Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says the state’s $26 million contract with Utah companies to increase coronavirus testing was developed after she acted on a tip from actor Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher says he was simply using his tech connections to offer a creative solution that could help his native state. Kutcher pitched the governor on a Utah program launched this month to increase testing, saying it looked promising. Kutcher said that one of his good friends is a tech executive who was involved in TestUtah, and he put him in touch with the governor. Aides to Reynolds soon followed up with Utah government officials and TestIowa was launched on Tuesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ethanol producer ADM says it is idling production at its corn ethanol plants in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Columbus, Nebraska, furloughing 90 employees in each facility for at least four months. The company says low consumer demand for gasoline also has dramatically cut demand for corn-based ethanol which is blended into gasoline. The company said it is focusing on cash flow and diverting some of its resources to other products that are in higher demand, such as alcohol for hand sanitizer. The plants each have a capacity of about 300 million gallons a year, among the largest plants of their type in the nation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nearly 28,000 more people filed initial unemployment claims last week in Iowa as the state’s economy continued to take a hit from efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Iowa Workforce Deveopment reported Thursday that another 27,912 people filed unemployment claims during the week ending April 18. That’s down from claims filed in previous weeks but still far above typical numbers before many businesses closed to fight COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. There were 151,846 continuing unemployment claims. Nationally, more than 4.4 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, In the last five weeks, about 26 million people have now filed for jobless aid.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dozens of U.S. meat-processing plants have been forced to close temporarily as the industry struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus among employees who often stand side-by-side while cutting and packaging beef, pork and poultry. Giant slaughterhouses that employ thousands of people are designed to have workers close together, making it difficult to adhere to social distancing guidelines that advise people to stay 6 feet apart. Even as companies take steps to protect workers, industry experts say it’s nearly impossible to eliminate all risk of catching the virus and they note safety measures have been adopted unevenly.