BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A deadly arctic deep freeze has enveloped the Midwest, forcing widespread closure of schools, businesses, government offices, and prompting the U.S. Postal Service to take the rare step of suspending mail delivery to a wide swath of the region because of the cold.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As the first Democrats running for president propose taxing wealth and providing universal health care, a broader debate is emerging over how far Democrats should go to appeal to their base during the primary season. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is among those pitching to the party’s center. He recently visited Iowa to test his theory that Democrats are less interested in a resistance champion than someone with a record of achieving liberal goals even with divided government.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man with a lengthy criminal record who is already in prison for other crimes has been convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill two northeastern Iowa people. Federal prosecutors say 44-year-old Jason Harriman was convicted Tuesday of two counts of murder-for-hire. Prosecutors say Harriman began serving a 15-year federal sentence in 2011 on gun charges and made multiple phone and email contacts from prison with someone he thought was a hired killer.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Police have arrested a man already serving a 25-year federal prison sentence for the 2017 death of a central Iowa man whose body was found weeks after he went missing. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says 28-year-old Armando Adame III was arrested Tuesday at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility on charges of first-degree murder and a weapons count in the death of 28-year-old Michael Bruce Johns.