LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An Iowa company is dropping plans to slaughter horses in the wake of a federal judge’s ruling that temporarily banned the practice. The president of Responsible Transportation, Keaton Walker, says that he couldn’t afford to wait for more court deliberations. His company was given federal approval to slaughter horses at the company’s Iowa plant starting Aug. 1st. But a judge issued a temporary restraining order after animal-welfare groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, sued.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has ordered an October trial in a lawsuit that alleges doctors at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics conducted an experimental brain stimulation therapy that left a patient’s face paralyzed and then failed to get her proper treatment. Judge Marsha Bergan last week rejected the hospital’s request to dismiss Tamara Stellmach’s medical malpractice lawsuit. Stellmach contends she was injured by a procedure that involves stimulating the brain using pulses of magnetic energy through the scalp. Hospital lawyers deny that.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has again lowered its estimate of this year’s corn and soybean harvest. The move comes after assess the impact of the wet spring in many states that delayed planting and damaged some crops. Early wet weather worries have rapidly shifted to concerns about the return of drought in portions of the dry western corn belt.

ERIE, Ill. (AP) — Federal officials and a Texas company are investigating a pipeline explosion in western Illinois that sent flames hundreds of feet in the air and left a 15-foot-deep crater in a cornfield. The blast occurred around 11:15 p.m. Monday near the town of Erie, about 27 miles northeast of Davenport, Iowa. There were no injuries, but dozens of residents were evacuated for several hours. The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said that an inspector was en route to the site.