An Iowa State University professor who studies Latino issues says the Democratic presidential candidates have not courted the support of Iowa’s Spanish-speaking citizens like the candidates did in 2000. Hector Avalos says there was a big increase between 1996 and 2000 with the number of candidates contacting Iowa Latino leaders. Avalos met with then-candidate George W. Bush in 1999 to talk about Iowa Latino issues. Avalos says then Democrat Bill Bradley became the first presidential candidate to talk solely about Latino issues at I-S-U. He says no candidate has talked about “ethnic issues” at Iowa State this time around. Avalos says some of the candidates have Spanish-langugage websites, but they’re just a translation of the candidates’ general website and do not specially address issues of concern to Latinos. Avalos says he and other Latinos want to know how the candidates stand on immigration policy, for example.
New Year brings problems for newly-married couple
A just-married central Iowa couple had a horrible start to the new year. After a New Year’s Eve ceremony, the newlyweds from Urbandale were being taken to the Des Moines airport early on New Year’s Day to leave for their honeymoon. The groom’s father was driving, had an apparent heart attack at the wheel, crashed the car into a utility pole and died. An autopsy is planned on 74-year-old Tang Nong of Urbandale. The newlyweds, 34-year-old Kathleen Hurley and 35-year-old Kun-Pheng Nong, were both injured in the crash and taken to a Des Moines hospital, as was a third passenger. Condition reports aren’t available.
Warm weather not nice for ice fishing
It’s been a mild weather spell throughout the year-end holidays, good for travelers but bad for fans of winter sports. The Department of Natural Resources’ Mick Klemesrud says ice on most lakes and rivers is not yet strong enough to hold an angler, let alone a fishing house. In mild years like this he says fans of fishing just can’t find ice to support them, at least not south of about Highway 20 and even north of that it’s not guaranteed it’ll be thick enough. There is a requirement that you have any permanent ice shelter off the waterway by February 20, though in cold years with a lot of thick ice that date can be pushed back. But there is no law telling how early in the winter you can go out onto the ice, and Klemesrud says it takes common sense. There are some guidelines, like waiting till it’s four inches thick and cutting frequent test holes, but people are expected to use their own judgment when they go to push something out onto the ice. An avid fisherman, Klemesrud says the ice thickens varies greatly even on the same body of water. But he says you can’t tell that by just looking. If there’s any moving water under the ice, a reservoir or backwater where there’s a current, the ice will be thinner there. He says be brings an auger and tape-measure himself to measure ice thickness, and says while November brought a promising cold spell, recent warm weather has many waterways offering “pretty lousy ice.” Earlier this week, an Iowa man fell through ice on a fishing expedition near St. Cloud, Minnesota, and had to be pulled to shore by a passerby.
Study says single women could provide key votes in ’04
A new study concludes that single women could be the “soccer moms” of the 2004 election. So-called soccer moms — married, suburban women — were seen as an important voting bloc in the 2000 election. This time around, some are touting the potential impact of so-called “NASCAR dads,” but researcher Page Gardner says single women could tip the balance in many races.Gardner says there’s been a huge voting gap between married and unmarried Americans, with a greater proportion of married citizens voting compared to unmarried Americans. And Gardner says single women vote at a lower rate than single men.Gardner says “unmarried women should no longer be allowed to sit on the sidelines of our democracy.” Gardner used census data and voting trends and discovered that if single women had voted in 2000 at the same rate as married women, there would have been six million more votes cast nationwide. Gardner calls the numbers “astounding.” In Iowa, she says if unmarried women had voted at the same rate as their married counterparts in 2000, there would have been over 31-thousand more votes cast here and as you’ll recall, Al Gore won Iowa by just a four-thousand vote margin. Gardner says single women, many of whom are raising a family on their own, don’t feel as if politicians ignore their concerns.Gardner says single women feel as if they’re on the “economic margin” of society. Gardner says single women are the group most dissatisfied with the direction the country’s headed. In the last election, married women favored George Bush by a narrow margin, but single women favored Al Gore by a 30-percent margin. Gardner says in 2000, nearly 22 million unmarried women who were registered to vote did not, while another 16 single women who were eligible to vote didn’t even register. Gardner’s “women’s Voices, Women’s Vote” project will launch voter registration efforts nationwide.
Cedar Rapids native may be behind popular name of ’03
The Hollywood success of an Iowa native might be measured with the number of birth certificates in the U.S. bearing his name. Born in Cedar Rapids in 1978, Ashton Kutcher has gone from playing Daddy Warbucks in his high school’s production of “Annie” to a successful career in TV and film. That prominence led to Ashton breaking into the top 20 baby boy names in 2003 according to babynames.com. Communications and name researcher Ed Schiappa says parents walk a fine line in choosing their child’s name.Schiappa says he’s seen similar instances in the past, where parents name their newborns after a rising star. Actress Darryl Hannah’s character in the movie “Splash” was named Madison, based on a street sign, and it wasn’t long after a very popular girl’s name. Parents have been creative in naming their baby girls for decades and he says it appears boy’s names are also changing, with the likes of Ashton, Logan and Morgan gaining popularity.In the case of Kutcher, it should be noted that his real first name is Christopher, but he started using his middle name Ashton after his modeling agency suggested it. According to babynames.com, among the top boys names for 2003 were Caleb, Jacob, Joshua and Matthew. For the girls, Abigail, Emily, Hannah and Madison were among the most popular.
