OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett’s company reported an 87% jump in its second-quarter profit as the value of its investment portfolio increased with the stock market. But it took a $10 billion write down on the value of its aircraft parts manufacturing business because of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Berkshire Hathaway cut the value of its Precision Castparts unit because of how much the virus has hurt air travel and businesses that support that airline industry.

The ongoing pandemic hurt most of Berkshire’s businesses, but the results still topped Wall Street expectations. Berkshire held nearly $147 billion cash at the end of the quarter.

The IDPH Coronavirus dashboard Saturday morning, indicted there were 10 new, confirmed positive cases of the virus in Cass County since Friday, for a total of 61, and two more have recovered, for a total of 40. Adair County has one more case, for a total of 28. Montgomery County has five new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 59. There are 11 more cases in Pottawattamie County (1,297 total), and one new case in Shelby County, for a total of 180. Recoveries in Shelby County have increased from 141 on Friday to 150 this morning. Pottawattamie lists 36 recoveries since Friday, for a total of 941. There were no new reports of deaths in our immediate listening area.

Statewide, though, 13 more people have died from COVID-19, for a total of 925. Long-Term Care facility deaths account for 496 of the 925.  Of the 514,451 tests that have been taken, 48,112 tested positive (an increase of 383 from Friday), 36,850 have recovered, and 4,424 tested negative, for a total of 463,499 since the virus outbreak began. The IDPH says 229 people are hospitalized with the virus (compared to 223 Friday), 58 are in an ICU (compared to 65 on Friday), 33 people were admitted to a hospital since 10-a.m. Friday (the same as yesterday), and 22 were on a ventilator. The IDPH reports that 40.68% of in-patient beds are open.

Southwest/Western Iowa hospitals are reporting a total of 15 patients (compared to 12 yesterday), 4 are in an ICU (compared to 5 Friday), 3 were admitted since 10-a.m. Friday (Compared to 2 the previous day), and there was one person on a ventilator (0 in the previous report).  Long-Term Care facility outbreaks remain at 26. At those facilities, 814 patients/staff tested positive for COVID-19, and 422 have recovered from the virus.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole in the 1979 murder of an 18-year-old high school student. Jerry Burns was arrested in Dec. 19 2018, 39 years to the day after Michelle Martinko was found dead in her parents’ car outside a shopping mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She had been stabbed to death. Burns was convicted of first-degree murder in February and was sentenced on Friday. Cedar Rapids police have said they arrested Burns after DNA taken from a restaurant straw he had used matched DNA from the crime scene.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The family of a man killed by a Polk County sheriff’s deputy two years ago alleges in a federal lawsuit that the office is “covering up” the killing by refusing to release footage and records. The Des Moines Register reports that the family of Isaiah Hayes, of Ashland, Wisconsin, filed the lawsuit on June 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. It says the county has refused to release body camera or dash camera footage which shows the shooting of the 25-year-old Hayes in 2018. The lawsuit alleges the county is withholding the video because it would show Deputy Ryan Phillips “shooting Isaiah in the back while Isaiah did not pose a threat.”

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.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University says a program to administer coronavirus tests to students as they move back to campus has found 66 testing positive. That’s about 2.2% of the 3,037 students that have moved in to residence halls and campus apartments and taken tests. About half of the students testing positive chose to return home to complete isolation. The university has isolation rooms set up for positive cases and quarantine rooms for those who are notified of exposure through contact tracing. The tests are one part of the university’s coronavirus mitigation plan.