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.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Unions representing workers at 10 chicken processing plants in six states are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to challenge a policy that allows companies to increase production speeds that the unions say puts workers at risk. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and local unions representing plants in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri joined with nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen to file the lawsuit in federal court in Washington. The lawsuit alleges that the waivers first allowed in 2018 violate the Administrative Procedure Act, endanger worker health and put them at risk during the coronavirus pandemic by making adequate distancing nearly impossible.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Corrections Department announced the death of another inmate who was infected with the coronavirus. The department says 48-year-old Timothy Louis McGhee Jr., was pronounced dead Monday night. After an examination by the Johnson County medical examiner, the department concluded Tuesday that the death was likely due to the coronavirus and other preexisting medical conditions. McGhee’s death is the third of an Iowa Corrections Department inmate that was likely related to COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. McGhee was serving a 15-year sentence for three convictions of second-degree theft from Linn County. His sentence began Oct. 31, 2018.

ELDORA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have reported an outbreak of coronavirus at Iowa’s center for male juvenile offenders in Eldora. Television station KCCI reports that 12 students and five staff members at Eldora Boys State Training School have tested positive for the virus. The first case at the facility was reported last week. Officials say all students and staff at the facility are now being tested. The school holds about 70 youth from across the state. News of the outbreak comes as state health data released Tuesday showed seven more COVID-19 deaths and another 253 confirmed cases from the day before.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa City and the University of Iowa have worked out a deal that will preserve a 177-year-old house and provide space for the university’s Nonfiction Writing Program. The Gazette reports that new location would be part of a “writing neighborhood” near two other historic buildings that house the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Iowa’s International Writing Program. The city is offering the $1 million piece of property, which is currently a parking lot, at no cost to the university. But a city assessment put the cost of moving and renovating the Sanxay-Gilmore House at over $1.23 million. University officials say the school plans to cover those costs with a “substantial gift.” Officials declined to give details on the donation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (July 28, 2020) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig confirmed today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is aware that individuals in Iowa have received unsolicited seed shipments from China and other countries.

The Department is asking anyone who receives unlabeled seed from an unknown origin to retain the original packaging and report it immediately at 515-281-5321. Recipients should not open the seed packet, plant the seed or attempt to destroy it. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship or United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will collect, analyze and properly destroy the seeds.

“The Iowa Department of Agriculture is working closely with the USDA to trace, collect and properly destroy these unknown seeds to protect our agriculture community from plant and seed-borne diseases,” said Secretary Naig.

Unlabeled seeds and seeds from unknown origins should never be planted. They pose the risk of introducing an invasive plant species or seed-borne diseases that do not currently exist in the United States. APHIS is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection and State departments of agriculture to prevent the unlawful entry of prohibited seeds and protect U.S. agriculture from invasive pests and noxious weeds.

The USDA APHIS issued a news release stating this may be a “brushing scam,” where people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false customer reviews to boost online sales.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa City and the University of Iowa have worked out a deal that will preserve a 177-year-old house and provide space for the university’s Nonfiction Writing Program. The Gazette reports that new location would be part of a “writing neighborhood” near two other historic buildings that house the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Iowa’s International Writing Program.

A general view of the Sanxay-Gilmore House is seen, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Iowa City, Iowa. The city of Iowa City plans to give the property to the University of Iowa in exchange for a campus commitment to move the historic house to a new site, where it would be renovated and become home to the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program. (AP Photo/Ryan J. Foley)

The city is offering the $1 million piece of property, which is currently a parking lot, at no cost to the university. But a city assessment put the cost of moving and renovating the Sanxay-Gilmore House at over $1.23 million. University officials say the school plans to cover those costs with a “substantial gift.” Officials declined to give details on the donation.