The Iowa Department of Public Health today (Saturday) reports six more deaths from COVID-19, for a total of 748, and an increase of 743 positive test results over yesterday (Friday), at 34,499 altogether. The number of hospitalizations from the Coronavirus continue to surge, also. The COVID-19 dashboard, Saturday, showed one more case of the virus in Cass County, bringing the total here to 28. Adair County has one more positive case of COVID-19 for a total of 17. Audubon County’s case increase went from 16 on Friday to 18 by Saturday. Guthrie County increased by three cases to 75. Shelby County had one more positive COVID-19 case as of Saturday, for a total of 120, and Montgomery County had one more positive test result, for a total of 12.

IDPH say nine more people were hospitalized since Friday, for a total of 178, two more people were placed in Intensive Care (56 total), and four more were admitted to a hospital, for a total of 23. There are 25 patients on ventilators, down from 26 the previous day. In southwest/western Iowa, RMCC Region 4, there were two more people hospitalized (for a total of 7), one less person in an ICU (3 total), and three new hospital admissions (compared to 0 in the previous report).

Statewide:

• 369,503 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19
• 26,104 have recovered
• 333,714 have tested negative
• Long-Term Care facility outbreaks are up to 16 (compared to 15 yesterday); 335 patients/staff at LTC’s have tested positive (an increase of 36); 98 have recovered (11 more than Friday), and 396 persons have died at an LTC in Iowa (4 more than on Friday).

County-by-County COVID-19 cases, and the number of person who have recovered (   ). (Changes from Friday are highlighted)

• Cass: 28 (19)
• Adair: 17 (12)
• Adams: 8 (8)
• Audubon: 18 (15)
• Guthrie: 75 (57)
• Montgomery: 12 (8)
• Pottawattamie: 821 (661)
• Shelby: 120 (109)

(Radio Iowa) – Sioux City police chief Rex Mueller was part of a local group that participated in a discussion with people from across the state in Ames Thursday about community relations between police and minority groups. Mueller says the statewide group will address the concerns brought up since the death of a Minnesota man in police custody. “Iowa is forming with policy agency heads and local advocates an equity task force to figure out and find out how we can better serve in the wake of George Floyd’s passing,” Mueller says.

Local N-A-A-C-P President Ike Rayford and Monique Scarlet of Unity in the Community went with Mueller to the event.”I’m hoping that we learn things that we might not be doing or things that we could be doing better. But on the other side of that…Ike tells me that when he goes to N-A-A-C-P conventions, the access that he has to us, the relationship that we enjoy in our community — he says he gets to brag,” Mueller says.

He says not all communities have that kind of relationship. Unity in the Community and Sioux City Police have partnered for several years to promote understanding between minorities and local officers, and that paid off during the recent protests surrounding the death of Floyd. Mueller says they got to the point where they were talking with the organizers and they had a lot of positive give and take. “And thankfully we’ve got a community that is open to listening to and communicating with us. And it made the situation a lot better as the days of those protests went on,” according to Mueller.

The protests in Sioux City led to a renewed effort to equip Sioux City police officers with body cameras. The city council discussed the issue at their meeting this week.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

UNDATED (AP) — Iowa has registered its largest daily jump in coronavirus cases since May, leading health officials to warn people to take the threat more seriously and to stop congregating in crowded places such as bars. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped Friday by 744, which is the most since the state had 796 new cases on May 26. The number of COVID-19 deaths rose by three, to 742. Among the counties with the largest jumps was Scott County, on Iowa’s eastern border. Edward Rivers, director of the Scott County Health Department, says the increase correlated with the state lifting its final restrictions on bars, restaurants, casinos and mass gatherings in early June.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A spokesman says the Iowa Department of Public Safety will hand over internal misconduct records to a federal grand jury investigating a trooper after unsuccessfully fighting a subpoena in court. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the department must comply with the subpoena, which seeks internal investigation records related to an officer who is under scrutiny for possible civil rights violations. The department had asked the courts to quash the subpoena, saying that it would have a chilling effect on internal investigations. A federal judge and the appeals court upheld the subpoena, saying the department failed to show it was unreasonable. The ruling doesn’t identify the officer under investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department plans to appeal a judge’s ruling that would halt the first federal execution in nearly two decades. The halt was ordered after family members of the victims raised concerns they would be at high risk for the coronavirus if they had to travel to attend. They actually oppose the execution and say they wanted to be present to counter any contention that it was happening on their behalf. The Justice Department filed its notice to appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday. A federal judge had ordered that Daniel Lee’s execution must not move forward as scheduled on Monday. Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of a gun dealer, his daughter and her 8-year-old daughter.

MONTEZUMA, Iowa. (AP) — The trial of a man charged in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has been delayed. Cristhian Bahena Rivera was supposed to be tried in September, but the first-degree murder case was reset Friday to January because of of the pandemic and changing orders from the Iowa Supreme Court on when jury trials can resume. Investigators say Rivera, 25, stalked Tibbetts while she was out for a run in Brooklyn, Iowa, and stabbed her to death. Tibbetts, 20, disappeared on July 18, 2018. After a massive police and volunteer effort to find her, authorities say, Bahena Rivera led them to her body.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Friday, reported the arrest at around 4:15-p.m. that day, of 48-year-old Jesse Lee Simmons. He was taken into custody following a traffic stop at Highway 148 and Hunter Trail, in Corning.

Simmons was transported to the Adams County Jail and charged with Driving While Barred — an aggravated misdemeanor. Bond was set at $2,000.

Mills County Public Health officials, Friday afternoon, said an additional, positive case of COVID-19 was confirmed. The case involves a person under the age of 18, who contracted the virus through a known contact. The latest addition of a confirmed case brings the total in Mills County to 47, with 34 of those persons having recovered from the virus.

Authorities say 2,071 Mills County residents have been tested for COVID-19 to date.

MONTEZUMA, Iowa. (AP) — The trial of a man charged in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has been delayed. Cristhian Bahena Rivera was supposed to be tried in September, but the first-degree murder case was reset Friday to January because of of the pandemic and changing orders from the Iowa Supreme Court on when jury trials can resume. Investigators say Rivera, 25, stalked Tibbetts while she was out for a run in Brooklyn, Iowa, and stabbed her to death. Tibbetts, 20, disappeared on July 18, 2018. After a massive police and volunteer effort to find her, authorities say, Bahena Rivera led them to her body.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Friday (today), reported three arrests took place Thursday. Authorities say 28-year old Angel Marie Shlee, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Probation Violation. Her bond was set at $2,500.

29-year old Shaka Renee Gordon, of Omaha, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, following a traffic stop at around 6:20-p.m. on Interstate 29. Her bond was set at $1,000. And, 56-year old Michael Jay Scott, of Chippewa Falls, WI., was arrested on 189th Street in Mills County, for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $1,300.

MOUNT PLEASANT – The Iowa Dept. of Corrections reports that on Thursday night, the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility (MPCF) was notified that an inmate has tested positive for COVID-19.

The inmate is an older adult male (ages 55-64), and was placed in medical isolation when he first reported to Health Services that he was not feeling well on Wednesday, July 8 at approximately 12:20 PM. After being assessed, he was immediately taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) for further medical evaluation and care. While at UIHC he was tested for COVID-19.  On Thursday, July 9, MPCF was informed of his first negative COVID-19 test. UIHC administered a second test, and MPCF was informed that this test was also negative. However later that day, MPCF was contacted by UIHC and informed that in fact the inmate was positive for COVID-19, and will remain at the hospital for care and monitoring supervision. He is currently in stable condition.

Working with the Iowa Dept. of Public Health and State Hygienic Lab, MPCF will be conducting additional testing of staff and inmates at the facility to identify those that might be carrying the virus while asymptomatic.

The department has been preparing for, and responding to incidents of COVID-19 in the prison system for several months. An outline of the steps that have been taken can be found at doc.iowa.gov/department-corrections-steps, and more information related to COVID-19 in the DOC can be found at doc.iowa.gov/COVID19. For members of the public with questions about COVID-19 in the prison system, a hotline is available during business hours Monday-Friday by calling (515) 373-5457.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa is spending $1 million to remove spray-painted messages Black Lives Matter protesters left on campus buildings earlier this summer. But not before documenting and preserving the images for future generations. Hundreds of protesters who gathered and marched across the campus in recent weeks left a slew of social justice messages, including on the 178-year-old Old Capitol and 93-year-old Field House. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that the $1 million cleanup will employ five Iowa companies to remove the spray paint from building exteriors.

To preserve the messages, UI Libraries will collect photos in an institutional archive that will grow and expand with additional documents, video clips, sound recordings and first-person narratives.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A man who went missing from an Iowa care center days ago has been found alive in a water-filled ditch. Volunteers had been searching for Mike Jensen since he was reported missing Monday from Ravenwood Specialty Care in Waterloo. Jensen is a former Wartburg College music instructor whose brain tumor diagnoses is the subject of an independent film.

The Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier reports that a worker found the 45-year-old Jensen in the ditch, partially submerged in 4 to 5 inches of water and among cattails almost 10 feet tall. Police have said Jensen left the center Monday night through a window.