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Iowa early News Headlines: Saturday, 8/12/17

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August 12th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:45 a.m. CDT

RED OAK, Iowa (AP) — The Democrats’ national bus tour is motoring through Iowa, targeting vulnerable House Republicans who voted to repeal Obamacare. The ultimate goal for the party is upending the GOP majority in next year’s midterm elections. The vote against the Obama health care law looms large for 21 GOP lawmakers, including Iowa congressmen David Young and Rod Blum. It was politically tough vote with no payoff, as health care collapsed in the Senate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines woman has been sentenced to prison for embezzling thousands of dollars while working for Bankers Trust. Station KCCI reports that 34-year-old Lacey Nicolino was sentenced Thursday in federal court to five months in prison for embezzlement. She also was ordered to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution to Bankers Trust. Nicolino pleaded guilty in March.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A disbarred Iowa attorney has been sentenced to prison for mail fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says 52-year-old Dennis Bjorklund, of Coralville, was sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison. He had pleaded guilty in March to 11 counts of mail fraud in a scheme to bilk his own clients charged with drunken driving by having them donate to a phony substance abuse charity he had set up.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The FBI has raided a Catholic Worker House in Des Moines looking for property of two women accused of damaging an oil pipeline that crosses Iowa and three other states. The Des Moines Register reports that about 30 armed agents and other officers entered the Catholic Workers’ Berrigan House around 6 a.m. Friday and left hours later with about 20 bags and boxes.