Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad acted within his constitutional authority when he vetoed funding for two state-run mental health care facilities last year and closed them. Twenty legislators and the largest state employee union sued Branstad claiming a state law requires Iowa to have four mental health care institutes and limits Branstad’s ability to close the facilities by vetoing the money to run them approved by lawmakers.

TAMA, Iowa (AP) – Law enforcement officials say a 23-year-old central Iowa mother who vanished in 2000 is believed to be the victim of a homicide. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says agents have concluded Cora Okonski’s “disappearance was not voluntary.” Authorities are reclassifying Okonski as a homicide victim rather than a missing person, and several agencies are investigating.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Des Moines woman has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling more than $82,000 from the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of Central Iowa over a two-year period. The Des Moines Register reports that 36-year-old Amy Howell was arrested Wednesday and charged with theft, ongoing criminal conduct and forgery. Howell remained in the Marshall County Jail on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A Nebraska man has pleaded guilty to amended Iowa charges of indecent contact with a child and has been given a suspended six-year prison sentence and two years of probation. The Daily Nonpareil reports that 50-year-old Michael Robinson, of Omaha, Nebraska, entered the plea Tuesday, the day before his trial was set to begin. Authorities say Robinson inappropriately touched the girl from the time she was about 10 until she was 15.