May 21, 2012

You are here: Home / 2008 / November / Archives for 3rd

Sioux City will keep mail processing center

November 3, 2008 By

Sioux City residents have won a three-year battle to keep their mail distribution center form moving out of state. The U.S. Postal Service distribution service and local postmark will remain in Sioux City after looking like it could move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Barb Sloniker of the local chamber of commerce said they heard today (Monday) that the postal distribution center would not move from a Postal Service district manager. The Postal Service ran into all kinds of opposition from local officials and Iowa’s two U.S. Senators over the proposed move. Sloniker says today’s announcement closes the issue for now.

Sloniker says if the Postal Service were ever to reconsider, it would have to go through the whole process once again that led to this conclusion. The Postal Service had said moving the Sioux City distribution center would provide better service with cost savings.

AUDIO: Randy Renshaw report. :30 MP3

Filed Under: Politics & Government

MidAmerican moves closer to purchase of Constellation Energy

November 3, 2008 By

MidAmerican Energy’s acquisition of a Maryland-based company is one step closer to completion. In September, Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy announced its intentions to buy Constellation Energy Group for more than four-and-a-half billion dollars.

Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission waived a manditory waiting period, giving the companies the go-ahead to pursue the deal. There are other regulatory hurdles, but executives of the companies expect MidAmerican will close the deal in nine to 12 months.

Constellation is the nation’s largest wholesale power seller and it’s the country’s number one supplier of electricity to business and industry. MidAmerican currently provides electricity and natural gas to nearly seven million customers worldwide, including over 600-thousand in Iowa. While MidAmerican Holdings Company is headquartered in Des Moines, it is part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway empire. 

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

Change in football ticket policy upsets some ISU faculty

November 3, 2008 By

The mixing of athletics and academics has taken another twist this year at Iowa State University — one that has some I.S.U. professors staying away from football games. Iowa State for the first time required faculty and staff to make a donation to the athletic department in order to purchase season football tickets in the prime seating areas.

Statistics professor Bob Stephenson decided not to buy tickets because of the policy, and isn’t in the stands for the first time in almost three decades. Stephenson says they started sitting in the seats in the upper deck on the east side of the stadium near the 35-yard-line for some 27 years ago. He says they’ve had those tickets for all but one year when he was on a sabbatical leave The general public has been required to make donations up to $5,000 to renew season tickets for prime seats.

The faculty and staff donations range from $100 to $1,000. Stephenson says the break on donations makes up for the extra accommodations he makes for student athletes, and taking away the privilege illustrates the ever widening gulf between athletics and academics on campus. I.S.U. associate athletic director, Frank Nogel, disagrees, saying the donation is fair.

Nogel says the faculty and staff are sitting in some of the best seats in the building and the people all around them are donating. Nogel says donations from faculty and staff for basketball season tickets have been required all along, so requiring a donation in football shouldn’t be a surprise. Nogel says the faculty and staff at all other Big 12 schools make the same donations as the general public. He says the money goes toward athletic scholarships and other students needs, which helps the Cyclones compete in the conference.

Faculty and staff negotiated a different deal at the University of Iowa when the school sought donations to renovate the stadium. Iowa professor emeritus, Jude West, led a focus group to get faculty input, and says mandatory donations would not have gone over well.

West says the faculty members and staff would have been "quite upset with that type of breakdown." West says he was on the faculty for 45 years and was a loyal fan and says that should be one of the reasons he would not have to donate. The University of Iowa grandfathered in current faculty and staff, but required new staff members to pay half the amount of the general public. All other schools in the Big Ten require staff donations to match public donations.

I.S.U.’s Stephenson admits the cost of the donation would not amount to that much per game and he could buy tickets that wouldn’t require a donation. Still, Stephenson says he and two or three other professors decided on principle to not renew their tickets. Stephenson wonders if the general public is now occupying seats that used to be held by staff that were faithful in good and bad seasons.

Stephenson says: "The faculty members would year by year buy the tickets regardless of how the team was doing. I don’t think that the general public is as loyal in that way, I may be wrong." Iowa State says 85% of season ticket holders, including faculty and staff, renewed this season. 

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

Businesses destroyed in Riceville fire

November 3, 2008 By

The State Fire Marshal’s office continues to investigate a fire that destroyed two businesses and heavily damaged another in the northern Iowa town of Riceville. Firefighters were called to the blaze at 11 o’clock Friday night. They were on the scene through early Saturday afternoon. No one was injured. Riceville Fire Chief Lyle Eastman the fire started in the local meat locker and spread to a hardware store and a NAPA Auto Parts store.

"We were able to save the contents of the hardware store. The NAPA store had smoke and water damage and he was going to be open at 8 a.m. today," Eastman said. The locker is a complete loss and the hardware building will be knocked down. Eastman says it’s devastating for a small town to lose those kinds of businesses.

However, he does believe the owners of both businesses are planning to rebuild. The town of Riceville, which has about 850 residents, has been without a grocery store for several months – but that should be reopening before Thanksgiving under a new owner.

Eastman says Friday’s fire could there could have been even more damage had the Riceville firefighters not received help from eight neighboring departments. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, though Eastman says foul play is not a factor. 

Filed Under: Business, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Southwest Iowa man charged in deaths of two from Murray

November 3, 2008 By

A southwest Iowa man faces serious charges after a wreck that killed a couple walking along the highway near Osceola. According to a report from Iowa State Patrol, Marlan Boor of Murray was driving west on Old Highway 34, about two miles west of Osceola at about six o’clock Friday night.

A couple from Murray — 51-year-old James Cottrell and 52-year-old Julie O’Connor Cottrell — were walking along the highway. The patrol says Boor failed to negotiate a curve in the highway and hit the couple with his pick-up. Both were killed. Boor will be charged with two counts of vehicular homicide.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Von Maur remembers anniversary of shooting in Omaha

November 3, 2008 By

As the one-year anniversary of a shooting rampage in Omaha’s Von Maur store approaches, the retailer is offering lapel pins remembering the event, with all proceeds going to Omaha/Council Bluffs charities. Megan Hakes, spokeswoman for the Davenport-based chain, says the pins go on sale today  in all Von Maur stores.

Hakes says, "In remembrance of those who were injured or lost during the tragic events that occurred last December, Von Maur has designed gold-colored ribbon-shaped pins and they simply state "We Remember." Eight people were fatally shot by 19-year-old Robert Hawkins inside the store at Westroads Mall on December 5th, 2007. Hawkins also killed himself.

An Iowan was among those killed — 65-year-old John McDonald of Council Bluffs. Four shooting victims survived, including Fred Wilson, who was critically hurt. Wilson, a retired Council Bluffs teacher, worked at the store’s customer service counter.

Hakes says the sale of these pins is part of the continued healing process. She says, "To stand a symbol for how the community continues to remember and support the memories of those who were so tragically effected that day but also to serve as a vision of hope." Hakes says all profits from the sale of the pins will go directly to three organizations that helped immediately after the tragedy and continued to help for months afterwards.

Hakes says, "They will be available throughout our store for $10 and that entire $10 per pin will be donated to the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the United Way." The pins will be available through the holiday season at all 22 Von Maur stores in Iowa, Nebraska and seven other states. The first Von Maur store opened in Davenport in 1872. 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Three die in weekend accidents

November 3, 2008 By

Three people died Saturday during separate crashes in western Iowa. A 32-year-old man from Shelby was killed when the Corvette he was driving went out of control on a curve in Pottawattamie County at around 12:30 AM Saturday. Brandon Wahling was thrown from the car after it hit a utility pole and went into a ditch near Minden. Authorities say he was not wearing a seatbelt.

Fifty-nine-year-old Dennis Argotsinger, of Macon, Missouri died, when the pickup he was driving collided with another pickup near Panama in Shelby County around 10:15 AM Saturday. The 49-year-old female driver of the other pickup was injured in the crash.

And, a 66-year-old Council Bluffs man died Saturday afternoon when the motorcycle he was driving went out of control on a road in Pottawattamie County between Crescent and Council Bluffs. Geno Lewis was not wearing a helmet when his cycle crashed at around 3:15 PM. He suffered severe head trauma and died and an area hospital.

 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »