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Flooding at Greate Ape Trust of Iowa could cost over $1 million

August 28, 2008 By

Floodwaters surround Great Ape Trust buildings in June. The grounds of the Great Ape Trust of Iowa in Des Moines were inundated with floodwaters earlier this year and officials say damage to the 230-acre campus will likely exceed one million dollars. Operations director Jim Aipperspach says despite all the flooding the actual homes of the orangutans and bonobos were never threatened.

 ”The ape buildings themselves were built up above the 100-year flood plain and they’re also very well-built, concrete structures, so the structural damage to them was really nonexistent,” Aipperspach says. The flood destroyed temporary administrative offices and knocked out electrical and computer systems, but Aipperspach says the apes were never in danger.

He says the apes are safe and the scientists were able to continue taking care of them throughout the flood. Now they’re working to get the technology back in place to continue their research. Aipperspach says the Army Corps of Engineers is doing an analysis to determine if the U.S. Highway 65-Iowa Highway 5 bypass built near the Great Ape Trust contributed to the flooding.

Aipperspach says, “To the observer, it looked like the floodwater was retarded in its flow down into the Lake Red Rock reservoir because of the 65-69 bypass. That’s just an observation. The engineering analysis will determine to what extent it actually did impact the retention of water on our campus.”

The area where the trust now sits did not go underwater during the last major Central Iowa floods in 1993, before the bypass was built, which makes Aipperspach think the road contributed to this year’s problem.

(Photo courtesty of Great Ape Trust)

Filed Under: Education, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Football Friday Night returns

August 28, 2008 By

INS Football Friday Night returns August 29th. Check your local Radio Iowa affiliate for exact times or listen to our live webcast here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Iowa State starts the football season against SDSU

August 28, 2008 By

Gene Chizik The Iowa State Cyclones open the season at home against South Dakota State. Coach Gene Chizik begins his second season at the helm and more than a dozen redshirt or true freshmen are in the two-deep for this game.

Chizik says even though they’re playing with some fresh new guys, he still expects them to be better. He says there will be growing pains, but he still expects them to be better.

South Dakota State is a newcomer to the one-double-a ranks and finished last season with a record of 7-4. He says they have a good returning quarterback and two big receivers. Chizik says in this day and age, it doesn’t matter what league you play in, as someone can rise up and beat you.

Austin Arnaud is the starter at quarterback though back-up Phillip Bates will also see action. He wants them to manage the offense and not turn the ball over. Chizik says they have to make plays to move the football team.

Arnaud is looking forward to his first start. He says it’s his third year and he’s been waiting to get back out and compete. The Cyclones stumbled out of the gate with two losses in 2007.

Arnaud says this team needs a better start, especially with all the young guys, so they can play with some confidence. It is the first time these teams have met since 1954. Kickoff in Jack Trice Stadium is seven o’clock.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Drake set to kick off with new coach

August 28, 2008 By

A new era begins at Drake as the Bulldogs open their season against Upper Iowa under the lights. It will be the first game for new coach Chris Creighton who says there are a lot of unknowns heading into the contest.

Creighton says it’s the first game of the season and his first with the program, so the "unknown is at an all-time high."

Creighton says the Bulldogs must depend upon a veteran defense to lead the way, as they are young and inexperienced on the offense. But he says they have gotten better in practice. Creighton says after a long pre-season the players are ready for a game. Kickoff in Drake Stadium is six o’clock.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Report says job quality in Iowa declines

August 28, 2008 By

A new report from the Iowa Policy Project, released just before Labor Day, shows declines in job quality and the number of workers in the state with employment based health coverage. Report co-author Colin Gordon says, over the last decade, Iowa has added roughly 100,000 new jobs. But, the state has lost 150,000 jobs that provide health care coverage.

"By our measure, the rate of job based (health) coverage in Iowa has collapsed from 75 percent in 1998, to barely half, 58 percent in 2007," Gordon said. He credits a shift in jobs from one sector to another. For example, Iowa has lost manufacturing jobs, which typically provide health coverage – while gaining jobs in retail and leisure and hospitality – that don’t often provide coverage.

"The second thing that’s happening is that – in each one of those individual sectors – regardless of the pattern of job growth, the rate of coverage has been collapsing over time," Gordon said. The report indicates three of the four job sectors where jobs declined from 2001 to 2007 were among the top-paying job sectors in the state.

Co-author Beth Pearson says that means young people, who are just graduating from college, are going to look outside of Iowa for better paying jobs."When these young adults are entering the workforce (in Iowa), they’re finding different jobs with lower wages than they would have 25 years ago," Pearson said. Gordon says Iowa legislators need to "aim higher" in efforts to attract businesses that pay higher wages.

In 2007, the median hourly wage for an Iowa worker stood at $14.30. That ranks sixth in the nine state region surrounding Iowa and is below the national average of $15.19. The full report is available online at the Iowa Policy Project website .

 

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

State begins forums on "nuisance bars"

August 28, 2008 By

The state agency that regulates alcohol sales begins the first of three forums on "nuisance bars" today  in Des Moines. Lynn Walding is the division administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division.

Walding says the forums will look at local efforts to clean up the nuisance bars after the issue has popped up in several cities recently. He says they’ll talk about what a nuisance bar is and what can be done about them. Walding says the discussion will include elected officials and the public.

Walding says they will give a little education about how the current process of dealing with nuisance bars work and maybe explore ideas about how to make the process work better. Walding says dealing with nuisance bars isn’t always a quick and easy thing to do.

He says first you have to define a nuisance bar, which he says can be frustrating to some people "You know, one person’s favorite watering hole, is another person’s eyesore," Walding says. Once the nuisance is identified, then it you move to the process of dealing with it, and he says that process sometimes doesn’t move as fast as some elected officials would like.

Walding hopes the three forums generate lots of input. Walding says the Alcoholic Beverages Commission is anxious to hear the public comments so they can maybe craft a solution for the legislature or handle it in house. The forum today in Des Moines is from one to five p.m. at the city hall. The second forum is October eighth at the Davenport City Hall, and the third is November fifth at the Council Bluffs City Hall. Both the second and third forums are also from one to five p.m.

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Iraq war vet wearing boots at DNC in Denver

August 28, 2008 By

Boots Lots of delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver wear crazy costumes to try to capture the attention of the cameras. One Iowa delegate, though, is quietly making a statement with his footwear.

All week long, to every event in Denver, 24-year-old Jacob Krapfl of New Vienna has been wearing a pair of sturdy boots. "I’m wearing the boots I wore when I was overseas to remind me of where I’ve been and who I’m fighting for here," Krapfl said during an interview with Radio Iowa.

Sergeant Krapfl Sergeant Krapfl did two tours of duty in Iraq. He spent six months traveling highways there, searching for roadside bombs.

For his second tour, Krapfl was assigned to guard a military hospital in Baghdad. He left the Army, returned home to Iowa to farm, and is going to college full-time, too.

Now, about four years after his service in Iraq, Krapfl is serving as an Iowa Democratic Party delegate in Denver, supporting Barack Obama — and wearing his old Army boots.

"I wore these on my second deployment. My second deployment was four months long in central Baghdad. They’ve seen things that nobody else should," Krapfl says, his voice cracking with emotion. "We’ve got 150,000 pairs of boots on the ground in combat right now and every day a family’s told that their loved one’s going to come home, only being able to wear one boot and over 4,000 of those pairs of boots have been sent home, wrapped in a flag."

During the roll call of the states yesterday at the Democrartic National Convention, nine delegates from Iowa cast their votes for Hillary Clinton. The other 48 Iowans voted for Barack Obama. Krapfl is the Iowan who announced the tally. "It’s well worth it," Krapfl said of his convention experience. "I’ve been learning a lot."

Krapfl was on C-SPAN Wednesday morning, answering call-in question from viewers. One caller asked Krapfl if he believed Obama would conduct himself as admirably as Republican presidential candidate John McCain did when he was taken as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Krapfl recounted his answer during his interview with Radio Iowa. "Every soldier’s taught that if you’re taken prisoner it’s first in, first out, no matter your rank, and McCain did the right thing. He got out when it was his turn," Krapfl said. "And I said I believe Obama has the intestinal fortitude to the right thing and that’s what would lead him into being a great president."

A top Obama campaign organizer spoke yesterday morning to the Iowa delegation in Denver, reviewing Obama’s chances of winning the general election vote in various states. Jim Messina, Obama chief of staff, suggested this about John McCain’s home state: "If Senator McCain continues to be the schmuck he’s being, we’re going to play there, you know, and go tell some truth."

Read and hear more of what Messina had to say over on the Radio Iowa blog.

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