A Sioux City resident found out quick that a presidential vote cannot be sold. The Woodbury County Auditor’s office was notified this week that a vote for the presidential election was offered for sale on e-bay and the item location was listed as Sioux City. Commissioner of elections Pat Gill says by the time he looked at it, it had been removed from the site. Gill says if it was meant as a joke it was not funny. He says it’s punishable by up to five years in jail and a $7,500 fine. Gill says the law was not broken since the ad was taken down. The seller offered to give the buyer an "I voted today" pin or sticker with free shipping.
Sioux City man tries to sell vote on-line
August 29, 2008 By
U-I to enforce smoking ban at football game
August 29, 2008 By
University of Iowa campus police plan to strictly enforce Iowa’s new ban on smoking in public places as the football season gets underway today. U-I Director of Public Safety Chuck Green says smoking is banned smoking in and around Kinnick stadium, and campus police will be on the alert on game day:
"We will be aggressive inside the stadium to make sure people are not smoking. We will also take the same approach on our parking lots and our ramps," Green says. Green says violations are likely to come at tailgate parties and in the four open-air corners of the stadium where smokers used to go at halftime.
Green says this will be a major change for a lot of people who used to be able to smoke at the games. Green expects there’ll be some unhappy smokers. Green says they anticipate some people being upset, but they will try to warn and educate people to keep from having to give them a citation.
At Iowa State Thursday, smokers were directed to off-campus location to smoke. In Cedar Falls, additional no-smoking signs will be going up in and around the UNI-dome. The smoking ban went into effect on July 1st.
Humboldt hosts polka dancers
August 29, 2008 By
The north central Iowa community of Humboldt is hosting some 3,000 polka dancers this holiday weekend for the annual Midwest Polka Fest. Mary Mulligan, of Humboldt, is one of the organizers of the celebration, which started on Thursday. She says there are all sorts of polka bands performing.
Bands include: The Lyle Beaver Trio, Bruce Bradley, Becky and the Good Time Dutchmen. The events start today (Saturday) at noon and run until midnight. There’s a Polka Mass at ten Sunday morning plus a breakfast will be served. Then, it’s more polka music from noon to 8 P.M. Sunday. Mulligan says the festival is now in its 19th year.
The events are underway at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. There is no website for the Midwest Polka Fest. If you would like more information you may call 515-332-5375.
High School Football Scores
August 29, 2008 By
CLASS 4A
Burlington 22, #8 Davenport Assumption 0
Indianola 51, Hoover 14
CR Kennedy 28, Marion Linn Mar 7
#3 SE Polk 39, Ottumwa 10
Mason City 26, DM North 20
Johnston 35,Ames 14
DM Catholic 48, DM East 21
Ankeny 27, Waukee 15
CR Jefferson 7, CR Xavier 0
Bettendorf 37, Pleasent Valley 7
Clinton 34, Davenport North 7
Eldridge North Scott 42, Davenport West 7
Dubuque Hempstead 31, Iowa City West 7
#2 CR Washington 28, #5 Cedar Falls 9
CR Prarie 23, Waterloo East 0
Waterloo West 36, Dubuque Senior 15
West Des Moines Valley 57, Sioux City West 28
CLASS 3A
Boyden Hull/Rock Valley 27, MOC/Floyd Valley 0
#1 Sioux City Heelan 62, Lawton-Bronson 13
Central Lyon/GLR 20, West Lyon 14
Hampton-Dumont 27, AGWSR 0
Gilbert 29, JSPC Jefferson 7
Emmetsburg 36, Spencer 0
Algona 17, Boone 7
Clear Lake 58, Humboldt 20
Harlan 20, Denison-Schleswig 7
Grinnell 39, Oskaloosa 22
Estherville Lincoln Center 25, Sheldon 13
Western Dubuque 25,Dyersville Beckman 21
Marion 30, Waukon 0
#2 Harlan 20, Denison -Schlewig 7
Carroll 35, #9 Carroll Kuemper 7
West Burlington Notre Dame 34, Keokuk 13
Marshalltown 27,Sioux City North 21
Estherville Lincoln Central 25, Sheldon 13
Union LPC 22, Webster City 21
Solon 42, Mt. Vernon 8
Charles City 35, Osage 20
Forest City 35, Crestwood 34
Iowa Falls Alden 14, South Hardin 13
Carlisle 35, Pleasentville 14
Pella 21, Washington 18
Mt. Pleasent 42, Kirksville Mo. 32
PCM 23, Knoxville 12
West Delaware 48, Maquoketa Valley 6
Dallas Center Grimes 23, Adel 6
Fairfield 32, Albia 7
Creston Orient-Macksburg 20, Chariton 9
Centerville 34, Davis County 28 (2OT)
Benton 42, Center Point Urbana 0
Decorah 27, Waverly Shell Rock 7
Perry 45, Ogden 27
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 26, South Sioux City, Neb. 0
CLASS 2A
East Sac County 27 Manson NW Webstr 6
Battle Creek-Ida Grove/Odebolt-Arthur 40, Buffalo Ridge 0
Western Christian Hull 31, South O’Brien 0
Iowa Valley 28, #10 Montezuma 13
Sioux Center 22, Westwood 12
Ballard-Huxley 36, North Polk 0
Wilton 36, Durant-Bennett 0
Missouri Valley 21, Logan Magnolia 7
#8 Mediapolis 60, WACO 27
MFL Mar-Mac 14, Postville 13
Cascade 28, North Linn 14
Sigourney Keota 20, Pekin 19
North Cedar 19, Belleview 18
Don Bosco 7, Jesup 6
Okoboji Milford 22, Sibley Ochedon 14
Clarinda 19, Atlantic 7
Maquoketa 21, West Liberty 6
Estherville Lincoln Center 25, Sheldon 13
Maple Valley Anthon Oto 13, Tri-Center Neola 12
Colfax-Mingo 37, Nevada 21
C-W-L 22, West Bend Mallard 18
Central Lyon George Little Rock 20, West Lyon, Inwood
Boyden-Hull RV 27, MOC-Floyd Valley 0
Sumner-Fredericksburg 35, Edgewood-Colesburg 0
CLASS 1A
#5 St. Ansgar 21, #2 Mason City Newman 0
Belle Plaine 48, HLV Victor 14
BCL-UW 28, East Marshall 7
West Monona 53, West Harrison 6
Mt. Ayr 37, Clarke Osceola 7
New Hampton 35, North Fayette 0
Gehlen 32,West Sioux 31(OT)
Alta 21, Sioux Central 8
Southern Cal- Lake City 20, Prarie Valley 6
NE Gooselake 21, Camanche 0
Northwood-Kenseth 6, Lake Mills 0
Nashua Plainfield 43, North Butler 7
Northwood Kenseth 6, Lake Mills 0
Lisbon 25, Alburnett 20
IKM/Manning 48, Audubon 7
Panorama 30, Central Decatur 7
Woodward Granger 27, Des Moines Christian 0
Aplington-Parkersburg 36, Dike-New Hartford 27
Hudson 41, Denver 13
Stanwood North Cedar 19, Bellevue 18
CLASS A
Madrid 60, SE Webster 0
North Tama 50, Midland-Wyoming 0
Bedford 41, Martendale St. Marys 6
Nashua-Plainfield 43, North Butler 7
Ft. Dodge St. Edmonds 21, Bishop Garrigan, Algona 7
East Buchanan 9, Starmont 8
Lone Tree 26,G-M-G 16
Rockwell City-Linton 22, Woodbury Central 14
BGM 69, Danville 7
Gutherie Center 26, Van Meter 14
Boyer Valley 19, Marcus-Meridan-Cleghorn 13
Lynnville Sully 27, English Valley 13
North Tama 50, Midland 0
North Mahaska 21, Winfield-Mt. Union 18
Underwood 34, Treynor 0
Stanton 54, Exira 6
Red Oak 15, Corning 0
#8 AHST 36, Oakland Riverside 0
Fremont-Mills 24, Shenandoah 19
Alta 21, Sioux Central 8
BCLUW 28, East Marshall 7
Keosauqua Van Buren 54, Eldon Cardinal 0
8-PLAYER
Grandview Park Baptist 46, Seymour 0
Lenox 48, South Page 0
#6 AR-WE-VA 36, East Greene 12
Melcher-Dallas 54, Murray 19
CWL Corwith 22, West Bend-Mallard 18
NE Hamilton 45, Twin River Valley 44
Ankeny Christian 72, Moravia 13
Grandiew Park Baptist 46, Seymour 0
East Mills 20, Woodbine 17
Adair Casey 56, Farragut 6
Walnut 78, Hamburg 32
Janesville 34, Lansing Key High 16
North Central Kossuth 39, Ventura 8
Graettinger-Terril 40, Aurelia 38
Elk Horn-Kimballton 38, Sidney 22
West Central 47, Clarksville 7
Glidden-Ralston 46, Whiting 6
Coon Rapids Bayard 59, Charter Oak Ute 14
Remsen St. Marys 36, Harris Lake Park 12
Dunkerton 74, CAL 24
Bussey Twin Cedars 56, Garden Grove Mormen Trails 32
Preston 61, East Central 12
Thornburg Tri-County 42, Springville 32
Laurens-Marathon 36, Grandville Spaulding 16
Expert says talk to kids about drugs as they head back to school
August 29, 2008 By
As kids make the transition from summertime back to school, one expert says it’s a good time for Iowa parents to remind their kids about the perils of drugs. A new survey finds more Iowa teens say they use marijuana than the national average, what one expert calls a dangerous trend. Dr. Phillippe Cunningham is a White House advisor on drug policy.
Cunningham says about ten-percent of Iowa teens report using illicit drugs in the past month, about 12% said they’d used marijuana in the past year, while seven-percent reported abusing pain killers in the past year. Nationwide, the study found ten-percent of kids report using illicit drugs, about 7% use marijuana and around four-percent abuse pain killers.
Cunningham says the numbers on pot smoking are of particular concern, as the survey polled teens between 12 and 17. He says the harmful ingredients in marijuana travel throughout the body, including the brain, where they can lodge in vital receptors.
Cunningham says, "What we’re learning from neuro-imaging studies about the adolescent brain, the developing brain, is that areas of the brain involved in higher cognitive functioning have an abundance of these receptors, so it’s not surprising then that we find that kids who use and abuse marijuana are more likely to drop out of school, more likely to get poor grades in school." He says studies show marijuana use doubles a teen’s odds of dropping out of school.
Cunningham, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, says parents need to remind their children about the rules. He says, "Be clear with your kids about your expectations about their behavior, particularly, having a no marijuana/drugs policy in your home, having consequences, but you also have to monitor, you really have to know where your kids are and who are they with?"
Cunningham says the number-one predictor of a kid using marijuana or other drugs is having a friend who’s also using them. He says parents do play a highly influential role in teens’ lives and need to know the facts about marijuana and over-the-counter drugs.
Grassley and King like selection of Palin for McCain V-P
August 29, 2008 By
Iowa Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron is visiting Iraq, but commented today on John McCain’s selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his Vice President runningmate. King, who represents western Iowa, says Palin will help quell the concerns of conservatives over McCain.
“I think it’s just bound to bring the social conservatives together, noone is going to question her pro-life credentials. She’s lived them, she’s demonstrated them and noone in the pro-life community is going to question where Sarah Palin stands on that,’ King says, “so I think that this is a good pick. The generational gap has been bridged. She’s younger than Obama for starters, and she has executive experience, she’s more experienced than Obama is.”
King says he anxious to see more of Palin. He says it will be interesting to see how Pailin handles herself on the campaign trail. King says some of her credentials are impressive and he also likes that Palin is for drilling for oil in the artic refuge in Alaska, which King favors. “I’m happy with the pick, I don’t have any reservations about endorsing the pick McCain has made,” King says. King says he has seen people in western Iowa slowly moving toward McCain in the last few weeks.
Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says Palin will compliment McCain’s image as a maverick. “When I get credit for going up against party a lot, I think she deserves even more credit,” Grassley said of Palin. “She stood for principle over party and has record breaking support in her state because of her independence. It’s a situation where the more you learn, the more you like and respect her.”
Critics of McCain’s selection site Palin’s lack of experience. Grassley isn’t buying that argument. “She’s got more executive experience than what Barack Obama’s got,” Grassley said.
Iowa ACLU threatens more legal action over traffic cameras
August 29, 2008 By
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa promises further legal action against traffic cameras in the wake of today’s Iowa Supreme Court ruling. The high court rejected a Davenport man’s argument that traffic cameras conflicted with state law. The executive director of the A-C-L-U of Iowa, Ben Stone, says the ruling does not put and end to the issue.
"Any municipality that thinks that this ruling gives comfort to their accountants that they should invest in these mechanized operations should really think twice because this legal battle is far from over," Stone says. Stone says the Supreme Court’s ruling only addressed whether the state law precluded the cameras — not whether the cameras are an invasion of privacy or shift the burden of proof to the defendant.
Stone says, "There’s a fundamental unfairness to ticketing the owners of an automobile regardless of whether the government can prove that they’re driving. There’s a shifting of the burden of proof. There’s a shifting of the presumption of innocence. And we think both those issues are very important to stand up for in the court."
During the court battle, at least two of the four Iowa communities suspended the use of their traffic cameras. But Clive, Council Bluffs, Davenport and Sioux City may resume using the cameras after today’s ruling. Stone says the Iowa A-C-L-U will look to take more legal action.
Stone says most civil libertarians agree that it’s "kind of creepy" having machines enforce the law. He says you can argue that people look at the pictures, but he says machines trigger the action. While the use of the cameras has been limited, Stone is worried about the cameras becoming more prevalent.
He says the future with cameras potentially all over the place "is the kind of vision civil libertarians are worried about." The Supreme Court acknowledged it did not address the issues of privacy or burden of proof in its ruling, the court simply looked at whether traffic cameras were precluded by state law.
