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

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A late-winter storm system continues its trek across the Midwest. It will send rain and snow into Minnesota and Illinois on Friday. The storm left quickly rising floods in its wake in parts of eastern Nebraska and Iowa that saw people evacuated from their homes, roads washed out in communities, and farmers worried the water would drown livestock.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed his wife and set her body on fire in cemetery last year. The Courier reports that 28-year-old Fredrick Williams filed a written plea of not guilty to the Black Hawk County District Court. Williams is charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of 40-year-old Lakisha Williams. An autopsy determined she was asphyxiated.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke says it is important for the U.S. to confront the truth about how black people have been treated in the country. At a house party Thursday in Iowa, O’Rourke said the U.S. needs to recognize that systematic racism is real. Other Democratic presidential candidates have spoken of the need for the U.S. government to make up for centuries of stolen labor and oppression by offering reparations, but not in the traditional sense of financial renumeration.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed an emergency disaster proclamation that allows state resources to be used to respond to flooding in portions of the state. Reynolds also on Thursday activated Iowa’s State Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the response to flooding and help monitor rapidly-evolving conditions. The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for some areas and says river flooding will continue through the weekend due to excessive runoff from rain and snow melt.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa motorists, beware! That big puddle on the roadside may be hiding a massive pothole that could cost you dearly. You’re driving along, minding your own business, and suddenly, wham! Jonna Warner, who manages an auto repair shop in central Iowa, says she’s getting a half dozen customers daily who’ve hit potholes. “We’re replacing wheels, so it’s ruining wheels, blowing tires out, misaligning the vehicle,” Warner says. “A lot of damage can occur.”

Those repairs aren’t cheap, either. “Replacing a wheel and tire combination can run $500 to $600 on some of these newer cars,” she says. And if there’s suspension damage, like to shocks, struts or tie rods, the bill can quickly bounce into the thousand-dollar range. Sometimes you can see the pothole coming, but you’re penned into the lane. If you can slow down quickly and safely, you might be able to just roll over it.

“I’ve seen people do that and I’ve had to do that myself, trying to get over a little more so you’re not hitting it directly on,” Warner says. “There’s some that are in lanes where, if you swerve to miss it, you’re going into the other lane. If there’s a car there, it’s definitely a dangerous situation.” You’ll know if you’ve done some damage if, after hitting a hole, the steering wheel feels wobbly or off-center, you might hear a rattle or the whole car may be shaky.

Warner, who runs Freedom Tire in Des Moines, says to watch out for those stealth potholes, too.  “Be careful and if it’s a pool of water on the road, typically there’s a hole underneath it,” Warner says. “A lot of people will hit them, not seeing them because they’re filled with water.” She says some clients have tried forwarding their pothole repair bill on to the city for reimbursement, but none have had any success.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, has unveiled a plan for new parents to use some of their Social Security savings to pay for time off work to be with the new child. The plan does have some critics. “I do receive some push back because there others who would simply just rather throw a tax out there. That’s the easy way to solve all of the worlds’ problems I think for some — to just throw a new tax out there,” Ernst says.

Ernst says it is a starting point in the discussion and gives people another option if their employer doesn’t offer paid family leave. “Parents can choose to take this or not. It is not forced, parents can choose…and what they would be doing is they would be borrowing from Social Security — but repaying that back by deferring when they would start taking their Social Security benefits,” according to Ernst. She is introducing the legislation with Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, and calls it the “Cradle Act.”

“There are studies that show that babies that are able to bond with mom and dad — they do better later in life. There are better outcomes for those toddlers and then those teenagers,” Ernst says. “And the long-terms gains of those better outcomes is not even considered in this proposal.” Some critics say the it would undermine Social Security and force seniors to work longer. But Ernst says it is one option that would not add a lot of cost to implement.

“Well certainly we’ve talked about other methods of funding, but what we have with Social Security is an existing infrastructure already in the government. Which with very, very, very minimal additional cost the program could be implemented,” Ernst says. “If we are looking at other funding mechanisms, you would have to create the infrastructure to do that, which would be extremely costly.”

Ernst says here plan would apply to biological and adopted children. Democrats have proposed a different plan that would institute a small payroll tax to provide up to twelve weeks to care for any loved one to use.

A District Court Judge in Council Bluffs, Thursday, sentenced a Fremont County man to 6 1/2-years in prison on drug distribution charges. 50-year old John Tracy Miller received his sentence for Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Miller was sentenced to 78 months in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release of four years.

In August 2018, Miller was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by a Fremont County Deputy for speeding and a broken headlight. In a search subsequent to the stop, 59.2 grams of methamphetamine was located in Miller’s pocket.

The case was investigated by Fremont County Sheriff’s Department, Omaha Police Department and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.