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UNI hosts ISU women

November 20, 2008 By

UNI hosts Iowa State in an intra-state womens basketball matchup. The Panthers opened with a victory at North Dakota State and coach Tanya Warren says her team will need a big effort on defense as they like to shoot the three.

The Panthers will be without sophomore Jacqui Kalin who suffered a sprained ankle in practice late last month.

The 24th ranked Cyclones were impressive in a season opening win over Missouri-Kansas City but coach Bill Fennelly says this game offers a new challenge.

Fennelly says there’s nothing tougher than facing a rival in their own building. The Panthers shot better than 50 percent from three point range in their opener asnd Fennelly says the Cyclones will need a solid defensive effort. He says you have to be great on the ball defenders and they will find out how far they have progress on defense.

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Iowa faces tough road test at Virginia Commonwealth

November 20, 2008 By

The Iowa basketball team has its first road test of the season this evening with a visit to the Citadel. The Hawks are 2-0 after a pair of home wins while the Citadel is 1-1 after an 82-59 loss at Virginia Commonwealth.

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says it’s a tough place to play and he played there years ago in college. He says it will be interesting to see if they can play the right way in a difficult environment.

Lickliter. The Hawks had to fight hard down the stretch for a 73-67 win over Texas-San Antonio in their last outing. He hopes the outing on the road will help them grown.

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Education Dept. report says declining enrollment will turn around

November 20, 2008 By

Department of Education Director Judy Jeffrey Department of Education director Judy Jeffrey’s annual report on the condition of education predicts Iowa’s 10-year decline in student enrollment will turn around.

The report predicts a 7.7% increase over the next five years. Jeffrey says an influx of minorities into the state is one of the reasons for the turnaround.

She says Iowa may do even better in the coming years as other states lose jobs and it appears Iowa may have jobs to offer if those people can be recruited to the state. Jeffrey says Iowa’s birthrate “is not as disastrous as it is in some of the other Midwestern states.”

Jeffrey says the graying of Iowa could be slowing and leading to more kids. Jeffrey says we may have reached our peak as one of the oldest states in the nation, and may be on the way to getting younger people into the state who’re having children.

Testing shows that 11th graders did not improve their math and reading skills as much as fourth and eighth graders, and minorities in those groups also did not make big strides. Jeffrey says that’s her biggest concern. She says the achievement gaps (between minorities and whites) and the lack of growth in our high schools are things that pose a challenge.

“We’re really focusing a lot on how we can change our high schools, but we know that we need more rigorous and relevant learning opportunities for out students, that they are still not as engaged as they need to be in high school curriculum, and we’ve really got to push that agenda pretty hard,” Jeffrey says. Jeffrey says the gains in 4th grade come after federal dollars were targeted at them, and doing something similar is needed for high school.

Jeffrey says they were able to take the resources and focus on professional development for primary teachers and the effects are showing as the 4th graders are doing well and the 8th graders are doing better, but there’s not a lot of growth in the high schools.

While the influx of immigrants has brought new students into the system, those students provide the challenge of teaching more students who don’t know English. Jeffrey says school districts are doing what they can to meet the need, but says they need more foreign language and more bilingual teachers.

Jeffrey says bilingual teachers are one of the best ways to educate students as they can talk and to them and teach them. Jeffrey also pointed out to the Board of Education that Iowa spends just over eight-thousand dollars per pupil to educate students, while the national average is over $9,500, and neighboring states like Minnesota and Wisconsin spend over $10,000 per pupil.

Jeffrey says Iowans already get a great bargain for what they spend on education — but could get even more benefit with more education dollars. Jeffrey says many of the districts facing achievement gaps say they are working as hard as they can, but with more resources and professional development would accelerate that work.

You can see the entire report here: “ 2008 Condition of Education “.

 

Filed Under: Education

Iowa Senator part of healthcare reform bill effort

November 20, 2008 By

Senator Tom Harkin is one of three Democrats asked to head up efforts in the U.S. Senate on a health care reform bill. "This working group that I will chair will focus on wellness and prevention and public health…This has been a longstanding focus of mine. Indeed, I have already introduced comprehensive wellness legislation," Harkin says. "I’m looking forward to having oversight of this part of the bill which I believe is absolutely critical to transforming the way we approach health care in the United States."

According to Harkin, there’s no absolute timeline, but the goal is to get a health care reform "done" by this summer. "It’s not enough to talk about how to extend coverage or how to pay for the bills," Harkin says, "we also need to focus on how we can mobilize our society to prevent diseases and conditions and to produce real wellness — preventing diseases such as obesity and diabetes and heart diseases and some forms of cancer."

Harkin will start holding hearings in December to discuss disease prevention and wellness initiatives that might become part of the overall health care reform package. "We face enormous challenges," Harkin says, "but I’m excited about returning to the senate to help work and to help, hopefully, lead the charge on these key reforms and to help President Obama move his change agenda through the congress." Harkin was elected to a fifth term earlier this month. 

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

Purple cranes raise awarenes of pancreatic cancer

November 20, 2008 By

Giant construction cranes in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska are being painted purple, the color of pancreatic cancer awareness, along with the slogan, "Rise Up For Cancer Research." Ken Tolton is co-owner of Duke Aerial, a construction equipment rental business, based in Atlantic, Iowa.

"A portion of the rental of the boom will go to a trust that will be directly used for pancreatic cancer research. We’re just trying to building some awareness and hopefully someday to help try to find a cure." Tolton’s wife is being treated at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

Linda Tolton was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer in July and was given six months to a year to live. She is 45. Ken Tolton says he hopes his idea of painting the 25 big booms purple brings more visibility for the disease.

"Pancreatic cancer you don’t hear that much of. A lot smaller percentage of people get this type of cancer, but it also is one of most aggressive cancers that’s out there. People are very aware of breast cancer and prostrate cancer and some of the others ones that they have a better handle on, but this particular one, the awareness isn’t as much out there."

Jay Noddle is president and CEO of Noddle Companies, a real estate developer. It’s the first to feature one of the purple booms at the Aksarben Village job site in Omaha. Noddle says, "My father, Harlan, lost a battle to pancreatic cancer in 2005 and so when we heard about what Ken and his colleagues were planning, we wanted to do whatever we could to be involved and to help."

The National Cancer Institute recently awarded a 5.3 million-dollar, five-year grant in pancreatic cancer to the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center. Noddle says his father was treated at the center. Noddle says, "We don’t always know as much about the remarkable things that are taking place at the medical center and the cancer center until we need them, but people should know and need to know."

At no cost to its customers, Duke Aerial will donate a percentage of the fees to rent the purple construction equipment to the Linda Tolton Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation. There are no tools for early detection of pancreatic cancer, which is a major reason why it’s a leading cause of cancer death. Signs and symptoms typically don’t appear until pancreatic cancer is quite advanced, which is what happened in Tolton’s case. 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:

Westwood High community donates blood to show support for wrestlers

November 20, 2008 By

Westwood High School students and residents of the northwest Iowa town are showing support for five wrestlers and their coach by becoming blood donors. Nearly 100 people registered to give blood Wednesday and Heather Marreel, with the Siouxland Blood Bank, says that doubled what was expected.

"To see a community like this really rally around their own and make something positive out of a tragic situation, it was really nice to see," Marreel said. On November 8th, the wrestlers and their coach were driving to a wrestling clinic when their SUV collided head-on with van on Highway 141 near Hornick.

The driver of the van, 53-year-old Bradley Haburn of Spencer, was killed in the crash. Two wrestlers, 18-year-old Jordan Mitchell and 16-year-old Sage Washburn, have been released the hospital. The coach, 26-year-old Daniel Thompson, and three other wrestlers remain at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City. They are: 16-year-old Trent Baker, 16-year-old Adam Greeno and 15-year-old Blake Jorgensen.

Marrell says many people said they haven’t donated blood in several years and now’s a good time for others to roll up their sleeves and follow suit. "The holiday time tends to be a little bit crazier of a time, people are very busy and donating blood doesn’t always make it to the top of their to do list," Marrell said. "We really want folks to reach out and help others that are in need."

Students and staff at Westwood High have also donated money and food to the crash victim’s families. This Sunday, a pancake breakfast to benefit the victims will take place at Westwood High School. For information, call 712-428-3355.

 

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With:

Miller marks 10th anniversary of states’ settlement with "Big Tobacco"

November 20, 2008 By

Attorney General Tom Miller This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the legal settlement states reached with the tobacco industry and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says cigarette companies have paid the State of Iowa over half a billion dollars in the past decade.

"It was an incredible battle and fight to get the settlement, file the case and resolve the case," Miller says. "…The most important thing is to look back and see what has happened in the past 10 years and there’s been enormous progress."

In the 1960s, over 40 percent of Americans smoked. Last year, just under 20 percent of Iowa adults smoked — a decline of about four percent in the past decade. "We’ve come a long way, to quote one of their ads for Virginia Slims. We have a long ways to go because there is so much at stake," Miller says. "We still lose 400,000 Americans each year. You know that’s because of the smoking rates of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s."

Ten years ago the tobacco companies agreed to new limits on their advertising in the legal settlement with the states and over the past decade states like Iowa have increased the cost of tobacco by raising taxes. According to Miller, raising the price of cigarettes — by raising taxes — is the most effective way to reduce smoking.  "Comparing the number of cigarettes sold in 1997 — 480,000,000,000 — to the number we think will be sold in 2008 — 344,000,000,000 — it’s a reduction of 28 percent of the number of cigarettes that have been sold in America," Miller says. Fewer cigarettes will be sold this year than in 1950, when the U.S. population was about half what it is today.

Miller acknowledges a regret about the legal settlement with the tobacco companies: state legislatures haven’t used much of the payments from tobacco companies on smoking cessation or prevention programs. "I told them to spend it differently year after year and was hoping they’d spend more on tobacco prevention," Miller says. "Iowa spends more than most states, per capita, about $10 million or so of the settlement for tobacco prevention."

Miller smoked in his 20s and 30s. Miller quit in the early 1980s after he told his wife she should quit drinking coffee for health reasons and she told him he should stop smoking. "We had a deal then," Miller says.

AUDIO: Miller news conference. 17:00 MP3

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