The Iowa State women host one of the two remaining unbeaten teams in the country tonight when they take on Texas Tech in Big-12 action. Tech is 15-0 and Cyclone coach Bill Fennelly says the Lady Raiders can find a number of different ways to win, as he says they can go big or they can go small and throw so many combinations at you.Tech has been one of the nation’s top programs and Fennelly says this team may be amongst the best at the school and are playing at a very high level.Tech is top-ranked in the coaches poll but coach Marsha Sharp says winning in Hilton is never easy because of the atmosphere. Sharp says the Lady Raiders will need a 40-minute effort in a hostile environment. She says you always have to worry about focus and confidence when going before a big crowd. Iowa State is 7-5 overall and opened Big-12 play with a loss at Nebraska.
Edwards faces TV attention from rivals
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is now being targeted by his rivals. Howard Dean attacks Edwards and others who he calls “Washington candidates” in a TV ad. And Dick Gephardt today attacked Edwards’ views on trade. Edwards says he’s seen the size of his crowds in Iowa grow — in part — because of those kind of attacks. Edwards says people are tiring of the “petty sniping” the other candidates are engaging in. He also says undecided voters are starting to make up their minds and are looking seriously at him. Edwards says his events are attracting overflow crowds, with he calls “amazing.” While rivals have been touting out-of-state organizers who’ve come to Iowa to turn out the vote on Monday, Edwards says he’s counting on Iowans who support him to help spread the word about his candidacy and get like-minded folks to the Caucuses. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry’s been campaigning in eastern Iowa today, accusing the Bush Administration of setting up an “economy of special privilege” for wealthy and powerful Americans. Kerry stressed his commitment to repealing the Bush tax cut for the wealthy, while maintaining the tax cuts for middle and lower income Americans.
Gephardt opens offensive against Dean
Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt began his day in Nevada, where he launched an offensive against perceived front-runner Howard Dean. Gephardt called Dean a “fair-weather friend of the American worker” who Democrats cannot trust to follow through on his promises.Gephardt says the only way to beat George Bush is to “be clear about where we stand and to be completely truthful with the American people.” Gephardt says Democrats deserve better than what Dean is offering. According to Gephardt, it’s “become nearly impossible to know what Howard Dean really believes.” Gephardt says “there is no room for the cynical politics of manufactured anger and false conviction.” Gephardt says Dean was a supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreements until he found out it was unpopular with Democratic audiences. The Dean campaign has pointed to Gephardt’s changing stances on issues like abortion and the Reagan-era tax cuts. Dean campaigned today in New Hampshire; he’s due in Des Moines tonight for a rally where he’ll be joined by Martin Sheen, the actor who portrays the President on television’s “West Wing.”
Medicaid drug settlement sends funds to Iowa
The state is getting nearly 900-thousand dollars in a nationwide Medicaid fraud settlement with a large drug company. David Werning of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals says the case against the Bayer Corporation was accused of defrauding the Medicaid drug rebate program.He says drug manufacturers are supposed to provide the government with a base price list for their drugs. He says Bayer Corporation gave discounts to H-M-O’s that they did not report to the federal government. Werning says the Iowa settlement money will go back into the system.About half will be in the form of reimbursement to the state Medicaid program, while the rest is interest and money that’ll be used for ongoing investigations in the program. Werning says this type of case hadn’t been all that common. He says it has been happening more often recently, and says just last month a case was settled with Glaxo-Smith-Kline in the same type of scheme. Werning says all fifty states and the District of Columbia were part of the settlement.
Iowa expected to follow national trend in Cancer cases
Iowa is expected to mirror the national trend in seeing more people diagnosed with –and dying from– cancer in the year ahead. The American Cancer Society unveiled its projections for 2004 today and Kerry Finnegan, spokeswoman for the Iowa chapter, has the statewide breakdowns. This year, some 15-thousand-940 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer while 65-hundred-70 of them will die from it. Both numbers are up from last year, but Finnegan says that’s not necessarily bad news, at least in one aspect.She says being diagnosed with cancer is not a death sentence. The fact more people are being diagnosed shows more Iowans are taking command, checking out their health problems and getting the needed treatment. Nationally and statewide, the number-one cancer killer is lung, while Finnegan says the top cancers that are discovered vary for the state’s men and women. The number-one diagnosed cancer in Iowa is prostate and three-thousand-160 cases will be diagnosed in men this year. Among women, the leading diagnosed cancer in Iowa is breast with two-thousand-320 cases expected this year. Finnegan says Governor Vilsack’s call on Tuesday for an increase in state cigarette taxes is a smart idea for promoting the health of Iowans — and for raising revenue. Our current state tax of 36-cents per pack ranks Iowa 39th lowest in the U.S., with the average tax being 73-cents. Iowa’s cigarette tax hasn’t budged since 1991. Raising the tax by 60-cents a pack, as Vilsack proposes, could raise 108-million dollars in state revenue each year. For more information, call 800-ACS-2345 or visit “www.cancer.org”.
Abandoned rail line resurrected for ethanol plant
A stretch of long-abandoned railroad will be fixed up again to haul ethanol from Iowa’s newest ethanol plant when that plant’s completed. Betty Baer, the rail transportation director for the Iowa Department of Transportation, says when the line shut down in 1989, shippers bought it, to keep their options open. About two years ago a group got together to develop an ethanol plant, on that line near newU.S. Highway 20 just north of Steamboat Rock, and the plant’s working with shippers to restore service. Farm co-ops and elevators formed the North Central Rail Association and successfully landed a loan from Iowa’s Railway Finance Authority to renovate the track. Now the seven miles of track will be used to haul ethanol and its byproducts north to Ackley, and from there the Canadian National Railroad will take it to the east and west coasts, big consumers of ethanol. The plant’s expected to be finished and beginning its operation just about a year from now. During the coming summer the line will be rehabilitated and they’ll build a “spur” leading to the plant. The renovation’s expected to make 15 to 20 jobs fixing up the line. Baer says this is a more likely prospect than many of the miles of abandoned railroad right-of-way that still cross the state. The shippers bought it but left the rails in place, good steel despite weeds and trees that have grown up along it, so it won’t be as costly to rehabilitate this line as it would be to build a new one. The D-O-T will contribute a little over 70-thousand dollars to renovate the line, part of a railroad which was first built in 1868 to haul coal from mines north of Eldora.
Drake looks to move above .500 in Valley
Drake is at home in Missouri Valley action tonight against Illinois State. The Bulldogs are 2-2 in the Valley after Sunday’s loss at Creighton. Illinois State is winless in four conference starts but Drake coach Tom Davis says the Redbirds have potential. He says they have good balance from the top to the bottom and are well coached.Davis says his team continues to make progress, as he says their shot selection is improving and he says they’re giving him everything they have.Illinois State coach Porter Moser says he has seen a marked improvement in the Bulldogs, making what he says is the biggest jump of anyone in the conference. Moser says the Bulldogs have adapted to the style of play Davis installed.
