Officials with the Pottawattamie County said today (Wednesday), “We are sorry to report an additional COVID-19 related death, bringing the county’s total deaths to thirteen. This individual was an elderly man (81>) from Council Bluffs.” PCPH says also, there are now two locations for COVID-19 testing in Pottawattamie County. Please visit www.testiowa.com to schedule an appointment.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests. Yesterday (Tuesday, July 7), 60-year old Daryl D. Armstrong, of Anita, was arrested on Cass County Sheriff’s Office warrants for (Felony) Stalking, and Violation of No Contact Order. Armstrong was released the following day on $2,300 bond. On Sunday, 42-year old Jennifer Joyce Cohrs, of Lewis, was arrested in Cass County on a charge of OWI 1st Offense. Cohrs was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on her own recognizance.

On Independence Day, 50-year old Craig Allen Griffin, of Atlantic, was arrested on charges of OWI 2nd Offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Griffin was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on his own recognizance. Last Friday, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 26-year old Alfredo Joey Guerrero, of Waukegan, IL, on a Sheriff’s Office warrant for OWI 1st Offense. Guerrero was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Many of the nearly 82-hundred absentee ballots cast in yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) special election in Woodbury County were cast in the spring. The election was originally scheduled for April 14th, but Iowa’s secretary of state rescheduled it for July 7th because of the pandemic. Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill says several hundred people who cast an absentee ballot showed up at their local polling place yesterday (Tuesday). “A lot of them were not too happy,” Gill says. “They honestly had a hard time believing they had already cast their ballot in this election.”

Gill’s office got 10-thousand requests for absentee ballots and eight-thousand ballots were mailed in before the secretary of state decided on March 20th that the election should be pushed back. “I asked him not to do that because we thought there would be confusion,” Gill says. Gill says voters who would not believe they had already cast an absentee ballot were allowed to cast a provisional ballot — or go to the county auditor’s office to check the record of their absentee vote. “We could show them the affidavit that actually contained their signature and some voters actually did that,” Gill says. “…It was something that upset a lot of voters and it was very important to use that we maintain the integrity of elections in Woodbury County because people were believing they were unjustly being turned away from the polling place when they had already voted.”

Just over nine-hundred ballots were actually cast yesterday (Tuesday) at polling sites. A whopping 90 percent of all the votes in the supervisor’s race were cast early by absentee ballot. Early this year Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor resigned after a local board determined he was no longer eligible to serve because he’d moved out of the district he was elected to represent. Republican Justin Wright won the race to serve the remaining two years of Taylor’s term.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge ordered probation for an Iowa businessman with deep ties to the Republican Party, saying he failed to show genuine remorse for assaulting a woman at his home last year. Judge Michael Huppert rejected a request by David Greenspon for a deferred judgment in the assault, which occurred at Greenspon’s West Des Moines mansion last November. Instead, he said that Greenspon would be convicted of assault with intent to inflict serious injury, and the aggravated misdemeanor would stay on his record even if he successfully completes his one-year probation term. Greenspon is the owner of Competitive Edge, a Des Moines advertising supply company.

MONTGOMERY – Montgomery County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Stephanie Burke today (Wednesday), said that there were two bills concerning elections that were passed by the General Assembly during their adjusted legislative session. House File 2486 changed the filing deadline for the 2020 General Election for the non-partisan offices of Township Trustee and County Hospital Trustee. For the 2020 General Election only, Township Trustee and County Hospital Trustee offices can file through Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. This change does not alter the filing deadline for County Ag Extension and Soil and Water Commissioner, which remains Wednesday, August 26 at 5:00 p.m. as well.

According to Burke, “Candidates that have already filed by the previous deadline of March 20 will still be on the ballot. We do not need any additional information. If anyone has questions regarding signature requirements and filing procedures, they can contact the Montgomery County Auditor’s office.” For more information about the 2020 General Election, please call the Auditor’s office at 623-5127. You can also follow Montgomery County Auditor & Elections Facebook page and at www.montgomerycountyiowa.com.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Travis Joe Barret, of Glenwood, was arrested Tuesday night at the Sheriff’s Office. Barret was taken into custody on a warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree. His bond was set at $300.,

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is plowing ahead with its plan to resume federal executions next week, for the first time in more than 15 years. That’s despite the coronavirus pandemic raging both inside and outside prisons and despite stagnating national support for the death penalty. Three people are scheduled to die by lethal injection in one week at an Indiana prison, beginning Monday. One of those set to be executed, is Dustin Honken, who was originally from Britt (IA), who was convicted in 2004 of murdering a family in a rural area outside of Mason City in 1993. Authorities say Honken was a meth king pin at the time and the man he murdered was another drug dealer who had become an informant. Honken shot the man, his wife and two children in the head.

The decision to go ahead with the executions has been criticized as a dangerous and political move by the Trump administration, at a time when there is great scrutiny on racial disparities in the death penalty and on larger criminal justice system.

(Radio Iowa) – The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate addressed a virtual gathering of about 250 Polk County Democrats last (Tuesday) night and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told the group the party’s agenda fits the moment.  “The country is thirsting for real and dramatic change,” Schumer says.

Schumer says Republicans are “on a different planet” on a variety of issues and he accused G-O-P leadership in the U.S. Senate of blocking votes on important bills, like one that would have forbidden insurance companies from dropping policies for people with pre-existing conditions. Schumer pointed to polls showing Iowa’s U.S. Senate race is competitive — and he said flipping control of the senate from Democrats to Republicans may rest on whether Democrat Theresa Greenfield defeats Republican Senator Joni Ernst this November. “We all know deep down that this truly may be the most important election of our lifetimes,” Schumer said. “It’ll be up to us to turn the page from this dark chapter in our history and let me tell you, I have never been as optimistic about our chances as I am today.”

Ernst and other Republicans have been referring to Greenfield as Schumer’s “hand-picked” candidate. Ernst told reporters yesterday (Tuesday) that she wants to debate Greenfield to hear what Schumer is telling Greenfield to say or not to say on key issues.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Des Moines School Board has voted to move forward on a nearly $20 million high school and middle school sports stadium in partnership with Drake University, despite pushback from some district patrons. The city’s school board unanimously approved on Tuesday design and rental agreements with Drake University and the design firm. All but $4.5 million of the stadium’s $19.5 million cost will come from state funds. Critics who spoke at Tuesday’s board meeting said the funding should go toward improving schools and existing stadiums.

The 4,000-seat stadium will be the home field for four of the district’s five high school football teams and will be home for all of the district’s soccer teams. Drake also will use the field for its soccer teams.