Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:00 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Utilities Board is defending its decision to spend thousands of dollars sending five employees to a conference in Portland this week. A list of attendees to the National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys shows Iowa and two other states sent five employees. The majority sent none, one or two. The four-day conference, which concluded Wednesday, charged $400 per employee in fees, plus hotel, airfare and meal charges.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has decided to keep open a longtime research center, though he still plans to remove its funding. Branstad used his veto power Friday to cut language in a roughly $7.2 billion state budget that would have eliminated the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. But he kept plans to redirect a tax worth roughly $1.5 million that helps pay for the center. The governor’s staff did not give a reason for the setup.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has rejected the University of Iowa’s request to delay the upcoming trial in a lawsuit filed by former women’s field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum. Judge Eliza Ovrom says Griesbaum’s trial will go ahead June 5 as scheduled. Griesbaum alleges she suffered discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation in Athletic Director Gary Barta’s decision to fire her in 2014.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Top lawmakers in Minnesota and Iowa are trying to work out an arrangement allowing Iowa residents to immediately start buying medical marijuana from their northern neighbors. Iowa’s Legislature passed a tightly controlled medical marijuana program but it is still awaiting Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s signature. With Minnesota’s approval, Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says the arrangement could give sick Iowans immediate access while the state sets up its own program.