The Iowa Games Winter sports festival is next week in Dubuque and today is the entry deadline for several of the sports being offered. Iowa Games executive director Jim Hallihan who says you don’t need to worry about postmarking your entry if you enter via their web site at Iowa Games.org.Last year a record of more than three-thousand athletes took part. Hallihan doubts they will reach that number this year because facilities were more difficult to secure. While some sports have an entry deadline several others offer on-site registration.The opening games are next Friday night in the Five Flags Center.
Cedar Falls school changes policy after students wander off
January 21, 2004 By
A Cedar Falls elementary school is making some changes after two kindergarten students left the building while switching classes. Principal Steve Harding at Orchard Hill Elementary says the girls walked out of the building undetected last week and weren’t discovered missing until neighbors saw them trying to get into one of their homes. The students walked more than a mile in cold weather before they were found. Harding says the art teacher thought the girls were absent, and it wasn’t until the class went back to homeroom that they were discovered missing. Now, district officials say Orchard Hill teachers will go through head counts between classes and check all students for passes when they are seen in the hallways. The school also plans to put an alarm on the door and make sure all visitors are identified with a pass.
Nussle worried about "spending mentality" in Washington
January 21, 2004 By
Some conservatives are concerned about the spending proposals President Bush advanced last night in his State of the Union address, and Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle — as chairman of the House Budget Committee — is concerned by the “spending mentality” in Washington.Nussle says “we’re running huge deficits and spending is out of control in Washington, based on the fact that Congress can’t even get its work done.” Nussle says Congress is “four months late with the appropriations process because we’ve got Senators who want to spend more money.” Estimates indicate President Bush’s proposals will increase non-defense spending to a rate that’s about double the average increases during President Clinton’s two terms in office.
ISU student arrested in theft ring
January 21, 2004 By
An Iowa State University student who was a type of manager for an on-campus student apartment building is accused of burglarizing several apartments he was to overlook. I-S-U Police Captain Gene Deisinger says investigators have been following the series of burglaries at the Frederiksen Court Apartments for weeks, before they got a break on January 14 when some residents found 22-year-old David Breitwisch the C-A or community advisor for the apartments in their appartment without any apparent reason. He says they didn’t think anything of it until they noticed reports of stolen items in the paper.Breitwisch is an I-S-U senior in computer engineering from Marion. He’s the C-A or community advisor for the apartments and is now charged with several counts of burglary and theft. Captain Deisinger says because he was a C-A, Breitwisch had easy access to the various apartments with keys he had or could check out.Deisinger says a search warrant was obtained and I-S-U police found a wealth of goods in Breitwisch’s apartment that included dozens of DVDs, computer software, Walkmans, MP-3 players and other electronics, calculators, backpacks, and more. Breitwisch was arrested Tuesday night and taken to the Story County Jail, pending a 35-thousand dollar bond.
Kids design cities in competition
January 21, 2004 By
Kids from all over the state head to Cedar Rapids this weekend to show off their plans for cities of the future. Coordinator Ron Griffith says they’re young, but they’re smart.He calls the kids “science nerds,” already smarter than us, though only seventh and eighth-graders are allowed to participate. This is the fourth year Iowa’s participated in the national “Future City” competition, and this year’s theme is designing features with senior citizens in mind. Griffith says the work begins with a computer program many kids play as a game. They use “Sim City 3000,” create a city of the future using that software, then write an essay and build a model of their imaginary city which they’ll bring to this weekend’s competition. The in-person presentation will require kids to stand up and tell the audience of their plans on Saturday, and Griffith says it’s quite a range of skills, in all. Looking at alumni of the competition, the kids grow up to enter professional careers from doctor to lawyer to professional engineer — but he says this range is skills will benefit them in any career. The public can come watch the show by 180 seventh- and 8th-grade students, this Saturday at Cedar Rapids Prairie Middle School.
Judge could rule on Defiance case later this week
January 21, 2004 By
Attorneys argued in court yesterday (Tuesday) over a Defiance woman’s request to have key evidence excluded from her murder trial. The attorney for Dixie Shanahan says a search of Shanahan’s home in October was illegal because authorities had no reason to believe a crime had taken place there. But prosecutors say authorities had been investigating the disappearance of Shanahan’s husband for three months before they asked for a search warrant. Shanahan is accused of murdering her abusive husband, Scott Shanahan, and hiding his body in a bedroom for more than a year. She’s charged with first-degree murder. A judge is expected to rule on the request to exclude the evidence later this week.
Lottery officials says change in operations leads to more money
January 21, 2004 By
Officials at the Iowa Lottery say a change in the way they operate is behind a surge in revenue in the last calendar year. Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says the change approved by the legislature last year involved the operating budget. She says their budget was switched from being controlled by the legislature to being controlled by the five-member Iowa Lottery Board. Neubauer says in terms of being able to schedule games and make business moves, it has allowed them to do a better job of moving new products into the market. Neubauer says making quick changes is important for things like scratch tickets, as players like to have fresh new games. Scratch ticket sales were up 11 percent in the last year. Neubauer says it pays off with more money sent to the state.Neubauer says the Lottery sent nearly 52 million dollars to the state in the last calendar year — that compares to 45-and-a-half million the year before. Neubauer says they think they can maintain the increase in sales.She says it’s an example of effective change in state government that allows them to focus on running a business instead of worrying about bureaucratic issues. Scratch ticket sales for 2003 were nearly 91 million dollars, while Powerball sales were 63 million. Pull-tab tickets were third at 27-point-five million in sales.
