(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa State Patrol is holding a special enforcement effort that run through this Labor Day. Trooper John Farley says There’s a continued focus on bringing down the number of drivers who are clocked at excessive speeds. He says they have many posts online about people who are driving 25 miles-and-hour over the limit to those who are exceeding 100 miles-an-hour on the roadways.  Farley says those types of drivers have increased by 47 percent last year and this year the increase is around 85 percent. He says it is one thing that can be controlled and keep accidents from happening.

“Speed is a factor in every collision. No matter what, speed is a factor. And we can save we have icy roads, we have fog or somebody runs a stop sign — speed is still a factor because cars are moving. And we have to make sure we understand that –we are driving within our capabilities, we are driving within the law,” Farley says. He says excessive speed magnifies the problems created when something does go wrong on the roadway. “It just creates more catastrophe when those collisions occur,” he says.

Farley says the Labor Day weekend usually does not have as many accidents as other holidays and they want to be sure that excessive speed does not change that.

Red Oak Police arrested two men on separate charges, Sunday. At around 5:43-p.m., 28-year old Nathan Allen Dishong, of Red Oak, was arrested at 3rd and E. Reed Streets, for fighting (Disdorderly conduct). Dishong was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond. And, at around 7:24-p.m., 37-year old Kyle Anthony Zeigler, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 800 block of E. Reed Street, for Driving While Barred. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The state’s coronavirus website listed 17-hundred-74 new cases of Covid from test results confirmed from mid-morning Friday through mid-morning Sunday. Twenty-eight deaths from Covid were reported to the state during that time period. Public health officials are urging Iowans NOT to take a holiday from pandemic protocols. Wapello County Public Health director Lynelle Diers says there was a surge in cases around July 4th and she’s hoping people don’t let their guard down at Labor Day events.

“Please wear a mask and also social distance as much as possible,” she said. “This is not the time to be hugging people you haven’t seen for six months because now you’re hugging everybody else they’ve been with the last two weeks.” Diers is among those who do the contract tracing after someone tests positive in Wapello County.

“I’ve heard the people say, ‘Yes, somebody died. I was at the funeral.’ Guess what they do at the funeral? They hug each other at the funerals and then they contract Covid,” Diers says. “…After July 4th it became reality for my small agency, the number of people that tested positive for Covid because they wanted to go party.” The number of patients admitted to intensive care units in Iowa hospitals is rising. Eighty-three were admitted to an I-C-U over the weekend.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As the number of coronavirus cases fall in the U.S., governors in hard-hit states are rethinking lockdown orders on bars. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’s looking at reopening bars and nightclubs that have been closed in his state since June. The rate of positive cases in Texas is also falling close to levels that Gov. Greg Abbott says could allow bars reopen again. Experts say the high risks of bars are clear months into a pandemic that has led to 6 million infections in the U.S. Even in recent weeks, new outbreaks tied to college students returning to campus have resulted in bars shutting down again from Alabama to Iowa.

LEON, Iowa (AP) — A 3-year-old boy has died after driving a utility terrain vehicle into a parked trailer in southern Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that the boy had been riding in the UTV as a passenger with two relatives in Leon, Iowa. But the boy got into the driver’s seat after his two relatives got off. The child then drove the vehicle into a parked fifth-wheel trailer. The Iowa State Patrol crash report says he was taken to the hospital but died of his injuries. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says $100 million from the federal government will be used to maintain the state’s COVID-19 testing capacity. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports Reynolds told reporters that she wanted to make sure the state has enough tests as schools reopen and flu season begins. But the governor says she also wants the state to be flexible in case testing needs change quickly. For example, she says the state later might want to buy saliva tests or tests that check for both COVID-19 and the flu.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police around the country are reporting that as roads and highways emptied during the pandemic, some drivers took advantage by pushing well past the speed limit. It’s a trend that statistics show is continuing even as states reopen. The head of the Ohio State Highway Patrol says troopers have issued 2,200 tickets since April for driving more than 100 mph. That’s a 61% increase over the same time period a year ago. July was also Ohio’s worst month for fatal crashes since 2007. California, Iowa and Utah are among several states reporting similar year-over-year increases in high speeds.