The Iowa Department of Public Health’s Coronavirus dashboard, today (Wednesday), shows the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 jumped from 1,284 Tuesday to 1,293 today, an increase of 9. Positive test results are up by 1,059 to 81,109 since the pandemic began. The data show four more positive cases in Cass County for a total of 140.

(OMAHA, NE) — Students in grades K-12 from Nebraska and Iowa are invited to submit works of poetry on themes of emotion, connection, uncovering history, and becoming un-stuck. Selected poems will be set to music and premiered during a public concert in May 2021.

From the pool of submissions, composers Matt Browne and Frances Pollock, alumni of The American Opera Project’s Composers and the Voice training program, will select poems to set to music. This is not a contest, as the composers will select poems based on what inspires them. The selected poets will have the opportunity to participate with the composer in a workshop to further develop the piece with the composer and musicians, participating in the behind-the-scenes process. The completed works will be performed in concert by Opera Omaha’s Holland Community Opera Fellows as vocalists and local musicians.

Opera Omaha’s Poetry & Music Project is produced in partnership with Nebraska Writers Collective and The American Opera Project.

Full project information including suggested prompts created by Nebraska Writers Collective and poem submission form available on operaomaha.org/poetry.

Writing Workshops

Opera Omaha and Nebraska Writers Collective are facilitating writing workshops focused on poetry writing for music. All workshops will be virtual and created to meet teacher and classroom needs. Workshops are free and will be scheduled on a first come basis. Teachers interested in participating must submit an interest form to be contacted about scheduling a writing workshop for students, which can be accessed at operaomaha.org/poetry.

Submission Guidelines

Open to All K-12 Students in Nebraska and Iowa

Students may submit up to 2 poems

All work must be original

Poems should be in PDF or Word file format

Poems should be on the themes, but do not need to use suggested prompts

Poems may be in any structure, but will be more conducive to being set to music if they are under 250 words

Poems must be submitted with completed and signed submission form

Submission Instructions

Email Poem(s) and completed signed submission form to poetry@operaomaha.org

Poem Submission Deadline: Monday, November 30, 2020

KELLOGG, Iowa (AP) — Four people have been charged in the strangulation death of a man whose body was found burning last week in a rural central Iowa ditch. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says 31-year-old Steven Vogel, of Grinnell, was arrested Tuesday in the death of 44-year-old Michael Williams, of Grinnell. Police acknowledged that the killing of Williams, who is Black, had led to fears that he may have been targeted because of his race. But police said Williams and Vogel, who is white, were well acquainted and a police statement says investigators have found “no evidence” that race was a factor. It wasn’t immediately known whether Vogel had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of 52-year-old Darren Keith Brooks of Oakland on warrants for 2 counts of Violation of Probation. Brooks was served the warrants at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Pottawattamie County Corrections. Brooks was being held on $10,000 bond.

The Creston Police Department reports an arrest early Wednesday morning. At 2:33 a.m. Officers arrested 65-year-old Hal Stewart of Lenox at the intersection of Highway 34 and New York Avenue on a charge of OWI 1st Offense. He was later released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond.