The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders campaigned this weekend with fourth district congressional candidate J.D. Scholten, with stops in Ames and Fort Dodge on Sunday. “This, in fact, is the most important midterm election in the history of the United States of America,” Sanders said in Ames. Over the past 15 months, Scholten has raised more than twice as much as the incumbent he’s running against — Republican Congressman Steve King. “You are going to un-elect one of the most reactionary members of the congress and elect J.D. Scholten,” Sanders said, to cheers. A crowd of nearly 800 gathered in the Iowa State University Memorial Union for the campaign rally. On Saturday evening, about 700 were in a Morningside College auditorium in Sioux City, which is Scholten’s hometown.

“If you build the right campaign and get out there to the people and earn it, they will vote for you and if you build something special, Senator Bernie Sanders will come,” Scholten said, drawing cheers. Sanders, as you may recall, nearly tied Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses and his speeches this weekend touched on familiar themes, like raising the minimum wage and having Medicare for All. “The ideas that we advocated are now not considered fringe ideas or radical ideas, they are ideas supported in many cases by the vast majority of the American people,” Sanders said, to cheers in Sioux City. “Thank you, Iowa.” Iowa’s fourth congressional district has a 70-thousand voter registration advantage for Republicans, but Sanders suggested intense interest among younger voters could spur record levels of voter turn-out.

“It is all together possible that at one or two o’clock in the morning on the night of November 6th we’re going to be looking at a House of Representatives where one party or the other party will have control by one or two votes,” Sanders said. “One of those votes could be the fourth district of Iowa.” Deidre DeJear, the Iowa Democratic Party’s candidate for secretary of state, joined Sanders and Scholten at Sunday’s rally in Ames. Sanders said the two Democrats — both of whom are decades younger than the 77-year-old Vermont senator — have a new vision about

where our country can go. Congressman King tweeted about Sanders this weekend, suggesting Sanders’ vision was akin to socialism in Venezuela and the former Soviet Union.

Creston Police say no injuries were reported following a three-vehicle accident Friday afternoon. Officials say a 2005 Toyota Camry driven by 68-year old Earl Ritter, of Omaha, was in the right eastbound lane of Highway 34, and a 2002 Buick Century driven by 96-year old John May, of Mount Ayr, was in the left westbound lane. A 2013 Chevy Silverado pickup driven by 58-year old Robbie Jo Tanner, of Greenfield, was stopped at the red light at the intersection of Laurel Street and Highway 34. An unknown vehicle in the left eastbound lane of Highway 34 waiting to turn north onto Sumner Street created a blind spot for John May.

May began to turn south onto Laurel Street and did not see Ritter’s oncoming Toyota.  Ritter did not have time to stop. His vehicle broadsided the Buick, which was spun into the northbound lane of Laurel Street before striking Tanner’s pickup head-on. The accident happened at around 12:30-p.m. Police said May was at fault for Failure to Yield upon making a left turn, but no citations were issued. Damage from the collisions amounted to $4,500.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A grateful mother is thanking an emergency services dispatcher in eastern Iowa for calmly guiding her husband as he helped her deliver their baby daughter. Twenty-seven-year-old Kala Walker gave birth to little Kalee last week at home with her 29-year-old husband, Lee Walker, assisting. Kala Walker says Ben Sharpe at Muscatine County Joint Communications knew what to say to her husband and “knew how to walk him through it, which was wonderful.”

The Walkers had been sent home from Trinity Hospital earlier because she was dilating, but not long after they arrived Kala Walker began having contractions. Lee Walker called 911 for help, and after five minutes on the phone with Sharpe, the little girl arrived. Paramedics soon were on the scene to cut the umbilical cord and take mom and baby to the hospital.

(Radio Iowa) — The company that’s the first to produce medical marijuana in Iowa will also run two of the dispensaries which sell the products. MedPharm Iowa’s Stephen Wilson oversees the dispensary program and says the dispensaries are very modern looking. “If you walk in, it’s very much like a Verizon store if you will — it’s a very open, inviting environment so that patients feel comfortable. Because a lot of times, these patients have very debilitating conditions that take a mental and physical toll on themselves,” Wilson explains.

Other companies will run facilities in Council Bluffs, Davenport and Waterloo. Wilson is not sure how those dispensaries will look. “I have not seen the dispensaries themselves, however I can imagine they’re going to have a similar type of atmosphere — very inviting. It’s pretty typical as far was what you see in cannabis dispensaries across the nation,” Wilson says. He says the MedPharm facilities will have a high level of security. “We want our patients to feel comfortable,” Wilson says, “a lot of people coming in recognize the fact that they are purchasing medical cannabis products. They want to feel secure in that they know that their privacy is going to be taken very seriously. And that’s one of the things, we have several safeguards built in.”

He says they will cover all aspects of security involving prescription medications. “We have a state of the art security system in place to prevent diversion, theft, release of private health information, things like that,” Wilson explained. Wilson says when patients come in they will meet with an expert and an I-pad right in front of them. He says the give the patients a degree of freedom to learn about the products and as well as other information the patient consultant deems necessary. Wilson says they hope to have an open house at their dispensaries in November. He made his comments during a news conference to unveil the company’s products.

(Radio Iowa) — This is Teen Driver Safety Week and Iowa leaders suggest parents have a conversation with their teens about the rules of the road. Genie Clemens, youth coordinator for the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, says 22 Iowans under the age of 20 were killed in crashes last year. “Any life lost in a motor vehicle crash is too many,” Clemens says, “so we’re doing everything we can to help teens and other drivers to remember to drive safely and always wear their seat belts, obey the laws and obviously, not drive distracted.”

In 2016, there were nearly 23-hundred people killed in crashes involving a teen driver nationwide, and 814 of those killed were the teen drivers. Clemens says alcohol and drugs often play a factor in teen crashes and the odds are worse if a teen driver has one or more teen passengers. “In 2016, nearly one out of every five teen drivers was involved in a fatality crash,” Clemens says. “They actually had been drinking. That’s a sad statistic and we need to do everything we can to prevent our teens from using alcohol and drugs.”

The radio, the cell phone and passengers can all create potentially-deadly distractions for teen drivers, and Clemens warns them to pay attention to the task at hand — driving. “In 2016, among teen drivers involved in fatal crashes, 10% were reported as distracted at the time of the crash,” Clemens says. “We know that our teens are definitely always connected to their phones, but when they’re driving, they should be putting those phones down and focusing strictly on their driving.”

A Triple-A study found that when a teen driver has only teen passengers in their vehicle, the fatality rate for all people involved in a crash increased 51 percent.

Police in Council Bluffs say two suspects entered White Oak Station (2024 5th Avenue) at around 9:37-p.m., Sunday. One subject held a box cutter, the other a table leg. The suspects demanded money from the register. The clerk cooperated and was not injured during the incident.

(see pictures below) If anyone recognizes these individuals, please call 712-328-STOP.

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

CHICAGO (AP) — From San Diego to New York, Mega Millions players are dreaming of how they would spend the record $1.6 billion jackpot should they beat the astronomical odds of winning. The next drawing is Tuesday. Some would pay off bills and give to charity. Others would buy a new house, travel and put money away for their kids. Nebraska mom Michelle Connaghan said she would do “surprise good deeds for people.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot will top $620 million this week because no one won Saturday’s drawing, but that may seem relatively small compared to the $1.6 billion Mega Millions drawing expected on Tuesday. Both lottery jackpots are approaching new heights this week.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — Simpson College students have staged a protest at the south-central Iowa school over faculty and program cuts announced last week. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that Simpson College President Jay Simmons announced last week that the college will cut 13 full-time employees, the art department, and French and German majors. Students packed the Kent Campus Center on Friday to voice their anger over the cuts.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa City officials have named the black-eyed Susan as the city’s official flower. The City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution adopting the flower with gold petals and a black center. The plant is native to Iowa city and attracts a wide variety of insects, including butterflies and bees. Its seeds are a favorite of songbirds, such as goldfinches, sparrows and chickadees. The flower’s colors are also shared by the University of Iowa.

In an update to our earlier reports, Shelby County Emergency Management Operations Officer Jason Wickizer, Sunday, provided additional information with regard to the death of Earling Fire Chief Tom Henrich. According to the report, at around 2:40-p.m. Saturday, Henrich fell ill while working a fire call involving a combine and field fire. Immediate Emergency Medical Assistance was provided by Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies, Earling, Defiance and Irwin EMT’s, who witnessed the incident.

Chief Henrich was transported to Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan. Wickizer said “Unfortunately Chief Henrich did not survived the event. Funeral arrangements are pending, and will be announced {later}.” The incident occurred in the vicinity of Highway 37 and Hazel Road, in Shelby County. Numerous posts of condolences, and support for Earling Fire Department personnel and Henrich’s family, have been posted on social media sites.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot will top $620 million this week because no one won Saturday’s drawing, but that may seem relatively small compared to the $1.6 billion Mega Millions drawing expected on Tuesday.

Both lottery jackpots will approach new heights this week. The Mega Millions jackpot will likely set a new record, and the Powerball jackpot will be the third largest ever for that game on Wednesday.
The second-largest jackpot was a $1.586 billion Powerball drawing on Jan. 13, 2016.

The Mega Millions jackpot has been growing since July, when a group of 11 California office workers won $543 million. It costs $2 to play either game. The odds of winning Mega Millions are about one in 302 million. The Powerball odds are slightly better at one in 292.2 million.