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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa historian who crisscrosses the state on his retrofitted bus museum is now pursuing an Independent bid for the U.S. Senate. More attention has been focused on four Democrats seeking the nomination to face Grassley, who has spent 36 years in the Senate. But Michael Luick-Thrams, a 53-year-old Mason City resident, said he’s the right person to bring new ideas to Washington that will help Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Landowners have filed two lawsuits in northwest Iowa in an attempt to block construction of a $3.8 billion oil pipeline. The Des Moines Register says the landowners are trying to keep the pipeline company from being able to use eminent domain powers to secure access to their land for the project. Construction of the Dakota Access pipeline had already begun in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois but challenges remain in Iowa. The pipeline would carry a half-million barrels of oil a day.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A zoo in Iowa is expecting a new and rare addition in the fall: an eastern black rhinoceros. Ayana and Kiano, eastern black rhinos at Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, are expecting a baby in late October or early November. Experts say Ayana’s pregnancy is the first confirmed among the eastern black rhino zoo population in almost two years, marking a major turning point in the species’ decadeslong decline.

MOVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Heath DeStigter watched the school bus drive six blocks from Woodbury Central School to drop off students at their homes. The physical education teacher wondered, “Why aren’t they walking home? It’s beautiful out!” DeStigter and other members of Moville’s Safe Routes to School/Complete Streets Coalition, which formed in 2014, learned some parents weren’t letting their kids walk or bike to school because they didn’t feel it was safe.