IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Police officers fired several tear gas canisters and flash grenades late Wednesday to disperse protesters in Iowa City who were advancing toward Interstate 80. Hundreds of protesters were met by a line of Iowa State Patrol and Iowa City police officers on Dubuque Street blocking their path to the busy highway. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that a speaker identifying himself as a patrol officer ordered the crowd to disperse and warned that the failure to do so would result in the deployment of chemical munitions. The newspaper says that officers fired tear gas canisters when the crowd continued marching north. In the following minutes, the crowd backed up, attempted to rally and again march forward, but eventually were forced back.

A crash at around 4:25-a.m. today (Thursday), in Central Iowa’s Warren County, has resulted in a death. The Iowa State Patrol says a 2010 KIA Sedona was traveling south on Interstate 35 southbound, when the SUV struck a guard rail near mile marker 63.25. The driver of the vehicle, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. Their name was not immediately released. The accident remains under investigation.

Officials with the Creston Police Department report 49-year old Michael Williams, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday afternoon, for Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding air and/or blood flow, and, for Violation of a Protection Order. Williams was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting a bond hearing. And, on May 30th, 39-year old Christopher Kackley, of Ft. Dodge, was arrested in Creston on a charge of Burglary in the 3rd degree. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reports 14 more people have died from COVID-19. for a total of 578, and there were 562 new, positive cases of the virus, since Wednesday, for a total of 20,574. There were also 8,620 more negative case test results than Wednesday, 265 more people have recovered from the virus – for a total of 12,157, and the number of Iowans tested rose 9,145 to 173,280.

The IDPH reports also, there were four less persons who remained in a hospital, but 10 more were admitted Wednesday, for a total of 310. The number of persons in an ICU was down 11, to 105; Six fewer people were on ventilators, for a total of 70. The number of Long-Term Care facility (LTC) outbreaks is unchanged at 42. 10 more patients and/or staff tested positive for COVID-19, for a total of 1,605, five more died at those facilities, for a total of 288, and 80 have recovered from COVID-19, which is 41 more than Wednesday.

The Region 4 Regional Medical Coordination Center (RMCC)  data – covering hospitals in western/southwest Iowa – shows one less person hospitalized,  two less people in an ICU, none were admitted over the past 24-hours, and 2 remain on ventilators. For Cass and surrounding counties, there wasn’t much change in the number of cases and the number of those recovered, over the past 24-hours. The exceptions: Guthrie and Shelby Counties, both of which had 1 more positive case of COVID-19, and Pottawattamie County, where the IDPH dashboard shows 306 cases and 185 recovered.