(Radio Iowa) A federal judge has extended his order allowing Iowa schools to require that students and staff wear masks. The new order preventing enforcement of the state law banning mask mandates in schools lasts until October 11th. The judge’s original restraining order was issued September 13th and, since then, at least two dozen Iowa districts have adopted some sort of requirement that face coverings be worn at school. A disability rights organization and a group of parents filed the lawsuit, saying their children are at higher risk of getting Covid in schools where masks are not being worn.

The Associated Press is reporting court documents in support of the lawsuit indicate that in the first month of this school year, the number of Covid cases in 11 Iowa school districts was higher than the number of positive cases in all of the last school year.

In support of the state’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit, the parent of a Muscatine student with a hearing disability has testified his son has difficulty hearing his teacher who’s wearing a mask.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of an Emerson man on Tuesday morning. At about 6:00 a.m. Deputies arrested 21-year-old Adam Dennis Letts of Emerson after he was stopped for operating a vehicle with expired license plates. He was also charged with Driving While License Barred and on a Warrant from Bremer County for Driving While License Barred. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $750 bond.

The Glenwood Police Department reports two arrests from this past Friday, September 24th.

51-year-old Bryan Dennis of Council Bluffs was arrested for Driving While Revoked. His bond was set at $1,000 cash or surety.

40-year-old Jerry Ward of Council Bluffs was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance and for providing false identification info. Bond was set at $1,300 cash or surety.

The Iowa State Patrol responded on Monday to a multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate-80 near mile marker 24. Four vehicles were eastbound on I-80 around 2:01 p.m. when traffic was slowed due to a lane closure. A 2020 Freightliner Cascadia driven by Gagandeep Singh Dhaliwal of Brampton, Ontario was traveling in the right lane approaching the other vehicles when it failed to slow for traffic. The Freightliner veered to the left and collided with the rear driver side portion of another 2020 Freightliner driven by Vitaliy Isoita of Sedalia, Missouri and then side swiped a 2015 Chevy Equinox driven by Rhiannon Kelley of Council Bluffs. Another unidentified vehicle was rear-ended by the second Freightliner due to the initial impact.

The Equinox went into the median and the Freightliner that initiated the accident stopped on the center-line and blocked both lanes of traffic. No injuries were reported during the crash and no further details were known at this time.

Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken reports that the bridge replacement project on Boston Rd., one mile east of Hwy 6/Hwy 71 in Cass County, is now open to traffic. The project was completed on time by Murphy Heavy Contracting of Anita.

The project was part of a federal Competitive Highway Bridge Program (CHBP) grant.  The State of Iowa was awarded this $33.4 million grant in 2019.  There were 68 county bridges across the state selected to be built in bundles, where a single construction contract contains multiple bridges.  Cass County’s bridge on Boston Rd. was bundled with a bridge in Guthrie County and built during this construction season.

The county appreciates the work of all parties involved and thanks the public for their patience while the bridge was closed.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Villisca man following a traffic stop on Monday. At 8:46 p.m. Deputies initiated a traffic stop in Villisca at the Casey’s General Store. Upon investigation the driver, Justice Guy Myers of Villisca, was arrested for Driving While Suspended. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $491.25 bond.