Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:55 a.m. CST

DES MOINES (AP) — Iowa is reporting more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19. The Des Moines Register reports the state announced another 2,369 confirmed cases Saturday. There have been more than 242,000 confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic first hit Iowa. At least 2,665 people have died, including 62 more deaths reported by the state Saturday. One Sioux City, Iowa church has been hit particularly hard. The Sioux City Journal reports that 18 members of Morningside Lutheran Church have died from COVID-19.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa newspaper reporter and his wife have left a $3 million estate for local causes. The Quad-City Times on Saturday reported the paper’s former reporter John Willard and his wife Carol donated the estate to the Quad-Cities Community Foundation. Interest from the $3 million estate will be divided evenly between nine organizations each year. The foundation’s CEO says that’s about $15,000 per organization based on current interest rates. Money will go to a local public library, animal shelter and other groups. Willard worked for the newspaper for more than three decades.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — After facing a workforce shortage for months, Iowa has awarded an emergency $2.3 million contact-tracing contract to a company owned by a Republican Party insider. The Iowa Department of Public Health selected Iowa City-based MCI for the contract out of 14 companies that applied, saying it submitted the best proposal and that political considerations did not play a role. The company is expected to supply 200 contact tracers to supplement the hundreds of public health workers who have failed to keep up with Iowa’s fast-growing virus caseload. The first 60 graduated training and were beginning state work Friday. MCI is owned by GOP donor Anthony Marlowe, and has done work for President Donald Trump and Gov. Kim Reynolds’ political campaigns.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Deaths from the coronavirus in Iowa have reached their highest level since the beginning of the pandemic. The Iowa Department of Public Health said Friday that 84 more residents were reported dead from the virus, a one-day high for the second straight day after recording 70 deaths Thursday. Before Friday, the state of 3.1 million people has been averaging between 25 and 30 daily virus-related deaths for weeks. Their total since the beginning of the pandemic surged past 2,600 on Friday. The rapid rise in deaths comes after the state’s caseload peaked in mid-November, overwhelming hospitals.