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Feingold says Democrats must "stand up"

April 30, 2006 By

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold visited with Iowa Democrats this past weekend, raising his profile as a potential presidential candidate in the state which will host the first contest in the next campaign.

“In Wisconsin and all over the country as I’ve tried to go to places like Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, and Vail, Colorado, all the same message. People say to me ‘Why can’t you Democrats stand up? Why can’t you stand up what you believe?’” Feingold said. “…We have strong beliefs. We just have to state them strongly.”

Feingold drew his loudest and longest applause from the crowd of about 100 Iowa Democrats attending the Third District Convention in Johnston when he outlined his call for a congressional censure of President Bush. “We shouldn’t be afraid to stand up to the wrong-doing of this Bush Administration,” Feingold said. “It is appropriate for us to be a loyal opposition and to stand up when they are doing something wrong.”

Feingold also ridiculed President Bush’s recent attention to the problem of high prices at the pump. “The president likes running around all of a sudden saying that we’re addicted to oil,” Feingold said. “I wonder when woke up and smelled the oil (in) the coffee on that one.”

Feingold drew handshakes from the party faithful afterwards. “Thank you. I hope you run for president,” one woman told Feingold. Feingold opened his Saturday speech not by talking about the 2006 election, but the groundwork that must be laid for the presidential election in 2008. “I’m here because we all remember 2004,” Feingold said. “It was really devastating, but what I found as I traveled Wisconsin…and then when I got around other places in the country, I heard people saying they were unhappy. They were sorry that we had lost but they wanted to turn it around. And one of the things they told me to do was to…get out there and make sure we have a 50 state strategy.”

Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Caucuses play into any candidate’s presidential campaign strategy. Iowa’s Democratic Governor, Tom Vilsack, is also mulling a bid for the White House in 2008, but Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller — a Democrat who’s held that job for 21 years — says Feingold could be competitive in the Iowa Caucuses. “One thing about the Iowa Caucuses is they’re open,” Miller says. “Russ Feingold’s a neighbor. He’s a very attractive candidate in a lot of ways, (an)impressive guy. He’s been a terrific senator on McCain/Feingold and many other things.”

Miller admits, though, that Vilsack would have an edge in Iowa if the state’s governor runs. Besides Hillary Clinton, other Democrats in the U.S. Senate considering a run for the presidency are Joe Biden of Delaware, Evan Bayh of Indiana and John Kerry of Massachusetts, but the Iowa Attorney General says the Wisconsin Senator may benefit from being a neighbor who is seen and heard by eastern Iowans who live on the Iowa/Wisconsin border. “Anybody (who) gets exposure in Dubuque, my old home town — the Democratic bastion in Iowa — that helps as well,” Miller says.

Feingold headlined fundraisers for two Iowa congressional candidates and spoke at Iowa Democratic Party conventions on Saturday.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

U-N-I coach says players have potential for good draft

April 29, 2006 By

The UNI football team could establish a new record this weekend during the NFL draft. Coming off their best season in school history coach Mark Farley says more than a half dozen Panthers are being considered. Farley says there are seven people who people in the N-F-L have looked at. Farley says there are five others that could get into a camp and have a chance to make it.

Farlery believes there is a good chance a few will be taken during the second day of the draft. He says the odds are the guys who get invited to a training camp will have a good chance of making the teams.

The draft begins later today in New York City and Iowa linebacker Chad Greenway is expected to be the first Iowa collegiate player taken.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Special motorcycle coming to Western Iowa

April 29, 2006 By

What some people will consider a major, two-wheeled attraction will roll into western Iowa this fall. Rich Smith, a firefighter in Atlantic, says a renowned super-cycle valued at a half-million dollars will appear during the annual Iowa Firefighter’s Convention there in September.

Smith says after months of negotiations, an agreement has been reached with the Orange County Choppers to bring the “Fire Bike” to town. The chopper-style motorcycle was built as a tribute to the 343 New York firefighters who were killed during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.

The motorcycle was featured on the The Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper” and was hand-crafted using custom-made parts to look like firefighting equipment, such as a Scott respirator bottle for the chopper’s oil sump, an aluminum miniature fire hydrant for a carburetor and much more. The fuel tank, made to resemble the cab of a fire truck, is topped-off by a bolt that was recovered from the ashes of the World Trade Center.

Smith says the reason they’ve worked so hard to bring the machine to town, is to promote the community, to help pay for convention expenses in bringing firefighters to town, and to attract anyone within a 300-to-400-mile radius. Smith says when fellow firefighters were told about the chopper during a meeting a couple of weeks ago in Mason City, the response was phenomenal. He says “everybody was just pleased, tickled and very positive…they can’t wait to come and see the bike.”

Smith says the bike has not been in the Midwest before, other than Sturgis. The chopper will be on display September 8th and 9th in Atlantic and will be shipped back to New York in time for ceremonies marking the 5th anniversary of the nine-11 attacks. For more information, surf to www.atlanticfire.com.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Human Interest

Iowa tax filing deadline is Monday

April 29, 2006 By

The deadline to file your state taxes is Monday, and a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Revenue says there are several thousand who’ll use up every minute allowed. The Department’s Renee Mulvey says there’s still time to get everything done on-line. She says if you haven’t filed your federal taxes, you should go to the state website and see how you can file the state and federal taxes together.

Mulvey says there are options available if you can’t afford to pay to e-file. Mulvey says it’s very important to double check your work before filing. Mulvey says many of the mistakes are very simple mistakes, such as forgetting to sign the return, adding wrong or putting amounts on the wrong line.

Mulvey says a mistake will delay the processing of your return and lead to more work all-around. Mulvey says your return is put in another pile where it is scrutinized more closely and then they have to ask you for more information and it increases the time it takes to process your return.

Mulvey says the people who owe money aren’t always the ones who wait until the last minute. Mulvey says they’ve already received a couple hundred thousand returns where people are sending in their money. For more information, check the Department of Revenue’s website at:www.state.ia.us/tax.

Related web sites:
Iowa Department of Revenue

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I-S-U’s Allen chosen U-N-I President

April 29, 2006 By

The board that governs Iowa’s three state universities met Friday and voted to make Benjamin Allen the new president of the University of Northern Iowa. Allen’s been a transportation professor and academic vice-president at Iowa State University. On Friday just after his confirmation, Allen spoke to a gathering on the Cedar Falls campus and talked about his previous visit to U-N-I.

Allen says he and his wife were impressed during their visit to the community earlier this month. He says they wanted to come back, not just because the campus was beautiful and the academic programs outstanding, but because of the people they met.

Allen says “Students First” is not just a slogan at UNI. He says people live it and there’s a passion for the school. Allen says he hopes to make it even better, a process he jokingly calls “purple passion.” Allen was among three finalists to replace Robert Koob who announced his retirement after 11 years as president of U-N-I. Allen, who is 59, has been at Iowa State since 1979.

As the university’s Provost and V.P. for academic affairs, Allen was in charge of all academic programs and he was the immediate boss to all the college deans. He earned a degree in business economics from Indiana then his masters and doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois. His academic specialty, before he entered administration, was transportation logistics.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: ,

Candidate calls for gas tax holiday

April 29, 2006 By

A candidate for Congress from Iowa’s First District is calling for a “federal gas-tax holiday” this summer. Bettendorf Republican Brian Kennedy says that would save every driver about 18-cents a gallon. “We have to do this,” Kennedy says, “because our nation’s economy is premised on an affordable tank of gasoline.” He says the skyrocketing prices we’re seeing right now demand Congress treat this as an emergency. He suggests we repeal the federal gas tax from June first through the end of September.

Kennedy says now’s the perfect time for Congress to change the law for four months to suspend the federal gas tax. He says everybody pulling up to the pump will save around 20-cents a gallon on gasoline. Kennedy says we can easily make up that revenue, for suspending a new tax cut scheduled to go into effect for big oil companies. He says they were scheduled to start benefiting from a new corporate income-tax this year and next year.

Kennedy has previously supported the authorization of five new oil refineries, expanded domestic drilling and production, increasing the renewable fuels standards and doubling the federal investment in the hydrogen fuel initiative. Kennedy faces Mike Whalen and Bill Dix in the June primary election.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Iowan tells of problems of being uninsured

April 29, 2006 By

Monday begins “Cover the Uninsured Week” and one Iowan is telling her story to illustrate the plight of those who don’t have health insurance. Phyllis Harkey lives in Des Moines. She says she’s a single self-employed mother of two teenage boys who was recently left without health insurance after getting a divorce. Harkey says she requires medication for asthma and other chronic health issues that costs over 2000 dollars a month.

Harkey says she looked into getting insurance and says she was told a new policy wouldn’t cover pre-existing conditions, prescriptions, emergency room visits. She says it would have cost her 300 dollars a month and not even cover the prescriptions she needs. Harkey says this left her in a precarious situation.

Harkey says having enough money to buy her prescriptions could mean the difference between feeding her children and being very ill. Harkey is encouraging everyone to contact their legislators and ask them to work to see that everyone can get health insurance.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:
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