(Radio Iowa) — Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren says Democrats won’t be able to effectively counter Donald Trump’s “drain the swamp” message if their 2020 presidential nominee uses a conventional fundraising model. “Folks in Iowa have a real opportunity this year to say: ‘Where you get your money matters,'” Warren said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “‘And, no, we don’t think billionaires ought to be able to buy their way onto the stage and we don’t think people who have to go suck up to billionaires ought to be able to buy their way onto the stage.'”

Warren spoke with Radio Iowa during a campaign swing through eastern Iowa Saturday, extending her criticism of rival Pete Buttigieg she first made during last Thursday’s televised debate. Warren did not mention Buttigieg by name during Radio Iowa’s interview, but she suggested a candidate’s money-raising abilities shouldn’t be a concern for primary and caucus voters.  “If the 2020 November General Election is just a bunch of Donald Trump television advertising versus a bunch of Democratic television advertising, we have no comparative advantage. Everybody can do the slick TV ads — right? — and claim whatever they want to claim and hit the airwaves. And, frankly, there’s going to be plenty of money to do that once we have a Democratic nominee. That’s not going to be an issue,” Warren said. “What is going to be an issue is: Where do we build an advantage? And that’s a grassroots movement.”

A debate on this topic among partisans on Twitter has included references to an Associated Press account of a Warren fundraiser in 2018. Donors who gave at least a thousand dollars were given a bottle of wine as a souvenir of the evening. Warren was running for re-election to a second term at the time. “I was in a race against a Republican. It was not in the primary,” Warren said. “But it’s also I was new to politics and I had a chance to see what everybody else in this Democratic race has seen that rich people have different priorities than everyone else and they want a chance to be able to push their priorities.”

Warren is not meeting with high-dollar donors in small groups or at large events, a decision she often touts during campaign speeches. Warren told Radio Iowa the 2020 race gives Americans a chance to rewrite campaign finance laws and end the corrosive influence of money on the political system. “This question of how campaigns are funded and who you’re spending your time with is exactly about prosecuting the case against Donald Trump,” Warren aid. “Look, he was just impeached. And what’s really at the heart of both his impeachment and what’s been going on for three years? It’s corruption.”

During Thursday’s debate, Buttigieg suggested the party’s 2020 nominee cannot afford to give Trump a fundraising advantage by voluntarily limiting how they raise campaign contributions.

(Radio Iowa) — Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar started a bus tour of the state Friday, intending to stop in 27 counties by mid-morning today (Monday). “I went all the way from Hollywood Hills to Mount Pleasant,” Klobuchar announced in a video posted on Twitter. Klobuchar has been emphasizing her performance in last Thursday’s candidate debate in L-A. On Saturday, Klobuchar told an audience in southwest Iowa that she wants to debate Trump next fall and compare the trust money Trump inherited with her grandfather’s legacy as an iron ore miner in Minnesota. “He saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to a two-year community college,” Klobuchar said. “That was my family’s trust.”

Klobuchar’s bus logged about a thousand miles when it reached her last event Sunday night in Cherokee. With stops in towns as small as Diagonal, with a population of 324, Klobuchar says the trip illustrates that her party must go everywhere to seek support. “You meet people where they are, that you don’t abandon the rural parts of our country,” Klobuchar said, “…that you don’t suppose who they’re going to vote for.”

Klobuchar has emphasized a number of her policy positions during her weekend tour, like her call to boost federal spending on infrastructure and her support of importing less expensive prescription drugs from Canada. In Denison, Klobuchar also emphasizes the importance of “winning big” and ensuring Democratic candidates for the U.S. House and Senate win victories in 2020. “What I want to do is keep the House of Representatives strong, but also win back the Senate and send Mitch McConnell packing,” Klobuchar said, to applause.

Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell — the senate’s majority leader — is up for re-election in 2020. Klobuchar admits she’s racing to personally connect with as many Iowa voters as possible before the Senate reconvenes in January. She faces the prospect of sitting for days in the senate chamber — as a juror in President Trump’s impeachment trial.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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ST. ANSGAR, Iowa (AP) — Two people were flown to a Minnesota hospital for treatment after they were injured in a north-central Iowa snowmobile accident. Authorities say 26-year-old Damian Lapoint was driving the snowmobile early Sunday morning when it struck a creek bed northwest of St. Ansgar. He and his passenger, 20-year-old Briar Buechelle, were thrown off the vehicle. The two Northwood residents were flown to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

A Union County teen has died from injuries she suffered during a rollover accident in eastern Adair County, Sunday night. The Iowa State Patrol reports 17-year old Samantha Renea Long, of Creston, was driving a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer northbound on York Avenue at around 10:30-p.m., when she lost control of the SUV at 330th Street. The vehicle entered a farm field and rolled multiple times. Long – who was not wearing a seat belt — was ejected from the SUV as it rolled. She was transported by a family member to the hospital in Creston, where she died.

The Creston Police Department reports two people were arrested on drug charges, Sunday. 19-year old Kylan Smallwood, of Creston, was arrested at around midnight, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense. He was released from the Union County Jail on a $1,000 bond. And, at around 11-p.m. Sunday, 30-year old Brianne Weihs, of Creston, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, and Possession of drug paraphernalia.  She was later released on a $1,300 bond.

And, 32-year old Corry Johnston, of Creston, was arrested at around 12:45-a.m. Saturday, on a Clarke County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Driving While Revoked. Johnston was turned-over to the custody of Clarke County Deputies.

(Radio Iowa) — A 21-year-old man drowned in a Cedar Rapids pond Sunday evening. According to a news release from the City of Cedar Rapids, the 21-year-old and two teenagers all fell through ice on a pond near Mohawk Park in Cedar Rapids. The 14-year-old boy and the 17-year-old boy were able to get out of the water and call for help, but they told authorities they were unable to rescue the 21-year-old. Their call for help went out shortly before 6 o’clock.

At 7:40 p.m., rescuers found the drowning victim submerged in the water, about 120 yards from shore. The two teenagers who fell through the ice, but escaped were taken to a Cedar Rapids hospital for treatment.

A man from South Africa was injured during an accident on Interstate 80 in Adair County, Sunday afternoon. The Iowa State Patrol reports 44-year old Friderich Tohannes Erich Goldschagg may have suffered a medical issue, that caused the 2015 Ford F-150 pickup he was driving, to veer to the right of westbound I-80 near the 89 mile marker.

The pickup entered the north ditch and struck a tree. The accident happened at around 2:10-p.m. Goldschagg – who was wearing a seat belt – was transported by Adair County Rescue to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by  Adair Fire and Rescue.

Police in Council Bluffs were notified at around 8:15-p.m. Sunday, of a male / female disturbance at an apartment complex. 51-year old Dudie Rose, of Council Bluffs was known to law enforcement and has a violent history. He also had a current valid arrest warrant. Rose was located in the apartment and barricaded himself inside threatening to shoot officers.

Dudie Rose (Photo from his Oct. 2019 arrest)

After 20 minutes, negotiators were able to convince Rose to surrender. He was arrested on the original warrant for Probation Violation / Harassment, Violation of a  No‐Contact Order, and charged with a new restraining order violation. There were no injuries reported.

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

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a central Iowa woman and her dog were killed while driving the wrong way down a state highway. Authorities say 58-year-old Kim Pfantz, of State Center, was driving with her dog eastbound in the westbound lanes of Highway 30 in Marshalltown around 8 p.m. Saturday. Pfantz collided with another vehicle. She and her dog were both pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released, according to the Iowa State Patrol. Both people involved were wearing seat belts. The crash is under investigation.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Federal authorities in Iowa are placing a new priority on prosecuting violent crime and firearm offenses. The Sioux City Journal reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa is handling an increasing number of cases that would typically be considered state-level offenses. U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan says it’s a deliberate effort to crack down on violent offenders. Deegan says that, in some cases, firearms offenses carry longer federal prison sentences than similar charges in the state legal system.. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in northern Iowa prosecuted 189 defendants in gun cases in fiscal year 2019, compared to 90 defendants in 2016.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An executive order by President Donald Trump giving governors the right to refuse to accept refugees is putting Republican governors in an uncomfortable position. They’re caught between immigration hardliners who want to shut the door and Christian evangelicals who want to welcome them. More than 30 governors have confirmed they will keep accepting refugees so far, but about a dozen Republican governors have stayed silent on the issue. Trump’s order requires governors to publicly say they’ll accept refugees or they cannot come to their states, even if cities and counties welcome them. No state has announced plans to shut out refugees entirely.