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.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Health said Friday, preliminary data for 2019 indicate a continued increase in two of the most commonly reported conditions in Iowa, chlamydia and gonorrhea. For the period of January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019, there were 7,730 cases of chlamydia reported to IDPH.

This represents a 9.6 percent increase from the same time period in 2018. Gonorrhea cases for this time period in 2019 are at 2,572. This represents a 14.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2018.

IDPH encourages adherence to CDC screening and treatment guidelines to ensure that individuals who are infected are diagnosed and properly treated. https://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/default.htm

(Radio Iowa) — New Jersey Senator Cory Booker says President Trump is “engaging in moral vandalism” — but Booker continues to warn Democrats to choose a 2020 presidential candidate who will do more than just beat Trump.  “We need a healer,” Booker said. “We need a coalition builder.” Booker told a crowd in Greenfield this (Friday) afternoon that tribalism is endangering the American experiment. “There is a civic gospel in this country that we need to start talking from,” Booker said, “because it’s what unites us.”

Booker made no mention of the signals he’s been sending that he’ll challenge former Vice President Joe Biden’s record in next week’s debate. Booker instead directed all his rhetorical hits at President Trump. “It bothers me that we have more animosity for each other in this country than we do for the Russians who are trying to undermine our democracy,” Booker said, to applause.”

Mary Williamson of Panora supported Bernie Sanders in 2016 and is looking for a new candidate for 2020. She has one criteria. “Any of them would be better than Trump, but we just have to look at whoever can win,” she said.

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, which began in early May, was completed Thursday.

Newt Marine Service of Dubuque, Iowa, was awarded the $12 million contract for the repair work. The Corps says more than 500 miles of levees on the Missouri, Platte and Elkhorn rivers, as well as other tributaries, experienced significant flood damage this year.

The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department reports an expert with the company providing playground equipment for the Schildberg Recreation Area is scheduled to be on the site next week. Volunteers are needed to help put the equipment together. Crews will be working on the west side of the park from 8-a.m. to 5-p.m., July 31st and August 1st. Lunch will be provided. You can work for any length of time you have available during those hours, on those two days. Just show up with your gloves and any tools you think might be helpful (wrenches, etc.).

Two arrests took place Thursday, in Mills County. The Sheriff’s Office reports 28-year old Erik Jeffrey White, of Papillion, NE., was arrested at around 11-p.m. on Highway 34. White was charged with OWI/ 1st offense, with bond set at $1,000.

And, at around 8:20-p.m. Thursday, Mills County Deputies arrested 35-year old Bradley Kenneth Porter, of Braddyville, on a Page County warrant for Harassment in the 1st Degree. Porter was being held without bond, in the Mills County Jail.