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Waterloo casino opens today

June 30, 2007 By

After several delays, the Isle of Capri Casino opens tonight in Waterloo. Vice President and General Manager, Kim Hardy, says the casino complex will feature 11-hundred slot machines, 31 table games, four restaurants, 195 hotel rooms and 5,000 feet of convention space. Hardy says the casino will give the community an economic boost.

He says they look to do 100-million dollars in revenue and they’ll pay 30-percent of that in state and city taxes. Hardy says the casino is also creating hundreds of jobs, as they’ll employ 750 to 800 people with 700 fulltime employees and 500 from Black Hawk county with an average pay rate of 10 to 10 and half dollars an hour. The doors open tonight.

The public opening is at seven o’clock, and he says they’ll have showgirls, music and all kinds of entertainment. The casino is the last of the four new casinos approved by the Racing and Gaming Commission to open for business.  

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Big entry deadline looming for Iowa Games

June 29, 2007 By

The largest entry deadline is approaching for next month’s Iowa Games. The on-line deadline for entry into a total of 34 sports is Monday. Executive director Jim Hallihan says they need to have all the entries in before the fourth of July holiday because it takes time to put brackets and schedules together.

Hallihan says if you wait until after the Fourth, it’s hard to get the schedules made up. Hallihan says overall entries are strong though it varies from sport to sport. He says soccer is way up, but basketball is down, while volleyball is down, but soccer and baseball is up. Hallihan says it’s always a challenge to get all the sports up at once.

Already there are entries from all 99 counties and Hallihan says they have been trying to take some of the events out around the state to make them more accessible. The Iowa Gam es are July 12th through the 15th and the 20th through the 22nd in Ames. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Bix provides training runs to tune up for big race

June 29, 2007 By

If your thinking of taking part in the Bix-7 road race next month in the Quad Cities you may want to take part in the weekly training runs that will help you get used to the challenging course. The Bix at six training runs are sponsored by the Cornbelt Running Club.

Cub president Paul Schmidt says there’s and 8% grade at the beginning and there are other steep grades throughout. Schmidt of Davenport says it makes it much different than running the same distance on a flat course. He says you don’t think it is too bad at the first hill and by the time you get to the turnaround you realize it’s getting tougher and it’s hot and it takes a toll.

Schmidt says the training runs are also a way of promoting fitness in the Quad Cities. He says they have a tremendous running community in the Quad Cities. Schmidt says they offer training runs on a weekly basis leading up to the event at 6 p.m.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Hundreds become new citizens in Des Moines ceremony

June 29, 2007 By

More than 480 people, who have been living in Iowa, became United States citizens today during a Naturalization Ceremony in Des Moines. The new citizens hail from 76 different countries. District Court Judge Robert Pratt was the first to congratulate the now official U.S. citizens after they took an Oath of Allegiance.

Pratt said it may have been difficult for some to renounce their allegiance to their former government. "You did not renounce, nor should you ever renounce, the devotion that you carry in your heart for the people of your native land," Pratt said, "preserve that always."

Shylesh Christian came to the U.S. from India 10 years ago to attend grad school. Now, he’s working and raising a family in Des Moines. He says obtaining citizenship is a long process. "You have to get your green card and then wait five years after that to be eligible to become a U.S. citizen," Christian says, "so it just takes time and patience I guess."

Christian says he won’t take his rights as an American citizen lightly. "I have the right to vote! That’s what I’m most excited about," Christian says. Most of the new citizens, 136, come from Bosnia. Another 91 are from Mexico. Natives of India and Vietnam both had 26 participants in the Iowa ceremony. 

Filed Under: Human Interest

Two beaches posted for high bacteria

June 29, 2007 By

State beach monitoring coordinator Eric O’Brien says two beaches will have warning signs for high levels of bacteria after the weekly testing. He says both beaches are in eastern Iowa where there has been a lot of rain this week, Backbone State Park Beach and Lake Darling. O’Brien says they did retest after the original tests, but the levels did not come down enough to withdraw the advisories.

O’Brien says there hasn’t been a lot of call for posting beach warnings so far this year. O’Brien says the bacteria levels are typically rainfall dependent, and it’s been s spotty year for rain. O’Brien says they’re also doing more follow up testing now, and water that shows a spike in bacteria may come back okay in the second test, and not require the beach be posted. The tests are drawing more interest as we’re now getting into the peak of the water recreation season.

O’Brien says there’s been good weather the last few weeks and there has been a lot of people out at the beaches. You can find out more at the Department of Natural Resources website at: www.iowadnr.gov . Click on the "Beach Monitoring" link. 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

Flood Aid concert set for Saturday in Missouri Valley

June 29, 2007 By

A country music concert called "Flood Aid" is planned for Saturday in the western Iowa town of Missouri Valley to help some of the victims of last month’s flooding recover. A levee break in early May flooded more than 90 homes in the Harrison County town.

Bob Everhart, president of the Anita-based National Traditional Country Music Association, is organizing the seven-hour show. Everhart says the concert "covers a huge gamut of music and performers" and will be held in old middle school gym in Missouri Valley. The event is called "Flood Aid, Roots Music – All the way to Elvis." The concert runs from 2 to 9 P.M. Saturday. Everhart says he came up with the idea after one of his friends in the music business sustained un-reimbursed losses during the May fifth flood, and now the family has additional burdens to bear.

He says a cafe owned by the Pearce family sustained damage in the flood and no sooner had that occurred than Mrs. Pearce was hospitalized with a brain tumor. Everhart says that family "and everyone else who needs help" in Missouri Valley will benefit from the show. He runs down the roster of some of the day’s performers:

The musicians include: Ervin Pickhinke "The Singing Farmer," old-style country by Marge Lund of Anita, harmonica music by former Missouri Valley Mayor Ron Reiff, Kentucky guitarist Jimmy Pearce, and the "Silver Creek Cloggers" from Council Bluffs. Some 77 families were forced out of their homes during the May fifth-through-seventh floods. About a dozen have been able to return to houses that were inundated with several feet of muddy, stinky water.

To date, FEMA has approved more than $630,00 in grants for Harrison County, and the U.S. Small Business Administration has offered assistance totaling three-point-nine-million for flood damage in southwest Iowa.

There is no charge to attend, but Everhart says they’ll "pass a hat" during the show and will be happy to take whatever you can afford to give to help out the residents of Missouri Valley. For more information, call (712) 642-2553.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation

Huckabee says he doesn’t have to win Straw Poll, but must do well

June 29, 2007 By

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says he’ll spend much of the month of July campaigning in Iowa in hopes of building support for the Iowa Republican Party’s Straw Poll August 11th.

"I think it’s a milestone for us, without a doubt. I don’t think I have to win the Straw Poll, but I think I have to do well," Huckabee says.

Huckabee isn’t declaring he’ll be finished as a candidate if he finishes poorly in the August contest, but Huckabee says a bottom-of-the-pack ranking would cause him to re-evaluate his race.

Evangelical Christians, those who advocate a national sales tax to replace the income tax and home schoolers are among those being targeted by Huckabee’s campaign as what Huckabee describes as "true believers" who will help attract others to support him in the Straw Poll. 

"I’m not tailoring the message any particular way because those are constituencies that largely have joined with me because they know of the consistency that I have both in my record as a governor, but also in my comments," the former Arkansas governor says. "There’s no YouTube out there of me taking very different positions on critical issues whether it’s the sanctity of life or the Second Amendment or tax policy, etc."

Huckabee rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has been criticized for changing his positions on the issues Huckabee raises.

During a Friday afternoon telephone news conference with reporters, Huckabee announced he has collected "substantially" more money in the second quarter of this year than he did in the first. "Our goal has always been to make sure we had enough gas in the tank to stay on the track and we’re going to be there. We’ll have enough money to play in the Straw Poll," Huckabee says. "…We certainly know we’re going to pass, substantially, where we were last time and that’s good news for us."

Huckabee, however, was only willing to talk in general terms about his fundraising. "We can actually go to the ‘grande’ level of the Starbucks cup instead of the ‘tall,’" Huckabee joked.

Huckabee is one of three GOP candidates campaigning in Iowa today. Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo plans to hold a town hall meeting on immigration tonight in Des Moines. Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson will make an appearance on Iowa Public Television this evening.

On Saturday afternoon, five Republican candidates will appear separately at a forum in Des Moines that’s co-sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance. Afterwards, Ron Paul — a candidate who was not invited to the forum — will host a rally in downtown Des Moines.

Filed Under: Politics & Government
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