Police in Creston report two people were arrested Tuesday evening on Union County warrants for Harassment in the 3rd Degree. 55-year old Justin G. Byers, and 32-year old Ashleigh N. Shinn, both from Creston, were taken into custody at their respective residences, and later released on a Promise to Appear in court at a later date.

BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to China says he doesn’t believe Beijing is deliberately blocking exports of masks and other medical supplies to fight the coronavirus, and that the shipment of 1,200 tons of such products to the U.S. could not have been possible without Chinese support. Ambassador (and former Iowa Governor) Terry Branstad also says the U.S. has concerns about how China initially handled the virus outbreak in the central city of Wuhan, but that such issues should be addressed after the pandemic has been brought under control.

Chinese officials are believed to have delayed reporting the outbreak for several crucial days in January due to political concerns, allowing the virus to spread further. China has adamantly denied doing so, despite strong evidence.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a Red Oak man was arrested Tuesday night on a methamphetamine-related charge. 38-year old Paul Earl Lemberg II, was taken into custody on a Class-C Felony charge for Delivery of Methamphetamine.  Lemberg was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it will not visit the site of a deadly helicopter crash in Audubon County due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to KCCI in Des Moines, the NTSB said it is taking action to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and is deciding how much on-site investigating needs to be done on a case-by-case basis.

The agency decided not to respond to the accident site but did work with local officials to document the wreckage before it was removed. It will continue to gather information remotely.

Investigators said they believe the chopper hit a power line at around 4:30-p.m. March 31st, causing it to crash and kill two people from Minnesota. The victims were identified as the pilot, 30-year old Ryan Doolittle, of Minneapolis, and a passenger, 23-year-old Benjamin Peterson of Marshall, MN., and originally from Des Moines. Peterson was employed by Western EcoSystem Tech to perform an aerial wildlife survey of raptor nests, when the crash happened.

(Radio Iowa) — New data indicates racial disparities in COVID-19 cases that have been reported in other parts of the country are also occurring in Iowa. Nearly 16-and-a-half percent of Iowa’s COVID-19 cases are among Hispanics, who make up about six percent of the state’s population. Blacks account for another four percent of Iowa’s population, but nearly nine percent of all the COVID cases here.

Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the state medical director, says this data is on a new state website, along with information about when Iowans with COVID-19 first started showing symptoms of the illness. “It also helps us understand the magnitude of the number of people affected and the progression of an outbreak,” Pedati says.

Test results released by state officials yesterday confirmed nearly 19-hundred Iowans have COVID-19.