The Gazette Daily News Podcast

This is Nathan Ford with the Gazette digital news desk, and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Today will be sunny in Cedar Rapids with a high temperature near 82 degrees and a wind out of the southwest at 5 to 15 mph.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/university-northern-iowa-covid-spring-break-academic-calendar-20200914 (Iowa’s public universities on Monday took the unprecedented step of canceling the storied student rite of spring break next semester), in addition to other measures meant to quell the spread of COVID-19. The University of Northern Iowa was first to announce the next-term changes, followed by University of Iowa and Iowa State University. All three campuses will begin the spring 2021 semester late on Jan. 25, or one week past the original UI start date of Jan. 19 and two weeks past when UNI and ISU were supposed to start on Jan. 11. Despite student, faculty, and staff calls across the campuses for university officials to move all instruction online for the rest of the semester, officials have said they won’t.

The University of Iowa https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/university-of-iowa-covid-cases-top-1800-20200914 (is reporting another 76 self-reported cases of COVID-19) since Friday, bringing its campus total less than a month into the fall semester to 1,831. Statewide, there were 395 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Monday. There were four additional deaths, raising the state’s toll to 1,222.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/johnson-county-auditor-travis-weipert-absentee-ballot-request-forms-republicans-20200914 (A judge, once again, sided with President Trump’s reelection campaign, ruling Monday that Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert wasn’t authorized by Iowa law to send out prefilled absentee ballot request forms for the Nov. 3 election). Iowa GOP officials are calling this ruling another big win for “election integrity,” after having previous success in lawsuits filed in Linn and Woodbury counties, where judges have granted a temporary injunction and ordered county auditors to invalidate the thousands of prefilled forms sent out by them. The auditors have been directed to notify those voters and ask them to return a new “blank” form that will be sent out to them by the Iowa Secretary of State, their county auditor or another organization.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/us-ambassador-china-terry-branstad-iowa-opinion-column-mike-pompeo-20200914 (Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will step down as the U.S. ambassador to China early next month). The U.S. Embassy said in a statement Monday that he confirmed his decision in a phone call with President Trump last week. It ends a three-year tenure marked by a trade war and increasingly bitter relations between the world’s two largest economies.

This is John McGlothlen from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for September 14th.

Expect areas of fog before 9 a.m. today, then mostly sunny with a high near 78, according to the National Weather Service. The low tonight should be around 56.

Dateline NBC this evening will be airing their episode about the https://www.thegazette.com/section/storyline?theme=MICHELLE%20MARTINKO (1979 murder of Michelle Martinko), with interviews of Cedar Rapids https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/meet-the-man-who-was-on-a-mission-to-solve-the-michelle-martinko-murder-20200309 (investigators), Gazette courts reporter https://www.thegazette.com/section/blogs?staffID=Mehaffey (Trish Mehaffey), Michelle’s friends and https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/michelle-martinkos-sister-decades-of-heartache-before-hope-20200227 (her relatives). The episode will air at 9 p.m. on NBC and is part of Dateline’s Monday Mysteries true crime series. Dennis Murphy reported for the newsmagazine and the episode is titled “https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/dateline-nbc-episode-michelle-martinko-cedar-rapids-trish-mehaffey-20200913 (And then there were three).”

Iowa has now completed more than 700,000 coronvirus tests. The state's total cases since March 8th had reached 74,420 by Sunday morning. Of the 5,699 test results announced in the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m., https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/iowa-surpasses-700000-coronavirus-tests-20200913 (15.32 percent were positive). Twenty-four counties have 14-day average positivity rates greater than 15 percent.

Kamala Harris on Saturday evening appeared virtually in a prerecorded message, and addressed a field of cars, trucks and SUVs for the Polk County Democrats’ annual Steak Fry fundraiser. The Steak Fry had a new look amid the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/kamala-harris-addresses-iowa-democrats-at-unusual-steak-fry-20200912 (It was held drive-in style) at Des Moines Waterworks Park, with attendees sitting in their cars and listening to the speakers, some of whom spoke in person, and others who appeared via video. Applause lines in speeches were replaced by honk lines — people honked their car horns when they heard something they liked. Biden and Harris face the incumbent Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence in a state Trump won by nearly 10 percentage points four years ago. Recent polls on the race in Iowa have showed Trump ahead but by a much more narrow margin: an average of just less than 2 percentage points, according to Real Clear Politics’ average of polls here.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of September 12th and September 13th.

So I promise that Saturday will be the last rainy day of the week and you will finally get a look at the sun again this weekend. But first, more rain.

According to the National Weather Service, there will be a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mostly before 11:00 a.m. Saturday in the Cedar Rapids area. The chance for rain will then decrease as the day goes on. It will be cloudy to start, but even that will subside, leading to a gradually sunny day with a high near 71 degrees. However, there still is an outside chance of more rain in the area before Saturday comes to a close.

Sunday: I give you a mostly sunny day with a high near 76 degrees. Even the wind will be calm, with a northwest wind hovering around 5 mph.

According to the Associated Press, Iowa officials have granted the Iowa City Community School District a two-week extension to continue teaching all classes online as it seeks to avoid the spread of the coronavirus among students and staff.

Now that the district has the option of continuing online-only classes until Oct. 6, the school board is scheduled to meet next week to discuss how it will proceed.

The Iowa City School District suffered a setback earlier in the week, when a judge ruled against their attempt to wrestle back local control in court. They were challenging the edict from Gov. Kim Reynolds that at least half of of instruction must be delivered in person.

Gov. Reynolds indicated Friday she may take early action next week to lift her order that closed all bars, taverns, breweries and nightclubs in six counties due to spikes in coronavirus cases.

The governor last month invoked a new public health emergency proclamation that closed businesses serving alcohol in Black Hawk, Dallas, Johnson, Linn, Polk and Story counties until at least Sept. 20.

Restaurants in those counties that serve alcohol were allowed to remain open but had to stop serving alcoholic beverages after 10 p.m.

Reynolds said the action was required to slow the spread of COVID-19 — especially among people in the 19- to 24-year-old age range.

The University of Iowa has received scores of complaints about students violating COVID-19 guidelines, and dozens have been reprimanded or warned that subsequent violations could result in more serious sanctions, including suspension.

So far this semester, which started Aug. 24, the UI Office of Student Accountability has received 109 reports of “failure to social distance”; 106 reports of “failure to wear a face covering”; 35 reports of guest policy violations; and six reports of students failing to comply with quarantine and isolation.

The UI on Friday added another 111 student virus cases, after reporting 52 more on Wednesday and 174 on Monday. The campus also reported another two new employee cases, bringing that total to 23 since Aug. 18. The student-employee combined total is now 1,755.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, September 11th.

It is still going to be rainy Friday, but at least is predicted to be a bit warmer. According to the National Weather Service, showers will be likely against Friday in the Cedar Rapids area, especially in the early morning and after 4 p.m. When it’s not raining, it should be cloudy, with a high near 64 degrees. The temperature will continue to climb throughout the day by staying more or less the same even as night arrives, with a predicted low temperature of 63 degrees.

Iowa communities with higher positive COVID-19 cases have made progress in controlling the virus’ spread, but Gov. Kim Reynolds said during a press conference Thursday that she plans to continue monitoring the trends before lifting an order that temporarily closed bars and limited restaurant hours in six counties.

Statewide, positivity rates are moving downward, but Reynolds said she is concerned new COVID-19 cases remain high in Johnson, Linn, Black Hawk, Story, Polk and Dallas counties — especially among Iowans in the 18- to 40-year-old age range — based on data in the past two weeks. With the approach of the flu season, Reynolds told reporters state officials are exploring options for providing a single, combined test that can detect both COVID-19 and influenza strains.

Reynolds’ comments came on a day when Iowa posted its third-highest daily coronavirus death toll, with 21 fatalities. State public health officials said the spike likely resulted from reporting delays associated with confirming causes of death rather than a surge in COVID-19.

Concerned about the accuracy and uniformity of COVID-19 data provided to the public, a coalition of fiscal watchdogs has banded together to try to help make sure states compile and track information the same way.

The state auditors — including Iowa’s — will scrutinize how health officials in their own states are collecting, reporting and monitoring data. The goals are to ensure that information presented to the public is consistent and accurate, to allow apples-to-apples comparisons among states and to help officials get a better handle on the issue if the pandemic gets worse in the coming months or there is another disaster in the future.

So far, auditors from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 11 states have joined the effort. The auditors plan to release their findings to the public as soon as their work is completed.

Despite the high coronavirus numbers in his home state, Sen. Chuck Grassley is calling on the Big Ten Conference to reverse its decision not to play football this year.

Grassley said Wednesday he thinks it would be safe to play and to have fans in the bleachers. He said even if it meant reducing the capacity when the University of Iowa plays to a third of Kinnick Stadium’s capacity, fans would be willing to comply if they could have football. At the moment, of the three public universities in Iowa, only Iowa State will be playing football this fall. The Cyclones will open their season against the University of Lousiana Ragin’ Cajuns this Saturday.

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, September 10th.

There’s another cool and rainy day on tap for Thursday. According to the National Weather Service, there will be another high of 55 degrees predicted Thursday in the Cedar Rapids area, with a chance of showers primarily before 5 p.m. The chance of precipitation is listed at 100 percent. There will also be a slight chance of showers Thursday night, but in a sign that things will be heating up slightly, the low temperature Thursday night will be just 3 degrees lower than the midday high, at a predicted 52 degrees.

The University of Iowa on Wednesday reported another 53 cases of COVID-19 on campus in the last two days — which included the Labor Day holiday that saw less testing in Johnson County and statewide.

The new 52 student cases of COVID-19, self-reported since Monday, bring the UI student total to 1,621 since Aug. 18 — https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-college-cases-tracker.html (among the highest campus tallies across U.S. higher education).

Iowa’s rate of new cases has improved slightly since Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered for the closing of bars in 6 of the state’s most populated counties that also contain the state’s three universities. However, this improvement has been from the worst in the country per capita of 100,000 people, to the third worst in the country per capita, prompting the White House coronavirus task force to again ask Gov. Reynolds to close bars in 61 counties and to initiate targeted mask mandates in areas where schools have shown transmission of the disease. For her part, Gov. Reynolds has insisted on a more targeted approach throughout the crisis, and has been against mask mandates entirely, arguing they are unenforceable.

While attorneys were in court Wednesday afternoon arguing whether actions by the Johnson County auditor to encourage absentee voting were appropriate, the state’s top election official was on a national webinar predicting that as many as four out of five Iowa voters will choose that option, largely due to pandemic worries.

“I easily could see 80 percent of the people casting their ballot in the fall election will use absentee,” Secretary of State Paul Pate said during a National Conference of State Legislatures webinar.

That would match the absentee vote in the June primary that shattered turnout records. More than 531,000 Iowans voted in the primary, with about 110,000 of them voting in person

After only two months on the job, Mount Mercy University’s 10th president, Robert “Bob” Beatty, has resigned — just two days after a delayed start to the fall semester, plagued not only by the COVID-19 pandemic but by campuswide devastation from the historic Aug. 10 derecho.

The Cedar Rapids campus did not immediately release details about when, specifically, Beatty resigned or why. In a Wednesday afternoon news release, Mount Mercy reported only that its Board of Trustees appointed Tim Laurent — provost and vice president for academic affairs — as interim president.

Despite drought and a derecho damaging mass swaths of cropland, Iowa’s corn supply will be able to fill China’s shopping list, according to the Iowa State University Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. Researchers predict China will purchase some $21.63 billion in agricultural products from the United States, all within the first year of the U.S.-China trade deal’s phase one.

They tie China’s rise in demand for U.S. corn and pork to the African swine fever that has severely hampered China’s hog inventory, killing between 40 and...

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, September 9th.

If you liked Tuesday’s weather, the cool and rainy part of it is going to carry into Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service, there will be showers-- and possibly a thunderstorm-- on Wednesday in the Cedar Rapids area, mostly before 7 p.m. The high is expected to be 55 degrees, with a 15 mph wind. The chance of precipitation for the day is 80 percent.

The Iowa City Community School District and state teachers union have not met the legal burden for temporarily halting in-person classes, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Sixth District Judge Mary Chicchelly said in her ruling that the Iowa Constitution delegates certain emergency powers to the governor and Iowa law gives certain powers to Iowa Department of Public Health officials. Together, Gov. Kim Reynolds and the officials relied on these powers to interpret state law and issue orders to Iowa’s K-12 schools that they must offer at least half of their core classes in person unless parents choose an online-only option or the state grants a waiver.

Now ,the Iowa City District, which had been suing the state to wrest back local control, is considering whether to ask for another waiver after the initial one given by the state, which had been allowing online only schooling for the first two weeks, runs out.

Coronavirus hospitalizations in Iowa were at a three-month high Tuesday, according to data analyzed by The Gazette.

326 Iowans were hospitalized due to the virus in the 24-hour period that ended at 11 a.m. Tuesday. This is the highest total since June 1, when 327 people were in the hospital. The increased hospitalizations comes after a surge in cases that coincided with the return of students to school. This surge has seemingly slowed a bit after Gov. Reynolds issued an order closing bars in six counties that encompass much of the state’s population and all three of its universities.

A positive case of COVID-19 will force the Cedar Rapids Kennedy football team to quarantine for 14 days. The quarantine began immediately after https://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/iowa-prep-sports/football/cedar-rapids-washington-starts-fast-holds-off-no-6-kennedy-20200904 (Kennedy’s 28-21 loss to Cedar Rapids Washington) last Friday and will end at 10 p.m. Sept. 18.

More than 5,500 Mediacom and ImOn Communications customers in the Cedar Rapids area still are without service almost a month after the Aug. 10 derecho’s hurricane-force winds downed trees and power lines. Steve Purcell, the regional vice president of Mediacom, told the Cedar Rapids City Council on Tuesday that crews still have to go house by house to make final repairs and restore power to the remaining 7 percent of Cedar Rapids customers. The company hopes to have restored power to 97 percent of customers by the end of the week.

With https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/iowa-derecho-cedar-rapids-tree-canopy-loss-land-hurricane-20200827 (65 percent of the city’s tree canopy destroyed) in the Aug. 10 derecho, the city of Cedar Rapids announced Tuesday it is launching the “ReLeaf Initiative,” a multimillion-dollar, 10- to 15-year effort to replenish the downed and damaged trees. The city will collaborate with the local environmental not-for-profit group Trees Forever. Through the initiative, the city will replace street trees along parkways and replant trees in parks and golf courses. The private investment will create incentives and cost discounts for homeowners to plant trees on their properties.

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This is Nathan Ford from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, Sept. 8.

There is a 90 percent chance of showers today in Cedar Rapids and a thunderstorm is possible. It will be cool with a high near 58. Wind speeds could reach 25 miles per hour.

Today marks six months since state officials announced the first cases of COVID-19 in Iowa. One family has lived and breathed every moment. Neil and Jeanne Bennett of Iowa City were among the first positive cases of the novel coronavirus in Iowa reported in early March. The couple along with more than a dozen others were infected with the virus after traveling to Egypt, just a week before the first instance of community spread was reported and the pandemic had taken hold of the state. Neil Bennett, who was the state’s first critical care case, spent five months in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities across Eastern Iowa. The 74-year-old is back home but still faces a long road to recovery. You can read more about this family's story today at https://www.thegazette.com/ (thegazette.com).

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/iowa-coronavirus-spike-eases-but-positive-rate-remains-high-20200907 (Iowa's coronavirus spike eased Monday, but the state's positive rate remains high). The statewide 17.37 percent positivity rate reported for the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Monday represents the 18th day in a row that rate has been over 10 percent. The counties where the state’s public universities are located also fared poorly on the rate as college students have been driving the recent spikes. Johnson County, home to the University of Iowa, saw a positivity rate during the period of 29.22 percent. But it added 71 new cases, its lowest number of new infections in about two weeks. The state reported 545 new cases in the 24-hour period and two additional deaths, bringing Iowa's toll to 1,167. https://www.thegazette.com/section/storyline?theme=CORONAVIRUS (Maps and charts documenting the spread can be found at thegazette.com/coronavirus).

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/trump-boat-prade-coralville-lake-iowa-20200907 (Hundreds of people gathered for a pro-Trump boat parade at Coralville Lake on Labor Day.) More than 100 boats trickled into the lake by Mehaffey Bridge with Trump signs, “Make America Great Again” flags and American flags. One personal watercraft had a Donald Trump costume tied to the back. People came from across the state to watch the boat parade, including from more than four hours away in Spencer. More than 200 people lined up along the bridge, often waving flags and cheering. More than 90 percent of attendees were not wearing a mask despite a Johnson County order requiring people to wear masks when 6 feet of distance is not possible.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Labor Day Weekend.

Your Labor Day weekend forecast is sort of like a cliff of two seasons, with summer at the summit, and fall down below. According to the National Weather Service, Saturday will feature sunny skies in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high of 84 degrees and a mild wind. If you’re in charge of planning outdoor activities, Saturday looks like the best bet.

Storms will roll in late Saturday night into Sunday morning, with the majority of the showers and thunderstorms expected in the early morning hours Sunday. Still, it will be hot again Sunday, with a high near 92 degrees and a heavy breeze between 15 and 25 mph. It is predicted to be mostly sunny at times Sunday, with more thunderstorms still possible. On Labor Day Monday, the high temperature will drop roughly 30 degrees in one day, with a predicted high of 75 degrees. A chance for rain is likely again on Monday.

Local elected officials pleaded Friday for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to bring 200 trailers to Cedar Rapids for residents whose homes were destroyed in the Aug. 10 derecho.

Agency representatives who spoke at a forum organized by Democratic U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer said FEMA trailers are expensive, take a long time to deploy, and should be used only if local rental housing and other options aren’t available. Still, with many people struggling to find housing due to the widespread damage of the storm, the local officials stressed to FEMA that they may be running out of better alternatives.

All 21 of the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s elementary schools will be open for in-person classes when the academic year starts Sept. 21, the district told parents Friday.

The news also means three middle schools that were going to be devoted to elementary students will be able to be used for the older students after all.

Harding, Wilson and Roosevelt middle schools also will begin in-person classes for students Sept. 21.

But students at three other middle schools — Franklin, McKinley and Taft — and the three high schools — Jefferson, Kennedy and Washington — will start classes online since their school buildings are still being repaired.

In just two days, the University of Iowa added 253 more self-reported cases of COVID-19 among students, bringing the total just two weeks into the semester to 1,395 — among the highest on college campuses in the nation.

The UI also reported three more cases among employee, for 19 total, and framed the news as an “improvement” after seeing a “disappointing spike in COVID-19 cases last week.”

The report comes days after nearly 1,000 UI faculty, staff and students pledged to participate in a “sickout” by calling in sick to protest the administration’s refusal to move all classes online.

UI officials could not confirm how many people actually participated in the sickout, but in an open letter to administrators, protest organizers reported being flooded with messages and stories of how the campus’ reopening has negatively impacted their lives.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, September 4.

It should be another sunny, breezy day Friday. According to the National Weather Service it will be 83 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area with sunny skies and wind speeds of 5 to 15 mph. On Friday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 58 degrees.

Johnson County now ranks second in the state for the number of COVID-19 cases in Iowa, behind only Polk County.

Johnson County, home of the University of Iowa, reported 108 new cases on Thursday, the ninth straight day of triple-digit cases. In a bit of good news, Johnson County’s seven-day average declined to 159, the first decrease after 16 straight days of increases. The decline in Johnson County’s positives is in line with decline in positives statewide as we approach the holiday weekend. However, it is too soon to say what direction this trend will go.

The attorney for a state teachers union argued in court Thursday that Gov. Kim Reynolds is placing Iowa school districts in a “dangerous and precarious” situation with her “one size fits all” mandate that requires the majority of K-12 classes be in-person during a pandemic.

During the hearing, Christy Hickman, who represents the Iowa State Education Association, asked a judge for a temporary injunction to stop the governor’s mandate while the lawsuit goes through the court system.

She cited Johnson County’s coronavirus statistics, which she called “staggering,” to make her case that online learning is needed. The Iowa City School District has joined the lawsuit against the state, arguing in favor of local control.

Iowa Solicitor General Jeffery Thompson, arguing for the state, cautioned the court against granting the “extraordinary” relief being sought by the teachers union because it would invalidate an emergency proclamation by a governor. He questioned whether the district court even has jurisdiction over the matter. The lawsuit “treads” on separation of powers, and the injunction shouldn’t be granted, he argued.

A ruling is expected next week.

A man who pointed a rifle at police was shot in Coralville on Thursday morning.

Officers were called to the 2400 block of Dempster Drive around 9:54 a.m. for a welfare check on a “potentially suicidal” man, according to the Coralville Police Department. Responding officers reported hearing a gunshot at the scene and made contact with the man inside the home. He was alone, police said.

The situation escalated when the man came to the front door and appeared to be willing to surrender, police said. However, he retreated into the home and came out of the garage pointing a rifle at officers.

One of the officers fired two rounds at the man, both of which hit him in the upper torso. Medical care was provided at the scene. The man was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. His condition is unknown.

Almost a month after the derecho on Aug. 10, thousands of people in the Cedar Rapids area still are without Internet.

About 5,100 Mediacom customers still are without internet as of Thursday at 4 p.m., spokeswoman Phyllis Peters told The Gazette. About 4,800 of those customers are in Cedar Rapids. Mediacom also has 276 customers in Marion and 12 in Toddville without service.

Overall, about 91 percent of Mediacom customers in the Cedar Rapids area have service again.

ImOn spokeswoman Lisa Rhatigan said slightly more than 87 percent of ImOn customers have service, as of Thursday at 5 p.m. She said she expected that number “to keep increasing, hopefully at a quicker rate.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, September 3.

The mostly dry weather will continue Thursday, but at least it won’t be too hot. According to the National Weather Service it should be sunny with a high near 78 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. It will be breezy, with winds of 15-20 mph gusting as high as 30 mph. The wind will calm Thursday night, with a low of around 50 degrees.

Cedar Rapids Mayor Brad Hart signed an emergency proclamation Wednesday requiring face masks be worn in public as a measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus as Iowa is among the states https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/iowas-coronavirus-rate-worst-in-the-nation-20200901 (leading the nation) in the number of cases per capita.

Cedar Rapids joins five other Iowa cities with mask mandates — Des Moines, https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/iowa-city-mayor-bruce-teague-covid-mask-mandate-20200722 (Iowa City), Dubuque, Mount Vernon and https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/muscatine-coronavirus-mask-mandate-required-protests-20200705 (Muscatine) — as municipalities push back on state officials’ stances that local governments lack the legal authority to issue such mandates. The city’s enforcement will focus on education, according to the statement, emphasizing the need for health and safety in the community.

The mandate comes as the Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday morning counted 66,139 COVID-19 cases across the state, with 3,005 of those in Linn County.

For her part, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday defended her administration’s decisions to implement only some of the mitigation strategies recommended in a White House report on the coronavirus pandemic while avoiding others like a mask mandate and more expansive bar closures.

The latest report from the White House task force on the pandemic showed Iowa’s new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people is triple the nation’s average. Iowa’s seven-day average coronavirus rate was ranked as the worst in the nation until it fell Wednesday to be second behind South Dakota in a database maintained by the Washington Post.

Reynolds has consistently urged Iowans to wear masks in public, but also has consistently resisted issuing a mask mandate, saying it would not be enforceable.

Video of the June 3 Black Lives Matter protest in Iowa City that involved https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/iowa-city-protest-ends-with-tear-gas-and-flash-grenades-to-keep-crowd-off-i-80-20200604 (law enforcement using tear gas and flash bangs) against protesters could be released as early as Thursday.

An independent review of that incident is on its way, as well.

On June 16 the city council https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/iowa-city-council-bruce-teague-blm-iowa-freedom-riders-police-restructure-20200617 (passed a resolution responding to the demands) of Black Lives Matter protesters. Included in that resolution was a review of the June 3 protest, which was to be complete by Aug. 1. However, that time line became longer when it became clear the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation could not do the investigation and a review by an outside agency with no affiliation with the city would be necessary.

The percentage of Americans who believe President Donald Trump is doing enough to contain the coronavirus pandemic is declining, according to an Iowa based poll of the nation that also found more people saying the economy is worse than when he took office.

The Grinnell College National Poll also found the president’s approval rating is underwater and that if the presidential election were held today, former Vice President Joe Biden would prevail 49 percent to 41 percent.