Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A late-winter storm system continues its trek across the Midwest. It will send rain and snow into Minnesota and Illinois on Friday. The storm left quickly rising floods in its wake in parts of eastern Nebraska and Iowa that saw people evacuated from their homes, roads washed out in communities, and farmers worried the water would drown livestock.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed his wife and set her body on fire in cemetery last year. The Courier reports that 28-year-old Fredrick Williams filed a written plea of not guilty to the Black Hawk County District Court. Williams is charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of 40-year-old Lakisha Williams. An autopsy determined she was asphyxiated.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke says it is important for the U.S. to confront the truth about how black people have been treated in the country. At a house party Thursday in Iowa, O’Rourke said the U.S. needs to recognize that systematic racism is real. Other Democratic presidential candidates have spoken of the need for the U.S. government to make up for centuries of stolen labor and oppression by offering reparations, but not in the traditional sense of financial renumeration.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed an emergency disaster proclamation that allows state resources to be used to respond to flooding in portions of the state. Reynolds also on Thursday activated Iowa’s State Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the response to flooding and help monitor rapidly-evolving conditions. The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for some areas and says river flooding will continue through the weekend due to excessive runoff from rain and snow melt.