider, ask family members who have received the vaccine." "It's been a long year and a half here. And the sooner we get more people vaccinated," said Dr. O'Tool. "Hopefully, we're less likely to get more variants that could eventually have a variant that the vaccine doesn't work for. And then we have to start over again." SEE THE VIDEO Parents seek change after child survives Okoboji waterpark drowning with no guards on duty6/24/2021 Two hours northeast of Sioux City on the banks of East Lake Okoboji sits Bridges Bay, which calls itself a "laid-back resort" and features an indoor and outdoor waterpark with amenities for kids and adults. It's also here where a Spirit Lake couple experienced a parent's worst nightmare. "It seems really kid-friendly when you look at it." Lauren and William Bramhall rented a party room at the indoor waterpark for Wednesday, June 16th to celebrate a few birthdays, including their two-year-old twin boys Russell and Miles. "I know for myself like walking and I was like okay, this will be a good place to go after we're done swimming," Lauren said about the waterpark. "It felt like a safe area to do that, and obviously it wasn't." After spending a few hours in the pool, the group moved to the party room. But Miles had disappeared as they were handing out food, quickly sneaking out the closed door. The door to the party room didn't lock. "I started to look around the room and I see Russell, because I saw he had his little blankie that he always carries," Will said, "but I didn't see Miles." Will ran out the door and to the pool with some other adults, frantically searching for Miles. "At that point, was when I had a lifeguard, a female lifeguard... she was across the way, but she saw me and said, 'are you looking for your son?' He's in the lifeguard room," Will said. "At that point, Miles was sitting with a young man. A male lifeguard. He had like two towels wrapped around him, one over like his upper head and a lower-middle back, and then the other one was around his waist. "Because all I could see were his legs and his arms and they were blue... blue, purple," Will recalled. "So I didn't know if he received CPR, if he wasn't breathing, or anything." Thankfully, Miles was breathing and didn't need CPR. "It seems as though he didn't breathe in any water, (because) he had swallowed," Will said after checking his son. "The swallow reflex kicked in and he swallowed, over and over again and water entered his mouth. So his lung sounds were clear." Bramhall is a certified EMT, and he and the paramedics who arrived on scene gave Miles a thorough evaluation and then, as both Will and Lauren have medical training, they were able to take Miles home.
"But for some reason I just said, Well, I've got my feet up on the hole where she was, I'm just going to go ahead and float around." Scott Deruyter was at Bridges Bay with his young kids and a moment's thought to float down the lazy river in a tube instead of exiting the pool with his daughter, likely saved Miles's life. "I kind of noticed like somebody was kind of like doing a back float or somebody was kind of like, I saw just like little hands coming out of water and kind of like, tips of feet, but the hands are kind of going up and then they're going down, they're kind of going up, but I just thought that was kind of funny," Derutyer recalled. "And as I got there, the hands were dipping under the water and there was no moving. So I got past the ladder, and I thought, that doesn't look right and so I jumped off the tube. "And I went over and... sorry it's kind of emotional... So when I picked him up. He was not moving. And so I carried him over to the side... and rolled up to the side and pat him on his back," he said after pulling the 2-year-old out of the water. "And I heard, kind of a small gurgle so I knew there was not complete air restriction, I mean there was kind of a gurgle but not really any kind of noise. So, as I had patted his back, water starting to come from his nose and mouth, but his eyes were just really wide and like, distant." Several days after the drowning incident, Bridges Bay's waterparks were closed which the resort states is because of staffing, but a Facebook post caught Lauren's attention. "(The Emergency Closure Order) stated that there had to be 16 trained lifeguards on duty that day, and in the citation, it states that because the one certified lifeguard was in there that day... in the office... there were zero certified lifeguards that day," Lauren stated. The parent of one of the lifeguards on duty on June 16th took to social media, calling out Bridges Bay for not offering her son and several other staff members the proper lifeguard training for the job. She also called the state to report the drowning days after it happened, something the facility is required by law to report within 24 hours. The parent of one of the lifeguards on duty on June 16th took to social media, calling out Bridges Bay for not offering her son and several other staff members the proper lifeguard training for the job. She also called the state to report the drowning days after it happened, something the facility is required by law to report within 24 hours. (Siouxland News) According to the incident report filed by the Iowa Department of Public Health, Bridges Bay Resort was shut down via Emergency Closure Order for failing to meet four Iowa codes for operation. One of the most alarming citations is failing to staff the aquatics facility with the minimum number of certified lifeguards as determined for the size of the aquatics center. On June 16th, Bridges Bay had one certified lifeguard on the property but they were not in the pool. The four other lifeguards did not have active certifications. According to the emergency closure notice, Bridges Bay is legally required to have a minimum of 16 certified lifeguards on duty if both the indoor and outdoor facilities are open, 4 in the indoor facility and 12 outside. The water park was closed to "avoid the immediate danger to the public" and will remain so until the state determines it is safe for them to reopen. "One of the main reasons we decided to speak out about this was that we didn't know none of them were certified," Lauren said. "There was one certified and she was not working the floor, she was in the office that day. Which is terrifying as a parent." Once Miles fell in the pool, Will, Lauren, Scott and several others have determined that Miles likely passed by a lifeguard without being noticed in the water. "All signs point to that my son was underwater drowning all the way in front of an untrained lifeguard from the complete one side of the building, all the way to the other end perfect view of them because they face the entire building," said Will. "Will and I felt mainly at fault for this, but knowing that, you know, he could have been pulled out sooner," Lauren said, "and that so many families bring their children to Bridges Bay a year, and not knowing that it's not safe. That's why we decided to speak out about it." Siouxland News: "What do you want to see come from this?" "Change," Lauren said quickly. "I mean, don't let them work the floor until they are certified. I mean, you wouldn't put a nurse on the floor of a hospital without any type of certification at all. You put people's lives in their hands It's the same thing with this, they need to be certified before they're even considered to be put on the floor. Why Bridges Bay thought that was acceptable is beyond me." Will responded, "I feel really disgruntled towards them, because of how they've been treating us." "And the fact that they deliberately tried to hide that it was a drowning that shut them down and that they didn't report it," Lauren said. "That's very upsetting to me." Bridges Bay has yet to publicly acknowledge the drowning incident, stating on their official Facebook page that because of recent upgrades to the waterpark, it "changed the scale for staffing which we are addressing." The resort has also disabled all comments on their Facebook page. Siouxland News spoke with the lifeguard who assisted Miles once Scott pulled him from the pool. He says he and several other colleagues have quit Bridges Bay because of a lack of training and how this has been handled. While he and his mom, who alerted the state about the drowning, didn't speak to us on camera, they told me that they hope to see a positive change come from this incident. For Will and Lauren, they don't blame the untrained guards for what happened. "You can't blame someone for not knowing how to do something," Will said. Lauren agreed, saying, "he did the best he could in the situation." "He was very comforting," Will said, who spoke to the guard as he was holding his son in the lifeguard office. "And for a person who's untrained, being comforting is all you can do in a circumstance like that." "We're angry at Bridges Bay itself for this because it could have been prevented," Lauren said. One week later, Miles is doing just fine, maybe needing a few extra hugs from mom. For Will, Lauren, Scott, and others who are calling out Bridges Bay for how this drowning was handled, their unified message is hope that the popular resort will recognize its mistakes. "We trust them to have a safe environment for our families," Lauren said. "It's posted they have lifeguards there. So, I mean my message to them would be, like, make sure your staff is trained before you put them on the floor." In their Spirit Lake home, Scott met Miles as the energetic, albeit sleepy 2-year-old he is and three strangers reunited over a moment that could have changed so many lives forever. "We're just so grateful for him. I mean, had it not been for him our son probably wouldn't be with us today, which is the scariest part," Lauren said as she looked at Scott, a new friendship destined to carry on. According to the emergency closure report, Bridges Bay was allowed to open for the summer beginning June 10th with a requirement that they would have 12 certified lifeguards outside on duty when open. This incident occurred on June 16th, not even a week later. Siouxland News spoke with Bridges Bay's General Manager who did not want to speak on camera but did release a statement stating they are working with the state. Their full statement is as follows: "We are working with the State of Iowa and the Bridges Bay Master Homeowner Association to ensure we meet the requirements to reopen the facility within guidelines. Unfortunately, the labor market situation that has impacted many industries also has impacted ours and made obtaining the amount of staff required more difficult. If anyone is interested in applying for a job, please contact us." To read the full incident report and Emergency Closure Order from the Iowa Department of Public Health, click here. SEE THE VIDEO More than an hour of body camera footage from three Sioux City Police officers has been made public after a video of an arrest went viral on social media over the weekend. We are accountable to the public and a big part of that accountability is the camera footage.The videos posted to Facebook showed a black man being confronted and eventually arrested by three officers with one displaying his taser. At no time was the taser or any weapon fired. This show of force, Sioux City Police Sergeant Jeremy McClure says, is called a de-escalation tactic. "It's appropriate and obviously, we understand that people would be concerned about that and we understand those concerns and that's why it's important for us to explain this type of stuff and why we do what we do and for people to see the full context of what had occurred," he explained. Complaints have been filed by the man arrested against officers involved in the incident and they are currently under review. McClure says the body camera footage, which the department redacted partially in the public release to keep private information confidential, will be used to help determine if any officer was in the wrong or if the department needs to make changes in policy. "The body cameras play a huge part in anytime an officer uses a show of force or uses force or has a complaint against them because any contact we have with a citizen has to be recorded by policy," McClure said of the incident. "Again, we take these things very seriously and we try to train as best we can to overcome resistance with the least amount of force possible." The social media videos only showed a portion of the incident and gained traction quickly, leading the department to release the footage from each officer's body cameras starting from the moment of response to booking at the jail. "The public has a right to hold us accountable and ask questions. We expect that and welcome it," McClure said. "The body cameras play a huge part in that because, again, that shows more of the situation whereas a viral video clip may only pick up at a certain point or from a certain perspective. It may not tell the whole story." Officers were not called to confront the man, instead being dispatched there to remove an intoxicated woman. But then the man confronted officers and things escalated. You can read more about the incident here. "The initial impression is that the officers acted within policy but again, we will review it and see what we can do better," McClure continued. We are always looking to improve and that is a commitment that we made to the community we serve and it's a commitment that our community deserves and so it's something that we dedicate ourselves to continually say, what can we do better.Last May, community members held peaceful protests outside the Law Enforcement Center following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota. The protests were also raising public funds to help equip the department with body cameras which have now been done. Every member of the department is now equipt with a body camera. "Part of the reason we got the cameras was accountability," McClure said. "If an officer is not following our policy and not living up to our values and the standards we have set, then we either want to change that behavior and fix that or do whatever we need to do to ensure that that officer is acting within our policy or let them go if need be." Sgt. McClure says the department strives to be transparent and encourages the public to seek answers to any questions or concerns they have. "It's the public's right to question what we are doing and we expect that and it's invaluable to ensure that you have a police force that you can trust. Especially with the concerns that were brought up over the last year with disproportionate minority contact and issues with social justice and bias policing. "So, we strive to be an agency that's open, transparent, and better trained and try to prevent issues with explicit and implicit bias," he continued. "We want our community to trust us. We want to work with the members of our community to earn that trust. Trust isn't something that's just given, it's earned." This incident, which took place last Thursday morning, April 29th, is still under review by the department. To read our full story or to watch the body camera footage for yourself, check out our story here. SEE THE VIDEO FBI, Yankton Police offering reward for information on 1992 cold case murder of Tammy Haas4/13/2021 "Thank you for being here on her birthday." Nearly 30 years after her murder, FBI and local authorities are still trying to find out who killed 19-year-old Tammy Haas in September of 1992. Her mother, Nancy, joined authorities from South Dakota and the FBI Tuesday on her daughter's birthday, hoping someone will come forward with answers. "Law enforcement has been trying to unravel the mystery since then. Theories have come and gone. Tips and leads that seem promising, have turned hopeless," Yankton Police Commander Todd Brandt said. FBI Minneapolis and the Yankton Police Department have announced a $15,000 reward for information that will help uncover exactly how she died and who killed her. Today, April 13th, would have been her 48th birthday. The FBI and Yankton Police Department continue to investigate and believe the reward may cause people to come forward with information. Leads and tips that have seemed promising have not led to new information. “We know there has been uncertainty since that September of 1992, but we do have some certainty, that is, that someone, someone out there knows, has information about what happened to Tammy,” said Michael Paul, the FBI special agent in charge of the Minneapolis field office which serves Minnesota, South Dakota and other states. Tammy Haas was from Yankton and attended a homecoming party with her boyfriend on Sept. 18th, 1992 at a farmhouse across the river in Cedar County, Nebraska. Her body was found five days later in a ravine not far from the farmhouse where the party was at. Her boyfriend was eventually arrested and tried on Manslaughter 3rd degree in Cedar County but was found not guilty. In March 2020, her gravesite was vandalized, leading authorities to believe that someone in the area may have knowledge about the case. "What's changed is that nothing has changed, we're still fighting for the answers of what happened to Tammy," Brandt said. "Graciously the FBI has put up some money to hopefully jog some memories that have been held for many years but nothing has changed, we're still steadfast in the investigation." Brandt and Paul credit Tammy's mother Nancy with her strength and determination, working with them for nearly 30 years to bring her daughter justice. "That's the unknown question and again, it all goes back to Nancy as a parent and grieving this for this many years without having all of the facts and the truth," Brandt said. "We have known the mannerism in which she died, but we don't know at whose hands that was." For now, Tammy's loved ones continue on, honoring the young woman they lost too soon. "It's been pretty emotional. As a mother myself, I can't imagine not having answers or knowing what happened," Arnette Heimen said. She was the Haas' neighbor as Tammy was growing up. "She was just so sparkly, you know. Always wanting to have fun. I don't have daughters of my own but she was so full of life. But it's to see that she, all these years, has been gone. It's hard." Anyone with information about this event is asked to contact the FBI’s Sioux Falls office at 605-334-6881, the Yankton Police Department at 605-668-5210 or online at tips.fbi.gov. SEE THE VIDEO In March of 2020, the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, arrived in the tri-state region. Now one year later, we look back on the impact this virus has had on Siouxland. A GLOBAL TIMELINE: On December 31st, 2019, the World Health Organization received the first report of a viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Just 9 days later, an outbreak of a novel coronavirus, COVID-19 was confirmed. The first death of this new virus was reported on January 11th and just 20 days after WHO first learned of the virus, it appeared in the U.S. By February 3rd, the U.S. had declared a public health emergency and by March 11th, the WHO had declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. President Trump declared a national emergency two days later. On April 4th, 1 million cases were confirmed worldwide. Come the end of May, the United States had documented 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 and reached 2 million confirmed cases by June 10th. On August 17th, COVID-19 had become the 3rd leading cause of death in the nation. September 28th brought a grim global milestone: 1 million lives lost. The world reached 40 million confirmed cases by October 19th and by mid-December, the FDA had approved the first two vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna. On January 1st, 2021, the country reached 20 million confirmed cases. By the 10th of January, 90 million confirmed worldwide. Just 5 days later, 2 million people were dead. By March, millions had been vaccinated and a third vaccine option, Johnson & Johnson, was approved for use: one year after COVID-19 was declared a national emergency. THE NUMBERS: Here in the tri-state, we've seen more than 652,000 people test positive for COVID-19 in the last year. Nebraska:
NEBRASKA: Nebraska was one of the first states in the nation to house people in quarantine for COVID-19 following a cruise ship outbreak. More than a dozen people were brought to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha on February 17th to spend two weeks in quarantine after an outbreak on the Diamond Princess. A handful had tested positive and receive treatment at the hospital. It wouldn't be until March 6th that the first confirmed case specifically in Nebraska was reported. Here in Siouxland, Dakota and Madison County saw major outbreaks of COVID-19 after the virus spread through meatpacking plants in Dakota City and Norfolk. IOWA: It was a Sunday night, March 15th, when Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds made an announcement no other governor of the state has ever made before, closing schools across the state for four weeks. Classes would never resume for in-person learning for the 2019-2020 school year. March 17th, Gov. Reynolds closed gyms, fitness centers, theaters, casinos, bars, restaurants and many other businesses in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in the state. The state reached a grim milestone on August 19th, with 1,000 Iowans dead from COVID-19. SOUTH DAKOTA: South Dakota was one of the first to report a major outbreak of COVID-19, putting the Rushmore state under a national spotlight. The state reported its first cases and first death linked to the virus on March 10th, and just a month later, an outbreak was confirmed at the Smithfield Foods pork plant in Sioux Falls. This outbreak was one of the first to hit meatpackers last spring. The plant shut down on April 11th and the CDC was brought in to investigate its mitigation measures before the plant could reopen. Governor Kristi Noem would host President Donald Trump for a July 4th celebration at Mount Rushmore and then in August, tens of thousands of people flocked to Sturgis for the annual motorcycle rally. Throughout the pandemic, Governor Noem encouraged civic responsibility instead of stay at home and mask orders, urging South Dakotans to use personal responsibility to help slow the spread of the virus. By December 2020, Avera Health, a major health system in the state, reported that South Dakota had the highest mortality rate from COVID-19 in the nation. COVID-19 vaccine phase updates in the tri-state RETURN TO LEARN: Many schools in the Siouxland area released "Return to Learn" plans ahead of the 2020-2021 school year. These included various learning scenarios for students and teachers in case of a virus outbreak in the district or community. Siouxland News spoke to many of these districts ahead of the new school year, which you can find those stories here. The Sioux City Community School District had three learning plans: in-person, hybrid and online. The district was one of the few large districts in the state of Iowa to remain in-person this school year. Siouxland News Anchor Diana Castillo sat down for an exclusive interview with Superintendent Dr. Paul Gausman to look back on the last year, the success of the Return to Learn plan, and what he'd do differently if he had the chance. Watch the full interview below or click here. SIOUXLAND DISTRICT HEALTH: They've become a household name over the last year. The team at the Siouxland District Health Department had to quickly adjust to ever-changing protocols from health officials and questions from the public. Our Vivian Rennie sat down with Director Kevin Grieme and Deputy Director Tyler Brock for an in-depth discussion on a year they won't soon forget. Watch the full interview below or click here. A YEAR FIGHTING COVID-19 INSIDE UNITYPOINT HEALTH-ST. LUKE'S This virus has changed a lot of lives, but for those who work at Unity Point Health Saint Luke's, they came face to face with an enemy no one could predict. READ MORE: Vivian Rennie spoke with health officials and nurses at UPH about the last year and COVID-19. LOCAL BUSINESS IMPACT: Businesses across the country, Siouxland included, are no stranger to the negative impact of the pandemic. It's been tough and those businesses made a lot of sacrifices in the last year. But, they've also seen growth and development that wouldn't have emerged otherwise. READ MORE: COVID-19's impact on the local economy READ MORE: Sneaky's Chicken says they are struggling but surviving the pandemic READ MORE: A look at how the pandemic has impacted a Siouxland tire and auto repair shop READ MORE: Tyson Events Center gets creative during the pandemic SPORTS IMPACT:After the coronavirus canceled spring sports all across the tri-state, Iowa was the first to attempt high school sports over the summer and for the most part, it went off without a hitch. But people were more skeptical about the fall, a time where close contact sports were inevitable. Our Andrew Rogers breaks down the numbers from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota to find out how much the virus played a role in sports cancellations. Read his story here and watch the video below. MEATPACKING OUTBREAKS: They are a key element in our nation's food supply and became one of the hardest-hit industries early on. COVID-19 outbreaks spread quickly through meatpacking plants nationwide. In the Spring of 2020 meatpacking plants across the midwest became the first hotspots for COVID-19 in the country. SMITHFIELD - Sioux Falls
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