Officials with the Cass County Health System (CCHS) report they are currently having issues with their phone lines.  It appears Verizon customers are having difficulty connecting.  CCHS is therefore asking everyone to call 712-778-1618. You will be routed to the appropriate location.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man has suffered life-threatening injuries in an explosion at a home just outside the Cedar Rapids city limits. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says the explosion occurred around 2 p.m. Thursday as 24-year-old Joshua Thomas, of Marion, was working on the property. Officials say Thomas suffered severe burns from the blast and was taken by a medical helicopter from the scene of the explosion to an Iowa City hospital.

Officials say Thomas was the only person on the property at the time of the explosion. Fire investigators were working to pinpoint the cause of the explosion, but Sheriff Brian Gardner said officials had narrowed down that it was fueled by natural gas or propane.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports a traffic stop at around 5:15-p.m. Thursday resulted in a woman’s arrest on a Felony drug charge. 46-year old Holly Ann Oliphant, of Lenox, was arrested for felony possession with intent to deliver, 62 grams of a substance believed to be methamphetamine. Oliphant was arrested following a traffic stop at 22nd and Tarkio Streets for failure to obey a stop sign. During an investigation, the K-9 “Raiko” alerted to the presence of drugs in the Toyota Vena Oliphant was operating.

Holly Oliphant was arrested without incident and booked into the Page County, where she was held without bond, pending an initial court appearance.

(Radio Iowa) — The City of Dubuque is joining the growing list of local governments to issue a face covering mandate, defying the governor’s opinion that local orders are unenforceable. Weeks ago, the White House Coronavirus Task Force labeled Dubuque County as a COVID-19 red zone. Police Chief Mark Dalsing (DOLL-sing) says regardless of officers’ personal views, they will enforce the measure, with a focus on education.

“For the most part, we’re probably going to see compliance. Maybe they go around the corner and stop complying, but we can do what we can do,” Dalsing says. “There is a possibility that somebody is going to try to make a political stand and force the issue, and we’ll see where that goes.”

City council members say they’re very worried about a resurgence as schools reopen, and are deeply troubled by the county’s death toll of 31 people. The mandate will go into effect Saturday (tomorrow) and the city intends to start enforcing it on Monday.

(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)