Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An agricultural economist says the Trump administration’s decision to base new handouts to farmers hit by the trade war with China on how many acres they’ve planted might be a fairer way to distribute the cash. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Thursday that the government will pay another $16 billion in aid to farmers affected by the president’s trade war with China. Scott Irwin, a University of Illinois agricultural economist says per acre payments are fairer than per bushel.

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Nebraska, says repair work on a levee breach near Hamburg, Iowa, has been completed. The agency said in a news release Friday that the breach was one of four priority breaches to be closed in the wake of historic flooding along the Missouri River in March. The Corps says the work was completed Thursday after work began in early May.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The execution date for a notorious Iowa drug kingpin who killed witnesses and children in 1993 has been scheduled for Jan. 15. Dustin Honken is among five federal death row inmates whose execution dates were announced Thursday by the Justice Department. The announcement came as Attorney General Bill Barr directed federal capital punishment to resume for the first time in nearly two decades.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in eastern Iowa say a kayaker has been rescued from the Mississippi River at a dam at Clinton. Television station KWQC reports that the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office was called Friday to Lock and Dam 13 for a water rescue. Officials with the Clinton Fire Department reported sometime before 3 p.m. Friday that a male kayaker had been safely rescued.