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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two county auditors say Iowa election officials were told to follow Iowa’s new voter identification law despite a judge’s order blocking some provisions. Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald and Linn County Auditor Joel Miller say Ken Kline, deputy commissioner of elections, told auditors at a meeting Thursday they shouldn’t follow a temporary injunction issued Wednesday by a judge. A Secretary of State spokesman later said officials weren’t aware the injunction had taken effect.

UNDATED (AP) — Michael Avenatti, who has gained national attention as the lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, is scheduled to speak at an Iowa Democratic fundraiser that has been a frequent stop for those seeking the presidential nomination. Avenatti said Thursday that he’d speak at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding on Aug. 10. Avenatti has said he’d run against President Donald Trump if he seeks re-election and no one else with a good chance of defeating him steps up.

NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (AP) — A North Liberty man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for orchestrating a murder-for-hire scheme. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that 38-year-old Justin DeWitt was sentenced Thursday after DeWitt pleaded guilty in May to two counts each of attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder. Police arrested DeWitt in June 2016 on charges he tried to hire a hit man to kill a former business associate, the associate’s wife and their two children.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — Investigators say they have searched a pig farm and other places in east-central Iowa near where a University of Iowa student went missing, but have turned up no sign of her. KCCI-TV reports the pig farm is near Guernsey, about 15 minutes from 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts’ hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. Tibbetts was last seen July 18 jogging in Brooklyn near her boyfriend’s home, where she was dog-sitting. Authorities say Tibbetts’ boyfriend has been ruled out as a suspect.

President Donald Trump is claiming a trade breakthrough with European allies as he visits Iowa, a state where farmers are suffering under tariffs imposed by China in retaliation for Trump’s protectionist policies. Trump told an audience at Northeast Iowa Community College that, “We just opened up Europe for you.” He says farmers will now have access to a big, new market and he is taking credit for the change. The comments come a day after Trump’s meeting with European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The U.S. and EU agreed to open talks to tear down trade barriers, and Trump said the EU agreed to buy more soybeans from American farmers. Trump has enacted tariffs that have been criticized by farmers and manufacturers who warn a global trade war and retaliatory tariffs from countries like China, Mexico and Canada will damage their livelihoods.

President Donald Trump says he plans to sign legislation to reauthorize a program that provides money for job training and related programs for students. That’s according to his daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, who was with him at a workforce development event in Dubuque, Iowa. Congress last authorized the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act in 2006. Lawmakers passed the bill Wednesday. Ivanka Trump says it will help 11 million students and workers across the country acquire the technical skills they need to thrive in an increasingly digital economy. She says it will be “transformative” for education across the country. After she said Trump will sign the measure into law next week, he joked: “Unless I don’t sign it. Maybe I’ll veto it.”

The recent disappearance of an eastern Iowa teen has drawn the attention of some, to the number of Iowans who have been reported missing, most of whom don’t get the intense coverage provided by media as others. According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s “Missing Person Information Clearinghouse” website (https://www.iowaonline.state.ia.us/mpic/), 72 people had been reported missing, as of today (Thursday). Their ages range from 13 to 58.

In southwest Iowa, four people have been reported missing since Monday (July 23^rd):

• 26-year old Luke W. Cox, of Council Bluffs was reported missing Wednesday (7/25).
• 15-year old Belinda A. James, of Council Bluffs disappeared Tuesday.
• 15-year old Gavin S. Palmeros, of Creston, was reported missing Tuesday. (Update – Located and is in good health. )
• And 14-year old Isabelle R. Buckman, of Council Bluffs, was reported missing on Monday.

Other, High Profile cases in the media recently, include: 20-year old Mollie Tibbitts, of Brooklyn, who vanished July 18^th; and 16-year old Jake Wilson, of LaPorte, who hasn’t been seen since April 6, 2018.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump is hailing a trade breakthrough with European allies as he travels to the Midwest to meet with manufacturers helped by his protectionist tariffs.
Trump is visiting Iowa and Illinois after the U.S. and EU averted a trade war over European auto imports. New talks will aim to tear down trade barriers, address U.S. tariffs on steel imports and push the EU to buy more soybeans, which have struggled under Chinese tariffs.

Trump is holding a roundtable discussion in Iowa after his administration announced $12 billion in aid to farmers dealing with retaliatory tariffs from U.S. trading partners.
He’s also meeting with steelworkers in Granite City, Illinois, who credit Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum for helping re-open an idled steel mill.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The city of Sioux Falls is facing a wrongful death lawsuit after a 5-year-old Iowa girl drowned in the Big Sioux River at Falls Park. The Argus Leader reports Sioux Falls attorney Brendan Johnson filed the federal lawsuit Thursday alleging the city failed to provide sufficient safety precautions at the park. Maggie Zaiger, of Audubon, died March 18 after falling into the water from the river bank rocks.

Johnson is seeking damages on behalf of Zaiger’s mother, Courtney Jayne. The lawsuit claims the city had ignored recommendations to put up barriers to more clearly distinguish where the rock ends and the water starts.

Officials have since approved building viewing platforms and railings to improve safety. T.J. Nelson, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, declined to comment on the pending litigation.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An October trial date has been scheduled for an 18-year-old in northwest Iowa accused of stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend and another young man. Woodbury Country District Court records say prosecution and defense attorneys requested a delay in the trial of Tran Walker. The trial had been set to begin Tuesday. The new starting date is Oct. 16.

Walker’s pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, accused of killing 17-year-old Paiten Sullivan and 18-year-old Felipe Negron Jr., who both lived in Sioux City. Police say Walker was in a car with the other two on Jan. 28 when he began to stab Sullivan because he was upset that she had broken up with him. Police say that when Negron tried to intervene, Walker stabbed him, too.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University has been selected to establish and lead a new research center into antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The new Institute for Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education announced Thursday will be based at Iowa State’s campus in Ames. The institute is the result of a task force on antibiotic resistance in production agriculture created in 2014 by the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges.

The two organizations selected Iowa State’s proposal, which included a substantial upgrade of an existing research and education program. Iowa State will partner with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Iowa and the Mayo Clinic, which are all involved with the current program.

The Shelby County Engineer’s Office says a road closed near the end of May for bridge repair, will re-open to traffic tomorrow (Friday). Officials say 1000^th Street between Shelby County Road M-56 and Woodland Road between Jackson Township sections 15- and 22, is set to open.