The boys’ state high school track and field meet is underway in Drake Stadium and this year’s event features a new scoring system. Beginning this weekend, the top eight place winners in each event will score points for their team. Previously, only the top six place winners garnered team points. Dave Anderson of the Iowa High School Athletic Association says the coaches advisory committee aske for the change. The relays are scored 10, eight, six, five, four three, two one for first through eighth place and the individual events are scored from eight points for first down to one point for eighth. Anderson says the change was requested by the state’s coaches.He says the coaches believe that anyone who makes the finals should score points for his team. Anderson says he doesn’t necessarily agree, as you could someday have a case where a team wins a meet with a kid walking to finish as race. With the relays garnering more team points, it is not uncommon for some runners to withdraw from an individual race and focus on the relay race. Anderson says this scoring change does not address that situation.The meet opened this morning with the finals of the 32-hundred meter run. After a second place finish a year ago, Kevin Balster of Monticello won the class 2A crown and says his only feeling after the race was that of being tired. Balster says he was thinking more about the time he wanted to run rather than where he might finish.
Boys track meet ready to run
The boys’ state track and field meet begins this morning in Drake Stadium. Williamsburg is looking to repeat as the class 2A team champ after edging Tipton a year ago despite having just one champion. Coach Greg Stoultz is hoping for another consistent performance in which they have place winners in many events. Williamsburg is coming off the team title at the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference meet. Stoultz says several other teams will contend for the team championship. He says all he every looks for is a good performance from his team, and he doesn’t expect it to be a high scoring meet.Action begins this morning at 11 with the 32-hundred meter run.
Utilities Board approves rate plan for proposed Council Bluffs plan
The Iowa Utilities Board has approved rates for MidAmerican Energy’s proposed Council Bluffs electric plant. Board spokesman Rob Hillesland says the 2001 law approved by the legislature allows the board to set the rates before a company begins a plant to reward companies for making the investment.He says the primary objective was incentive to build more generating plants in Iowa, and he says this is the third time the board has used the new rules. Hillesland says utilities used to build the plants and then hope the board set a rate that would let them recover costs. He says the old system had the board going through a rate proceeding to see what costs would be passed on to customers and how the plant would be regulation. Hillesland says the old plan allowed for changes in the plan, but now the plan stays the same through the life of the plant. Hillesland says the board has approved a plan that will let MidAmerican recover 60-percent of the cost of building the plant.He says the board approved a plan that lets the company recover 675 million dollars of the cost of the plant. He says it also sets the company’s return on it’s investment at 12-point-two-nine percent . The plant is scheduled to be running by the summer of 2007.
Kerry visits VFW Hall on campaign stop
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry visited a V-F-W hall in Des Moines this morning. The event attracted about 30 V-F-W members and Kerry, who is a Vietnam veteran, wandered around swapping stories for awhile. Once he stepped behind the microphones, Kerry — who is a Navy man — engaged in a little verbal jousting with the marines in the crowd. Kerry says the Navy had to “pull those jar heads out of trouble all the time.” Kerry proposes a series of reforms to help America’s veterans get the medical care they were promised. For example, Kerry wants to speed up the process for getting prescriptions for veterans filled through the V-A system.Kerry says the country has a bad track record of breaking its promises to veterans. Kerry says “sometimes it takes veterans reminding the country of the obligation in order to guarantee the things that ought to happen are happening.” The post commander suggested the gathered troops end the meeting by singing “God Bless America” and Kerry joined in, throwing his arms around the commander and Congressman Leonard Boswell as a camera recorded the image.
Federal tax cut creates some confusion
There’s still a lot of confusion about the federal tax cut that passed this week. For Iowans with children who are still wondering what they’ll be getting and when, I-R-S spokeswoman Donna Migazzi says the maximum parents receive is 400-dollar per child and up to 800-dollars for two children. Some 275-thousand Iowans are eligible for this credit and the money will automatically start arriving the end of July and with all the money distributed by the end of August. Migazzi says there is also a reduction in the federal withholding tax, which will help virtually every Iowa taxpayer.She says we’ll all be getting more money in take-home pay as the tax rates have been reduced. Migazzi says there are other benefits for Iowans in the new tax measure.There’s relief from the so-called “marriage penalty” as the standard deduction for married people who file taxes jointly has been doubled when compared to the single rate.
Audit shows over 100-thousand missing from Maquoketa Valley
A final audit report is now public as part of an investigation of missing money at Maquoketa Valley High School in eastern Iowa’s Jackson County. Discrepancies were found in the school’s activity and nutrition fund earlier this year. A probe led to the firing of district bookkeeper Linda Knutson in April. The report finds that between July of 1997 to January of this year, more than 105-thousand dollars vanished. Criminal charges have -not- yet been filed.
Deadline approachs for Starlink corn case
A deadlines is fast approaching for farmers to file to be a part of the settlement of the Starlink biotech corn case. The Iowa Attorney General says farmers who harvested non-Starlink corn from 1998 through 2002 may be covered by the settlement –whether their corn was contaminated by Starlink or not. Starlink has agreed to pay millions of dollars to farmers and elevators whose corn may’ve been contaminated by the Starlink corn. The A-G says to be eligible for the settlement you must file a claim by Saturday, May 31st. You can file a claim by calling 888-833-4317, or through the A-G’s website at IowaAttorneyGeneral.org. Forms for filing can be obtained for free and there’s no cost to file.
