Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — With Iowa hospitals filling up and schools closing classrooms, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds dropped her longtime opposition to a statewide mask mandate and enacted a limited version of one. A proclamation signed by the governor requires everyone 2 or older must wear masks when in indoor public spaces. Reynolds also limited many indoor gatherings to no more than 15 people and outdoor gatherings to 30, including family get-togethers. Bars and restaurants cannot stay open for in-person service past 10 p.m. And she suspended all youth and adult sports and recreational activities, except for high school, college and professional sports.

NEW VIENNA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a grain barn in eastern Iowa has been destroyed in an early-morning fire. Television station KCRG reports firefighters were called to the blaze around 3:20 a.m. Monday in Dubuque County. Officials say arriving firefighters found the barn completely engulfed in flames. Crews were able to extinguish the fire, but the barn is a total loss. Officials say a house and a vehicle on the property sustained heat damage during the fire. Officials say the fire caused about $25,000 in damage. No injuries were reported.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a mother and her two children were injured this weekend escaping an apartment fire in West Des Moines. Television station WOI reports that firefighters were called just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday to the West Glen Apartment complex. Arriving firefighters saw smoke coming from the building and called for a second alarm, and police arrived to help evacuate the building. Officials say a mother and her two children were taken to a hospital with minor injuries after escaping through a third-story window. Fire crews quickly brought the fire under control. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus in Iowa set another record as the recent surge in cases continued. The state said 1,279 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa on Saturday, up from 1,261 the day before. Iowa also reported 4,432 new cases and 13 additional deaths as of Sunday morning to give the state 184,685 cases and 1,985 deaths. Over the past week in Iowa, one out of every 95 people in the state was diagnosed with COVID-19, and the rate of new cases in the state remained the third-highest in the nation,

Members of the Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will meet 2-p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 18), in the Middle School Media Center. On their agenda is three discussion items:

• A Food Service Update from Food Services Director Natalie Ritter
• Employee Appreciation – 2020 Holiday Season
• COVID-19/Face Mask Use

Action items include:

• District guidelines for the use of face masks
• Proposal requests – re: Athletic Facilities Improvement Project

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — With Iowa hospitals filling up and schools closing classrooms, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds dropped her longtime opposition to a statewide mask mandate and enacted a limited version of one. A proclamation signed by the governor requires everyone 2 or older to wear masks when in public, indoor spaces within 6 feet of others who aren’t member of their households for 15 minutes.

Reynolds also limited many indoor gatherings to no more than 15 people and outdoor gatherings to 30, including family get-togethers. She declared that bars and restaurants cannot stay open for in-person service past 10 p.m. And she suspended all youth and adult sports and recreational activities, except for high school, college and professional sports.

The measures begin at 12:01-a.m. Tuesday (11/17) and lasting until at least 12:01-a.m. December 10th.

Mask Use:​ Indoor spaces open to the public & State executive branch buildings·

• Masks required when individuals are within 6 feet of one another for 15 minutes or longer with certain exceptions

Gathering Restrictions:​ Social, community, business, or leisure gatherings·

• No more than 15 people indoors and 30 people outdoors·
• These restrictions apply to wedding receptions, family gatherings, conventions, and other nonessential gatherings but do not apply to gatherings that occur during the ordinary course of business or government

Sporting and Recreational Events:​

• Youth and adult group sporting and recreational gathering are prohibited except for high school, college, and professional sports

High School Sports & Extracurriculars:​ Sporting, recreational, and extracurricular events·

• Only two spectators permitted for each high school athlete, performer or competitor, and must wear a mask and maintain 6 feet distance from other spectators·
• Students can be closer than six feet and are not required to wear masks

Restaurants and Bars​: Restaurant or bar, including a wedding reception venue, winery, brewery, distillery, country club, or other social or fraternal club·

• Closed to in-person services at 10:00pm·
• No bar seating·
• Masks required when not seated (while playing games, dancing, etc.)·
• Six feet distancing between groups·
• Groups limited to 8 people unless larger group is all same household·
• Seated when eating or drinking and limit congregating

Fitness Centers:​ Fitness centers, health clubs, health spas, gyms·

• Group fitness activities are prohibited

Casinos & Gaming Facilities:​

• Masks required except when seated to eat or drink

Closer/Prolonged Contact Establishments:​ Bowling alleys, pool halls, bingo halls, arcades, indoor playgrounds, children’s play centers·

• Closed to in-person services at 10:00pm·
• Mask required when not seated to eat or drink·
• Ensure that groups and individuals are six feet apart at establishment·
• Groups limited to eight people unless larger group is all same household

Nonessential/elective surgeries:​

• A hospital must reduce its in-patient, nonessential surgeries to a level that uses at least 50% fewer beds than it did on average during September 2020.

A nine-year old died in a single-vehicle accident Sunday night, in northwest Iowa’s Ida County. The Iowa State Patrol reports Hayden Dale Juelfs, of Correctionville, was a passenger in a 2003 Lincoln Towncar. The vehicle, driven by 33-year-old Ethan David Juelfs, of Washta, IA, was traveling southbound on Iowa Highway 31 at around 6:23-p.m., when Juelfs swerved to miss a deer.

The car went off the left side of the road, overturned and went airborne into a ravine, where it struck a tree. The nine-year old, who was wearing a seat belt, died at the scene.The crash remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by Holstein Ambulance, Correctionville Fire, Washita Fire, and the Ida County Medical Examiner.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds plans to deliver a statewide address this (Monday) evening to unveil new pandemic-related policies — and it appears to be more than six decades since an Iowa governor has delivered a televised address at night. Leo Landis, the state curator at the State Historical Society of Iowa, found the details.

“Governor Leo Hoegh, at least in a local live address, appears in Fort Dodge to have made some remarks on television on October 12, 1956,” Landis says, “so that may be the very first time an Iowa governor appeared live on television.” Hoegh was campaigning for re-election at the time and Landis found an Associated Press article about the nighttime speech.

“Fort Dodge did have a local NBC affiliate at the time, so it’s most likely that it was that NBC affilaite who carried those remarks,” Landis says. “…It was a live television address as best we can tell.” However, it was likely a local broadcast because the technology to provide the signal statewide just didn’t exist.

“Even in the mid-1950s, television was still fairly new,” Landis says. Many Iowa radio and T-V stations intend to carry the speech Governor Reynolds intends to deliver tonight, shortly after six o’clock. It will originate from Iowa P-B-S.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, reports “Effective immediately, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office will do fingerprints for essential personnel ONLY. This restriction is expected to last through late December, at which time the Coronavirus situation will be reviewed.”