A county jail official in northern Iowa found herself on the other side of the bars Thursday. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department says a former Hancock County Jail administrator faces charges of first-degree theft after allegedly taking 19-thousand-500 dollars while she was supposed to be running the jail. 41-year-old Judith Kay Anderson of Ventura was taken into custody yesterday and appeared in Hancock County magistrate court. She was released by Judge Tom Bronk. First-degree theft is a class-C felony. Court documents indicate Anderson allegedly took probation fee and jail board payments over a four-year time span between 2000 and 2004.
Ceremonies set to swear in new citizens
February 4, 2005 By
The immigration office for Iowa and Nebraska has several public ceremonies coming up to swear in new Americans. The oath of citizenship will be administered to hundreds of people this year who’ve met the residence and study requirements, and Jerry Heinauer in the Omaha office is district director for Citizenship and Immigration Services, one section of the federal agency formerly known as the I-N-S. The two services most people are familiar with are becoming a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., or going even farther to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. He says in the last year, this 2-state office naturalized about 43-hundred people, and granted permanent residence to 35-hundred in Iowa and Nebraska. Heinauer says people are surprised to hear how busy his office is, “here in the heartland of America, as far from a border as you can possibly be.” Heinauer says most people come, honestly, because of the unlimited opportunities here, from the employment openings to the chance to exercise religious freedom. He points out the U.S. is unique in all the opportunities and freedoms we enjoy. This weekend will see two public events where new citizens take the oath of citizenship. The first, on Friday, actually takes place at a suburban Omaha middle school. As about 100 people become naturalized, it’ll “take the idea of citizenship from the courtroom to the classroom,” he says, illustrating what the 8th-grade kids have been studying in their unit on citizenship. The next event, Saturday at an Omaha community College, will feature all Vietnamese citizens taking the oath, and it’s scheduled to coincide with Vietnamese New Year.
Supreme Court says university foundations must open records
February 4, 2005 By
The Iowa Supreme Court says the three state-supported universities must open some records that have been kept from public view. The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that the records of the school’s fundraising foundations should be open to public scrutiny. The universities unsuccessfully argued that the records should be kept secret to protect the privacy of donors. This ends a legal battle that began several years ago when advocates for open government appealed to Iowa State University to open the records of its foundation, as many university operations were being bankrolled by the foundation.
Iowa National Guard support group wins award
February 4, 2005 By
An Iowa National Guard support group has won a national “Family Readiness Award” from the U.S. Department of Defense. Deb Davis is the wife of a soldier and a member of the “Keepers of the Flame” group in Carroll. She says Keepers of the Flame is a state-chartered “Family Readiness Group” of the Iowa National Guard, and their group represents Company A, First Battalion of the 168th Infantry. She says they became a very active group sometime in 2003 when the soldiers were slated to go to Kuwait for a sixth month mission, but that got canceled. The soldiers were eventually sent to Afghanistan in February of 2004. Davis says the group is important to the soldiers. She says, “Family readiness and mission readiness go hand-in-hand. If we did not have families who were ready at home, our soldiers would be over there worried about us and not concentrating on their mission. So, by them knowing we have a readiness group that is close, that is supportive to each other, our soldiers then know they don’t have to worry about us, they can worry about their job over there.” Davis says the group does many things to support each other. She says they meet monthly at the armory and put out a monthly newsletter to educate families about the guard and keep them informed. She says they have families with troops deployed and families that don’t have soldiers deployed that participate. Davis says they try to bring in experts who can help the families. She says as they get closer to the end of their tour, they bring in speakers that talk about how soldiers can transition back to their jobs, and when soldiers are getting ready to leave, they bring in speakers to talk about separation. Davis says the group was surprised to learn they’d been honored. She says, “It was a tremendous honor, we did not know we were nominated.” Davis says they have wonderful families that care about the guard, care about each other and care about the soldiers and that’s what makes it work. Davis is anxiously awaiting a phone call from her husband as he’s expected to learn soon about when he’ll return from his tour in Afghanistan.
Record temperatures expected today
February 4, 2005 By
Bicycles and rollerblades aren’t usually seen on Iowa’s streets and sidewalks in early February, but today’s warm weather is bringing ‘em out. Iowans are welcoming the break from the freezing cold and National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Russell says highs in the 50s and even 60s are expected in many areas.He says record highs may be hit today as temps are expected around 60-degrees in Des Moines, for example, where the normal high for this date is only 32. Russell says we should be shivering instead of washing our cars, but he reminds, all good things must come to an end. Russell says a cold front should arrive late Saturday or early Sunday along with the likelihood of snow by late Sunday.
Latham proposes more benefits for Guard and Reserve members
February 4, 2005 By
Congressman Tom Latham’s proposing legislation that would extend new benefits to Americans who’re serving in the Guard or Reserve. “My legislation is going to, I believe, help retain people in the Guard and the Reserve and certainly help as far as the quality of life,” Latham says. Latham wants to extend health care coverage to Guard and Reservists, for starters.”It is just wrong, I think, Guard and Reservists do not have health insurance provided for them (by the federal government),” Latham says. Latham says part-time federal workers get health care insurance, so should part-time soldiers. Forty percent of the Midwesterners who are serving in the Guard and Reserve do not have health insurance at all, according to Latham. Latham also proposes an incentive he hopes will keep younger people from dropping out of the Guard. For each two years of additional service beyond 20 years, they’d get an extra year of credit toward retirement. That means someone who came into the Guard at the age of 19, they could retire at age 53 rather than 60.
Tyson not ready to reopen plants anytime soon
February 4, 2005 By
Tyson says it’s not yet ready to call back furloughed workers at several of its beef plants, including one in Iowa. Tyson Senior Group Vice President Gene Leman met last night with community representatives in Denison. He said a lack of cattle coming to market means not enough animals for the slaughter operation, adding imports of Canadian cattle should resume. Leman says Canadian beef products are already in the U.S. marketplace and we’re eating them. With a ban continued on importing live animals, he says jobs are being kept in Canada — and reopening imports of live cattle would mean the jobs are here along with the same amount of beef we have anyway. A vice-president of the Iowa cattlemen’s Association says packers who complain of the lack of cattle to slaughter aren’t telling the whole story. Vice President Carol Galvan is in San Antonio for the annual meeting of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Galvan says most of the cattle producers at the Texas meeting “hear what Tyson has to say loud and clear” and understand the marketing issues but want “what’s good for the average producer.” Galvan doesn’t buy the claim that there are no cattle coming to market and that’s why slaughter operations are shut down. “Packers may be paying more than they want to pay,” she says, but it’s not true that there are no cattle coming to market. Another issue is getting Asian markets to resume their imports of US beef, and Leman told the Denison leaders that both producers and packers lose money when they can’t sell specialty products to the markets in Japan and Korea. Leman says the USDA and our officials should negotiate quickly with Japan because there are lots of cuts and “special items” sent there that meant many dollars to the cattle feeder and cow-calf operator. Galvan says one priority important to the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association is resuming Asian exports before we resume imports from Canada. Another thing’s guarantees by Canada that their feed ban’s in place and working, so the appearance of cattle with BSE in Canada is under control, and if there are some older cows with the ailment at least they’re not continuing the practices that may have caused it. Galvan says some older animals may have been given feed made with ground-up slaughterhouse remains before that was banned as a means of controlling Mad Cow. She says producers also think there are enough cattle in Canada to depress the market for slaughter cows here. Galvan says she thinks export barriers on cattle and beef are more political than anything else. She says it’s clearly not a food-safety issue — as Japan’s identified somewhere between fifteen and 18 animals in that country’s own herds with BSE, so to ban cattle from a country where there have been two, or three, or fewer cases is simply political. Tyson executives say they’ll review the market again in a week or two and decide then whether to call back workers at their beef plants in Iowa, Nebraska and other states.
