Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

(AP) – The first significant storm of the season was blanketing parts of the Midwest with a foot or more of snow, creating hazardous conditions as some travelers prepared to depart for the Thanksgiving holiday. Parts of South Dakota and Iowa had more than a foot on Friday. Des Moines had recorded 6 inches by late Friday and 4 inches had fallen at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, one of the world’s busiest. The front will head northeast to Canada late on Saturday and into Sunday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Republican Party of Iowa has canceled its plan to host a forum featuring presidential candidates that would have focused on minority communities. The party said Friday it canceled its Iowa Brown and Black Forum on December 3rd at Drake University due to “unresolved scheduling conflicts.” A similar forum by the Iowa Democratic Party is still scheduled on January 11th at Drake. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley are set to appear.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Dubuque officials have declined a request to regulate the use of speakers outside bars that some downtown residents say are too loud. The Telegraph-Herald reports Jonathan McCoy of the Old Main Neighborhood Association asked the city’s Planning Services Department in mid-August to reclassify outdoor speakers as “audible signs.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors are continuing to pursue criminal charges against top campaign advisers to 2012 presidential candidate Ron Paul. According to court documents filed Thursday, a grand jury in Des Moines indicted Jesse Benton, John Tate and Dimitri Kesari on conspiracy charges. They’re accused of covering up payments to former Iowa Senator Kent Sorenson, who endorsed Paul in December 2011.