The Iowa State Patrol, Wednesday afternoon, released the names of the victims involved in a single-vehicle crash northeast of Jamaica, in Dallas County, that claimed the lives of two children and injured five other juveniles. Five-year old Claire Brown and 10-year old Lindsey Brown, both of Perry, died in the crash that happened at around 11:30-a.m. Tuesday. Claire Brown was wearing a seat belt, Lindsey was not. The driver of the vehicle, 16-year old Michael Marie Crane, and four other passengers, were injured.

The injured passengers included Five-year old Carter West and 11-year old Randy Seratt, both of Dawson, and from Perry, 11-year old Katelyn Brown, along with 7-year old Eli Brown. West, Seratt, Crane and Eli Brown, were wearing seat belts. Katelyn Brown was not buckled-up. Crane and the others suffered severe injuries in the crash and were transported to area hospitals, with Eli and Katelyn Brown transported to Blank Childrens Hospital in Des Moines. Katelyn was transported by LifeFlight.

Authorities say the accident happened as a 2014 Toyota Sienna driven by Michael Crane was traveling north on Beaumont Place, and went out of control as the vehicle crossed over a bridge. The minivan impacted the south side of a field drive, traveled over the drive, and came to rest upon the field drive, facing east. The accident remains under investigation.

Officials with the Pottawattamie County Department of Public Health confirmed a report released from the IDPH, with regard to a second COVID-19 related death. An adult male between 18-40 years old has become the second COVID-19 death in Pottawattamie County. He did not have pre-existing medical conditions, nor did he have contact with another COVID-19 case. He was tested on April 24 and passed away on April 28.

In addition, Pottawattamie County Public Health reports five new COVID-19 cases. The total of COVID-19 cases in Pottawattamie County is now 36. Seventeen individuals have recovered, 16 are self-isolating at home, one is hospitalized, and (counting today’s report), there have been two deaths.

The five new cases are residents of Council Bluffs and include three females and two males. These individuals were tested for COVID-19 between April 24 and April 28. Two individuals are in the 41-60 age range, and three are in the 18-40 age range. Two of them have pre-existing conditions. One of these individuals had contact with an existing COVID-19 case, and four were the result of community spread. Four of these individuals are self-isolating at home.

Pottawattamie County Public Health continues to conduct contact tracing investigations for each COIVD-19 case. A part of contact tracing is assessing risk to the general public. If there is not a risk to the general public, Public Health will communicate directly with the specific contacts identified in the investigation. If and when a risk to the general public is identified, Public Health will publicly identify the location and communicate any actions the public should take.

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds is responding to questions about why she decided NOT to heed the advice of a University of Iowa report on COVID-19. U-I researchers advised the governor NOT to relax social distancing rules, warning the state could suffer a “catastrophic loss of life.” Reynolds says the 77 counties that will partly reopen on Friday are practically coronavirus-free:

Reynolds says she shouldn’t punish half the state when the spike in COVID cases is in just eight more-heavily populated areas.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines say a worker has been killed in a construction zone crash in the northern part of the city. Police say the crash happened around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, when first responders were called to the site. Police say officers arrived to find that a car had lost control, jumped a curb and hit 41-year-old Jorge Lopez Guillen, of Des Moines, who was working within a construction site at the time. Guillen was taken to an area hospital, where he died of his injuries. Police cited the driver, 72-year-old Eugene Davis, of Des Moines, for driving on a suspended license and having no insurance, misdemeanor vehicular homicide and failure to maintain control.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports residents of Atlantic may have noticed an unusual amount of thick dust in town late this morning. The dust is being blown-in thanks to northwest winds gusting up to 30 mph. The dust is coming from the corn pile at the ethanol plant. Anything south of there can expect to see the dust continue until crews at the plant have a chance to water down the source.

Governor Kim Reynolds reports the State of Iowa has had 467 new, COVID-19 positive test results returned from the State Hygienic and other labs over the past 24-hours, for a total of 6,843 Positive cases as of today (Wednesday). 93% of those positive cases were in the 22 counties where restrictions remain in-place. There were also 1,047 new, Negative COVID-19 test results returned, for a total of 34,494. She said 1,514 Iowans have been tested, for a total of 41,337 (or 1 out of every 6 people per capita). The State Hygienic Lab has a testing capacity of 4,188 persons. Reynold said 2,428 Iowans have recovered from COVID-19, for a recovery rate of 35%.

There have also been 12 new deaths resulting from COVID-19, for a total of 148. The deaths were reported as follows: Seven elderly adults total (Ages 81 & older), one each in Black Hawk, Jasper, Linn, Marshall, Muscatine, Polk and Washington Counties; Three Older adults total (aged 61-80). 1 in Dubuque County, and 2 in Linn Count; 1 middle aged adult (age 41-to 60) in Linn County, and One adult (age 18-to 40) in Pottawattamie County.

Across the six RMCC’s:

• Six Iowans are hospitalized with COVID-19
• 42 have been admitted within the past 24-hours
• 100 COVID-19 patients are in an ICU
• 74 are on ventilators.

There are currently 3,971 In-patient beds available for COVID-19 patients, 549 ICU beds, and 689 ventilators available.

(Radio Iowa) — A few Iowa counties are now seeing gasoline prices averaging a dollar-10 a gallon, the lowest prices we’ve seen in many years. Rose White, spokeswoman for Triple-A-Iowa, says prices have been falling during the coronavirus pandemic on a state and national level, with the country’s average gas price now at a dollar-77. “But in Iowa, it’s 30-cents lower at $1.47, in fact, it’s down about 36-cents in Iowa just during the past month alone,” White says. “If we compare it to a year ago, it’s down $1.27, meaning, every time a motorist fills their tank, they’re saving about $19.”

Last week, crude oil trading was actually in negative numbers, though it’s rebounded some since then. “Crude is currently trading at about $12.89 a barrel, but that is still very far below profit levels,” White says, “and so we are hearing about the shutdown of some operations.”  Some refineries are also shutting down because there’s no place left to store the fuel they’d be making. While some businesses in 77 Iowa counties are reopening on Friday, White predicts gas prices will remain low for a while. “We’re actually anticipating further erosion of prices at the pumps,” White says. “We’re expecting the national average to fall to probably about $1.65 before they start rebounding any because of the production cuts.”

Gas prices in Iowa’s metro areas range from the cheapest, at a dollar-25 in Davenport, to the most expensive, a dollar-68 in Council Bluffs. Iowa’s gas prices are among the ten cheapest in the U-S.