Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A lawsuit challenging the nation’s most restrictive abortion law has been filed in Iowa. If allowed to take effect, the restriction would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, around the sixth week of pregnancy. Abortion-rights groups say that’s a point when many women don’t know that they are pregnant. For years, Iowa was largely left out of Republican efforts to overturn abortion protections. Its Democratic attorney general has refused to defend the law.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Kim Reynolds is defending her decision to appoint her 78-year-old father to a panel that helps select judges in central Iowa. Reynolds told reporters Tuesday in Davenport that her dad, Charles Strawn, “wanted to volunteer and give back, just like hundreds of other Iowans that we appoint to boards and commissions.” Reynolds appointed Strawn to an unpaid six-year term on the District 5A judicial nominating commission, which recommends candidates for judicial openings in four counties.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, a leading supporter of corn-based ethanol, says he’ll call for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s resignation if Pruitt doesn’t work to fulfill federal ethanol mandates. Grassley is showing frustration with Pruitt’s lack of action to uphold the Renewable Fuel Standards law.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa House Republicans have announced a new chairman for a key tax-writing committee. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer on Tuesday named Rep. Peter Cownie, a West Des Moines Republican, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Cownie replaces Rep. Guy Vander Linden, an Oskaloosa Republican who is not seeking re-election.