DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates paraded through Iowa this weekend, speaking at the state fair, the annual Wing Ding dinner and a forum on gun control.

The sheer volume of contenders signals a new phase of the primary campaign, ending the get-to-know-you period and beginning a six-month sprint to the Iowa caucuses.

In that time, the historically large field will likely winnow, front-runner Joe Biden will be tested more forcefully and a fierce competition will unfold for candidates to be seen as the more viable alternative.

They’ll be competing for the support of Democrats who say repeatedly that, despite their differences, their top priority is landing on a nominee who can defeat President Donald Trump.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a Red Oak man was arrested at around 1:20-p.m. Sunday, following a traffic stop for speeding. 36-year old Miguel Angel Lopez was arrested on a Taylor County warrant for a controlled substance violation. Lopez was turned over to Taylor County Deputies and held without bond in their jail.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska trial of a Kansas man charged with the 2017 traffic deaths of four Iowa motorcyclists has been delayed again until October.

A judge recently agreed to delay the trial for 24-year-old Jeser Cisneros-Hernandez, of Liberal, Kansas. He’s pleaded not guilty to four counts of vehicular homicide, one of reckless driving and one of failing to drive in his lane. The new trial date is Oct. 15. Cisneros-Hernandez remains free on bail.

Prosecutors say Cisneros-Hernandez’s vehicle hit two motorcycles carrying two people each on July 1, 2017, near Ogallala. Authorities say 54-year-old Sheila Matheny and 61-year-old James Matheny, from Bedford, Iowa, were on one motorcycle. The other motorcyclists were 58-year-old Michal Weese and 59-year-old Jerolyn Weese, who lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Court records show a Des Moines newspaper carrier helped save a woman caught in a sex trafficking ring. The Des Moines Register says one of its delivery workers, Lavon Franz, was on her paper route early the morning of July 28 in Ankeny when she saw a woman waving her arms on the side of the road. When Franz pulled over, the woman — who had no cellphone or ID — was crying and said she wanted to go back home to a small town about an hour northwest of Ankeny.

Franz took the woman to a convenience store, where an employee called police. Police arrested a 25-year-old woman from East Dubuque, Illinois, on suspicion of pimping and human trafficking. Police say Walters scheduled times for men to pay the rescued woman and others for sex at hotels in Ankeny.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Bond has been set at $2.2 million for a 44-year-old woman charged in the shooting deaths of two Iowa men. The Daily Nonpareil reports that a judge set bond for April Montello-Roberts, of Shenandoah, on Friday. She is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and two counts of attempted murder of an officer.

Prosecutors say Montello-Roberts was in cahoots with her boyfriend, 28-year-old Troy Petersen, of Essex, in the robbery and killing of 52-year-old Jerrot Clark on Sunday. Police say days later, they fled when a Council Bluffs officer tried to pull over their truck, then randomly approached 51-year-old Steven Carlson’s home with a plan to take a hostage to use as leverage to escape police. Officials say Petersen instead shot and killed Carlson. Authorities say the pair later crashed their truck fleeing from police, and Petersen was shot dead by an officer.

Montello-Roberts has a preliminary hearing set for Friday.

MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) — Officials in one eastern Iowa county are regrouping after a voters rejected a jail bond issue for a second time. The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald reports that Jackson County voters didn’t approve a $6.5 bond issue to build a 50-bed jail this month. The result is similar to an August 2018 vote.

Sheriff Russ Kettmann says the outcome was disappointing. He says the main concerns he heard about the proposed jail related to its price and location. But the county must do something because the current jail, built in 1972, has a number of problems. State authorities have said the facility could be shut down.

If the jail shut down without a replacement, the county estimates that it could cost $987,000 a year to transport inmates to and from other jails.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — After devastating flooding in recent years, some U.S. states are starting to put more money into efforts to guard against rising waters.

An analysis of preliminary data by The Associated Press has identified about $1.2 billion in damage to roads and bridges, utilities and other public infrastructure from storms and flooding during the first half of 2019.

The Army Corps of Engineers has estimated it will cost an additional $1 billion to repair hundreds of damaged levees in the Missouri River basin.

States such as Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri already have put more money toward flood recovery and protection efforts. Voters in Texas will decide later this year whether to amend the constitution to create a $793 million fund for flood control. Other states also are considering new flood protections.