Iowa State coach Dan McCarney wants to see his offense run the ball better in Saturday’s non-conference finale at home against Northern Illinois. An improved ground game was a focus heading into the season but the Cyclones managed only 66-yards of rushing in the loss at Iowa. McCarney says Bret Meyer and Austin Flynn will continue to rotate at quarterback. Neither has committed a turnover in the first two games. Tony Yelk is still nursing a pulled muscle and until he is completely healthy Brian Jansen will handle the kicking chores. McCarney says no matter who the kicker is the Cyclones need to finish more drives.Albert Young’s college football career has been halted, again. Iowa’s redshirt freshman running back will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn A-C-L in Saturday’s 17-109 victory over Iowa State. It is Young’s second major injury. He missed the entire 2003 campaign due to a knee injury he suffered in pre-season workouts. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says it’s a tough ordeal. The Hawkeyes take a number-12 ranking and a 2-0 record to Arizona State this weekend. Ferentz says the Hawks realize they have a long way to go.One area of concern right now is special teams. The Hawks gave up a couple of long kickoff returns and had a field goal and punt blocked in the game against ISU. Ferentz says if that continues the Hawkeyes will be in trouble. He says they’ve been in this situation before and says for some reason they don’t have the hardness they need. He says one way to improve that is to make some changes.
Guttenberg and Garnavillo schools to merge
Voters eastern Iowa approved a couple of key issues on the ballot in Tuesday’s election. Voters in the Garnavillo and Guttenberg school districts both approved a merger of the two schools. Garnavillo passed the issue 188-20 while Guttenberg passed the issue 396-19, so the two schools will be merged into Clayton Ridge School District. Voters in the Eastern Allamakee School District in Lansing approved a five million dollar bond issue for school improvements. It needed 60-percent approval and got 67-percent.
ISU wins grant to help businesses
Iowa State University has won a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Office to organize a cooperative business development center. Peter Thomas of the U-S-D-A was in Iowa Tuesday to announce the 300-thousand grant. He says the grant will go to help fund the analysis of tools, producer resource sharing information, management training — or what he calls soft costs involved in putting together a business plan. Thomas says completing all the paperwork to get a business going can be costly. He says conforming to rules, regulations and policies at the local level is expensive, and you need a plan to convince lenders to fund the business. Thomas says they define rural areas as cities with populations of 50-thousand or below. He says not everyone agrees with that definition.He says they recently were developing a new logo and trying to increase their outreach. They hired a firm to do a test market study in a town of 500, but the people in the town said they weren’t rural, that’s two miles outside town. While the program is targeted at co-ops, he says the loans aren’t always ag-related. He says particularly the business loans, don’t always go to ag businesses, he says they can go to machines shops, motels, or any business that has an economic impact and creates jobs. Thomas says Iowa State won the grant on a competitive basis with other organizations in the state.
Investigation seeks the facts on a Davenport fax
A political “whodunit” is brewing in Davenport. The riddle to be solved here is just who used the FAX machine in the Davenport police department to send a memo to the media. The memo accused Lieutenant Phil Yerington of treating some cops unfairly and it accused him of being involved in a cover-up of sick leave abuse. The memo is apparently a fake. Yerington, who was once Davenport’s mayor, is now running to become the Scott County Sheriff. The former police chief of an Illinois town has been hired to solve this whodunit. The state Department of Criminal Investigation refused to investigate because it’s not a felony to FAX the media a memo. The police chief turned private eye is being paid 60 bucks an hour, plus expenses, to investigate.
School merger leads to legal fight
A legal battle is brewing over a whole-grade sharing agreement between two northeast Iowa school districts. Fredericksburg and Sumner began sharing their programs and buildings last month after the boards in each community agreed to the arrangement. The decision was made last October in response to declining enrollment and fewer state funds. Now, some Fredericksburg residents, upset that the town lost its high school to Sumner, are trying to get the agreement nullified. They’re taking the Fredericksburg School District and its five-member board to court, claiming the agreement doesn’t meet state requirements and is, therefore, invalid. The residents are questioning whether the board intended to enter into the whole-grade sharing arrangement, and claim the district failed to provide proper public notice before voting on the agreement.
Manure spilled in Ida County
A manure spill in western Iowa’s Ida County is under investigation by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The D-N-R says the manure leaked from a hog confinement operation in the northwest part of the county. A manure tank overflowed, sending waste into Bitter Creek. It’s unclear how much dumped, but estimates are it was flowing at two to three gallons a minute. A berm was built to stop the flow of manure, which was transferred to another pit. Ammonia levels in the creek are elevated but no dead fish have been found.
Heavy rain drenches Northwest Iowa
Several northwest Iowa counties have been under flash flood warnings this morning as heavy rain’s been falling the past 24 hours. In Spencer, more than six and a half inches has fallen–so far. Officials in Emmet County are reporting a foot of rain in the Wallingford area. Emergency Manager Terry Reekers says Highway 4 is flooded in Wallingford. Authorities in Palo Alto County say the Ruthven fire department is putting up barricades at the Lakes Center corner which is B-17 and N-14. Reports from Sutherland and Ruthven are over eight inches. Nearly ten-inches has fallen in Graettinger. Spotters in the Ringsted area are reporting nine-and-a-quarter. Over seven inches fell in the Royal area and at Vick’s corner east of Spirit Lake are over seven-inches. Deputies in Clay County say there’s water over the blacktops and gravel roads. Officers are asking drivers to use caution on those roadways.
