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Over 36,000 Iowans lose 138,000 pounds in "Lighten Up" challenge

April 30, 2008 By

Governor Chet Culver won't say how much weight he lost in Lighten Up Iowa State officials say over 36,000 Iowans lost a total of 138,000 pounds in the past four months as part of the "Lighten Up, Iowa" challenge.

Iowa Sports Foundation executive director Jim Hallihan is an organizer and co-founder of the "Lighten Up" program. "If you could picture 69 female beluga whales…that’s about the amount of weight that we lost," Hallihan says. "…That’s about 46 grand champion bulls at the State Fair. That stuff is gone."

In January, Iowa’s governor and lieutenant governor issued a challenge, urging state employees to participate and about two-thousand did. Both pledged to get involved, too.

Governor Chet Culver has slimmed down, but isn’t revealing his weight loss, just the amount of activity he’s logged in the past 100 days. "I was able to get in 60 workouts for 70 hours," Culver announced at a ceremony in the statehouse this afternoon. "Although it didn’t count, I was up this morning at five and got my exercise today."

Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge also began working out and altered her diet.  Judge says she tried "very, very hard" and lost 15 pounds. "For the first time in a long, long time I am incorporating physical activity in my daily routines. They’ve even had me at a gym with a personal trainer…who’s continues to try to convince me that doing situps at over 60 (years of age) is a good idea," Judge says. "(I’ve) got a ways to go until we’re real comfortable with that, but I am trying."

Judge says she’s not at the end of her weight-loss journey, though, and she’s praising other Iowans who embarked on the "Lighten Up" challenge this year. "With your help, we are changing the shape of the state — and I think the shape is better — one individual at a time," Judge says.

"Lighten Up, Iowa" was launched in 2000 and this year’s weight-loss total was the highest ever for the on-line competition.

In another month, the state will launch another challenge to Iowans. "The Culver/Judge 100 Way Challenge — that’s W-A-Y," Culver says. "Our challenge to all Iowans has two parts. Number one: we must build on the progress we’ve made together through the ‘Lighten Up, Iowa’ program by encouraging Iowans to stay active in their daily lives. Number two: we can do so by promoting the unlimited opportunities for outdoor recreation in our state."

Culver says Iowa’s land, lakes, rivers and streams are an "amazing" resource for activities in the summer months. "Whether it’s taking part in RAGBRAI, turning off the television and going for a walk or just deciding to eat better — every Iowan can take charge of their own health, prevention and wellness," Culver says.

The Iowa Department of Public Health plans to set up a website where Iowans can tally their outdoor activities, starting on June 1st. In September, Iowans who’ve logged the most outdoor activities will be publicly recognized. The governor says he plans to take part in the effort and will participate in the Hy-Vee Triathlon.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

New effort touts wind energy jobs

April 30, 2008 By

 State government, Iowa colleges and representatives of the wind energy industry have formed an "Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation." Governor Chet Culver says a new website – www.iawind.org — has been created to serve as a clearinghouse.

"Through research, innovative public policies, training and education, and expanding our testing facilities — the alliance will meet the goal to help us create 25 percent of Iowa’s electricity from renewable sources by 2025," Culver says.

Much of the group’s work, though, centers on education as the three, state-supported universities and five of Iowa’s 15 area community colleges expand programs to train students who’ll land jobs in the wind energy industry. Al Zeitz, the lead instructor for the wind energy program at Iowa Lakes Community College, says working on a wind turbine is different than maintaining or fixing other turbines.

"Knowledge of aerodynamics, for example, would help. There’s a lot of different technologies that kind of merge together in the wind industry. We need to know a little bit about hydraulics, high-voltage electricity, low-voltage electricity electronics, composites, fiber glass," he says. "There are a lot of little things that are pulled together in this industry and that makes technicians working on wind turbines unique."

Iowa Lakes Community College graduates with a two-year associates degree can earn about 60-thousand dollars a year once they land a job working on wind turbines. Iowa Lakes Community College had 14 students enrolled in a program that trains folks to fix and maintain wind turbines in 2004. This past fall, there were over 100 applicants for the program.Barry Butler, dean of the University of Iowa’s engineering program, says his institution hopes to be actively involved in research for the companies that’re building wind turbines in Iowa.

"We have a youth base in this state that is incredibly interested in wind energy and they are hungry for the academic programs. They are hungry for going to work in this business and it’s really amazing when you talk to them," Butler says.

Tom Shih, chair of Iowa State University’s aerospace engineering program, agrees. "Meeting our country and our world’s growing needs for energy in a clean and sustainable manner is probably the most important challenge for this century," he says.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Northwest Iowa water project ready to run

April 30, 2008 By

After nearly two decades of planning and construction, water will start flowing Thursday in northwest Iowa through the half-billion-dollar Lewis & Clark Regional Water System. Executive director Troy Larson says it’s been a long time coming.

Larson says the project was first developed in 1989 and, at last, "We’re finally going to be delivering water." The system is a partnership of 15 cities and five rural water districts in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. It will use some 340 miles of underground pipe to move treated water to communities from wells near the Missouri River. Larson says this is the first stage.

A nine-mile stretch of pipe between Sioux Center and Hull will have Lewis & Clark buying water from Sioux Center and reselling it to Hull. Larson says completing this first pipeline is an important milestone for the project, which isn’t expected to be finished until 2019.

He says, "It is significant in terms of just getting the momentum going, that the further we get this project along and closer to completion, that there’ll be this desire in Congress just to finish the project." Larson hopes going operational will help push more funding out of Washington D.C., as the project cost is now estimated at 537-million dollars. The project was "zero-funded" in President Bush’s proposed budget for 2009, meaning the money would be cut off next year, but Larson says they are working to stay on their construction targets. The massive project is set to receive more than 26-million federal dollars this year.

 

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With:

Iowa Utilities Board approves new electric plant for Marshalltown

April 30, 2008 By

Iowa Utitilies Board chair, John Norris (center), listens to discussion of proposed Marshalltown electric plant. The Iowa Utilities Board today approved the request of Alliant Energy to build a new coal-fired electric plant in Marshalltown after nearly three hours of discussion.

The board voted two-to-one in favor of the plant for its Interstate Power and Light Company subsidiary, with the requirements that the company burn more renewable fuel overall, store carbon from emissions, and build new wind power.

Boardmembers discussed whether it was better to move ahead and build now, or wait to see how carbon emission and other environmental regulations changed. Boardmember Darrell Hanson cast the vote against the plant.

Hanson says he thinks the consequences of being wrong are greatest if they build the plant, as they can’t go back. Hanson says there are some alternatives to meeting an increased need for electricity in the short run, although he admits they are not ideal.

Board chair John Norris said he would only vote for the plant with the conditions that the company increased its use of alternative fuels. Norris says making the company use a greater amount of renewable energy will reduce the consumer burden of paying for carbon costs in the future, and he says the provisions would eventually require the company to get 25% of its energy from renewable sources.

Norris says it’s a tough balancing act in knowing that coal power is needed, but also promoting other sources of energy. He says the problem with wind, is that it is an intermittent resource, so having a baseload capacity of (coal plant) electricity helps enable the use of wind, but he says does having that baseload reduce the demand for wind. Norris says he tried to continue to create the demand for wind energy, while also keeping the base of electricity that makes wind more feasible.

I-P-L president, Tom Aller, talked with reporters after the decision. Aller says they are “very, very pleased” the decision has been made. Aller was asked if the provisions the board put on the plant will be acceptable to the company. Aller says the answer is “I don’t know” as he says they have to talk about what some of the percentages and figures mean, so it is premature to say if they will accept or reject the conditions.

Aller says they need to look over the figures carefully to determine its overall impact. Aller says it’s a matter of understanding what the conditions mean, what the criteria are and how they affect future rates. The proposal to build the plant was opposed by Iowa Consumer Advocate John Perkins who said the plant wasn’t needed and that Alliant should wait until new technologies were developed to burn cleaner fuels.

Environmental groups also opposed the plant and Nathanial Baer of the Iowa Environmental Council was on hand for the meeting. “We’re disappointed…we think there was a very good discussion and the potential was there for them to deny or delay the plant, and unfortunately they chose to approve it,” Baer says,”we’ll have to give some careful consideration to the conditions that they have asked Alliant to meet. Alliant hopes to have the plant in service by 2013. The plant is estimated to cost between 1.5 and 1.8 billion dollars. 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Congressman Braley backing Obama

April 30, 2008 By

Congressman Bruce Braley of Waterloo has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Braley is one of the "super delegates" who may play a key role in deciding who wins the party’s nomination. 

"I had a chance to go to my first district convention in Dubuque on Saturday and that was the number one question on everybody’s mind: ‘When are you going to endorse? Who are you going to endorse?’ and after looking at the numbers from both district convention, the county conventions and the Caucuses in my district; talking to many, many people about the candidates left in the race and looking at the longterm impact on our party I decided that Senator Obama was the right person to endorse," Braley says.

Braley says his endorsement is "in no way" any kind of signal to the Clinton campaign. "It’s simply to send a message to the voters of my district that I have given this a lot of consideration and after weighing all of the factors, I’ve decided that Senator Obama is the person that I want to endorse," Braley says.

Braley endorsed John Edwards before the Iowa Caucuses and this spring Edwards organizers had asked supporters to "keep their powder dry" and remain uncommitted rather than jump on the Obama or Clinton bandwagons.  "Senator Edwards dropped out of the race and I had a very good conversation with him after he decided to do that. I have left voice mails for him trying to get input from him on what his thinking was on the remaining two candidates and have heard nothing back from him," Braley says. "I am my own person. I’ve got my own responsibilities to the people who elected me and it’s come down to a choice between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton and after giving it a great deal of consideration, I’ve decided to endorse Senator Obama."

Braley is in his first term in congress, seeking reelection this fall, and Braley says he’s concerned about the tone of the ongoing battle between Obama and Clinton. "I’m worried about the fact that the campaign seems to be diverting from focusing on a lot of the real issues that voters care about, like health care and rising fuel prices and the war in Iraq and tends to be focusing on a lot of gotcha things," Braley says. "So I’m hopeful that as we go forward we’re going to have more and more clarity on who the nominee is going to be and we can get back to focusing on the very real differences between our Democratic nominee and John McCain."

McCain will campaign in Iowa tomorrow, his first stop in the state since finishing fourth in the Iowa Caucuses.

In December, Congressman Leonard Boswell of Des Moines endorsed Hillary Clinton and Congressman Dave Loebsack of Mount Vernon endorsed Barack Obama. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, also a super delegate to the Democratic National Convention, has said he is neutral. Harkin’s his wife, Ruth, endorsed Clinton last July and campaigned around Iowa with the New York Senator. Iowa’s other U.S. senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, did not endorse a candidate before the Iowa Caucuses. In late December, Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron, endorsed Fred Thompson. Iowa’s other congressman, Republican Tom Latham of Ames, did not endorse a candidate before the Caucuses.

 

AUDIO: Braley endorses Obama (mp3 runs 2 min 14 sec)

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

U-of-I studies drug for treating gambling addiction

April 30, 2008 By

Researchers are studying how a medication used for treating drug and alcohol abuse may also be used to treat gambling addiction. The testing is underway at University Hospitals in Iowa City and at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Study co-director Dr. Dennis McNeilly (mik-NEE-lee) says pathological gambling is a major problem in the United States.

Dr. McNeilly says: "If we can help people deal with their thinking that’s repetitive or their cravings that they have for gambling through a medication, then we can get them to a point where they can begin to look at, ‘Gee, how has this affected by life and maybe I need to make different kinds of decisions.’"

McNeilly says the drug, known as Campral (KAM-prahl), may not be a cure-all for gambling addiction and he says counseling is still a good idea as a supplement. He says the 12-step program and other cognitive behavioral therapies can be very effective in helping people overcome their addictions.

He says compulsive gamblers receive the same euphoria and excitement that alcoholics get from a drink. Campral is known to block the receptors in the brain that give a pleasurable response to alcohol consumption and diminish the desire to drink. McNeilly is hoping the drug will have the same effect for pathological gamblers. He says gambling can be just as addictive as alcohol. McNeilly says, "It might be compared to, if a person is depressed and they haven’t been sleeping and can’t focus on things, if we can give them a medication that helps them with their depression so they’re sleeping better, they’re focusing better, then they’re in a situation where they can start to make other decisions and say, ‘Well, gee, maybe I’m depressed because of this, or too much stress or whatever.’"

McNeilly, who’s heading up the research at the Omaha location, is president of the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Volunteers are needed for continued study of the drug, both in Iowa City and in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. For more information, call (402) 552-6005.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:

Ft. Atkinson girl charged in Turkey Valley school bomb threats

April 30, 2008 By

A northeast Iowa teenager faces charges for recent threats that forced evacuations at several schools. A 15-year-old Fort Atkinson girl has been referred to juvenile court services in connection to three bomb threats at Turkey Valley schools. The Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Department says Hailey Lynn Yost has been referred for three counts each of threat of terrorism, terrorism and threat of arson stemming from the bomb threats the district received March 28th, April 2nd and April 4th.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
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