U-N-I has broken into the One-double-A top 25 this week heading into the start of Gateway Conference play. The Panthers open the league race at Illinois State and that is the top priority for coach Mark Farley. He says the polls don’t mean a lot to one-double-A football because teams are playing other teams at all levels right now and the head-to-head competition will determine who is the best.U-N-I is 3-1 and has a lot to play for against the Redbirds, as it’s the first game in the conference.
ISU coach says they’re ready for #1 Oklahoma
September 30, 2003 By
Iowa State is 2-2, and has lost a number of key players to injury and faces top-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday. Cyclone coach Dan McCarney does not want any sympathy, though. McCarney says his players should relish the chance to take on the nation’s top ranked team. He says that’s why he came to I-S-U and why the players came to the school McCarney says they don’t think they’re dead even though the have a couple of losses. McCarney says the Cyclone’s are looking ahead and aren’t feeling sorry for themselves. Oklahoma is 4-0 and has been idle since a 59-24 win over U-C-L-A. In that game the Sooners Antonio Perkins set an N-C-A-A record by returning three punts for touchdowns. McCarney says if he returns one, they won’t kick to him the next time, and he says they won’t kick it straight to him in the first place.
Iowa looks to rebound after loss
September 30, 2003 By
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says it is important for a football team to put a big win behind it and focus on the next challenge and the same thing applies for a disappointing loss. The Hawkeyes are coming off a 20-10 loss in their Big Ten opener and return home to battle 11th rated Michigan.The receiver spot is no deeper this week. Mo Brown is still out and Ed Hinkel will not play on Saturday. Ferentz says the freshmen who have played the last couple of weeks are getting additional practice time but the coaches want to help them by keeping it simple.This game will highlight outstanding running backs in Iowa’s Fred Russell and Michigan’s Chris Perry. Ferentz says both have been successful using different styles.
Senator agrees to decision to move ahead with "Do Not Call" list
September 30, 2003 By
A court challenge remains hanging, but the Federal Communications Communication nonetheless says it’ll implement a national “Do Not Call” list starting tomorrow (Wednesday). Iowa U.S. Senator Charles Grassley says the senate has spoken, twice, on the matter and he agrees with the decision to begin banning telemarketing calls to those who’ve said they don’t want them. Grassley acknowledges the list sets different rules for businesses calling people at home than charities and some others will abide by. He says politicians, nonprofits and other organizations having different free-speech rights than commercial contacts may indeed be a constitutional matter. But if there’s a problem, Grassley doesn’t see it. He says he thinks it’s O.K. to have different rules for political and commercial speech, so the Supreme Court may have to make a final decision, and that will determine what the Federal Trade Commission does with the no-call list in the long run.
Agreement with Wal-Mart designed to cut tobacco purchases among minors
September 30, 2003 By
Iowa’s Attorney General says a new multistate agreement should help cut the sale of cigarettes and tobacco to minors. Attorney General Tom Miller says Wal-Mart — the nation’s largest retailer — has agreed to institute several practices in its stores aimed at preventing the sale of tobacco to minors. Some of the things the retailer has agreed to include: checking the I.D. of any person trying to buy tobacco that looks under 27 years of age, hiring an independent entity to conduct random compliance checks at 10 percent of the stores every six months, and prohibiting the use in stores of self-serve displays and cigarette vending machines. Wal-Mart has over 34-hundred stores nationwide, including 60 in Iowa.
Woman wants new trial in Rock Valley murder
September 30, 2003 By
Another development in a case involving a controversial death at a Sioux County nursing home. A Rock Valley woman has a new lawyer and is asking for a new appeal of a murder conviction. Court records show her attorney filed an appeal notice with the Sioux County clerk of court’s office for 27-year-old Kristy Van Oort. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 87-year-old nursing-home resident Dick Post in Rock Valley. Post died in April 2002, and Van Oort was sentenced to fifty years in prison. Any flaw in the conviction or sentencing could give the new lawyer, Iowa City attorney Paul Miller, grounds to ask Iowa’s Supreme Court or Court of Appeals to review the case.
Association urges feds to pick up more state medical costs
September 30, 2003 By
The Iowa Health Care Association is urging Senator Charles Grassley to support a move that would see the federal government pay for the health care needs of more Iowans. About 42-thousand elderly Iowans who are on Medicare — the government insurance program for senior citizens — are poor, disabled or chronically ill — so the state Medicaid program covers what Medicare doesn’t — things like eyeglasses, dentures and prescription drugs. Iowa Health Care Association president Dana Holland, administrator of the Good Samaritan Rehabilitation and Health Center in Ottumwa, says if nothing’s done, the state will have to shell out one-point-three BILLION dollars in the next decade to treat those elderly folks who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. Holland says that will “eat us alive” and it’s time for Grassley, who is chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, to help. Holland is urging Iowans to write Grassley and demand action. Holland says Grassley needs to hear from the people he represents. But Holland admits Grassley’s being pulled in all sorts of directions on this issue.State Senator Maggie Tinsman of Bettendorf says having the state spend more and more money on Medicaid for the elderly will start a “civil war” in Iowa. Tinsman says it’s set up a fight between education and health care. State Representative Pat Murphy of Dubuque says all 50 Governors support shifting the responsibility for paying for the care of the poor, disabled and chronically ill to the federal government. Murphy says it will help cash-strapped states because the group of people involved are “high-users” of government-paid medical services.Grassley is on the conference committee that’s considering the shift that would have the federal government pay for the care poor, disabled and chronically ill get that’s now shouldered by states. The Iowa Health Care Association represents 450 long term care facilities that serve 24-thousand elderly Iowans.
