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

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A white man who deliberately sped his car through a crowd of racial injustice protesters in Iowa City, striking many, will avoid prison and have the incident erased from his record if he stays out of trouble for three years. A judge has granted a deferred judgment for 45-year-old Michael Ray Stepanek, who told police he drove his Toyota Camry through the crowd in August because protesters needed “an attitude adjustment.” The sentence means Stepanek will have a felony charge of willful injury resulting in bodily injury dismissed and expunged if he doesn’t commit a crime during a three-year term of probation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge says Iowa must pay more than $4.9 million in fees to attorneys who sued over treatment of juvenile boys at the Eldora Boys State Training School. Former students at the school and advocacy groups sued the state in 2017, contending the center used used inhumane methods to control the boys.” Judge Stephanie Rose ruled last year that the methods were “torture” and ordered the center to change. The plaintiffs did not seek any monetary damages. The state then argued that the plaintiffs’ attorneys fees were inflated. Rose ruled this week that attorneys were due all but $10,000 they had sought.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ended limits on sports and recreational gatherings as of Friday on a day when the state recorded 59 additional deaths caused by the coronavirus. Reynolds announced Thursday night that she would end restrictions on the number of fans who can attend high school sporting events. Spectators still must wear masks and adhere to social distancing rules at indoor events. Before the change, schools could only allow two spectators for each athlete. On Friday, the state reported 59 deaths, bringing the total to 4,124. In the past 24 hours, the state reported 2,058 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa trash collection official has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $1.6 million. Federal prosecutors in Des Moines say Jeffrey Dworek, of Urbandale, was sentenced Friday to 57 months in prison after pleading guilty last August to one count of federal mail fraud. Dworek had been the director of operations for Metro Waste Authority from 1996 until he resigned in 2017. He was arrested and indicted in 2019. Prosecutors say he set up a shell company purported to provide services to Metro Waste Authority, then paid out company funds for his own use between 2012 and 2017. He also took kickbacks from various vendors.