Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:05 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ousted Iowa Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven says aides to Gov. Kim Reynolds are lying when they say he never objected to paying a portion of the salary of a governor’s staffer out of his budget. Reynolds issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying Foxhoven never raised such concerns and never asked the staff for a legal opinion.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Law enforcement officials say they have lost track of evidence from a 1980 murder case that an Iowa inmate wants to examine for DNA that could prove his innocence or guilt. The missing evidence comes in the case of William Beeman, who is serving a life sentence in the death of 22-year-old Michiel Winkel. Its absence could prevent the public from knowing definitively whether Beeman was the right man in the rape and stabbing of Winkel _ or should be Iowa’s first inmate exonerated by DNA science.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has found a 19-year-old man guilty of the stabbing deaths of two friends in Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal reports District Judge Tod Deck on Thursday found Tran Walker guilty of first-degree murder in the Jan. 28, 2018, deaths of his former girlfriend Paiten Sullivan and his friend Felipe Negron Jr. Evidence introduced during the trial showed Walker stabbed Sullivan 43 times and Negron 17 times. Sullivan was 17 and Negron was 18. Walker faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged a man with murder in the shooting death of a Des Moines man more than a month ago. Des Moines police said Thursday that detectives had charged 20-year-old Michael Resco Lyke Jr. with first-degree murder, attempted murder, intimidation with a weapon and assault causing injury. Lyke, of Des Moines, is charged in connection with a June 28 shooting that killed 41-year-old Earl Marcello Caldwell, of Des Moines. Another man was injured.