DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Kim Reynolds has made it semiofficial: She intends to run for governor of Iowa next year. Reynolds ascended to the governor’s chair from her post as lieutenant governor last month, replacing Terry Branstad after his confirmation as U.S. ambassador to China. She’d been widely expected to run but had yet to make a formal announcement.

A news release from her campaign organization said this Thursday:

“The Governor and Lt. Governor intend to be candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor in 2018. A final decision and formal announcement will be made in the coming months.”

Her running mate would be the state’s acting lieutenant governor, Adam Gregg. She named him to replace her but only in an “acting” capacity in order to avoid any legal fight over her power.

Gas prices are continuing to drop as crude oil prices fall. Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson says the report from the state ag department shows the average price for regular unleaded gas in Iowa as of Tuesday was two-dollars, 25 cents a gallon. That’s down four cents from last week. It’s also seven cents lower than last year. A look at the Gasbuddy website shows the lowest price of one-dollar, 99 cents a gallon is in Storm Lake. It also shows many other areas of the state with prices just above two-dollars a gallon. The national average retail gasoline price was two-dollars, 32 cents a gallon.

(Radio Iowa)

Two people were arrested on separate charges Thursday, in Red Oak. Authorities say 33-year old Ryan Atom Dalton, of Red Oak, was arrested a little after 7-p.m., on a charge of Harassment in the 1st Degree. Dalton was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash bond. And, at around 5:10-p.m., Red Oak Police arrested 35-year old Jessi Elaine Gaunt, of Red Oak, for Simple Domestic Abuse Assault. Gaunt was being held without bond, in the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

DEWITT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified two people whose bodies were found in an eastern Iowa house. Davenport television station KWQC reports that police say 51-year-old Brian Paul Glasz and 54-year-old Michelle Renee Glasz were found dead in their DeWitt home on Tuesday. They were husband and wife. Police say they plan to release the cause of death of the two, today (Friday).

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in northwest Iowa for the death of his estranged wife. A Woodbury County jury was in its second day of deliberation when it found 29-year-old Rogelio Morales, of Hubbard, Nebraska, guilty Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors say he killed 21-year-old Margarita Morales on April 19, 2015, in his car near a Sioux City residence.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Former star of “The Bachelor” Chris Soules has waived his right to a speedy trial and has requested that his trial be postponed. Soules is charged with leaving the scene of a deadly crash and faces up to five years in prison if he’s convicted of causing the April 24 crash that killed 66-year-old farmer Kenneth Mosher. The Des Moines Register reports that attorneys for Soules said Wednesday they need at least a 90-day extension to obtain items from prosecutors and schedule depositions.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Iowa authorities have charged a man who they say has been scamming churchgoers in several states by telling them he needed to get home because his parents had been killed by a roadside bomb in the Middle East. Court records say Alan Farha II is charged with theft in Linn County. Court records show convictions on similar accusations last year in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in northwest Iowa for the death of his estranged wife. A Woodbury County jury was in its second day of deliberation when it found 29-year-old Rogelio Morales, of Hubbard, Nebraska, guilty Thursday afternoon.

Prosecutors say he killed 21-year-old Margarita Morales on April 19, 2015, in his car near a Sioux City residence. Court documents say Morales told investigators a fight broke out when his wife told him she no longer wanted to be in a relationship and that she was seeing another man. Defense attorney Mike Williams said in his closing arguments that there’s no doubt Morales killed the woman but said Morales “is guilty of voluntary manslaughter, not murder.”

Republican Senator Joni Ernst is urging G-O-P leaders in the Senate to embrace “transparency” and give the public a chance to review the Senate G-O-P’s alternative health care bill BEFORE the senate votes on the plan. “Hopefully, we will be able to have a time period where we do receive feedback after the language is released,” she says.

Ernst is among the Republicans in the U.S. Senate who’ve been meeting privately to come up with an alternative to the health care bill that passed the U.S. House in April. However, Ernst says there’s no document, yet, to release. “‘We don’t have language,” Ernst says. “And what I am hoping is that language that will be presented to us includes all of the items in discussions that we have had in our informal work group.”

Earlier this week, Ernst sat beside President Trump at a White House meeting to discuss the health care bill. President Trump reportedly called the bill that passed the HOUSE “mean.” Ernst isn’t joining Trump and offering a negative analysis of the House bill, but Ernst says Republican senators “will make the revisions necessary.”

“We really have been working on our own thoughts and ideas in the senate, in our informal work group,” Ernst says. “We are making sure that we are representing our constituents in our own home states and find a way that we can best serve those constituents.” Unlike the House bill, Ernst suggests Senate Republicans are going to try to find a way to make sure Americans don’t lose their insurance policies because of pre-existing conditions.

Ernst says Iowans tell her affordability is their number one concern when it comes to health insurance.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials have hit a snag in implementing a new state law that is to forbid Medicaid patients from getting reproductive health exams and prescriptions for contraceptives at facilities where abortions are performed. The law goes into effect July 1st, but The Des Moines Register reports the Council on Human Services voted four-to-one to reject the rules written to implement the new law.

Republicans lawmakers who crafted the plan argue tax dollars that cover family planning services for low-income Iowans should not be spent at places like Planned Parenthood. The Register reports the Council on Human Services raised concerns Medicaid patients will be unable to find care because those patients won’t be able to use clinics associated with hospitals that provide abortion.

Plus, about three million dollars in a tight state budget will be shifted to cover the costs of reproductive care for Medicaid patients, since federal money now cannot be used. A spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services says the new law goes into effect, regardless of whether administrative rules are in place, but the Council on Human Services will reconvene Friday to reconsider its rejection of those rules.

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Former star of “The Bachelor” Chris Soules has waived his right to a speedy trial and has requested that his trial be postponed. Soules is charged with leaving the scene of a deadly crash and faces up to five years in prison if he’s convicted of causing the April 24 crash that killed 66-year-old farmer Kenneth Mosher.

The Des Moines Register reports that attorneys for Soules said Wednesday they need at least a 90-day extension to obtain items from prosecutors and schedule depositions. Soules’ trial is currently scheduled to start July 19.

Police say Soules rear-ended Mosher’s tractor and left the scene after calling 911 and seeking help for Mosher. He was arrested later at his home.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers continue to expect little economic growth in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states because of weak commodity prices. The overall economic index for the region slipped to the neutral score of 50 in June from May’s 50.1.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says grain prices remain below the breakeven point for most farmers, but commodity prices have stabilized and improved a bit.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says a Nebraska man was arrested Wednesday evening after the truck he was driving with no license plates, was pulled over just outside of Council Bluffs. A Deputy saw the vehicle speeding north on Eastern Hills Drive at around 5:10-p.m. As the truck passed him, the Deputy attempted to turn around on Eastern Hills Drive. The truck then began to speed up as it headed northbound. When the vehicle finally stopped, the driver, 26-year old Jerrad Oren Nelsen, of Craig, NE., was arrested for Eluding.