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

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman is charged with murder after police say she bound and gagged her husband for hours, leading to his death. West Des Moines police say officers arrested 41-year-old Gowun Park on Wednesday. The charges stem from the death Saturday of her husband, 41-year-old Sung Nam. Court records say Park used zip ties to bind Nam’s feet and hands to a chair, jammed clothing into his mouth and used duct tape to attach a towel over his head. Officers were called Saturday evening and found Nam on the floor. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Park is being held at the Dallas County Jail.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Court of Appeals has refused to let a group of lawmakers and attorneys move forward with two lawsuits challenging a law passed last year that gave the governor more power over the selection of supreme court and appeals court judges. The cases filed by a group of Democratic lawmakers and lawyers were dismissed by a divided appeals court on Wednesday in a 3-2 decision. It says the court is hesitant to interfere with legislative branch decisions. An attorney representing the plaintiffs says he will ask the Iowa Supreme Court to review the decision.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa Army National Guard units are being deployed to Africa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Col. Michael Wunn said Wednesday that about 90 troopers from a Le Mars unit have already started training with around 40 based at Camp Dodge in Johnston. Send-off ceremonies are scheduled for June, and then the soldiers will head to Fort Bliss in Texas for six to eight weeks of training. Wunn couldn’t say where the troopers will be stationed after they leave the United States, but he expects they’ll end up somewhere in the Horn of Africa. The deployments typically last a year.