A woman from Polk County was arrested Sunday afternoon in southwest Iowa, on moving violations, and a warrant. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says 61-year old Claudina Maria Hildreth, of Windsor Heights, was pulled over for speeding at around 1:30-p.m. at the intersection of Highways 71 and 34.

She was taken into custody for Driving While Suspended with seven withdrawals in effect, speeding, and on a warrant out of Boone County for Driving While Suspended. Hildreth was being held for Boone County in the Montgomery County Jail. Her bond was set at $2,000.

Iowa’s two Republican U.S. Senators celebrated the appointment of a conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court with about a thousand evangelical Christians at Saturday’s “Family Leadership Summit” in Des Moines. Senator Chuck Grassley says he was “subjected” to daily “blunt personal smear attack” last year because he refused to hold a hearing for President Obama’s choice to fill the court vacancy.

“The 2016 election confirmed that the courage of one’s conviction withstands the test of leadership and it doesn’t hurt to have a thick skin,” Grassley said, to applause. “It comes in handy when the Iowa newspapers editorialize you that when you hold up a nomination the way the Democrats held it up several times that you are unAmerican.”

Senator Joni Ernst says President Trump and Vice President Pence are standing firm on efforts to “defund” Planned Parenthood and are rolling back “burdensome rules” enacted by the Obama Administration. “All we seem to hear about in the media is adversity — adversity in Washington, D.C.,” Ernst said. “Yet the reality is we have confirmed a new supreme court justice who is in the mold of Antonin Scalia and thank you Senator Grassley for leading that charge.”

Ernst and Grassley were both greeted with standing ovations from the crowd. White House Advisor Kellyanne Conway was the keynote speaker at the event.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Two organizations that often represent polar opposites on the political spectrum held events in the same convention complex in downtown Des Moines on Saturday. About a thousand evangelical Christians gathered for the Family Leadership Summit. Kellyanne Conway, a senior counselor to President Trump, asked the crowd to “pray for” people in “the media” who “mock” the president.

“As the person in the West Wing who does not say: ‘fake news, enemy of the people, opposition party’…my grievance is not biased coverage, it’s incomplete coverage,” Conway said. “Biased coverage people can see for themselves…I think part of becoming civil is making sure people are connected with the relevant information that they need and they deserve.” About three hours later on Saturday, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders addressed about 11-hundred gathered at the annual convention for the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund. Sanders also criticized the media — for a lack of “progressive voices.”

“People are paralyzed,” Sanders said. “…People don’t think their voices matter and your job, in and every way you can, is to bring people together, raise issues that other people are not talking about, force discussion and create the kind of vibrant democracy that we need to see.” Sanders is the independent who nearly tied with Hillary Clinton in the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2016 Caucuses. Sanders urged the crowd in Des Moines this Saturday “not to fall for the bait” that divides American against American.

“Don’t believe everything you see on the TV. Yeah, you can get pretty depressed,” Sanders said. “…Of course there are racists and sexists and homophobes. You’re going to see ’em on TV every night, but they are not the majority of the American people.” Conway celebrated Trump’s “nine and a half point’ victory in Iowa last November and she told the crowd Trump is “keeping faith with people of faith.”

“When President Trump said ‘the forgotten man or the forgotten woman,’ he didn’t mean forgotten in your communities, forgotten in your churches or synagogues,” Conway said. “He meant forgotten by the swamp, the system, the special interests and that’s why we’re there.” That message resonates with people like Curt McNew of Cresco. McNew says it seems to him that more people are engaged in politics these days.

“Some for good reasons and some for not,” McNew says. “The Trump Administration shakes things up. A lot of it’s for the good and I think he also arouses a lot of snakes out of the swamp.” Conway also lamented the tone in politics. “If they’re going to criticize policy, that’s terrific,” Conway said. “But criticizing, I mean, how I look or what I wear or how I speak — it’s really remarkable and it totally undercuts modern feminism.” Conway didn’t give a speech at the event. She was interviewed by The Family Leader president Bob Vander Plaats. Vander Plaats says his goal for the day was to focus on “a message of civility” and to “raise the bar” in the midst of the maelstrom in the media and on social platforms like Twitter.

“When you start going personal and attacking…I think you’ve lost the argument,” Vander Plaats says. Vander Plaats urged the crowd to “put principle over politics” and to greet “friends and neighbors” in the same building at a convention featuring Sanders with respect rather than scorn. “It’s two different world views,” Vander Plaats told reporters shortly before his event began, “but yet we can co-exist together.” Paula Friend of Des Moines says she came to the Family Leadership Summit “with an open mind.”

“I prepared by praying first because I really want everything that’s done or said to glorify God,” Friend said. Linda Michels of Zearing attended the other convention and she says the “separation” that’s going on in the country will be its “undoing.” “Peace is the answer and talking together is definitely the way to go,” Michels says. Long-time Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement organizer Hugh Espy delivered a similar message from the stage, arguing political action should be “firmly rooted in love.”

“But that doesn’t mean we’re not angry. It’s what we do with that anger that defines us,” Espy says. “And what we do with it is we turn it into powerful, inspiring, forward-thinking action — action that takes us to higher ground.” Sanders was on stage for more than an hour and used a good share of his time to critique what he called the “horrific” health care bill Republicans intend to bring up for a vote in the Senate next week.

“To Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst, please take a hard look at what this disastrous legislation will do to the people of Iowa and the people of Iowa and I say to them, I beg of them: ‘Please vote no,'” Sanders said, to cheers. Conway spoke at a private fundraiser for the Republican Party. One of the people at the event says Conway delivered a “very detailed” and “passionate” defense of the health care legislation. Neither Conway nor Sanders spoke with Iowa reporters while they were in the state on Saturday.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

(Updated 7/17) — Two separate accidents over the past few days, left a total of two people dead and seven more injured. The Iowa State Patrol says the latest happened at around 10:42-p.m. Saturday, in central Iowa’s Tama County. Officials say a 2010 Chevy Silverado pickup driven by 74-year old David M. Keidel, of Cedar Falls, was traveling north on High 21 and entered a bridge construction zone, where the highway was reduced to one lane. A 2011 Cadillac DTS driven by 81-year old Donald G. Selken, of Vinton, was southbound on Highway 21 in the construction zone. The vehicles collided head-on.

Selken who wore a seat belt, died in the crash. Keidel, and a passenger in Selken’s car, 73-year old Lois M. Schmitt, of Vinton. were injured in the crash and transported by ambulance to Covenant Hospital. Both were wearing their seat belts. The accident remains under investigation.

The other accident happened at around 2:30-p.m. Friday, in southeast Iowa’ Van Buren County. The State Patrol says a 2005 Mercury Mariner SUV driven 26-year Mindy Rae Johnson, of Burlington, was eastbound on Highway 2, when it made contact with the gravel shoulder, causing Johnson to over-correct and lose control of SUV. The vehicle entered the north ditch and rolled into a corn field. Johnson died at the scene. An adult passenger, 36-year old April Irene Maul, of Burlington, and five children in the vehicle were injured. Two of them — a 3-year old and a 5-year old — were transported to the Van Buren County Hospital by ambulance. The other three children were eight years of age, each.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 5:15 a.m. CDT

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A deadly jail escape has prompted officials in a southwestern Iowa county to consider spending up to $200,000 to install body scanners that would be used on inmates when they enter the jail. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker tells The Daily Nonpareil that the scanners would be used to find contraband inmates try to smuggle into the county jail. It would be used as they enter the jail and for trips to and from the courthouse.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) — A former southern Iowa teacher has pleaded guilty to a felony count of sexual exploitation by a school employee. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that 61-year-old Alan Stewart, of Oskaloosa, pleaded guilty this week. He was charged in March after a report was filed of an inappropriate relationship he had with a student in 2015.

EXIRA, Iowa (AP) — A fire that started in a downtown bar has destroyed four businesses in the small western Iowa town of Exira (ex-ZYE’-ruh). The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that fire began early Friday morning in a two-story building housing Jerry’s Bar. The fire spread to nearby businesses, including a hardwood floor and decor store, a gift shop called Gabby’s and Crabby’s Place, and a building where a local psychologist lived. No one was injured.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — A Democratic congressman from Iowa has announced a $400,000 federal grant awarded to the Ottumwa Regional Airport. Rep. Dave Loebsack says the grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration. . The funding will be used for the reconstruction of 6,500 feet of the existing runway pavement that has reached the end of its useful life.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has reiterated criticism of Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act to a receptive crowd in Iowa, calling a bill in the Senate “disastrous.” The Vermont senator told community organizers in Des Moines the bill is “anti-working class legislation.” The speech marked his first time in Iowa since the 2016 presidential election.

Hours earlier inside the same building complex, senior White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told a conservative audience it’s a “moral imperative” to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates at least 22 million more people would be uninsured under Republican legislation. U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst also addressed the conservative audience. Sanders asked the senators in his speech to reject the proposal.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A deadly jail escape has prompted officials in a southwestern Iowa county to consider spending up to $200,000 to install body scanners that would be used on inmates when they enter the jail.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker tells The Daily Nonpareil that the scanners would be used to find contraband inmates try to smuggle into the county jail. It would be used as they enter the jail and for trips to and from the courthouse.

A May 1 attempted escape at the jail that resulted in the death of a deputy has led to the push for more security. County Supervisor Tim Wichman says the jail recently brought in $600,000 above the anticipated revenue which could be used to fund the purchase of the machines.