State wildlife officers are searching for signs a black panther is on the prowl near Des Moines. Witnesses reported seeing a large black cat with a long tail Thursday near the Polk County town of Bondurant and big tracks were found in the snow. Lon Lindenberg, a state conservation officer, says there’s an important distinction to make — they’re looking for signs of the animal; they’re not hunting for it.He says to search for a cougar is very hard to do and probably wouldn’t be accomplished. Instead, Lindenberg says they’ll take a close look at the paw prints the creature left in the snow and attempt to get an indication of the stride and size of the animal.Lindenberg says cougars, panthers and bobcats are all basically synonymous. He says he’s very skeptical it was really a black panther seen just northeast of Des Moines.He says he’d be truly surprised if it was a black panther — and if it is, it’s more likely it was not a wild one but an animal that escaped from a zoo, facility or private residence.
Iowa looks for better results in second game against Indiana
Iowa travels to Bloomington, Indiana to face the Hoosiers tommorrow. Indiana blasted Iowa win the first meeting and Hawkeye coach Steve Alford says being on the road doesn’t help the odds of getting a split. He says they’ve played well on the road, but Indiana is a tough team to beat at home.Indiana is coming off a loss, but Alford doesn’t think that will serve as any extra motivation for them. He says the Hoosiers are always under pressure to win, as anytime they win it’s expected, and anytime they lose they come under the gun. He says Indiana’s offense poses some unique problems as they do a lot of ball screening. Alford says the bottom line depends on what his team does. He says they have to play better as he doesn’t think the way they played in the first game is the same way they’ve been playing.Iowa is 6-7 in the Big Ten.
Class 2A quarterfinal features championship rematch
A championship round rematch highlighted the class 2A quarterfinals at the state high school wrestling tournament. A year ago, Centerville’s Justin Brown defeated Algona’s Tyler Bjustrom for the 103 pound title. They met again Thursday night, this time at 112-pounds and Brown was the winner again with an 8-3 decision. He says it was a tough match last year and he knew it would be another one. Brown says both wrestlers were agressive from the beginning and they hit heads and he says that kind of took Bjustrom out of the match a little.Brown says Bjustrom is a tough matchup for him, as he’s hard to ride and is a little taller.Clear Lake’s Andy Schmitt provided an upset at 119-pounds by edging third-ranked Derek Fuglsang of Maquoketa 4-3. He says he stayed awake all night last night thinking about the match and knew he could win and went all out.
Conference highlights holistic medicine
A conference today at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines will feature a holistic healer, a herbalist, a Tai Chi instructor, and a Master of Divinity who’s also a musician. The all-day, “Heal Thyself, Heal Thy Patient” seminar is aimed at helping healthcare workers develop a plan for harmony in their healthcare environment. Featured speaker Sheila Benjamin is a doctor of metaphysics. She entered the School of Metaphysics after graduating from college with a degree in therapy, and had a dream there was a way to combine them. Benjamin says it’s okay if many healthcare workers come to the all-day conference skeptical of its agenda. Her purpose in this conference is to “rekindle” people who work as doctors, therapists, anyone in the medical field, and reconnect them with the driving force that made them want to go into medicine. Benjamin still works at therapy jobs with hospital and nursing-home patients, and says it’s a unique opportunity. Benjamin calls this work her “walking ministry” because more than teaching about metaphysics it lets her work with people very personally. The workshop will have exercises for recharging energy, coping with distraction in the healthcare environment and exploring ways to relax both patients and their caregivers.
Buy out deal ends attemps to build livestock facility near Great Lakes
A controversal four-thousand head hog confinement will not be built near Lake OkobojiThe Dickinson County Attorney says a tentative deal has been reached between Dutch Creek Custom Farms, the citizens-group “Save Dickinson County’s Environment” and Dickinson County. The County will pay Dutch Creek 27-thousand-five-hundred dollars and the citizens group will fork out another 25-thousand to Dutch Creek, and the company will then withdraw its request for a state construction permit. In addition, Dutch Creek will turn over its five-acre tract of land to Dickinson County. The parties have agreed to drop all lawsuits regarding the project, and Dutch Creek has agreed never to build a livestock operation in Dickinson County. The deal must be approved by the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors on March 4th.
Legislators and Governor lining up behind Billion-dollar life science plan
Legislators of both parties have decided the state should assemble a two billion dollar pot of money to lure biotech and life science companies to Iowa. That’s four times what Governor Tom Vilsack originally suggested, but Vilsack’s not criticizing the bigger idea.Vilsack says the decision to go with a two billion dollar fund is a positive step. He says the “trick” will be figuring out how to finance the deal. The Farm Bureau has suggested a statewide property tax. Others suggest special tax credits for investors, or using gambling taxes to back the sale of state bonds — essentially borrowing the money from investors who’ll be paid back several years later.He says there are a lot of ways to do this.Vilsack says there are a lot of ways the fund can be created, and he sees a tax increase as a last resort. Vilsack says the only “politically plausible” way to raise a tax to finance the deal would be to lower one tax that’s seen as “onerous” and raise a tax that’s more “palatable” so there’d be a tax shift rather than a tax increase.
Elder Bush says son is not in a hurry for war
Former President George Bush spoke in Cedar Rapids last night, and Bush — the 41st President — said his son, number 43, is not “rushing” into war with Iraq.The elder Bush said “like every last (war) protestor we’ve seen,” his son shares the hope that the disarming of Iraq “can be accomplished peacefully.”Bush said Saddam Hussein has had 12 years to comply with 17 different United Nations resolutions, and he’s failed to do so. The former President questioned whether an 18th U-N resolution would “do the trick.” Bush said someone once said insanity was doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. Bush delivered a speech at Coe College on “Lessons in Leadership,” then he answered questions for about 45 minutes. Bush addressed critics who’ve accused him of ending the Persian Gulf War too soon, or who’ve suggested the coalition forces should have sought out and deposed Saddam Hussein.Bush said “war is hell” and coalition leaders decided the objectives of the war had been fulfilled. Bush said if the fighting had gone on one more day, 30-thousand fleeing Iraqis could have been killed, and he says Americans don’t measure the extent of victory by “body count.” Bush said he has no regrets about the outcome of that war. Bush said he hopes it doesn’t come to war a second time around, but he’s not counting on Saddam fulfilling his obligation to disarm. Bush said he’d be surprised but pleased if Saddam finally does what he’s promised the United Nations he’d do after the Persian Gulf War ended.
