The congressional committee working on the emergency farm aid bill hasfinished its work. Congressman Tom Latham is on the committee and saysmanditory price reporting of all livestock sales is included in the bill. Latham, a republican from Alexander, says a provision allowing the sale offood and medicine to Cuba failed. The bill would advance eight-point-seven Billion dollars in emergency aid tofarmers — most of it to grain farmers. Congressman Leonard Boswell thinksthe emergency farm relief legislation could be approved as early as thisweekend. Boswell, however, questions the nearly nine-Billion dollar aidpackage. Boswell says it’ll have to do, for now.The House and Senate are expected to approve the bill, as is PresidentClinton, and checks should wind up in farmers’ mailboxes within 10 daysafter the President signs the bill into law.
Program that helps the blind expands
An Iowa program that provides readings over the radio of newspapers andmagazines for the blind has won a federal grant to help its expansion. Thegrant of over 21-thousand dollars will help fund the Iowa Radio ReadingInformation Service’s expansion into Iowa City, Cedar Falls and Sioux City.Service executive director Sally Vanderlinden says the expansion puts themcloser to their goal of covering the entire state.Participants can use a special receiver to hear the readings on a specialradio frequency. Vanderlinden says the service runs 24-hours a day.Vanderlinden says there is the potential to have several thousand peoplelistening to the service.There are two-thousand people with the special receivers, but the IowaDepartment for the Blind estimates there are as many as 57-thousandprint-handicapped people in the state. Vanderlinden says the service canalso be used by people who can see, but have a tough time physically holdingnewspapers and magazines to read them.
Barbara Bush campaigns for her son
Former First Lady Barbara Bush says she’s unconcerned about personalquestions raised about her son, George W., who’s seeking the Republicanparty’s next presidential nomination. During a campaign stop in Iowa, Mrs.Bush says “there’s nothing wrong with her son’s personal life at all.” Mrs.Bush first campaigned in Iowa 20 years ago as her husband barnstormed forsupport in Iowa’s 1980 caucuses.When asked by reporters whether she likes to campaign, Mrs. Bush said it’s”o.kay.”Mrs. Bush spoke over the noon hour in Des Moines at a luncheon which raised100-thousand dollars for her son’s campaign. During her speech, Mrs. Bush called the campaign “overwhelming” –”tough,but very exciting.” Mrs. Bush said she and her husband, the former president, are as proud astwo parents can be” of their two political sons who are the Governors ofFlorida and Texas.The Bush campaign announced today that it has raised more than 56-milliondollars this year — from over 135-thousand individuals.
Project puts scarecrows on ISU campus
An unusual collection of clothed creatures is being assembled this afternoonon Iowa State University’s central campus. Some 350 scarecrows were built bystudents as an assignment for a “Creativity” class. The scarecrows are in avariety of positions, many of them in theme settings.Professor Bill Boon teaches Landscape Architecture and the Creativity class.Scarecrows are straw-stuffed humanoid mannequins that are traditionally usedin cornfields to frighten away pesky birds. Boon says he thought this projectwould be appropriate, given that we’re on the eve of October.Professor Boon expects at least one set of scarecrows that depict the recentblockbuster horror movie “The Blair Witch Project,” among other novelties.Boone says the project was inspired by the theory of vernacular design — adesign which symbolizes a specific place, in this case, a rural Iowa field.The display will be up just through the weekend.
Wartburg looks to keep Iowa Conference football lead
Wartburg looks to stay unbeaten in Iowa Conference play this weekend whenthe Knights visit Loras. Wartburg coach Rick Willis says he’s happy with theway the team has started at 3-0. Loras is 2-2 and Willis says the Duhawksare playing well. The passing game with Matt Wheeler has been as strong asexpected and Willis says the ground game has picked up as of late. That wasa question mark heading into the season as the Knights tries to replaceTrevor Shannon.
Iowa looks to increase excitement at basketball games
The parent company of the Cedar Rapids Gazette will become title sponsor ofthe University of Iowa’s four-team basketball tournament. Started in theearly 1980′s as the Amana-Hawkeye Classic the tournament will become theGazette-Hawkeye challenge this season. Iowa coach Steve Alford says themove should helps ensure the long-term success of the tournament.Alford says tournaments like this are good for the fans as it gives them achance to see the team and to stay in the community for a couple of days.Alford says the tournament will become even more important down the road asnew rules limit the number of tournaments teams can be in.This year’s tournament includes Houston, Ohio and Texas Southern.
