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

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The nation’s farmers are struggling to pay back their loans after years of low crop prices, with nearly one out of five loans in a government farm program now delinquent for the worst January default rate in at least nine years. The bulk of the nation’s agricultural loans typically come due around Jan. 1 for seasonal and tax planning purposes.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Twenty Senate Republicans have signed on to a bill that would reinstate a death penalty in Iowa, a state that hasn’t put anyone to death in more than 50 years. A Senate subcommittee on Wednesday approved the bill with only Republican support. It would make it a capital offense to kidnap, rape and murder a minor. A similar bill failed last year, and this year’s bill isn’t expected to be approved by the Legislature.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s cold and snowy winter has been especially difficult on livestock producers who’ve often struggled just to reach their animals. The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa has seen an average of 21 inches of snowfall so far in February, just short of a record set in 1962. One rancher says he had to ride a snowmobile 50 miles Sunday to check on his pigs, and that snow is causing an overwhelming amount of maintenance issues.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A 37-year-old western Iowa woman has been sentenced to three months in prison for Social Security fraud. Prosecutors say Jamie Opalia, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced last week and told to pay nearly $22,600 in restitution. Federal court records say she’d pleaded guilty, admitting that she used for herself Social Security benefits that were granted to support another person.