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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Coronavirus spread continues at a high level in Iowa with more than 2,400 new cases identified and more than 600 people hospitalized, a new high. Iowa Department of Public Health data shows 25 counties had a 14-day positivity rate of more than 15%, an indication that virus activity is at an extremely high level of spread across a quarter of the state’s counties. Daily reported new cases and deaths reached new highs this week. Johns Hopkins University reports that over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases in Iowa has increased by 33%. Eleven more deaths were reported Thursday, increasing the death toll to 1,691.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has kept in place guidance from Iowa’s secretary of state that county elections commissioners can only set up absentee ballot drop boxes at or outside their offices. Judge William Kelly rejected a request from a Latino civil rights organization and a group aligned with Democrats to block Secretary of State Paul Pate’s guidance and allow for drop boxes in locations such as grocery stores. The ruling isn’t expected to have an impact because it comes so close to Election Day. Most absentee ballots have already been returned and auditors had dropped plans to add drop box locations even if Pate’s guidance was suspended.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — When Joe Biden was last in Iowa, his campaign was on the verge of collapse and he was soundly trounced in the caucuses. He returns Friday as the Democratic nominee, believing he’s just days away from becoming president-elect. Iowa is among the clutch of GOP-leaning states that Biden is trying to bring back into the Democratic column. He’ll also swing through Wisconsin on Friday while his running mate, Kamala Harris, courts voters in Texas. Trump, meanwhile, is playing defense in Michigan and Wisconsin. The president and Biden will both be in Minnesota, a longtime Democratic state that Trump is trying to flip.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy has announced it will close its coal-fired power plant in the northeast Iowa city of Lansing over the next two years. The Des Moines Register reports that the plan is part of the company’s broader goal to eliminate all coal from it’s portfolio by 2040 in a shift to solar, wind and other renewable energy. Alliant says it has operated the 275-megawatt coal-fired plant in Lansing for 72 years and employs 26 people there. The utility says retiring the plant allows the company to avoid significant investments that would otherwise be required to comply with changing environmental regulations.