Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has rebuilt its stockpile of personal protective equipment after a dire shortage that prompted the state to buy replenishments from some unusual sources. Records show Iowa’s executive branch has signed $45 million worth of emergency purchase orders for isolation gowns, masks, face shields, goggles and other equipment from mid-March through April. That includes $7.2 million in contracts for gowns and goggles with a Des Moines business that has never previously sold either and is known for making Republican campaign signs. The deals include 590,000 masks that were purchased directly from China and to be flown to an Ankeny warehouse.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — University of Iowa researchers privately warned that the coronavirus would continue spreading through the state even before Gov. Kim Reynolds relaxed social distancing policies, a move they said would exacerbate the problem. In a report to the Iowa Department of Public Health on April 27, the university experts said that Iowa had not reached a peak and reopening the state economy before then would “result in a rapid rise of cases.” In a paper dated May 4, they found that the virus was still likely growing. They said that Iowa’s school and business closures and other steps had strongly mitigated the spread of infection but nonetheless were not “sufficient to prevent uncontained spread.”

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A California farm animal sanctuary is spending a small fortune to send two cargo planes to north-central Iowa to rescue 1,000 chickens from an egg farm. Animal Place workers loaded the planes Saturday morning at the Fort Dodge, Iowa, airport with more than 60 crates of the hens to fly back to the group’s sanctuary near Grass Valley in northern California. The organizations’ director, Kim Sturla, said Friday that the hens came from a nearby egg farm that is going out of business. The farm had planned to simply kill the chickens, but agreed this week instead to give them to the California rescue, which will in turn rehabilitate the hens and adopt them out to people throughout California.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating a deadly shooting in Waterloo. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that police were called to UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital about 8:30 p.m. Friday on a report of a shooting victim. The man was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle. He died a shot time after arriving. Au autopsy has been scheduled at the State Medical Examiner’s Office. No other details were immediately released, including the man’s name.