Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CST

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is defending her relaxation of mask wearing and other coronavirus reduction measures, even as public health officials warn against ending the measures when a new more contagious variant of the virus is spreading in the U.S. Reynolds says lower hospitalizations and other measures prompted her to lift the partial mask mandate and limits on crowd sizes. She says she trusts Iowans to do the right thing. Iowa reported 1,035 new confirmed cases on Wednesday and 29 additional deaths, increasing the state’s death toll to 5,174. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, says opening up now gives the U.K. variant a chance to spread quickly in the U.S.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — A 37-year-old man has been charged in a shooting in Marshalltown that left a man dead and another injured. Robert Thomas was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the March 2020 death of 22-year-old Johnqwez Deanthony Lewis. Another man, 27-year-old Devonte Allen Brooks, was injured. Thomas was charged with attempted murder in Brooks’ shooting. Police said Thomas was already being held in the Marshall County Jail on unrelated charges. He remains in custody pending an initial court appearance. Police said the investigation into the shooting is continuing.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say three people – including a woman from Iowa – died in a vehicle crash northwest of Portland, Oregon. Oregon State Police say authorities responded to a crash involving two vehicles just after 10 a.m. Wednesday on U.S. Highway 26. Police say 21-year-old Walter Smith of Pendleton, Oregon was driving a Mercedes station wagon west when he lost control, slid sideways into the eastbound lanes and collided with a Toyota Tacoma. Police say Smith and his passengers, 20-year-old Erick Fadness of Decorah, Iowa and a 16-year-old Portland girl, died. Toyota driver, Natalie Swauger of Seaside, Oregon, was flown to a Portland hospital. Police say speed is believed to have been a contributing factor.

RYAN, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors in eastern Iowa have charged a woman with first-degree murder in the shooting death earlier this week of her boyfriend. Television station KWWL reports that 33-year-old Danielle Weiner, of Ryan, is accused in the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Devon Hierrezuelo, of Oak Law, Illinois. Delaware County Sheriff’s officials say the shooting happened around 1 a.m. Monday at the Shady Acres Apartments in Ryan, where arriving deputies found Hierrezuelo dead inside an apartment. Investigators say Weiner told them a man entered the apartment and argued with Hierrezuelo before shooting him in the living room. But investigators say evidence shows Hierrezuelo was shot in the bedroom, then moved to the living area.

The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday night, approved during an electronic session, Snyder and Associates Engineers advertising for bids for the west high school parking lot project. They also approved setting their meeting March 10th as the date for a public hearing on the project, which the engineer’s estimate says will run $840,000, including contingencies.

Snyder’s Dave Sturm told the Board the parking lot will be replaced with 7-inch concrete, and will include an additional 17- 20-additional parking stalls without adding extra concrete. They plan to recycle the existing concrete and add more draining tile, according to Sturm.

The project also includes the widening of the entryway into the high school parking lot, along with the replacement of the front entryway sidewalk. Bids requests along with the plans and specifications are set to be posted on Thursday, Feb. 11th. Sturm said bids are due back prior to the March 10 School Board meeting. He expects they will find four or five interested contractors for the project. The School Board also awarded the Middle School roofing project to McDermott & Son Roofing for $122,529.87. The engineer’s cost estimate was $135,000, but McDermott & Son’s bid  came in nearly 10-percent below that.

In other business, the Board held a public hearing on the 2021-22 School Calendar, during which there were no comments received. Later on in the meeting, the Board voted to approve the Calendar as presented. They also approved 2020-21 academy programs through Iowa Western Community College, an overnight Music Department trip to Florida during the 2021 Spring Break, and the resignation of 4th Grade Teacher Janet Hascall, who Superintendent Steve Barber said has been in education for more than 38 years, with at least 25 years in Atlantic. Hascall, he said, has decided it’s time to retire. He wished her the best for putting in all the time and energy to makes a difference for the kids. Board Vice President Nick Hunt said “Janet has been loyal, and her husband (Phil Hascall) has served on the School Board. She’s been a faithful teacher, and we’ll miss her.”

The Board approved Contract Recommendations for: Steve Anderson, Route Bus Driver; Mark Vavricek, Special Ed car driver; Shannon Hayden, MS/HS Schuler Food Service, and Kassidy Edwards, MS Special Ed. Paraeducator.

A new agreement has been reached by the City of Hamburg and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to raise the Hamburg Ditch 6 levee system by eight feet. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the agreement reached Tuesday marks the first project in the U.S. to utilize the Section 1176 authority to raise the height of a federal levee system.

Aerial photo of Hamburg – Ditch 6 shows scope of damage from the flooding. Photo taken Mar. 17, 2019. – US Army Corps of Engineers photo

Corps officials say the achievement comes after the Omaha district, the city and other shareholders worked to implement a section from the 2020 Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA. Representative Cindy Axne said Wednesday, the agreement is a critical step to protecting the flood-damaged city from future risk.

When devastating floods hit Hamburg in 2019, Ditch 6 was overrun by water and sustained severe damage that resulted in the City of Hamburg being inundated with flood waters. The result was bipartisan legislation being introduced to provide the Army Corps with new authority to cut through red tape and provide federal funds for levees in repeated flooding communities.

(Radio Iowa) – The state Transportation Commission has adopted some new driver’s license rules to reflect changes recently made by the Iowa Legislature. D-O-T Motor Vehicle Division director, Melissa Gillett says one of the changes involves the length of license for drivers over 72 years old. She says the rules will allow those drivers to get an eight-year license that will be good up until they hit the age of 80.

She says the license length will drop for those close to 80. “A driver’s license with a two-year expiration date will be issued beginning at age 78 and beyond,” Gillett says. Gillett says they also updated the rules to make it easier for younger drivers to upgrade their licenses.

“To expand that online service to individuals who are subject to the graduated driver’s license program. So those are teenager upgrading — from an intermediate to a full license for example — to allow that transaction to happen online,” according to Gillett. Young drivers were previously required to go to a driver’s license station to upgrade their license when they hit a birthday and their previous license was still valid.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Wednesday afternoon on a drug charge, of a man from Red Oak. At around 3-p.m., Deputies arrested 23-year-old Anthony Allen Charles Rohner for possession of marijuana. Rohner was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer, Wednesday, said no injuries were reported following an accident last Saturday, north of Clarinda. The accident involving an Iowa DOT snow plow and a pickup happened at around 10:50-a.m., on Highway 71, north of the intersection with 140th Street.

An investigation determined 16-year old Jarod Lee McNeese, of New Market, was driving the 2021 Ram 1500 northbound on Highway 71.  The snowplow, driven by 73-year old William Curtis York, of rural Essex, was traveling northbound with its emergency lights activated, while it was clearing snow from the roadway.

McNeese said that he failed to see the plow due to blowing snow. York said he too, was unable to see McNeese due to the snow coming from the snow plow. Weather conditions at the time of the accident were snow / blowing snow. The pickup sustained $10,000 damage. The Iowa DOT 2010 International snow plow sustained $300 damage. No citations were issued.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — A 37-year-old man has been charged in a shooting in Marshalltown that left a man dead and another injured. Robert Thomas was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the March 2020 death of 22-year-old Johnqwez Deanthony Lewis. Another man, 27-year-old Devonte Allen Brooks, was injured. Thomas was charged with attempted murder in Brooks’ shooting.

Police said Thomas was already being held in the Marshall County Jail on unrelated charges. He remains in custody pending an initial court appearance. Police said the investigation into the shooting is continuing.