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Rebuild Iowa Commission issues final report

November 17, 2008 By

General Ron Dardis, Coralville Mayor Jim Fausett, Governor Chet Culver. (L to R) The Rebuild Iowa Commission completed its service to the legislature today by issuing a final report about how the state should continue to respond to natural disasters like this year’s tornadoes and floods.

Iowa National Guard Major General Ron Dardis, who served as chairman of the commission, says the 54-page report offers a bold set of recommendations for policy makers to discuss.

"In many ways, this 120 day report carries some mandates for Iowa’s recovery," Dardis said at a statehouse press conference. "We can not rest until we learn the lessons of this disaster and take the necessary steps to keep disasters from devastating our people, our communities, our land and our economy." The report includes a list of 12 recommendations for responding to future disasters, with a host of potential strategies for implementing each suggestion.

Governor Chet Culver could not say how much it would cost to implement all of the recommendations, but believes a large portion of them could be covered with federal dollars. He says the state is already rebuilding 880-million dollars worth of state infrastructure and is doing so entirely with federal money. One of the commission’s suggestions would create a statewide disaster contingency fund, possibly called an Evergreen Fund.

Dardis says it would be separate from the so-called Rainy Day Fund. "What we have realized is that there’s a gap in the funding from our response phase to our recovery phase and when the federal funding starts to flow," Dardis said. "There’s a need out there within our communities for that disaster fund." Culver says the state has already been pursuing many of the commission’s recommendations.

For instance, Iowa does not yet have a statewide, high-tech floodplain mapping system. "We’ve been asking the Feds to help fund that floodplain mapping project for years," Culver said. "We’ve been very low on the list. They’ve mapped other states in the country, but for whatever reason, they didn’t get to us. So, we’ve asked FEMA to bump us up." The commission’s report is available for viewing online via the  Rebuild Iowa website .

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Sioux City legislative race could carry into January

November 17, 2008 By

It’s possible the outcome of a legislative race in the Sioux City area won’t be decided ’til January. The election results that were certified by the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors indicate Representative Wesley Whitead, a Democrat from Sioux City, defeated Republican challenger Jeremy Taylor — by 60 votes.

But a mixup in absentee ballots complicates things. One-hundred-22 voters in two legislative districts in Woodbury County received the wrong ballots in their absentee ballot envelop. Deputy Secretary of State Linda Langenberg says the question is how many of those 122 ballots were for the race that’s so close.

"That will have to be determined and I think that’s why a recount was requested in the Taylor/Whitead race," Langenberg says. If the mixed-up ballots could have made a difference, one of the candidates can contest the outcome of the election.

"A contest of an election actually goes to the House of Representatives and generally a bipartisan, three-member tribunal is appointed to determine the outcome of the contest," Langenberg says. The entire House of Representatives could be asked to determine the winner, too, but Langenberg says that’s not even the final step.

"If the answer isn’t satisfactory, it could actually be taken on into district court," she says. Local election officials will recount the ballots in this Sioux City race. Recounts are expected in three other legislative races, but those races do not seem to be headed to a longterm impasse. One involves state Representative Dolores Mertz, a Democrat from Ottosen, who defeated Republican Stephen Richards of Algona by 40 votes according to the tally certified by the local Board of Supervisors last week.

In the Cedar Rapids area, state Representative Art Staed, a Democrat, lost to Republican challenger Renee Schulte by 14 votes. The senate race that’s the subject of a recount involves incumbent Jeff Danielson, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, and Republican challenger Walt Rogers. Danielson was ahead by 13 votes in the final tally certified by the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors.

AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports. :49 MP3

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Information Technology pros meet in Omaha

November 17, 2008 By

Information technology professionals from across Iowa and Nebraska are meeting for a workshop on "green" technology in Omaha this week. Todd Cione, district general manager for Microsoft, says his company hopes to show environment-friendly solutions do exist that will benefit the bottom line while helping the planet.

"Businesses historically struggled with the tradeoff of the cost of implementing green technologies over the societal and ethical obligations to be an environmental steward," Cione says. "We made the commitment as a company to make our products that hit at the heart of the struggle and remove that friction from doing what’s right for business and doing what’s right for the environment. We believe they don’t have to be mutually exclusive."

He says the latest Microsoft Windows operating system, Vista, can cut energy consumption by 40-percent.

From his Kansas City office, Cione says, "The power management settings allowing for hibernation and the PC to use less energy is very simple and it’s inherent in Windows Vista." He says Dell is using Vista now on its 50-thousand PCs and expects to save two-million dollars this year.

The average home customer might see a savings of 50 to 70-dollars a year, he says. Cione says I-T professionals and consumers are finding that saving energy while using advanced technological innovations can go hand in hand.

"For consumers that are telecommuting and they used Microsoft Unified Communications technology to help them do that, we expect a ten to 30-percent reduction in travel," Cione says. "Most of our companies that use Unified Communications technology are seeing an over 500% ROI on that investment." The invitation-only sessions are scheduled for Thursday in Omaha.

Filed Under: Business, Technology Tagged With:

Two UNI players kicked off team after drug charges

November 17, 2008 By

UNI football coach Mark Farley has dismissed Johnny Gray and Victor Williams from the squad. The Panthers’ leading receivers were arrested last week on drug related charges.

Farley says he met with Gray and immediately released him from the football team. He says he met with Williams twice and after "careful thought and consideration on Victor and all the parties involved," decided to dismiss him as well.

Farley the school cannot allow players to take part in such activities. "Our football program is held to a very high standard, both on and off the football field and we will do our best to make the decisions to make sure that we meet those standards both on and off the field," Farley says.

Farley was asked if the absence of their top receivers will hurt their chances of making a deep run into the playoffs. "If you want to bet against this team, go ahead, but I’d be very careful," Farley says.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

"It’s a Wonderful Life" now a lottery scratch ticket and contest

November 17, 2008 By

Pat Fleshner of the Donna Reed Foundation. The classic Christmas movie, "It’s a Wonderful Life", featuring Denison native Donna Reed is now the focus of an Iowa Lottery scratch ticket and contest.

The idea for the ticket came from Donna Reed Foundation boardmember Pat Fleshner after the lottery released a ticket honoring another Iowa actor.

Fleshner says they were talking about the ticket featuring John Wayne, and talked about doing something to remember the 50th anniversary of the "Donna Reed Show." The John Wayne ticket was introduced in May to honor the 100th anniversary of the actor’s birth in Winterset.

Wonderful Life scratch ticket Fleshner says the discussion moved from Reed’s show to one of her most famous movie roles. She says it wasn’t going to work time wise to have a ticket for the Reed show anniversary, so she then asked about doing something tied to "It’s a Wonderful Life."

Fleshner says she checked with Reed’s family members, and Reed’s daughter Mary Owen thought it would be "a neat idea."

Reed plays Mary Bailey in the 1946 movie. She’s the wife of George Bailey, who was a man played by Jimmy Stewart who considers suicide during the holiday before being stopped by a guardian angel who shows him what things would have been like had he not been around.

Fleshner says they’ve actually adopted the "It’s a Wonderful Life" theme. "The nice thing about is, for people who don’t even know Donna Reed, you can still feel it’s a wonderful life to live in Denison, Iowa, to live in Iowa, and that’s the way we feel," Fleshner says.

Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says the contest will try to find a couple to recreate the image of the Baileys. Neubauer says it’s not Donna Reed, Jimmy Stewart look-alike contest, it’s a George and Mary Bailey look-alike contest, and they will have three regional competitions around the state for a chance to win $500.

Neubauer says the regional contests will be Friday December 5th at Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines; Saturday December 6th at Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids, and Sunday December 7th at Southern Hills Mall in Sioux City. She says you’ll have to dress and look the part and give one of the lines from the classic movie for the judges.

Actors Katie Crow and Mathew Meyer portray George and Mary Bailey. Neubauer says the final judging will take place on-line. The photos of the regional winners will be on the Iowa Lottery’s website from December 9th through the 18th, and the public will get to vote on the best George and Mary Bailey. The winners of the overall contest will each win $500. Neubauer says the Donna Reed Foundation will receive around $2,000 from the Lottery. The tickets are already on sale across the state.

Neubauer says the John Wayne tickets sold out, and they are hoping for a similar result from the "It’s a Wonderful Life" tickets. Donna Reed was born in Denison in 1927 and left there at 16 to seek an acting career in Los Angeles. Reed died of Cancer in 1986. 

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Hunters face charges, fines after Trumpeter Swans killed

November 17, 2008 By

Trumpeter swans (DNR photo) Separate hunting accidents in Iowa over the weekend left two rare trumpeter swans dead and one hunter hurt. Alan Foster, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the protected swans were gunned down by two different groups of hunters in Muscatine County on Saturday.

Foster says: “The younger kids took a shot, both of them did. One missed, one connected and killed the one bird. The surviving mate circled the area a couple of times and passed over a second set of hunters. Both of those guys opened up on it and unfortunately, the second one died as well.”

There are duck and goose seasons open in Iowa at the moment. Foster says both sets of hunters claimed they mistook the trumpeter swans for other legal species — even though he says the trumpeter is about four times bigger than a snow goose and certainly looks nothing like a duck.

“Not at all,” Foster says. “A trumpeter swan has a seven- to eight-foot wingspan, pure white, black bill, unmistakable call. In fact, the second bird that was killed was part of a collared tracking project and had a sizable red neck band around it when it was shot.”

The four hunters involved in the incident face fines, citations and restitution. Charged with taking protected non-game species are: 17-year-old Zachary Boots of Fruitland, 34-year-old Shawn Frye and 31-year-old James LaRue, both of Muscatine. Also charged with attempting to take a protected non-game species was 18-year-old Matthew Lanman of Ottumwa.

In a separate incident, Foster says 16-year-old Mathew Allen of Dumont shot himself in the leg when he fell as he tried to cross a fence near Waverly late Saturday while raccoon hunting. Allen’s injuries are not life-threatening. Foster says it’s the fourth incident in Iowa this year that involved a hunter being shot and injured, though he adds, no hunters have been shot and killed in the state during as yet.

“We’ve actually had a really good year so far, given we’re knee-deep into the hunting season already,” he says. “We’re in November and will hunt through the bulk of January. We’ve gone a long way without anything serious and, knock on wood, hopefully we’ll keep that up.” 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With: ,

Grassley: university executives "insulated" from budget crunch

November 17, 2008 By

 Senator Chuck Grassley says a new survey of college presidents’ salaries shows "the executive suite seems insulated from budget crunches." 

The Chronicle of Higher Education’s analysis shows the pay for presidents at public universities grew by 7.6 percent, while the leaders of private colleges saw their salaries go up an average of six percent.  "In these hard economic times, apparently belt-tightening is for families and students, not university presidents," Grassley says. 

Grassley notes the salaries of college presidents and coaches "regularly outpace inflation." While Grassley says the salary hikes might be justified, the senator says there needs to be more transparency about pay packages so the public can decide for itself whether the pay is appropriate.

Iowa State University president Gregory Geoffrey received a 6.3 percent pay raise in August, for an annual salary topping $423,000.

University of Northern Iowa president Ben Allen’s pay boost was higher – 6.7 percent — and his salary will be $320,000 this year.

University of Iowa president Sally Mason did not receive an increase in her base salary of $450,000, but she could qualify for a bonus of up to $80,000. In August, the Board of Regents set a new policy tying bonuses for all the three presidents to performance.

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