Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

UNDATED (AP) — A federal judge in Iowa has dismissed a lawsuit California Rep. Devin Nunes filed against a major media organization that alleged he was defamed in a magazine story about his family’s Iowa dairy farm. Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, filed the $77.5 million lawsuit in September 2019 in federal court in Iowa against Esquire publisher Hearst Magazines and former reporter Ryan Lizza. It alleges a Sept. 30, 2018, story about the farm has caused “injury to his good name and professional reputation.” Judge C.J. Williams says Nunes failed to prove that Lizza’s article contained false and defamatory statements about him.

UNDATED (AP) — An Iowa appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a law passed last year that does not require Medicaid to pay for sex reassignment surgeries for transgender residents. The Iowa Court of Appeals posted its ruling Wednesday. It agreed with a lower court finding that the legal challenge was speculative because the two transgender residents who sued hadn’t yet been denied Medicaid coverage for surgeries. The lawsuit claimed the law violated the inalienable rights to liberty, safety and happiness and equal protection sections of the Iowa Constitution. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa says it’s reviewing the ruling.

MONDAMIN, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials say a highway construction worker has been killed by a speeding tire that came loose from a pickup truck. The Des Moines Register reports that the incident happened Wednesday afternoon, while 51-year-old Homero Carrillo was with a crew working on a bridge on Interstate 29 in Harrison County near Mondamin. The Iowa State Patrol said Carrillo was working in a closed lane when a northbound pickup on I-29 lost a tire. The speeding tire bounded north through a median and hit Carrillo. Investigators say he died at the scene. Officials did not report any injury to the 56-year-old pickup driver from Edwardsville, Kansas.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Police have arrested the husband of a Fort Dodge woman who was shot to death Wednesday afternoon. Police say the shooting happened around 2 p.m. Wednesday, when officers were called to a Fort Dodge home for reports of a shooting. Arriving officers found 38-year-old Maggie Hurdel with a gunshot wound. She died at the scene. Police said her husband, 43-year-old Justin Hurdel, had fled the home in a vehicle after the shooting. The vehicle was later found abandoned. Police said Justin Hurdel was found around 7 a.m. Thursday hiding in a shed. He was taken to a hospital for injuries police say he sustained before his arrest. He has been charged in a warrant with first-degree murder.