Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

FLOOD WATCHES & WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT (please see the KJAN Weather page for details)

WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa (AP) — Iowa farm equipment maker Kinze Manufacturing says it must lay off 215 workers as business has slowed because of the impact of low grain prices on farmer purchases. The privately held company based in the eastern Iowa near Williamsburg makes planters and grain carts. Deere and Company another major farm equipment maker laid off 910 workers in its Iowa factories and 500 in Illinois in January.

EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Two construction workers were hospitalized after a building site collapsed in eastern Iowa. Evansdale emergency officials say the two were being treated for non-life threatening injuries after the collapse at a planned Kwik Star convenience store on Wednesday afternoon. Authorities are investigating the cause.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Fort Dodge officials are moving ahead with plans to move a creek and shore up a bank to reduce erosion and improve water quality. The Messenger reports the $2.1 million project at Soldier Creek is being done by Fort Dodge and Webster County. Workers also will reduce pollution by adding basins to another part of the creek.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City man has received a 50-year prison sentence for beating a 20-month-old boy to death in 2012. The Press-Citizen reports that 23-year-old Jorge Perez accepted a plea agreement Wednesday afternoon. Perez was charged in the death of Marcus Balderas, the 20-month-old son of Perez’s then-girlfriend, Mireya Balderas. He entered an Alford plea in May.