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Iowa early News Headlines: Sunday, June 28, 2020

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June 28th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:55 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Some Iowa bars and other businesses are voluntarily closing their doors amid an increase in confirmed coronavirus cases. Among them was the Artifacts antiques shop in Iowa City. Owner Todd Thelen told the Gazette that the store has seen three of its mostly older customers die because of the virus. Confirmed cases in the state increased by an additional 380 on Saturday, bringing the total to 27,935. The state also reported three more deaths to bring the total to 704. Businesses that closed or limited operations at the beginning of the pandemic had started expanding operations as Gov. Kim Reynolds began easing restrictions.

WEST UNION, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines woman has been arrested in a 2-year-old hit-and-run crash that killed a 14-year-old on a moped. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher said 26-year-old Kelli Jo Michael, of Des Moines, was arrested Friday and charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident in the death of Kaiden Estling. The teen from Maynard was struck in June 2018 while driving a moped along Iowa 150 about 2 1/2 miles south of Fayette. Michael is jailed on $50,000 cash only bond. It wasn’t immediately clear if she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa agency whose power to remove problem officers was recently expanded generally has taken years to ban those who commit serious crimes and rarely punishes officers for improper policing alone. Records show the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council has sought to decertify 17 officers in the last 2½ years after determining they had committed crimes or misconduct that warranted their removal from the profession. An Associated Press review found that most of those officers had been found guilty of felonies, domestic violence or other crimes that disqualify them from working in law enforcement. Only one officer since 2018 has been decertified for improper police work.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law a bill that limits the secretary of state’s ability to send absentee ballot requests to all registered voters. The change signed into law Thursday followed a record turnout in this year’s primary election, largely because of a surge in absentee voting. Senate Republicans pushed the measure through the legislature barely a week after a huge primary turnout, as Secretary of State Paul Pate sent ballot requests to all voters because of concerns in-person voting could be dangerous during the coronavirus pandemic. If the coronavirus persists and Pate wants to mail ballot applications to voters before the November election, the measure that Reynolds signed would require approval of the Republican-run legislature.