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Culvers pro-abortion stance wins endorsement of Planned Parenthood

May 4, 2006 By

Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa’s political action committee has endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver. Jill June, president of Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, says they’ll make a campaign contribution in about a month and try to spread the message about Culver’s stand in favor of abortion rights.

“Let’s make it perfectly clear today that it matters more than ever who you vote for,” June says. “Among the leading candidates today, Chet Culver stands head and shoulders above the rest.” June says the state’s Planned Parenthood’s PAC has never before endorsed a candidate in a gubernatorial primary. “We simply must speak now and we must provide our steady, true, guiding hand to the voters of the state of Iowa so that they understand what’s at stake,” June says.

With an abortion ban being passed in South Dakota and questions about the future of the Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion in America, June says it’s critical that voters choose a candidate who will not allow abortion rights to “unravel.”

June describes Culver as a “clear” and consistent supporter of not only abortion rights, but a backer of ensuring women have access to legal prescription drugs, like the birth control pill or the so-called morning after pill. Culver’s rival, State Representative Ed Fallon, also backs abortion rights but another competitor, ex-state economic development director Mike Blouin, is pro-life.

Blouin has pledged not to sign any bill that would enact abortion restrictions. June says that’s not good enough. “There’s just no wiggle room left anymore in politics on these matters. Women’s lives are at stake when their privacy rights to health care are stripped away,” June says. “We are looking for a leader and we just can’t make do with a follower.”

Culver went to Planned Parenthood’s administrative headquarters Thursday afternoon to formally collect the group’s endorsement. “This is important,” Culver said. “Choice does matter.”

Culver said there will never be any question about where he stands on the abortion issue. “As governor, most importantly, I will veto any attempt that will infringe on this very important right,” Culver said. Culver is currently Iowa’s Secretary of State. Congressman Jim Nussle, who is running unopposed for the Republican party’s nomination for governor, is pro-life.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Marshalltown man denies improper help for I-S-U player

May 4, 2006 By

A Marshalltown man says he had no role in Juri Hubalek’s decision to attend Iowa State and an investigation is not needed. Leon Schade and his wife helped Hubalek when he traveled to Marshalltown Community College from the Czech Republic to play basketball. That included the use of a car. I-S-U officials are trying to find out if any NCAA violations occurred. Schade says they let him borrow their car while they were out of town.

Schade had Iowa State season tickets years ago but he is a football season ticket holder at the University of Iowa. Schade says at the time he wanted to be sure that no violations occurred so he called former Cyclone assistant coach Damon Archibald. He says he told him the situation and says they wanted to continue to do things for Hubalek, and didn’t think it would be a problem since they are Hawkeye supporters.

Barb Burrows is Provost at Marshalltown Community College and says the school has been careful to follow the rules. Burrows says while Hubalek attended MCC there were no violations.

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U-N-I hopes to overcome injuries, finish strong

May 4, 2006 By

Despite a rash of injuries and a slow start the U-N-I baseball team is still in the hunt for the Missouri Valley Conference post-season tournament. The Panthers are 6-9 in the league race and a game behind Creighton for the sixth and final spot in the tournament.

Panther coach Rick Heller says it’s a big weekend as they all are the rest of the season. Bradley is fifth and the Panthers still have a series to play against sixth place Creighton. Heller says the last week of the season is important as several teams could finish last or second each year and he says this year is no different.

Bradley is 9-8 in the MVC and Heller says the Braves have an outstanding pitching staff. The series will begin with a single game Friday night in Peoria.

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Quad City baseball team pays off city

May 4, 2006 By

Wednesday was a big payday at the Davenport City Hall. The baseball team, the Swing of the Quad Cities, paid the balance of its 415-thousand dollar debt to the city, the root of a battle between the team’s owners and city leaders for weeks. Davenport Mayor Ed Winborn is glad the dispute is over.

Winborn says “We needed to be paid but we certainly didn’t want to jeopardize baseball in Davenport so it’s just a great day.” The check arrived hours before aldermen were to go into special session to consider locking the team out of John O’Donnell Stadium. The check for 367-thousand dollars was presented by the team mascot to Mayor Winborn at city hall.

At the council meeting, Alderman Keith Meyer asked city administrator Craig Malin to lead everyone in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Malin did, but only after this disclaimer: Malin quoted Satchel Page who once said “The keys to a successful life were to work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt and dance like nobody’s watching.” He amended that to include — sing like nobody’s listening. Swing owner Kevin Krause of the Swing says the team wants to re-negotiate its lease with the city.

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Regents says funding faculty salaries will be tough

May 4, 2006 By

Students at Iowa’s three state-supported universities could see a tuition increase after the Legislature approved funding below what the Board of Regents requested. The Regents met today (Thursday) in Cedar Falls, and Board President Michael Gartner says the Iowa Legislature approved an 11-million dollar increase in funding, while they’d asked for 40-million.

Gartner says that will create a problem in funding faculty pay increases and he says they have to find a way to do that. Gartner says administrators at Iowa State, Iowa and Northern Iowa will have to get creative. He says “We’ll get it done.” The Regents today asked their staff to look at proposals for coming up with more money for faculty salaries.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

Claghorn drops out endorses Northey in Ag Secretary race

May 4, 2006 By

The race among Republicans running for state Ag Secretary is shrinking from three to two. Karey Claghorn, a farmer from Milo, says she’s dropping out and endorsing an opponent. Claghorn says after a few weeks of talking with Bill Northey she’s decided to drop out of the race and endorse Northey.

Claghorn, who has never held elected office before, is executive director of the American Hampshire Sheep Association and helps manage 16 other groups in the livestock industry. Claghorn and her husband run a cow-calf operation, with some of their two-hundred acres used to grow hay and row crops. Claghorn grew up on a farm in southern Indiana.

Claghorn says she’d talked with Northey at several forums on the campaign trail and got to know him well. Claghorn says, “In this political environment of conflict, we’ve decided that together we can make a greater contribution to Iowa. Because we think that working together works.” Northey says he has great respect for Claghorn and Northey says her decision will make his campaign more diverse.

Northey says it “definitely makes our team stronger, makes our experiences broader.” Northey says they have a lot of things to do. Northey says Claghorn’s decision gives another boost to his campaign with about a month to go before the primary in June. He says people recognize that they have momentum as they’ve raised twice as much money as the other campaign from twice as many contributors.

Claghorn’s withdrawal from the race leaves Northey to face Mark Leonard of Holstein in the primary. Two candidates will square off in the Democratic primary, Denise O’Brien of Atlantic and Dusky Terry of Greenfield. The four candidates are seeking to replace Patti Judge who is now running for Lieutenant Governor.

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New I-S-U Extension leader tours the state

May 4, 2006 By

Iowa State University’s new vice-provost for Extension and Outreach is touring the state. Jack Payne says when he worked at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, he looked at Iowa State as the leading extension service in the country, never knowing he’d wind up working here.

Payne just started his job at Iowa State in January and says so far he’s had a lot of good comments on the program, created to extend the knowledge of the university out into the community. He calls I-S-U the best land-grant university with the best extension service, and says people really appreciate it.

“People seem to really like extension in Iowa,” he chuckles. He’s hearing about the relevance it brings to their communities and about the importance of 4-H and says a lot of people tell him about that program’s leadership skills for youth. He says they tell him not to do anything to diminish 4-H.

But Payne says people have also told him Extension’s a lot more than 4-H. Payne says 41-percent of Iowa’s population is now urban. While Extension’s traditionally rural, the service needs to grow programs to serve Iowans who now live in the city. He says a lot of that is gardening information for the city residents. Payne (who was in Webster City last (Wednesday) night,) is traveling around the state to find out how I-S-U Extension can better serve the needs of Iowans.

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