The UNI men will play two games on national television in the next couple of weeks. The first is tomorrow night when the Panthers visit Creighton in Missouri Valley Conference play on ESPN-2. The Panthers will be looking to avenge a last second one-point loss to the Jays at the UNI-Dome earlier in the year. UNI is in fourth place in the Valley at 7-5, while Creighton is 5th at 6-6. Panther coach Greg McDermott has a lot of respect for the Blue Jay program, as he says they’ve been consistently strong, which he says is hard to do in any league. McDermott feels a win at Creighton could help UNI’s resume if they hope to play in the postseason. He says it would put them back on the map after beating Southern Illinois, and says would set them up for a strong stretch run. Creighton coach Dana Altman says UNI comes into the game with momentum. He says they’re playing well after going through some struggles. Altman says UNI provides a tough matchup.Creighton is 14-9 overall and Altman says their post-season hopes will ride on how well they do in the conference tournament. He says they’re behind the curve and need to play a little better and hopefully things will fall into place for the tournament.The Panthers will host their first-ever naqtionally televised game on February 19th when they play Western Michigan as part of the Bracket Busters. That game wil also be carried by ESPN-2.
ISU women face Texas Tech
The 14th ranked Iowa State women take the Big-12 lead on the road to visit 13th-ranked Texas Tech tonight. ISU is 8-1 in the league race and begins a stretch in which they play four of their next five games away from home. Coach Bill Fennelly says it seems like each team has to go through a tough stretch and this is theirs. Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp says the Cyclones are a difficult team to guard. Sharp says they can attack from every position. She says they can shoot the three quickly or take the ball to the rim. The Cyclones are 18-2 overall. Texas Tech is 16-4.
Teen killed in Western Iowa accident
Authorities in western Iowa have released the name of a teenaged boy killed in an accident Monday. Thirteen-year- old Ben Crees of Casey died following the single vehicle wreck on a rural road in northern Adair County. 15-year-old Andrew Crees was driving and lost control of the car carrying the brothers just before four o’clock yesterday. According to the Adair County sheriff’s office, after the car went off the road and into a ditch it rolled several times, throwing both boys from the vehicle. The sheriff’s office is still investigating and trying to determine what caused the car to go out of control.
Volunteer program to expand
A program to encourage volunteerism in Iowa will grow this year. The Ten-Thousand-Hour Project began about three years ago in Iowa City, to add incentives for people to give their time helping others. Spokeswoman Shannon Thomas says the program’s in its second full year and organizers already have decided to take it statewide. They’re expanding into Story, Blackhawk and Polk County, working with Drake students and some at Kirkwood Community College in Linn County. Thomas says while you have to register the charity or organization you’re going to give your time, that’s easy to do. Thomas says the goal is to effect change, and by growing the group can see it happen in even more communities. Last some 870 volunteers worked for 60 organizations in Johnson County alone, and the group expects many more volunteers to complete their verified ten hours of volunteer service by the April concert to be staged at the University of Iowa Memorial Union. Just last night, the group announced the live entertainment will include an Iowa City band called Public Property and headliner Guster.
Group tries new approach to get people to donate organs
Organizers of a group that’s looking for new members in Iowa say they’ve found a simple solution to the nation’s organ shortage: give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. David Undis is executive director of LifeSharers, a non-profit group of people who make a simple agreement. Undis says “We all want our organs to be offered first to other organ donors before they’re offered to people who won’t agree to donate their organs. The whole point of LifeSharers is to increase the number of organ donors out there because there are so many people dying waiting for organ transplants.” Undis says six-thousand people in the U.S. die every year because they need an organ transplant and don’t get one. There’s nothing exclusive about the group, Undis says. Anyone can join, free. He says all you have to do is agree to donate your organs when you die and you’ll have a better chance of getting an organ should you need one while you’re alive. Undis says Iowans who’ve already checked “organ donor” on their drivers license will not have a conflict of any sort. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose, he says, as you’ve already agreed to donate your organs so you might as well get something in return. Undis says “About 70-percent of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who haven’t agreed to donate their own organs when they die. People who are too lazy or too selfish to register as organ donors shouldn’t be eligible for transplants as long as there is a shortage of organs.” He says it’s not due to a lack of organs, it’s because so many people bury or cremate their organs when they die rather than let their neighbors have them. If everyone had to be an organ donor to get an organ transplant, then there’d be no shortage of organs. The Tennessee-based group went online in 2002 and has about three-thousand people as members so far, including 19 people in Iowa. Undis expects membership to be well over a million, once word spreads. For more information, surf to “www.lifesharers.com”. There’s also an Iowa-based organ and tissue donor group called the Iowa Donor Network at “www.iowadonornetwork.org”.
Arrest made in Anita nursing home fire
An arrest was made today (Tuesday) in connection with a January fire at a Cass County Nursing Home.Cass County Sheriff Bill Sage says following an investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s office and local police, a resident of the Colonial Manor in Anita was arrested this morning for allegedly setting fire to a room in the nursing home during the late night hours of January 29th. 43-year old Sherry Kay Christensen was charged with reckless use of fire. The woman is alleged to have set a towel or doily on fire in the room of another resident, then placed the cloth on a chair, setting it on fire as well. The building’s sprinklers extinguished the blaze before firefighters arrived. The resident of the room and a charge nurse on duty that night suffered smoke inhalation, but no one else was injured. Sage says Christensen is currently under medical care at an undisclosed facility. If convicted of the charge against her, she faces a fine of up to five-thousand dollars, or up to a year in jail.
Senator proposes freezing property taxes for those over 65
The republicans in the state Senate who proposed erasing income taxes for Iowans under the age of 30 now propose freezing property taxes for Iowans over the age of 65. Senate Co-President Jeff Lamberti, a republican from Ankeny, says it’ll help seniors afford to stay in their own homes longer. “We want to make sure no senior in Iowa has to choose between paying their property taxes and moving out of their home,” Lamberti says. But if property taxes for seniors are capped, wouldn’t other property owners see an increase in their taxes for schools and other local government budgets? Senate Co-Leader Stewart Iverson, a republican from Dows, disputes that. “What it means is maybe the cities and counties don’t have as much money coming in as they wanted,” Iverson says. “But I think that’s it’s important that we don’t want to drive ‘em out of their homes.” Lamberti says Senate Republicans also want to lift some of the restrictions on who may provide in-home or adult day care services so more Iowa seniors have access to care outside of a nursing home. Lamberti says that will save money for the state as it’s cheaper to help the elderly get care in their own home rather than more expensive nursing home care that they may not really need. Senator David Miller, a republican from Libertyville, says nursimg homes should be allowed to offer adult day care, too, within the faciility. “A lot more people could stay in their home if they had a place to go to during the day,” Miller says. The G-O-P senators also propose incentives for Baby Boomers who purchase long-term care insurance.
