Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 4:00 a.m. CDT

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State University President Steven Leath has told the Iowa State Daily student newspaper that he received personal flight lessons from a former Republican lawmaker who was appointed around the same time into a high-paying university job without a search. The timing of the hiring of former ISU associate dean and accounting professor Jim Kurtenbach is another layer to the scandal surrounding Leath’s use of university planes for a mix of official duties and personal business.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -€” The death of a University of Northern Iowa student whose body was pulled from the Iowa River last month has been ruled an accidental drowning. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports Friday that autopsy results show 20-year-old Nathan Twedt drowned. The autopsy also cites over-consumption of alcohol as a contributing factor to the drowning.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -€” Bail has been set at $1 million for a 20-year-old Davenport man accused of fatally shooting his parents in their home earlier this week. The bond hearing Thursday was Sean Michael Freese’s first court appearance in the case. The Quad-City Times says Freese is expected back in Scott County District Court on Wednesday for his preliminary hearing on two counts of first-degree murder in the Wednesday deaths of 58-year-old Kevin Freese and 57-year-old Donna Freese.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -€” Sentencing has been delayed for an Iowa man in a sex abuse case involving a mentally disabled woman. Sentencing for 18-year-old Nicholas Fifield is now set for Nov. 21. He entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor assault, which means he maintains innocence but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence for conviction.

A recent traffic stop in Fremont County resulted in the arrest of two Nebraska men on drug charges. Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit was conducting an investigation into drug trafficking in Fremont County, and during the investigation, deputies stopped a 2008 F-150 pickup occupied by 34-year old Bryce Hutton and 32-year old Jared Kirkendall, both of Lincoln NE.

During the stop deputies found multiple bags of methamphetamine, U.S. currency, and numerous pieces of drug paraphernalia. Hutton and Kirkendall were both transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center, where Hutton was being held on $100,000 bond, and Kirkendall was being held on $150,000 bond.

Patty Judge, the Democrat running against Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, opposes an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would require a balanced federal budget. (click on the left side of the audio bars to listen)

Judge served four years as Iowa’s lieutenant governor and eight years as a state senator. The State of Iowa has a balanced budget REQUIREMENT, but Judge says it’s not needed.

Judge made her comments during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight (Friday) on Iowa Public Television. A spokesman for Grassley says Judge “shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near” the U.S. Senate because of the way she and Governor Chet Culver managed the state budget. Grassley campaign manager Bob Haus says Judge and Culver approved too much state borrowing and too much state spending and that’s why they were “kicked out of office” when Culver and Judge sought reelection in 2010.

(Radio Iowa)

Three people was transported by Medivac Ambulance to the Cass County Memorial Hospital Friday evening, following an accident across from the east entrance to the Wal-Mart Store. The crash took place on Highway 71 at around 5:30-p.m., when one vehicle rear-ended another, causing the airbags on the second vehicle to deploy. One of the accident victims was a woman about 32-years of age, who suffered was what described during dispatch reports as a head injury.

Atlantic Police, the Iowa State Patrol and Cass County Sheriff’s Office along with Atlantic Fire and Rescue, responded to the scene. No other details were immediately available.

Ric Hanson photos

Multiple fire departments were called to the scene of a tanker truck explosion and fire at a Council Bluffs Ethanol plant, Friday afternoon. The fire is at 10868 189th Street, the site of Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy. The plant, which is near Interstate 29, produces 110 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol every year. It also produces distiller’s grain and corn oil.

All photos courtesy Kristi Engel Beebe.

The fire was reported at around 3:30-p.m. Smoke was visible from Omaha. One person was injured and flown from the scene to an Omaha hospital. Fire fighting foam was applied to control the flames. The 189th Street off-ramp from I-29 was closed as of 4:15-p.m.

No other details are currently available.