Gazette Daily News Podcast, August 4

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

We will have one more day of pleasant, sunny weather before a chance of storms and heat arrive on Thursday.

According to the National Weather Service it should be mostly sunny Wednesday with a high near 83 degrees. Wednesday night it will be mostly cool with a low around 62 degrees.

Although the State of Iowa is issuing no new restrictions due to the updated CDC guidance about COVID-19, local schools and governments are slowly enacting increased masking.

As of Tuesday, all visitors to buildings owned by the city of Cedar Rapids — including the library and City Hall — now are required to wear face masks inside as COVID-19 transmission rates climb again, fueled by the Delta variant. Experts worry that the highly contagious Deltra strain of COVID-19, spreadable even by those who have gotten vaccinated, could cause a surge in infections.

It should be noted that full vaccination has been shown to prevent serious symptoms of COVID-19 even in the rare cases that an infection still takes place.

The city of Cedar Rapids announced the requirement as the Linn County area now is coded as “red” in CDC criteria to signify a high level of community transmission of the virus. Such areas are considered to be those with over 100 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. Most of Iowa is now at least at this level or worse.

This is not the case, at the moment, for Johnson County to the south, which has a moderate transmission rate that would not require masking according to the CDC.

Still, the Iowa City School District on Tuesday night planned ahead for the worst. Iowa City students will be required to wear masks on school buses this fall, in accordance with federal law, but cannot be required to wear masks in classrooms due to state law.

As the Delta variant of COVID-19 surges in Iowa, the Iowa City Community School District also is extending its registration deadline for its new online learning program. Families will have through Aug. 9 to register their child for the 100-percent virtual academy.

Court documents show one of the Anamosa inmates charged with killing a prison guard and a registered nurse during a botched escape in March will plead Friday in Jones County District Court.

Thomas Allen Woodard, 39, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and attempted murder. He was set to stand trial Sept. 21 in Linn County District Court, after a judge granted a change in venue, but a hearing had previously been set for Friday because Woodard asked the court to move his trial out of Linn.

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown declined Tuesday to make public the plea agreement, in case the defendant would change his mind.

Jordan Bohannon was hospitalized in May with a serious injury after he was assaulted in front of DC’s bar in downtown Iowa City. On Tuesday it was revealed in an Associated Press report that his attacker may have been a former Iowa State Cyclone football player.

Former Cyclone football player Nicholas Kron faces an assault causing bodily injury charge for allegedly attacking Bohannon. Kron turned himself in on Saturday, was booked into the Johnson County Jail, and was released about 20 minutes later.

Bohannon filed a lawsuit against Kron a few days earlier, alleging that the former Cyclone defensive end “brutally, unlawfully and intentionally" assaulted him.

With the Iowa football season rapidly approaching, there will be more Hawkeye news to come soon. If you want to have the latest football insights emailed directly to you, sign up for Leah Vann's exclusive weekly Talkin' Hawks newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks