Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:15 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A spokesman for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says that the state is correcting a major flaw in its coronavirus data that backdated thousands of positive and negative test results. Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett said that the state’s data system had been erroneuosly recording the results of people who were tested on multiple occasions. He said that an individual’s most recent result, whether positive or negative, was “unintentionally attributed to the date of their first test.” That means thousands of recent results were being recorded in the system as having occurred in March, April, May and June.

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — An increase in coronavirus cases has prompted Iowa prison officials to stop admitting inmates from county jails to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. The Department of Corrections said Wednesday that 59 inmates have tested positive in the last week out of nearly 800 tests conducted at the center. When officials believe the virus is no longer spreading in the facility, they will end the suspension. Staff implemented enhanced quarantine and testing measures after an inmate tested positive for the coronavirus last week. Inmates typically are temporarily assigned to the center before being sent to another prison in Iowa’s system. The Coralville center usually admits about 65 inmates a week from jails.

CLARION, Iowa — A north central Iowa woman died Wednesday evening during a collision between a motorcycle and and SUV. The Iowa State Patrol reports 56-year old Michelle Joann Gambrill, of Clarion died when the motorcycle she was riding was struck after the SUV, driven by 40-year old Michael James Curtis, of Clarion, turned from Highway 3 onto 10th Street, in Clarion. Authorities say Gambrill became separated from her motorcycle following the collision, and was dragged several feet before the SUV came to rest on top of the motorcycle.

LeCLAIRE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a second person has died from injuries he received in an eastern Iowa boat crash on the Mississippi River. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says 61-year-old Craig Verbeke, of Moline, Illinois, died in a hospital Wednesday, three days after a boat he was aboard collided with another boat on the river near LeClaire. The crash also killed Dr. Anita Pinc, of Moline, Illinois, a 52-year-old Davenport obstetrician and gynecologist. Officials said she and Verbeke were aboard the same 19-foot Bayliner boat. Officials say a 36-year-old woman on the other boat — a 35-foot center-console vessel — suffered minor injuries.

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — Police say an arrest warrant has been issued for a 24-year-old man wanted in connection with the alcohol-related death of a central Iowa teenager. Television station WOI reports that the warrant charges Austin Ray McFall, of Indianola, with supplying alcohol to an underage person resulting in the death of 18-year-old Taron William Harmon, of Nevada, Iowa. Officers were called to a Nevada home on April 19 for a report of an unresponsive person and found Harmon’s body on the home’s porch.

In his report to the City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday evening, City Administrator John Lund said he learned of some good news from Mayor Dave Jones, who attended a League Of Cities meeting last week.

Lund mentioned at the next regular meeting, the Council will act on a Resolution with regard to the CARES act. The City, he said would (on a per capita basis), be allocated $155,100 in eligible funds, for reimbursement up to 25% of budgeted Public Safety costs associated with the Coronavirus pandemic, covering the period of March through July 1st. He and City Clerk Barb Barrick attended a webinar on the subject Wednesday morning, after being informed about the funds by the Mayor.

The Atlantic City Council dons face shields and masks during their meeting Aug. 19, 2020 (Ric Hanson/photo)

On August 4th, Governor Kim Reynolds announced the state will allocate $125 million in federal CARES Act funds to local governments to assist with direct expenses incurred in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those funds, $100 million will go toward reimbursement for COVID-19 expenses. It will be divided between eligible cities and counties, with 60 percent going to cities, and 40 percent going to counties based on population, using 2019 census data. The remaining $25 million will be used to cover local governments match requirements for FEMA. Any unused money will be reallocated to local governments based on the percentages listed above.

Reynolds said the funding will go towards medical supplies and equipment, PPE, sanitizing products, testing supplies, and ventilators. It could also go towards other COVID-19 related expenses like payroll costs for public health and safety personnel or emergency staffing. It will also go toward costs associated with enhanced 211 services.

Lund said also some other items on the next agenda include the donating of City-owned lots to persons who wish to build a house on the property within the City limits, with certain provisions, such as the recipient must build an owner-occupied house, and not other structures like a garage or multi-family structures, such as an apartment.

In other business, the Council, as expected, approved the partial vacating of the Right-Of-Way (ROW) between Hemlock and Sycamore Streets, south of E. 18th Street. Each of the abutting property owners will be contacted and informed of the City’s decision to vacate the alley, and divide the ROW among the eight abutting lots. The Council’s decision followed on the heels of a review and recommendation of the matter, by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa State Education Association and the Iowa City Community School District are filing a lawsuit in Johnson County against the governor and the requirement that schools returning to classes have at least 50 percent in-person instruction. The lawyer for the teachers union, Jay Hammond, says the I-S-E-A is seeking one thing.

“What we are asking the court to determine is that ultimate authority to determine the content and to effectuate the content of a plan to return to school lies with the individual school boards of every school district across the state of Iowa,” Hammond says. He says they are alleging the governor’s emergency order violates the Iowa Constitution.

“Which summarized states that state government is charged with the responsibility of protecting the health and welfare of the citizens of this state to the greatest extent that it can,” according to Hammond. “The governor is not protecting those rights — her proclamations are unconstitutional as a result,” he says. Hammond says they also take issue with the way the governor has interpreted the law passed by the Iowa Legislature in their special session that says classes should be primarily held in person.

“We are alleging that the governor has exceeded her authority under Senate File 2310 — and in fact does not have the authority to determine the minimum amount of online learning. Or to set the standards and criteria when a school closing may be ordered due to the COVID-19 environment,” Hammond says. Hammond says they hope to get an injunction against the state.

“A hearing as to whether the court believes there is merit to the lawsuit. And if so, has the authority to issue a temporary injunction — which would then restrain any enforcement of these proclamations,” Hammond says. A spokesman for the Iowa City Schools says they have approved a 50-50 learning plan that meets the state guidelines while the lawsuit is being heard.

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — An increase in coronavirus cases has prompted Iowa prison officials to stop admitting inmates from county jails to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. The Department of Corrections said Wednesday that 59 inmates have tested positive in the last week out of nearly 800 tests conducted at the center.

When officials believe the virus is no longer spreading in the facility, they will end the suspension. Staff implemented enhanced quarantine and testing measures after an inmate tested positive for the coronavirus last week.

Inmates typically are temporarily assigned to the center before being sent to another prison in Iowa’s system. The Coralville center usually admits about 65 inmates a week from jails.

Audubon Police Chief Matt Starmer, Wednesday afternoon, released a list of 28 people who were arrested over the past eight-weeks, plus an undefined list of nearly a dozen people who were cited for “Dog At Large” violations. Information with regard to the dates and additional details concerning the arrests were not included in the Chief’s report:

• Kent Henriksen, 60, (5) counts of Forgery and (5) counts of Theft
• Joseph Douglas Jensen, 36, Driving Under Suspension
• Troy Gene Mack, 35, Domestic Abuse Assault
• 16 year old male for Juvenile Court Terms Violation
• Larry Duane Phipps, 59, Poss of Meth, Poss of Marijuana; Paraphernalia
• David Howard, 53, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
• Nina Bruns, 34, Driving While Barred
• Angela Sue Barclay, 40, Keeping a Vicious Dog
• Jessica Lee Mack, 26, Public Intoxication
• Allison Dawn Heuton, 36, Child Endangerment
• Rae Beth Horton, 24, Violation of No Contact Order
• Joseph Michael Hartl, 36, Operating Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated
• Zachary James Vesper, 25, Warrant for Failure to Appear In Court
• Rickie Don Bohlmann, 65, Obstruction of Emergency Communication
• Charles Dean Emig, 36, Operating Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated
• Angela Sue Barclay, 40, Warrant for Failure to Appear in Court
• Jeremiah Micah Jobe, 36, Warrant for Failure to Appear in Court
• Rickie Don Bohlmann, 65, Domestic Abuse Assault
• Tauna Jean Bohlmann, 55, Domestic Abuse Assault
• 4 male juveniles, 14-16 years old, Burglary 3^rd degree and Theft 5^th
• Clay Lamar Perry Sr., 58, Child Endangerment
• Ashlie Lynette Kluver, 32, Warrant for Other Agency
• Michael Ohara Sherrod, 55, Warrant for Other Agency
• Misty Dawn Winfield, 40, Violation of Parole.
• Owen Daniel Anthofer, 28, Dog Annoyance/Disturb the Peace
• As well, 11 other individuals were cited for Dog At Large violations.

(Des Moines, Iowa/AP) – A spokesman for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says that the state is correcting a major flaw in its coronavirus data that backdated thousands of positive and negative test results. Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett said that the state’s data system had been erroneuosly recording the results of people who were tested on multiple occasions. He said that an individual’s most recent result, whether positive or negative, was “unintentionally attributed to the date of their first test.” That means thousands of recent results were being recorded in the system as having occurred in March, April, May and June.

Three people were arrested on drug charges last week, in Harlan. According to the Harlan Police Department, last Saturday, 34-year old Zachary Thomas Scheffler, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Scheffler was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and prohibited acts penalties.

And, on Aug. 12th, 18-year old Morgan Ann Schwery, of Harlan, and 18-year old Faith Marie Howard, of Prairie City, were arrested following a traffic stop. Schwery was transported to the Shelby County Jail where she was charged with failure to display license plate, minor in possession of alcohol, minor in possession of tobacco, possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and prohibited acts penalties. Howard was transported to the Shelby County Jail where she was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

This past Sunday, 38-year old Jeremy Loyd Jolley, of Manning, was arrested following a traffic stop, in Harlan. Jolley was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with driving while revoked.

(Radio Iowa) – Schools at all levels have shifted courses online, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is now offering a virtual workshop to teach how to hunt, field dress and cook waterfowl. The Jamie Cook, a program coordinator for the D-N-R, says the course will target Iowans who have little to no waterfowl hunting experience — and they’ll make it work during the pandemic.

“We will take every measure to make camera angles really, really good and high index,” Cook says. “I field dressed a dove last night on my computer screen and had it to where it looked really good and did everything to accommodate as much as we could.” While these types of skills usually require hands-on training, Cook says they’re making the switch to using Zoom webinars with a panel of expert instructors for the two-part workshop series next month.

“Immediately following, probably within a week of the courses, we’re going to send them an email that’s going to have detailed information, it’s going to have recipes, it’s going to have a link to a PDF of the hunting regulations,” Cook says. “We’ll also send some video clips along to them that we’ve used over the years for these courses.” Ideally, Cook says they’ll invite the participants on a hunt during the upcoming season with experienced hunters from Delta Waterfowl.

People who take part in the free workshops will learn basic strategies for hunting waterfowl, things like proper equipment, where to hunt, safe shooting practices, decoys and calling, and how to field dress, clean and cook waterfowl. Cook says participants will have plenty of chances to ask questions. “Last night, with our Learn to Hunt Dove course, we had about 30 questions that came in. We were able to answer those both live and privately through the question-and-answer feature,” Cook says. “We have a lot of positive feedback from the participants.”

Course One will be held September 3rd and will cover waterfowl habitat and identification, hunting regulations and calling techniques. Course Two will be held September 10th and will cover hunting equipment, decoy spreads, cleaning and cooking. Participants can sign up for either or both courses.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld a harassment conviction against a woman involving a Facebook post. Miranda Simpson was found guilty of third-degree harassment after evidence was presented that she made a Facebook post about an Ankeny massage salon. The owner of the salon took a screen shot of the post which said one of the massage therapists could provide a “happy ending” and her “bosses knew” or did not “care.”

An Ankeny police officer testified that he asked Simpson about the Facebook post and “she claimed that she was sticking up for her friend.” Simpson appealed the conviction saying the officer’s statement was misunderstood as a partial confession — but the Appeals Court ruled there was substantial evidence to indicate Simpson made the post.

LeCLAIRE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a second person has died from injuries he received in an eastern Iowa boat crash on the Mississippi River. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says 61-year-old Craig Verbeke, of Moline, Illinois, died in a hospital Wednesday, three days after a boat he was aboard collided with another boat on the river near LeClaire.

The crash also killed Dr. Anita Pinc, of Moline, Illinois, a 52-year-old Davenport obstetrician and gynecologist. Officials said she and Verbeke were aboard the same 19-foot Bayliner boat. Officials say a 36-year-old woman on the other boat — a 35-foot center-console vessel — suffered minor injuries.