Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s highest court is upholding a state directive that was used to invalidate tens of thousands of absentee ballot requests mailed to voters pre-filled with their personal information. The Iowa Supreme Court issued its ruling in favor of President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican groups as Trump held a rally in Des Moines. The court rejected a Democratic challenge that argued the directive issued by Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate was unconstitutional. Pate instructed county elections commissioners in July that all absentee ballot request forms they mailed to voters must be blank in order to ensure uniformity statewide. Auditors in three counties defied Pate’s guidance and courts invalidated their pre-filled forms at the urging of Trump’s campaign.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa prosecutor has been charged with harassment for allegedly threatening to pursue meritless criminal charges against his ex-fiancee, a doctor from Iran, that he warned could cause her deportation. A criminal complaint alleges that Ryan McCord was an assistant Des Moines County attorney in Burlington when he allegedly harassed the woman for months after they ended their relationship. The woman works as a physician at the Great River Medical Center in Burlington on a visa for foreign-born doctors. McCord allegedly falsely told the woman that he had a pending domestic violence charge against her at the sheriff’s office that could be filed if they didn’t get back together.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden will compete for TV audiences in dueling town hall meetings instead of meeting face-to-face for their second debate as originally planned. The two will take questions in different cities on different networks Thursday night — Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia. Trump backed out of plans for the originally scheduled presidential faceoff after debate organizers shifted the format to a virtual event following Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis. The two candidates are taking care of other electoral necessities first: Trump has a midday rally in battleground North Carolina and Biden is raising campaign cash at a virtual event.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa continues to experience widespread coronavirus spread with public health data showing 1,217 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours and 11 deaths. As of Wednesday, the state had 1,492 deaths and 101,812 confirmed positive cases since the pandemic began. The number of people in hospitals also reached a new high Wednesday with 473 people hospitalized with COVID-19. The number of people admitted with the virus in the past 24 hours was third highest. State data also shows 18 counties with a 14-day average positivity rate of more than 15%, the level at which Gov. Kim Reynolds allows school districts to apply to the state to send students home for online learning temporarily.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump is trying to shore up support from constituencies that not so long ago he thought he had in the bag: big business and voters in the red state of Iowa. Trump on Wednesday expressed puzzlement in an address to business leaders that they would even consider supporting his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.

At a rally later Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump claimed to be leading in the most recent poll he saw. But he said, “For me to only be up six, I’m a little bit concerned.” Multiple shows have shown a much closer race. Biden had no public campaign events scheduled Wednesday.

President Donald Trump says he doesn’t mind running against former Vice President Joe Biden, but he wouldn’t want to run against his Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Speaking to supporters in Iowa on Wednesday, Trump got some of his biggest cheers when he brought up her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He joked, “Please promise me, Amy, you’ll never run.”

Trump calls Barrett a “great intellect” who is deftly handling the questioning she is getting, particularly from Democrats, and “she handles it like nothing.” Trump says he hasn’t spoken with Barrett for a few days, “and I just want to say we made the right choice with Amy.” If Barrett is confirmed, which is expected, she would replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s highest court is upholding a state directive that was used to invalidate tens of thousands of absentee ballot requests mailed to voters pre-filled with their personal information. The Iowa Supreme Court issued its ruling in favor of President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican groups as Trump held a rally in Des Moines.

The court rejected a Democratic challenge that argued the directive issued by Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate was unconstitutional. Pate instructed county elections commissioners in July that all absentee ballot request forms they mailed to voters must be blank in order to ensure uniformity statewide.

Auditors in three counties defied Pate’s guidance and courts invalidated their pre-filled forms at the urging of Trump’s campaign.

The Carroll Police Department reports four people were arrested early Wednesday (today), following a shooting incident late Tuesday night that resulted in an unidentified 31-year-old man from Ames suffering from two gunshot wounds to his lower torso. The victim was transported to St. Anthony Regional Hospital before being taken to a trauma center in Des Moines, for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

According to police, two search warrants were conducted, one at 512 E 18^th St. and the other at 506 E 18^th St. During the search, a firearm, suspected narcotics and ammunition was collected. Police said 31-year-old Triesha Jones, of Carroll, was charged with assault. Kamille Garnett, age 30, of Carroll, was charged with child endangerment and disorderly conduct. Glennisha Myers, age 27, of Carroll, was charged with assault. And, Cliff Urban, age 31 of Hammond, Indiana, was arrested on a federal warrant for making a false statement in the acquisition of a firearm. Police said additional charges are pending, based on the items found in the execution of the search warrants.

Authorities say the investigation began when Carroll Police Department received multiple calls at around 11:57-p.m. Tuesday, about of a person who was shot in front of 512 E 18th Street. The callers reported they heard three guns shots, and one person was wounded. The suspects were taken into custody not long after officers arrived on the scene and began their investigation.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Department assisted at the scene.

(Update 7:48 p.m.) Service has been restored to normal.

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(Update 4:21-p.m.) Calls to 9-1-1 in Cass County have been disrupted due to a fiber optic line cut between Council Bluffs and Atlantic. Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports all wireless 911 calls will be routed through Des Moines, and all other calls will be routed through Shelby County, until further notice. You may still call 9-1-1, but you will not be reaching the Cass County Communications Center.

Emergency responders in Cass County will still respond via dispatch from the assisting counties.