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

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Avenatti’s crusade for the porn actress taking on President Donald Trump has already catapulted him to cable news stardom and endeared him to many frustrated liberals. Now the self-styled “dragon slayer” is taking his message to Iowa Democrats _ a huge influence in the 2020 White House race. He toured the Iowa State Fair on Thursday and is set to appear at the Democratic Wing Ding in Clear Lake on Friday. He says he’s not talking about 2020 just to get “under the president’s skin.”

CARTER LAKE, Iowa (AP) — An attempted murder charge against a Carter Lake woman has been dismissed at the request of her alleged victim. The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports that the charge against 51-year-old Tammy Oberg was dropped Wednesday. Oberg had been charged in May after being accused of trying to run over another woman on a bicycle in Carter Lake.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A 21-year-old Davenport man who crashed a stolen garbage truck into a police chief’s squad car, seriously injuring the chief, has been sentenced to nearly 60 years in prison. The Quad-City Times reports that 21-year-old Logan Shoemaker was sentenced Thursday to up to 58 years. Authorities say Shoemaker rammed into the squad vehicle of Buffalo Police Chief T.J. Behning in September, causing serious injuries to Behning.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — The reward fund offered for the safe return of a missing University of Iowa student has grown to nearly $316,000. A spokesman for Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa said Thursday the organization has passed on more than 830 tips to authorities investigating the disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts. The 20-year-old was seen jogging July 18 and her family reported her missing the next day.

CARTER LAKE, Iowa (AP) — An attempted murder charge against a Carter Lake woman has been dismissed at the request of her alleged victim. The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports that the charge against 51-year-old Tammy Oberg was dropped Wednesday. Oberg was ordered to pay fees and expenses for court costs.

Oberg had been charged in May after being accused of trying to run over another woman on a bicycle in Carter Lake. Police say she told officers she did it because she believed the victim was riding a stolen bike.

Officers say they found the alleged victim’s bike and cellphone in Oberg’s home.

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — The reward fund offered for the safe return of a missing University of Iowa student has grown to nearly $316,000. A spokesman for Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa said Thursday the organization has passed on more than 830 tips to authorities investigating the disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts.

Tibbetts’ father has suggested she might have been abducted from her boyfriend Dalton Jack’s home in Brooklyn, Iowa. The 20-year-old Tibbetts was seen jogging July 18 and her family reported her missing the next day.

Jack’s brother, Blake, told Fox News there were no signs of struggle at the home, adding that Tibbetts is “small, but she would have done something” if she had been attacked.

Dalton Jack says he received a Snapchat message from Tibbetts July 18, after she would have returned from her run. Authorities haven’t found her Fitbit or cellphone.

A teenager from Black Hawk County was seriously injured during a collision Wednesday night with a trailer pulled by a pickup owned by a Union County man. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2003 Dodge pickup driven by 45-year old Keith Allen Miner, of Creston, was stopped in the traveled portion of Highway 20 eastbound near the 227 mile marker, while Miner was picking up a portion of his load that fell out of his trailer or pickup.

A 2004 Ford Focus, driven by 17-year old Noah Boyer, of LaPorte City, was eastbound traveling at highway speed at around 10:05-p.m., when the car struck the right side of Miner’s trailer. The teen was extricated from the vehicle and transported to Covenant Hospital before being transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Miner was not injured. Authorities say Boyer suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash, which remains under investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has heard arguments about a legal challenge to a new state voter identification law and a judge’s ruling that puts several aspects of absentee voting in the law on hold.

Under an injunction issued in July by a judge the state is prohibited from shortening the time to cast absentee ballots from 40 days to 29 days. It is also be barred from requiring that absentee ballots include a voter verification number and from allowing ballots to be thrown out when a local election official determines the voter’s signature doesn’t match one on file.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s appeal asks the court to overturn the injunction.
Arguments Thursday focused on whether the law causes harm by disenfranchising voters, especially Latinos who vote absentee in large numbers.

A lawyer for the state says there was no indication in the June primary that voters couldn’t handle the new restrictions. Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady said at the end of arguments that “it’s an important question that needs a quick answer.”

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests. Today (Thursday), 25-year old Dakota Shawn McDonald was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Escape from custody ($20,000 bond), and a warrant out of Fremont County for Violation of Probation (Bond $10,000). He was taken into custody at around 12:10-a.m. in the vicinity of Highways 34 and 59. On Wednesday, 39-year old Amber Lynn Anglen, of Glenwood, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension, and 22-year old Timothy James Black, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for Possession of Controlled Substance. His bond was set at $2,000. Anglen’s bond was $300.