The state advisory board is weighing proposed new forest preserves in Greene and Floyd Counties. The Greene County site is the Eureka Woods preserve and would cover 106 acres on the banks of the North Raccoon River flanking old Lincoln Highway. The steep slopes rising up from the river are heavily forested and according to a DNR survey, the area has more than 180 different plant species. DNR spokesman John Pearson says it would be one of only a few state preserves on private land. “The landowners would remain in control, just like any other private property. So there’s no public use automatically allowed; you’d have to ask for permission from the owners like any other private property.” The Floyd County site is the 315-acre Fossil and Prairie Park owned by the Floyd County Conservation Board. The area contains fossils and a limestone quarry once opperated by the Rockford Brick and Tile Company. Several endangered animal and plant species can also be found there. Pearson says past precident suggests both parks will likely be approved. Pearson says “We’ve never had one get this far and not become a preserve in the past, but we have public comments for a purpose and it’ll just depend on what those comments are and how the board chooses to react to them.” Two local residents came up with the plan and provided the land for Eureka Woods in 2002. The state preserves board will make a decision on the site in early April. Public comments on the proposed sites will be accepted through March 15th.
Ice jam causes problems in Cedar Rapids
An ice jam is causing traffic troubles in Cedar Rapids.Motorists who normally use Ellis Boulevard had to find a detour this morning as the road was closed due to do problems with ice. The Cedar River, which runs through Cedar Rapids, had ice eight-to-ten inches thick last night, but it was stuck along a bend in the river and the ice jam caused flooding. Up to eight inches of water was on the roadway and it was starting to freeze in the low temperatures. Crews sandbagged other roads overnight as a precaution.
UNI hopes to add three new courses
The president of the University of Northern Iowa says his school hopes to offer three new courses to respond to student demand. U-N-I president Robert Koobsays U-N-I plans to offer an undergraduate degree in computer network administration. Koob says one of the most popular two-year technical programs at the state’s community colleges is in computer network administration, and U-N-I is “reaching out” to those students, offering a four-year degree to a very large number of community college grads. U-N-I also plans to offer a “bio-infomatics” undergrad degree and a new masters degree. It’s called a “professional science masters.” Koob says it will take someone with an undergraduate degree and teach them two languages — the language of technology and the language of business. “So that we create for Iowa a higher-level workforce,” Koob says. The new courses won’t be offered, though, if the legislature doesn’t provide more money to U-N-I.
Supreme Court upholds ruling banning driver’s licenses for illegal aliens
The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a district court ruling that illegal immigrants cannot obtain driver’s licenses in the state. A couple who are illegal aliens sued the state saying it would make it safer for them to drive if they were able to obtain an Iowa Driver’s License. Their illegal status does not allow them to get a social security card and other documents required for a license. The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the district court ruling, saying they conclude the state’s licensing scheme is rationally related to the legitimate state interest of “not allowing its governmental machinery to be a facilitator for the concealment of illegal aliens.” The court also said denying driver’s licenses to the class of illegal aliens does not violate the equal protection clauses of the federal and state constitutions. They concluded that the practice of denying driver’s licenses to illegal aliens violates none of the statutory and constitutional provisions raised in the case and upheld the judgment of the district court.
Former carnival worker to be tried in Iowa
Iowa prosecutors say they plan to try a man who’s in court this week in Nebraska, accused in the slayings of a woman in Iowa and a man on the Nebraska side of the border on the same night last spring. 48-year-old Michael Gunther worked for a carnival owned by an Iowa woman — a traveling show that was set up and performing in Bellevue, just south of Omaha at that time. John Jacobmeier, the Chief Pottawatamie County Attorney, says the defendant also had a relationship with his employer. The victim had a trailer parked at the Bluffs Run Casino the night of May 23, and prosecutors are alleging that Gunther had an altercation with the woman, Sally Kennedy, and killed her there. Jacobmeier says they’re alleging that Gunther then took guns from the RV, went to Nebraska, and shot a man with those guns at the carnival’s location in a housing unit near Offut Air Force Base. Jacobmeier says all 3 were involved in the carnival and had a personal relationship with each other, though as time went by, he says “it kinda went downhill.” Witnesses say Gunther shot and killed 36-year-old Michael Zawodney as he worked at the carnival in Bellevue that night of May 23, 2004. Gunther’s on trial in Nebraska’s Sarpy County, and yesterday (Thursday) another carnival worker and an off-duty military MP testified they saw Gunther shoot Zawodney several times that night. Earlier this week, Gunther told the judge in his courtroom that he wants to be put to death for his crime, but although Nebraska has the death penalty, the Iowa prosecutor says he won’t get it. The case was filed without “aggravated circumstances” that might justify the death penalty. Jacobmeier says in Iowa, “our life is life,” and a sentence can be handed down with no chance for parole so (if convicted) he’d die in prison in Iowa. That’s why the Pottawatamie County attorney’s office says no matter what the outcome of the Sarpy County trial, they’re filing paperwork now to try Gunther in Iowa, too. Jacobmeier says they’re waiting for the Nebraska trial to finish and his office plans to hold a trial within 90 days after Gunther’s brought back to Iowa. It was a bizarre case and included false leads — carnival owner Salle Kennedy was divorced but she and her ex-husband jointly managed the traveling carnival, and the day before her slaying, he’d been found dead of an apparent heart attack. Authorities took a closer look, but finally determined that his death was from natural causes, and not connected to the slayings a couple of days later.
Gas prices jump again
Gasoline prices in Iowa have jumped up more than a dime a gallon in the past month. Dawn Duffy, spokeswoman for Triple-A Iowa, says it’s typical for the wintertime to see that sort of bounce. The current statewide average is a dollar-85, up from a dollar-74 last month and way up from a year ago when the price was a dollar-57. Duffy says several factors are coming into play in making the pump prices rise. February is usually when the oil industry shifts its focus from heating oil production to gasoline. Inventories of gas are higher than normal now but demand is also up, keeping us about even with where we were a year ago. The calendar says spring will arrive March 20th — just over a month away — which Duffy says may boost demand even higher, along with the prices. She says it’ll be a time to keep an eye on gas prices to look for the lowest prices available.According to the Triple-A survey, Davenport has the most expensive gas in the state, averaging a dollar-88 while Des Moines has the cheapest at a dollar-79.
Students lobby Legislature over ex-con’s voting rights
Fifteen students from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City lobbied legislators yesterday (Thursday), urging support of a bill that would restore voting rights to many convicted felons after they’ve done their time. Sixteen-year-old Antonio Chalmers, a junior at Metro High in Cedar Rapids, says the state punishes felons for a life time by not giving them back the right to vote. Seventeen-year-old Jorel Robinson, a junior at Metro High, too, says felons who have completed their sentence should be able to vote. “Thirty-eight other states have agreed with this and I don’t see why Iowa shouldn’t either,” Robinson says. Robinson knows someone who he believes should be able to vote.Robinson says when the gentleman was 17 years old, he stole four tires and became a felon. The man’s now 50, and can’t vote. “Those are the type of things…that got me interested and real passionate about what we’re doing here,” Robinson says. “We have the highest prison population in the world, and if we can’t figure out a way to reintroduce (ex-prisoners) into society, there’s no way this is going to work. You can’t really be a part of a democracy yet eliminated from it and expect them to respect that.” Seventeen-year-old D’Anthony Money, a student at Senior High Alternative Center, a school in Iowa City, believes voting rights should be restored only if ex-felon proves they’re on the right track. “Things like (automatic restoration of voting rights) just shouldn’t happen, because who’s to tell what you’ll do next?” Money says. Money’s older brother got in trouble with the law in his late teens, but Money says his brother’s got his act together now. “I hope my brother’s voting rights will be restored. He’s been out of jail. He’s been doing good,” Money says. “Sometimes he just (feels) like giving up, but I just (tell) him ‘Don’t give up.’” Money says his brother made a mistake and should be forgiven because he’s turned his life around.
