(Radio Iowa) – The Johnson County Board of Health is advancing a plan to mandate the use of face coverings countywide. After approving the wording of the potential order at a meeting Tuesday night, the board will take public comment and then vote on the measure Monday. Board chair Peter Wallace says he’s eager to act before thousands of University of Iowa students return to Iowa City for the start of classes on August 24th. “Hopefully people would know and have a couple weeks to get used to the ordinance, if they live here,” Wallace says, “and the university would make the necessary changes if they have to, but at least accommodations.”

Wallace says the county would need to work with the U-I on implementation of the new rules.  “One thing that we’re going to have to do if this ordinance passes is to sit down with our friends at the university and ask them what kind of enforcement are they expecting of their students,” he says.

While the governor has said local mask orders are not legal, the county attorney believes the mandate would be enforceable if also passed by the board of supervisors. Several other local Iowa governments have passed ordinances requiring masks in city or county buildings or on city buses, including: Ames, Des Moines, Iowa City, Muscatine, Sioux City, Polk County and Clinton County.

(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines police say a suspect in the January shooting deaths of three teens has been arrested in Illinois. Police say 17-year-old Leontreal Jones was arrested Tuesday in Peoria, Illinois, on robbery warrants out of Iowa. Police say Des Moines detectives have traveled to Peoria and expect Jones to be extradited to Iowa soon. Police say once Jones’ is returned to Iowa, he’ll be charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 30 deaths of brothers 19-year-old Devonte Swanks and 16-year-old Malachi Swanks and a friend, 15-year-old Thayne Wright.

Officers found their bodies in a southeast Des Moines duplex after responding to reports of shots fired.

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

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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A residential care facility in Pottawattamie County has 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Pottawattamie County Planning and Development director Matt Wyant tells KETV in Omaha, the cases involved residents of the Oakland Manor. One resident has died from coronavirus complications. The first resident tested positive on Thursday while visiting the hospital for an unrelated issue. Wyant said Oakland Manor acted quickly after learning about the first positive case, and tested every resident.

In a statement to KETV, Oakland Manor officials said “Oakland Manor has been working closely with the local health department since the onset of this latest episode at our facility. We appreciate the community’s support and prayers.“Our devoted staff are doing their best to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible during this global pandemic. Since the pandemic began we have been following, and we will continue to follow, the protocols for testing and infection control as outlined by the CDC and the State of Iowa, and all other required policies and procedures.”

Officials from Risen Son Christian Village in Council Bluffs say 11 residents are still battling the virus.

The State of Iowa’s Coronavirus information portal today (Wednesday) shows (as of 10-a.m.), 428 new, Positive confirmed cases of COVID-19, for a total of 43,196.  Officials say 31,196 persons have recovered from the virus. Three more people have died from complications due to COVID-19, for a total of 839. The number of Iowans tested for the virus is 463,935. Of those, 418,955 have tested Negative.

Hospitalization data show: 246 are hospitalized (seven less than yesterday); 76 are in an ICU (1 more than Tues.); 23 were admitted to a hospital in Iowa since Tuesday’s report, and 32 were on a ventilator. Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa report: 12 hospitalized with COVID-19; eight are in an ICU; two were recently admitted, and two are on a ventilator.

LTC (Long-Term Care) facility data show: 21 Outbreaks (no change from Tue.); 673 staff/patients have tested Positive for COVID-19; 252 have recovered; 456 have died.

IDPH Dashboard current County/Positive Case count/reported recoveries (   ):

• Cass: 36 (31)
• Adair: 20 (16)
• Adams: 14 [1 more than reported Tue.] (No recovery data avail.)
• Audubon: 25 (No data)
• Guthrie: 122 (77)
• Montgomery: 40 (21)
• Pottawattamie: 1,081 (764)
• Shelby: 139 (126)

(Radio Iowa) – Starting today (Wednesday), everyone in Sioux City will have to wear a mask to ride a city bus or to visit City Hall or some two dozen other city facilities. All city workers will also be required to wear face coverings in city buildings in common areas, where social distancing can’t be maintained or where barriers aren’t in place. City Attorney Nicole Dubois says it’s a response to an outcry over COVID-19. Dubois says, “The council and the city staff have been receiving numerous questions from the public and concerned citizens about whether or not the city could enter a specific mask order for our citizens here in Sioux City.”

Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott says coronavirus cases appear to be rising across the state, and requiring masks in city buildings is one way to help curb that. “Not so much in our area, thank God, but the rest of the state and then some of our surrounding areas it’s spiking again,” Mayor Scott says. “We’d like to keep that spike down in Sioux City and if we can possibly do anything to help that, we should.”  The mandate is for city buildings only but a statement from the city says private businesses can also require patrons and employees to wear masks or face coverings. This doesn’t go as far as Muscatine, Iowa City and Johnson County, which have city and county-wide mask mandates, but Mayor Scott points to Governor Reynolds’ statewide public health disaster proclamation. “Our city attorney has made that very clear to us even though a lot of our citizens don’t quite understand that,” Scott says. “We don’t have the ability to do what a lot of citizens would like us to do.”

Governor Reynolds has urged Iowans to “mask up” but has not issued a statewide requirement for residents to wear masks or face coverings in public. While Reynolds and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office have said local governments cannot require masks, a spokesman for the A-G’s office says local officials can set “reasonable restrictions” for buildings owned or controlled by a city or county.

Red Oak Police report the arrest a little after 10-p.m. Tuesday, of 32-year old Bryce Michael McKinnon. He was taken into custody in the 1100 block of N. 5th Street, for Public Intoxication. McKinnon was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two separate arrests took place Tuesday evening/night. At around 5:25-p.m., 50-year old Mark Douglas Berggren, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving While Barred, in Villisca. Berggren was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond. And, just before 9-p.m., 49-year old John Lawrence Davis, of Villisca, was arrested for Domestic Assault with a dangerous weapon. His arrest was the result of an investigation into an incident in the 100 block of N. 5th Avenue, in Villisca. Davis was being held without bond, in the Montgomery Jail, pending an appearance before the Magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – The 70th Annual Shrine Circus in Sioux City is the latest event to fall victim to the pandemic. David Krogh, a spokesman for the Abu Bekr Shrine in Sioux City that hosts the event, says the circus that had been postponed from the spring to late October inside the Tyson Events Center has now been cancelled.

Shrine Circus, Sioux City

“We’ve had blizzards we’ve dealt with. We’ve had hot weather we’ve dealt with, rain, you name it. We’ve lived through it for 70 years with Abu Bekr,” he says, “but with the current situation with the coronavirus, we just wanted to make sure that our community stays safe.” For more than two decades, the Shriners in Sioux City have had a contract with Carden International, the family-owned company that tours with the animals and circus act.

Krogh says last week the firm announced all its circuses for the rest of 2020 are cancelled. “So that left us with no real option,” Krough says. Krogh says organizers will now shift their focus on to preparing to host the circus in mid-April next year.