(Radio Iowa) — As many of us fire up the grill during the holiday weekend, a southwestern Iowa dietitian urges everyone to follow the proper safety precautions. Emily Furst, a registered dietician at Montgomery County Memorial Hospital in Red Oak, says the process to proper food safety begins at the grocery store. “It’s very important we take care of the food before we take it to the grill,” Furst says. “When you go to the grocery store, make sure you get all your meat in one bag and other groceries in another bag so they are not cross-contaminating.”

If you transfer your raw burgers, brats, chicken and other meat products to a cooler, Furst says to make sure they stay below 40 degrees. “I know it’s hard sometimes when you are taking a whole bunch of things to a cookout or picnic,” Furst says. “Just making sure that you’re packed and ready to go and keeping everything safe.” Furst says constantly washing your hands, as well as cleaning utensils like tongs, spatulas and grills is also a good safety measure. Using a separate meat thermometer is also recommended, even if the grill you are using already has one. “As time goes on with a grill, it’s not as safe and might not be as accurate,” she says, “especially if water gets in there.”

It’s recommended whole cuts of beef, pork and lamb are cooked to an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees as well as fish. Hamburgers and other ground beef products should be cooked to at least 160 degrees while all poultry and pre-cooked meats such as hot dogs should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees. If there are leftovers, Furst urges we store and put away the food in a timely manner to prevent cross-contamination or food poisoning.

A traffic stop at around 6-p.m. Thursday in Montgomery County, resulted in the arrest of a man from Elliott. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 42-year old Anthony Dean Morris was taken into custody for Driving Under Suspension. Morris was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a little more than $566 bond.

Police in Red Oak report a man was arrested on drug and assault charges, Thursday afternoon. 35-year-old Randon Daniel Phelps, of Red Oak, was arrested a little before 3-p.m. on charges that include domestic abuse assault/1st offense, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Phelps was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa officer who has faced protests for shooting an unarmed Black man in 2016 says he’s being unfairly terminated for giving a break to a driver two days earlier. The Cedar Rapids Police Department fired Sgt. Lucas Jones last month, saying only that he had violated department policy. Protesters had been calling for his dismissal over the 2016 shooting of Jerime Mitchell after a traffic stop. A termination letter released this week shows that Jones was not fired for misconduct related to Mitchell’s shooting. Instead, it shows that the city is faulting him for refusing to arrest a Black woman who was driving with a suspended license two days earlier. Jones is vowing to appeal his termination.

UNDATED (AP) — State health officials say the number of confirmed positive coronavirus cases identified in Iowa continues to increase with 676 new positive cases reported Thursday. The new cases brought the state’s total known positive cases to 29,966. The number of deaths remained at 717. Iowa Department of Public Health data indicates positive case numbers had been in decline since peaking in early May but began a slow climb again around mid-June. That’s about two weeks after Gov. Kim Reynolds reopened bars and restaurants and relaxed other restrictions on social activities. She has acknowledged recently that increased cases are tied to young adults.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa state prisons officials say an inmate at a state prison in Fort Dodge has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The Iowa Department of Corrections says in a news release that the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility inmate is a male adult under the age of 40 and has been in medical isolation since first notifying staff that he was not feeling well on Tuesday. Prisons officials say he experiencing mild symptoms and will receive medical care as necessary as he recovers. Prisons officials say the unit where the inmate was housed has been placed on quarantine status, and additional testing at the prison is underway.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s executive branch is getting a grim gift from a company that has long made uniforms for meatpacking workers: a free supply of 500 body bags. Dickson Industries is donating the body bags as the state prepares for a worst-case scenario in which the coronavirus or another health emergency would overwhelm hospitals and medical examiners. The Des Moines-based company makes garments and products for the food processing, medical and other industries, including coats and insulated jackets for meatpacking workers. A state spokesman says the body bags will be kept in a state stockpile, just like 500 ventilators the state is purchasing.

(Radio Iowa) – The top two Republicans in the legislature are condemning the actions of protesters after 17 Black Lives Matter activists were arrested yesterday  on the Iowa Capitol grounds. The protesters say the police involved should be investigated.

In a written statement, House Speaker Pat Grassley and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver say “assaulting, disarming, and spitting on law enforcement is never acceptable” and will not be tolerated by any group on the Capitol grounds. The two lawmakers say they strongly support law enforcement’s actions to end what Grassley and Whitver described as “a violent confrontation with a disorderly group of protesters.”

The Republican legislative leaders say any member of the public should feel welcome in the Iowa Capitol and “it is not, nor will it become, an area of lawlessness.”

Des Moines Black Lives Matter protesters have issued a written statement, saying they tried to “de-arrest” fellow activists being detained by police by pulling their peers away from officers. The group accuses the police of becoming “violent and unmanageable” at that point and injuring some of the people who were arrested.

(Radio Iowa) – Several state agencies are getting together to try and put the brakes on some of the drivers in the state who have been taking advantage of reduced traffic on the roadways to push the speed limit. State Patrol spokesman Sergeant Alex Dinkla says “The big norm seems to be now since the COVID hit is that motorists feel that it is okay to drive well in excess of the speed limit. And so we want to make sure that we slow motorists down — because our ultimate goal is we want people to get to their destination safely — and to save lives.”

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He says this is more than drivers going five or six miles above the limit. “People traveling 25 miles-an-hour or more over the speed limit as well as 100 miles-an-hour or more over the speed limit. Each month since around March, we have seen those numbers just increase,” he says.

Dinkla says there may have been less traffic on the roadways — but there is still a danger with those high speeds. “When motorists travel that fast, they are not going to have a good reaction time should a motorist or even a deer pop out in front of them. We’ve seen the number of 100-mile-and-hour or more citations increased to over 100 tickets each month since March of motorists getting ticketed for traveling over the speed limit.”

Dinkla says the drivers thought they were out there alone. “One of the number one reasons we were given from a lot of motorists when they were stopped during the pandemic was — they plain and simple thought law enforcement was not out there actively stopping cars and initiating traffic stops,” according to Dinkla. “Quite the contrary, because our officers, they are not able to work from home. They have to be out enforcing these infractions.”

The Iowa Department of Public Safety, Iowa State Patrol, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, and the Iowa Department of Transportation are collaborating on tactics to help bring awareness to the issue, and encourage personal responsibility in keeping Iowa’s roadways safe in a public awareness campaign. Dinkla says finding our your loved one was involved in a fatal accident is not something you want to hear. “Those fatality accidents also take a toll on officers and first responders that have to respond to those and see the things that they see,” Dinkla says.

He says officers will be on the roadways and looking for drivers who feel the need for excessive speed. )”Not only for the Fourth of July but through the month of July, we are going to be actively out there trying to reduce what people think is the new norm and that they are able to speed,” according to Dinkla. “We want to make sure that we get that message out there. It is not okay to drive well in excess of the speed limit. The speed limit is out there for your safety as well as other motorists’ safety.”

The data shows the most common speeding violators are males between the ages of 14 and 29 years of age. The highest rate of noncompliance with posted speed limits occurred on Saturday afternoons. The Patrol’s data also revealed that 60 percent of the violators are out-of-state drivers.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a bill requiring women to wait 24 hours to get an abortion. The law is similar to one struck down by the Iowa Supreme Court two years ago. Reynolds signed the measure into law Monday as lawyers for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the state were wrapping up arguments before a state court judge who must now decide whether to immediately halt its enforcement.

Planned Parenthood claims the bill is unconstitutional in the way it was passed in the middle of the night and that it violates due process and equal protection rights of women seeking an abortion.