The vice presidential nominees of BOTH major political parties campaigned in Iowa Monday. “This race is deadly, deadly serious.” That’s Democrat Tim Kaine. He spoke to about 300 people in Ames in the middle of the afternoon. Mike Pence, the G-O-P vice presidential nominee, addressed about 300 people in Mason City at nearly the same time. “Let’s go get it done,” Pence said. “Let’s go make it happen, Iowa.” Kaine, the Democrat, appealed to “millennial” voters during his speech in Ames, arguing Clinton is more in tune with their social views and embrace of diversity.

“We know we’re stronger together if we treat each other with respect,” Kaine said, “but if we divide against one another, dissing somebody who’s disabled, saying the military’s a disaster, going after people if they’re of Mexican American heritage or the wrong religion, we’re going to be weaker.” Pence, the Republican, focused on the series of suspected terrorist attacks in New York and New Jersey this past weekend.

“Seven and a half years of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s leadership on the world stage has weakened America’s place in the world,” Pence said, “…terrorist attacks here at home and abroad — grim and heartbreaking scenes.” Pence questioned whether Obama and Clinton know “we are at war” with “radical Islamic terrorists.” “The weak and feckless foreign policy of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has emboldened our enemies and compromised the safety of the American people,” Pence said. In Ames, Kaine asked the crowd to hold Trump accountable for “challenging” President Obama’s American citizenship for five years — until last Friday when Trump said Obama was born in the U.S., “period.”

“I want to tell you why we can’t let him move on to the next issue,” Kaine said. “This is not just a wacky guy saying wacky stuff. This is incredibly painful to millions of people.” Kaine cites the infamous “Dred Scott” case. That’s when the court ruled all people of African ancestry could never become U.S. citizens. Kaine also made a mid-day stop at a coffee shop near Drake University in Des Moines. Pence made an evening appearance in Dubuque at a manufacturing plant where Mitt Romney held a campaign rally in 2011.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:40 a.m. CDT

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The mayor of Waterloo ordered the city’s police chief Monday to focus on rebuilding public trust after several highly publicized missteps involving white officers’ interactions with black residents. They city’s first black mayor, Quentin Hart, said at a news conference that he would let Daniel Trelka keep his job, ending speculation that the chief would be forced out.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Gov. Terry Branstad says he doesn’t believe Hillary Clinton would support maintaining Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status during the presidential primary season, basing his opinion on her narrow win in the state in February. Branstad says he believes Donald Trump would keep Iowa first, though the Republican presidential nominee previously questioned the results of the state’s Republican caucus after he placed second behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Branstad’s son heads Trump’s Iowa campaign.

LAKE VIEW, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a woman who was shot while sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in northwest Iowa. The Sac County Sheriff’s Office says the shooting was reported Sunday morning around two miles east of Lake View. The office says a man in the front passenger seat was handling a loaded handgun when it went off. The woman died later at a Des Moines hospital.

SANDUSKY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say 44 people were cited and one person was jailed during a weekend protest intended to block construction of a $3.8 billion, four-state oil pipeline in southeast Iowa. Thirty-eight adults were cited for trespassing and released after authorities removed them from the work site entrance of the Dakota Access Pipeline in Sandusky. Six juveniles were cited and released, and one person was held on charges of trespassing and interference with official acts.

A traffic stop Saturday morning in Pottawattamie County resulted in the arrest of a man on drug charges. The Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Tanner Joseph Mathews, of Treynor, was taken into custody for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. His arrest occurred after a deputy pulled over a 2007 Ford Fusion for speeding at around 3-a.m. Saturday, on Old Lincoln Highway at the intersection with the Old Mormon Bridge road.  14.5-grams of marijuana was recovered at the scene, along with marijuana pipes and a marijuana grinder.