Oelwein officials are investigating a fire at a house that had been turned into apartments. The fire was located in the second story, and forced one man to jump from the burning building. 31-year-old Shawn Gant was taken to a Waterloo hospital, where he’s in stable condition. Another man, Kyle Brown, had to be rescued from the fire. He was transferred to University Hospitals in Iowa City in critical condition, and has since been upgraded to stable condition. The rest of the building’s residents escaped unharmed, but there was considerable damage to the building. The State Fire Marshal has been called in, as it’s the second fire at the address in a week.
Domestic dispute in Mount Pleasant leads to fatal shooting
January 26, 2004 By
Police in Mount Pleasant say one man was killed and a husband and wife were also shot in a domestic dispute at the Lomont Molding Plant. The state Department of Criminal Investigation and the Mount Pleasant police are not releasing the names of the victims until relatives have been notified. It’s believed the husband shot the man, shot his wife several times, and then shot himself in the stomach. The wife is in critical condition, and the husband is listed in fair condition, both at University Hospitals in Iowa City. The other man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Several deaths attributed to poor weather
January 26, 2004 By
With eight inches of snow on the ground in some areas and more falling, Iowa’s in the midst of another winter mess that won’t be over for several hours yet. Brad Small, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, says a winter storm warning is in effect for the west, northwest and northern sections of the state. So far, Small says, western Iowa’s caught the worst of this storm. Several counties report six to eight inches of snow including: Audubon, Cass and Crawford counties. Central Iowa can expect up to four inches this morning, with the snow tapering off to flurries by this afternoon. Small was asked if the forecast might include a warm-up anytime soon that could melt the wintry wickedness.Highs are only expected in the teens and 20s for very seasonal weather, at least for the next week so, no, there’ll be no melting until at least February. Small says with winds up to 25 miles an hour whipping the light-weight snow, roads in many parts of the state are hazardous this morning. Snowy roads are blamed in at least five deaths in the past 24 hours, including a wreck Sunday on Interstate-80 near Atlantic that killed four members of one family.
Jaycees raise record money in ’03
January 26, 2004 By
Iowa’s Junior Chambers of Commerce, or the Jaycees, earned a record amount of money for Iowa charities in 2003. State chapter president Dawn Davis, of Iowa Falls, says Governor Vilsack has issued a proclamation in thanks for their efforts.She says chapters statewide donated one-point-four million dollars to their communities in the past year. The goal was to make one-million dollars, which was far exceeded. Davis says there are 65 Iowa Jaycee chapters and more than 23-hundred members statewide and all of them have different ideas about making and spending money. Fundraising efforts range from Clive After Five concerts in Clive to the Festival of Trees in Sioux City to the bridal expo in Davenport. Davis says all of the money the Jaycees generate is pumped back into their communities. Schools, parks and other groups benefit, while the Iowa Jaycees have built airports, golf courses, playgrounds and community centers over the past 76 years. The Iowa Jaycees organization develops leadership, management and community service skills in young people, ages 21-39. For more information, surf to “www.iowajaycees.org”.
Geese thriving in new suburban developments
January 26, 2004 By
Iowa’s suburban building boom is doing more than creating new opportunities for businesses and people, it’s also good for the geese. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Bill Bunger says Canada Geese continue to enjoy the benefits of new construction.He says most of the housing developments and commercial developments have ponds built around them to hold runoff. He says those ponds are surrounded by grass and make a perfect habitat for the geese. While Iowans are moving to the suburbs for a new home to raise their kids, geese are doing the same.He says the geese are in the urban settings where they don’t have any predators, and their numbers keep going up. Bunger says now is the time when geese are starting to shop for that home in the suburbs.He says as soon as the geese get back to Iowa from warmer climates this winter, they start setting up a place to nest. He says that’ll start as early as February or March. The downside to the growing geese population is an abundance of noise, and geese droppings that some of the human suburbanites don’t like. Bung says the best way to alleviate the geese problem is to not be a good neighbor. First of all, don’t feed them.He says you shouldn’t allow them to feel comfortable. He says you might even have to go to the point of harassing them a little bit so they don’t set up their nests. He says harassing wildlife to prevent economic or personal duress is generally allowed with most wildlife species. However, harassment of geese which have an established nest, is not allowed by federal regulations.
Think tank has different take on taxes
January 26, 2004 By
A liberal think tank based in Mount Vernon and a conservative one based in Mount Pleasant offer starkly different views of Governor Tom Vilsack’s call for raising the state tax on cigarettes and expanding the sales tax to services like accounting and landscaping. David Hogberg of the Iowa Public Interest Institute in Mount Pleasant says raising taxes is the wrong answer. Hogberg says Vilsack had an emphasis last year on making the state more business friendly, but this year’s call for placing taxes on services that businesses use will have the opposite effect. Hogberg says Vilsack, who is an attorney, is not proposing that lawyers start charging their clients sales tax. Hogberg says trial lawyers tend to be one of Vilsack’s biggest bases of support in the state. Hogberg says Vilsack’s call for a 60-cent-per-pack increase in the sales tax will drive more Iowans to try to buy on the black market, or in bordering states where the tax is lower. Hogberg says raising the cigarette tax will hurt convenience stores in areas that border other states. On the flip side, Peter Fisher of the Iowa Public Policy Project says the extra money raised will help keep state workers employed, at a time when the state’s job picture is bleak. Fisher says there are some very prominent, Nobel-Prize-winning economists who have argued that during a recession raising state spending, by raising taxes, is a better economic policy because state workers’ salaries pump money into the economy.Fisher says increasing taxes and spending by the same amount will stimulate the state’s economy. Fisher says raising taxes is the state’s lone option if it wants to avoid significant layoffs. Fisher says the state, unlike the federal government, can’t run a deficit and that’s why taxes are the only way to address the dilemma.
Change in ownership leaves some Des Moines meatpackers without jobs
January 26, 2004 By
Workers at a Des Moines meatpacking plant are hoping they’re among the few who will still have jobs after a new owner takes over. They got little or no advance notice last week of the plant’s sale, and have been told only half the former workforce will be employed. Minority advocate Sondra Sanchez of Des Moines says immigrant workers are essential to the economy of the whole state. According to the latest Census Bureau numbers from 2000, there are 25,000 to 27,000 immigrants living just in central Iowa, around Des Moines. Of those, 30 to 45-percent may be undocumented, lacking the documents required to live and work freely in the United States. Sanchez says back in the 1980s, when big packing plants like IBP were changing hands, owners recruited heavily among workers who wanted to come from Mexico.She says they recruited heavily among workers to the south who lived in Mexico and Central America. It took about a decade, she says, to bring first the workers and then the friends and relatives who followed them, to reunite families or hoping for work. But their desperation often allows unscrupulous employers to get away with illegal treatment of such workers.Lacking proper documentation, they may not complain if employers don’t pay them minimum wage or overtime, or give them things like health insurance that others workers can count on. They don’t get unemployment, and certainly can’t organize into labor unions to try and get better working conditions or pay. Sanchez works with the American Friends Service Committee trying to help immigrant workers in Iowa.
