(Radio Iowa) — Deaths from COVID-19 in Iowa surpassed 700 over the weekend, while also reaching 500-thousand deaths globally. With new cases on the rise in some Iowa counties after having leveled off earlier, concerns are growing among health officials. Sam Jarvis, spokesman for the Johnson County Health Department in Iowa City, says they’re seeing a spike in new daily cases, with the majority in people between 18 and 25 years old.

“Certainly, as things are getting less restrictive, people I think are operating under the assumption that COVID might be over and it’s certainly not,” Jarvis says. “It’s still within our community and certainly in the state and the nation.” Nola Aigner, with the Polk County Health Department in Des Moines, says the county’s average daily case count has decreased this month. Aigner fears the trend could easily reverse if Iowans don’t take precautions, like wearing face coverings and social distancing.

“That’s what worries us because we know as a state, we’re behind,” Aigner says. “We were one of the last to peak and so that makes us very worried.” A sudden surge in cases in the Quad Cities is occurring among teenagers and young adults. Doctor Louis Katz, Medical Director of the Rock Island County Health Department in Rock Island, Illinois, says too many people are ignoring the advice they’ve heard so many times already, to wear a mask, wash your hands, keep social distancing, and stay home.

“You need to look at every asymptomatic person in the community as a loaded gun,” Katz says. “We don’t allow people to point loaded guns at other people and we shouldn’t be in public venues where social distancing is impossible or difficult, without a mask.” Katz says in April and May, the average age of infected people in the Quad Cities was 59, but during the last week it’s dropped to 29. Amy Thoreson, deputy director of the Scott County Health Department in Davenport, says 40 new cases were reported in the county last Thursday, and more possible infections are still being investigated.

“The positive case reports kept coming in like winnings on a slot machine,” Thoreson says. “We have never seen anything like it and I have colleagues who have been here for over 40 years.” State health officials say Iowans between the ages of 18 and 40 make up the largest and fastest-growing group reporting new COVID-19 infections. Dr. Katz says, “This is not the second wave. This is just the first wave getting worse as we have undertaken reopening.”

(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio and Herb Trix, WVIK, Rock Island)

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says a woman from Lorimor reported Sunday evening, that sometime after 2:30-p.m., Sunday, she lost her Springfield Armory Model XD Mod.2, black, 9-mm handgun. The weapon was lost somewhere near Lorimor, or along the way to Macksburg and Orient.

The pistol was in a tan leather waistband holder. The weapon is valued at $600. Anyone finding the weapon is asked to turn it in to your local authorities.

SA XD Mod.2 .9mm similar to what was lost.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man drowned after going for a swim while fishing at a Linn County quarry. Linn County sheriff’s deputies were called about 9:30 a.m. Sunday to the Martin Marietta quarry, southeast of Cedar Rapids. Friends and relatives of a man told deputies he was fishing but opted to swim a short distance. He went under the water and didn’t surface.

Teams from Cedar Rapids and Mount Vernon used boats to search and found the man’s body shortly after 11 a.m. The sheriff’s office identified him Monday as 19-year old Jake Beirnes, of Cedar Rapids.

Confirmed cases of the coronavirus continued to climb in counties that are home to Iowa’s largest public universities. State public health data on Monday showed Johnson County, home to the University of Iowa, had 1,096 known positive cases, a 38% increase in a week. The number of cases began spiking around June 15.

In Story County, home to Iowa State University, known positive cases reached 677, a 44% increase since June 22. Iowa posted nearly 300 new known cases on Monday for a total of 28,728 known positive cases. There were three additional deaths for a total of 707.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports numerous arrests over the past couple of weeks. Most recently, on Sunday, 35-year old Ryan Michael Carter, of Irwin, was arrested following a call about a disturbance at a residence along Shelby County Road F-24. Upon further investigation, Carter was taken into custody and charged with Domestic Abuse Assault 1st Offense, along with obstruction of emergency communications. He later released from custody on his own recognizance.

On Saturday, Shelby County Deputies arrested 27-year-old Jamie William Tressler, of Council Bluffs, following a pursuit that began in Shelby County, when a Deputy attempted to stop a vehicle for traffic violations. The incident started along Highway F-58 at Juniper Road. The pursuit finally ended along Interstate 80 around the 8-mile marker, after authorities were successfully able to deploy stop sticks. Tressler was charged with felony eluding, reckless driving, plus additional traffic violations.  Upon further investigation Tressler was additionally charged with in the Theft 2nd- and Burglary 3rd-Degree.   He was transported to the Shelby County Jail and held on a $15,000 cash or surety bond.

Last Thursday, Shelby County Deputies arrested 57-year-old Donald Allan Sondag, of Portsmouth, after traffic complaint was called in. Authorities made contact with Sondag in Portsmouth and he was taken into custody for Operating While Intoxicated 1st offense. He was transported to the Jail without incident and released the following morning on his own recognizance. On Wednesday, 23-year-old Connor Patrick Green, from Harlan, turned himself into authorities on warrant for Theft 2nd Degree/motor vehicle related.   Green was processed into the Shelby County Jail and released a short time later his own recognizance, with a future court date.

On June 20th, Deputies arrested two females following a traffic stop in Shelby County.  22-year-old Miranda Marie Shamblin, of Harlan, was arrested and charged with possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, prohibited acts, driving while license suspended. A passenger in the vehicle, 33-year-old Melissa Suzanna Fuller, of Irwin, was also arrested for possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and prohibited acts.   Both women were transported to the Shelby County Jail without incident and released the following morning on their own recognizance, and given future court dates.

And, on June 19th, 39-year-old Michael Lee Durand, of Shelby, was arrested following for a traffic stop in Shelby along Station Street.   Durand was placed under arrest and charged with Operating while Intoxicated 2nd offense.  He was transported without further incident to the jail, and held on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A state inspection report says a nursing assistant who worked while sick may have introduced the coronavirus into an Iowa nursing home where fifteen residents died.The report says the employee was allowed to keep working because the Crystal Heights Care Center in Oskaloosa failed to screen staff members for symptoms at the beginning of their shifts. It says that employees were allowed to “self-screen” without independent monitoring.

The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has cited the home and proposed a $8,750 fine. Home administrator Jay Wills says the facility is disputing the violation, saying the state had approved its screening plan.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Page County, assisted by Shenandoah Police, today (Monday) arrested 20-year old Courtney Ann Hall, of Essex. She was arrested on a warrant for Probation Violation, and transported to the Page County Jail, where Hall was being held, pending further court proceedings.

(Radio Iowa) – A Wright County man was rescued from the Des Moines River Sunday Sunday evening.  21- year-old Latrell Word of Eagle Grove was pulled under by strong river currents and two men tried to rescue him.  A Fort Dodge man, his wife and uncle were camping in the area and saw the events transpire, leading the Uncle to call 911. The man and his wife rode their bikes to the bank of the river to assist in the rescue efforts, helping pull Word to the bank.

Humboldt Fire/Rescue and EMS workers arrived quickly after being dispatched around 6:30 PM and were able to bring Word to shore. He was then taken by ambulance to Unity Point Fort Dodge, emergency personnel said during the transport Word was somewhat responsive.

(Radio Iowa) — Republican Senator Joni Ernst and Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield are both criticizing the E-P-A administrator’s handling of federal ethanol policy — and each questions the other’s commitment to promoting the corn-based fuel. Greenfield says Ernst never should have voted to confirm a lobbyist from the fossil fuels industry to lead the agency. “I am calling for the EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to step down immediately,” Greenfield said, “and I am calling for Senator Ernst to ask him to do the same and to Iowa first.”

Ernst says she threatened to call for Wheeler’s resignation last October if he didn’t follow through on the president’s promises to the ethanol industry — and Ernst ridicules Greenfield for getting Wheeler’s name wrong in a press conference. “Whatever she was calling him, a couple of different names…if you really are interested, you know, make sure that you’ve been engaging,” Ernst says, “and it’s only recently that she has started to engage in the RFS.”

Ernst says she’s been working on ethanol policy for at least a decade, starting when she was a member of the state senate.  “I’m glad that she’s finally paying attention to the RFS, good for her, but a little bit late,” Ernst says. Both Ernst and Greenfield are critical of the Trump Administration’s consideration of waivers that would let oil refineries escape the requirement to blend ethanol into gasoline. Ernst has recently blocked a senate vote on a man nominated to be the deputy administrator of the E-P-A — as a way of protesting the consideration of those waivers.