After week off the Iowa Hawkeye women return to action tonight as they visit 14th ranked Minnesota. The Hawkeyes are 4-4 in the Big Ten and have been idle since a victory over Michigan last Thursday.Iowa coach Lisa Bluder says the players got the weekend off and she thinks they’re rested, refreshed and ready to go. Tonight marks the start of the second half of the Big Ten race and the Hawks will get their chances against the league leaders beginning with tonight’s game. Bluder says they have to try and get one of the top teams. The Gophers are 16-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten. She says they’re playing very well and have only lost one game at home and are a really good basketball team with good depth.Iowa is 15-4 overall.
ISU women face Colorado at home
February 2, 2005 By
The 19th ranked Iowa State women are at home tonight against Colorado in Big-12 action. The Cyclones are 16-2 overall and 6-1 in conference action after an impressive victory at Oklahoma. Colorado has strggled to a 1-6 mark and lost the first matchup with the Cyclones in Boulder back on January eighth. I-S-U coach Bill Fennelly says his team is experienced enough to know they cannot take this game lightly. He says he has bright kids who understand it’s February now and you can’t afford to overlook anyone. He says Colorado presents a unique challenge because of their size.Fennelly says the Cyclones must do a good job of rebounding against the taller front line of Colorado. He says they haven’t done a good job of that in the last two games and it cost them in a loss against K-State.Colorado has won in its last two visits to Ames.
U-of-I students debate legality of downloading music
February 2, 2005 By
Even Iowans who don’t download music likely know what Napster is — or was — and the ensuing legal challenges about using a home computer and the Internet to get songs. A debate and discussion is planned tonight (Wednesday) at the University of Iowa on the issue involving students and music industry executives. Kimbrew McLeod, a communication studies professor at the U-of-I, is organizing the summit which starts with a debate. The student debate team will debate over the point of whether or not the music industry should sue people who download copyrighted material. McLeod says tens of millions of people are downloading music, legal or not. He says more people in the U.S. downloaded music last year than voted for President Bush. McLeod says it’s an issue that’s very worthy of more study. The first half of the event will be the student debate team and the second half will be music industry experts discussing the issue — music artists, people who run record labels and entertainment lawyers. McLeod says U-of-I students who live off campus are prevented from downloading music from within the dorms, but he says plenty of students living off-campus download. At least half of the students download, some infrequently, others who have vast libraries of six or seven-thousand MP3 files of songs. McLeod said he hopes the debate and discussion will trigger students to think about intellectual property and their role in protecting it. He says “The issue of downloading music is an important one for undergraduates, especially because a lot of them do it and risk being sued.” The event begins at 7 P.M. (Wednesday) in the U-of-I’s Van Allen Hall. The first 150 people who arrive will get a free one-month membership to a music subscription service.
California men arrested on drug charges along I-80
February 2, 2005 By
Two California men traveling on Interstate 80 in Western Iowa were arrested Monday and charged with drug possession. Cass County Deputy Darby Mc-Laren noticed the men’s vehicle with its hazard lights flashing pull off the interstate at the Wiota exit at around 4:40 P.M. Monday. When he stopped to offer assistance, the deputy says the men were acting suspiciously. Following up on a hunch, Mc-Laren asked for and got permission to search the vehicle. With the help of Chief Deputy Brian Rink and K-9 Officer “Cody,” the deputies located two-pounds of methamphetamine — valued at between 40-and 50-thousand dollars — hidden in the car’s battery….which was also the source of their mechanical difficulty. 25-year old Michael Bailey of Norwalk, California, and 23-year old Kelly Olden of Anaheim, California were taken into custody and are being held in the Cass County jail on 32-thousand 500-dollars bond. At the time of their arrest, officers say the men had with them at least two-thousand dollars cash.
Air Quality advisory extended
February 2, 2005 By
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources extended its air quality advisory today for parts of Iowa after monitors showed continued pollution in the air. D-N-R air quality specialist Brian Button says the advisory covers virtually all of central and eastern Iowa. He says it’s especially important that people with heart or lung disease postpone strenuous outdoor activities. Button says the polluted air has hung over the midwest without any clean air to push it out of the way, or mix with it.He says air temperatures at eight or 10-thousand feet have been similar to the ground level temperatures, and he says that’s keep the emmissions from mixing vertically and move out. He says a new air mass is gradually moving into the state by tonight. Button says western counties from a line extending west from Atlantic, Denison and Estherville are already receiving a new air flow today.
Third member of Board of Regents expected to resign
February 2, 2005 By
Governor Tom Vilsack says a third member of the board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I will resign soon. Regent Sue Erickson Nieland of Sioux City is not at today’s (Wednesday’s) Board of Regents meeting in Iowa City, and she’s told Vilsack she will resign. Vilsack says he’ll have someone to replace Nieland “very quickly.” Two other Regents resigned last month — the former president of the board, John Forsyth, and Dave Niel. With the terms of two other Regents soon to expire, there’s a possibility for huge turn-over on the board. But today Vilsack told statehouse reporters he plans to reappoint Rose Vasquez of Des Moines, and will find someone to take Regent Owen Newlin’s place, too. Newlin, an ex-president of the Board, is from Des Moines. Vilsack took a key senate leader aside this morning (Wednesday) and pleaded for quick confirmation of the two people he’s already appointed to replace the Regents who resigned. Vilsack wants quick senate confirmation of Teresa Wahlert and Michael Gartner to remove any questions about whether the two may vote on matters that come before the Board of Regents. Vilsack rejects the notion that the huge turn-over on the nine-member board will create chaos. “I’m not concerned about that,” Vilsack says. “I have no doubt that they’re already well-versed in the issues that they need to be well-versed in to make a meaningful contribution from day one.” Vilsack believes both Wahlert and Gartner should be able to vote on matters that come before the board, but quick Senate confirmation of the two would remove any doubt. House Speaker Christopher Rants, a republican from Sioux City, is expressing his doubts about what’s been going on with the Board of Regents. Rants suggests University of Iowa leaders set things in motion behind the scenes to prompt the Regents’ resignations. “Look, we have to have a situation where the monkeys aren’t running the zoo,” Rants says. “That’s why we want to have a strong Board of Regents for good oversight and good governance.” “Three regents have been forced off the board and it begs the question: Who’s calling the shots?” Rants says. “We’re not going to have a situation where the monkeys are running the zoo. We’re going to have a strong Board of Regents and I’m very pleased that the governor seems intent on continuing that.”
Pierce kicked off Hawkeye basketball team
February 2, 2005 By
The University of Iowa men’s basketball player who’s being investigated for an altercation with a female friend in West Des Moines is now off the team, for good. In a prepared statement issued by the University, Hawkeye head coach Steve Alford said Pierre Pierce (shown in photo above) had “betrayed the trust (the university) placed in him when he was given a second chance two years ago.” As you may recall, Pierce pled guilty to assaulting a woman in Iowa City. He sat out of competition for a year, but kept his scholarship. Now, he’s off the team for good, but there’s no mention in the university’s statement of Pierce’s scholarship status. Pierce, who is 21 years old and a junior, was Iowa’s leading scorer this season. In the prepared statement, Alford called Pierce an “excellent basketball player who will be missed…but given the circumstances,” Alford said he felt kicking Pierce off the team was the only appropriate response. Alford is declining all interview requests.
