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Fort Dodge man faces possible murder charges

June 8, 2006 By

A Fort Dodge man could soon be charged with murder after the beating death of his former girlfriend. Fort Dodge police and the state D-C-I are waiting on an autopsy report to decide if charges should be filed in the death of a Fort Dodge woman this week.

Thirty-six-year-old Dawn Franker was found dead Tuesday at the domestic abuse/sexual assault outreach center shelter house where she’d been staying since last week. Franker underwent surgery a few days ago to repair a broken nose and other injuries received in an assault last Thursday.

Thirty-two-year-old James Altman allegedly assaulted Franker. He’s held in Fort Dodge on domestic assault and other charges. The full autopsy report could take six to eight weeks to complete.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Oskaloosa man dies in accident

June 8, 2006 By

A two-vehicle crash Wednesday in southeast Iowa’s Mahaska County left one man dead, another hurt. Troopers say a pickup driven by 26-year-old Matthew Dickinson of Oskaloosa apparently ran a stop sign at an intersection with Highway 92 and went into the path of a tractor-trailer driven by 34-year-old Robert Yeisley of Springville. Both trucks overturned. Dickinson was killed and was not wearing a seatbelt. Yeisley, who was wearing a seatbelt, was injured but refused treatment. The investigation continues.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Des Moines couple charged in check scheme

June 8, 2006 By

Authorities have arrested a Des Moines couple who allegedly devised a scheme to write counterfeit checks using false identification. Forty-six-year-old Jack Hobbs and 31-year-old Cynthia Hobbs were arrested by Mason City police on Wednesday. Lt. Ron Vande Weerd says the couple allegedly would go through the garbage, collecting personal information, then print counterfeit checks and false I.D. cards with their own pictures.

Vande Weerd says the couple even had a computer and printer in their hotel room where they were supposedly making a number of I.D.’s and checks. Jack Hobbs is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $11-thousand-700 bond, while Cynthia Hobbs is being held in jail on an order from the U.S. Marshal’s Service. Vande Weerd says the investigation continues and more charges are pending.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Motorcyclist dies in Mahaska County crash

June 8, 2006 By

A motorcyclist was killed in a crash about ten o’clock last night (Wednesday) in southeast Iowa’s Mahaska County. Troopers say 61-year-old Richard Vanee of Pella was heading west on Highway 153, two miles west of Oskaloosa, when his motorcycle was allegedly rearended by a Fed-Ex tractor-trailer driven by 67-year-old Dennis Glancy of Fremont.

Vanee was taken to Mahaska County Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Harkin says eliminating estate tax makes the rich richer

June 8, 2006 By

Legislation that would eliminate the federal estate tax is up for a vote today (Thursday) in the U.S. Senate. President Bush calls the estate tax a “death tax” and wants it scrapped while Democrats, like Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, say eliminating the estate tax would just make the rich richer.

Harkin says “The estate tax impacts only about three-tenths of one-percent of the wealthiest families in America. Only three out of every one-thousand families ever pay any estate taxes. There’s just 18 families with more than 180-billion dollars in accumulated wealth that are the driving force behind this repeal effort.”

Harkin says if the estate tax is abolished, it would drain the U.S. Treasury of nearly half a trillion dollars over ten years, and none of that would be offset by budget cuts or tax increases elsewhere; that half-trillion would just be added to the deficit and passed on to our children in the form of higher interest rates. He says “the level of irresponsibility here is just breathtaking.”

Harkin says “Repeal of the estate tax will not create any new jobs, it would do nothing to increase productivity or competitiveness, it would do nothing to improve the education of our kids or the general wellbeing of the American people. It’s a pure and simple giveaway, a bonanza for those who have already received the lion’s share of the tax breaks passed over the last five years.” He says if Congress is going to pass new tax breaks, they should be for working Americans who need them, starting with parents raising their kids and trying to save for college tuition.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Nussle says gay marriage ban "quality of life" issue

June 8, 2006 By

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle says banning gay marriage is a “quality of life” issue. Nussle, who is leaving congress after serving 16 years in the House, supports amendments to the federal and state constitutions that would ban gay marriage. “I’m an original co-sponsor of the amendment to protect marriage at a federal level. It was just re-introduced and I’m an original co-sponsor of that as well and I believe Iowa needs to set a standard when it comes to quality of life, and that’s based on the union between a man and a woman,” Nussle says.

Nussle says “activist judges” are “out of control” and have “free-lanced” on cases which have set in motion a fight over whether gay and lesbian couples have the same rights as married men and women. “I believe there’s a clear difference in this election between the candidates on this issue,” Nussle says.

Chet Culver, the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nominee, has said Iowa law currently spells out that the only legally-recognized marriages in Iowa are those between a man and a woman, and a constitutional amendment is not warranted. “I don’t think we need to change the marriage laws at this time in Iowa,” Culver said after a candidate debate in May. “I do think we need to add sexual orientation to the civil rights code.”

That move would bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Culver’s competitors for the Democratic nomination both backed a state law creating legalized “civil unions” for homosexual couples, but Culver opposes civil unions. “I do not think we need to change the marriage laws of Iowa,” Culver said. “I’ve said that throughout the course of this campaign.”

A constitutional amendment banning gay marriage failed to garner enough support in the United State Senate Wednesday to move forward. The amendment got 49 yes votes, but it needed two-thirds support to pass teh Senate.

Filed Under: Politics & Government

World Pork Expo kicks off today

June 8, 2006 By

The World Pork Expo opens today (Thursday) at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Jill Appell, a pork producer and grain farmer from Altona, Illinois — president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council, says new features will include an “I-D Alley” where farmers can get “premise registration” that’s being touted as important to the future of the industry.

Another new program this year will be the pork-farmer job fair to help both job seekers and farmers looking for some workers.

The expo’s not just for farmers, either, as the food’s a favorite with Iowa visitors. Appell says a favorite feature is always the “Bar-B-Q-Lossal” competition. The nation’s best barbecuers will vie for $20,000 in cash prizes and national competition points.

500 exhibitors are signed up for the trade show. The Swine Show is another tradition, as is the “Pig-Casso” Art Show, and the farm-toy show and sale. She says they hope for nice weather though she jokes that it’s “usually very hot or very wet.”

The World Pork Expo is June 8 through the tenth at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.

Related web sites:
World Pork Expo

Filed Under: Agriculture
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