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Iowa couple enjoy thrill of victory and more in the Metrodome

November 26, 2008 By

Two Iowa football fans apparently couldn’t wait to celebrate the Hawkeyes’ 55-0 win over Minnesota at the Metrodome. University of Minnesota police say a man and woman from the Hawkeye State were "having relations" in a bathroom stall as a crowd cheered them on Saturday night.

Gopher fans didn’t have much else to cheer for as Iowa built a 27-0 halftime lead. A security guard broke up the scene and seperated the two, who were both intoxicated.

Twenty-six-year-old Ross Walsh of Linden and 38-year-old Lois Feldman of Carroll were cited for misdemeanor indecent conduct. Linden was released to his girlfriend and Feldman to her husband.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With: ,

Iowa moves to 5-0 in basketball

November 26, 2008 By

The Iowa Hawkeyes jumped out to a 13-3 lead at the outset and rolled past an outmanned Southeast Missouri State team 75-41. The Hawkeyes smothered the Redhawks in the opening half as they managed just five field goals. Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says the Hawks focused on defense coming into the game.

Lickliter says they felt if Southeast go rolling, then they would be able to rise up and make some shots, even if you are guarding them. Lickliter says if they could have kept them off the free-throw line, then they would have played about as good as they could defensively.

Lickliter says the Hawkeyes still need a consistent effort, as he says they played to much in stretches, where they would get a lead and get comfortable and play "less high percentage basketball." Lickliter says you have to play the right way whether you are ahead or behind in a game.

Iowa is 5-0 and heads to Las Vegas for a matchup with West Virginia on Friday.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Otter season ends quickly

November 26, 2008 By

The otter and bobcat seasons opened at the start of this month and quickly closed as hunters and trappers reach the quotas set by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. D.N.R. biologist Ron Andrews says he’s not surprised the seasons ended so quickly.

Andrews says they set some pretty conservative quotas for both the bobcats and river otters, with the otter quota at 500. He says both species are doing very well, and that’s another reason for the quick filling of quotas. It is just the second season for bobcats and third for otters, since their reemergence in Iowa. Andrews says they’ll now take a detailed look at the animals taken in this season.

Andrews says they’re collecting carcasses from the fur dealers and trappers to look at the type of animals taken, and will use statistical models to get an idea of the health of the animal populations. He says that information will allow them to determine if they need to increase the quotas for the next season. Andrews says bringing otters back in the state adds another way to gauge the whole environmental system.

He says dealing with otters who live in the streams and rivers can serve as environmental indicators, and Andrews says the healthy population of otters shows there aren’t "damaging situations associated with the river otter environment." Andrews says trappers are required to turn in animals caught after the season officially closed at eight p.m. Tuesday. The D.N.R. will use those animals in their study of the otter population. 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

State of Iowa, St. Louis bank step forward to feed chickens bound for Agriprocessors

November 26, 2008 By

Farmers responsible for raising 700,000 chickens were left in limbo last week when the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville stopped production. It means those farmers are feeding tens of thousands of chickens that had been due for slaughter — and that feed costs thousands of dollars.

Assistant State Attorney General Steve Moline says the A.G.’s office and the state ag department have been working together to try to solve this dilemma. "First of all, the birds will be fed," Moline says. "There’s been a firm agreement that they will be fed and we’ve confirmed this with the local feed suppliers, that there’s enough money there to feed the chickens through the Thanksgiving season."

The money for the feed is coming from the First Bank of St. Louis which claims Agriprocessors owes them at least $35 million. Moline says there appears to be enough money in the pipeline to feed the chickens ’til Monday. "There’s a group (of chickens) in eastern Iowa pretty adjacent to the Postville plant and then there’s a group in western Iowa, about a similar amount, that are also owed by Agriprocessors and being raised by local producers on behalf of Agriprocessors," Moline says, "so our office’s involvement really has been helping the Iowa Department of Agriculture to work with local officials to make sure that financing got in place and so far we’ve been able to do that."

Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy on November 4 and shortly afterwards stopped slaughtering beef cattle. It kept slaughtering chickens for a few more weeks. Cattle producers in northeast Iowa who had planned to sell their livestock to Agriprocessors have had to truck their animals to one of the few sale barns left in Iowa, or truck them all the way to western Iowa to the closest meatpacking plant accepting cattle.

 

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

"Green" experts offer advice on flood rebuilding

November 26, 2008 By

As Iowa cities continue to rebuild from this summer’s floods, "green" experts are hoping for an approach that will improve the environment. Shannon Ramsay is founder of Trees Forever in Marion. Her group is working with cities on replanting projects and Ramsay says a fundraising campaign is underway.

"We’ll be working with communities like Cedar Rapids, Parkersburg and Iowa City to figure out what they want to do first and look at phases for planting projects," Ramsay said. "It may be plantings in parks, along streets, entrance ways, residential tree plantings…just a wide variety of projects." Ramsay says city leaders, as they discuss rebuilding plans, should be thinking "green."

"We’ve got to map out what we have currently, for instance in flood-plain areas, so we know what we have," Ramsay said. "We’ve got to be sure that we protect those areas if we build around them or if we extend levees. As we rebuild neighborhoods, we have to be sure we’re planting trees and restoring areas."

Jim Patchett is founder and president of the Conservation Design Forum in Chicago. He’s currently consulting the city of Cedar Rapids in its flood recovery efforts. Patchett says officials in Iowa need to look at new solutions to avoid catastropic flood damage in the future.

"The long term solutions for Iowa have to address urban and suburban development in a sustainable, intelligent way," Patchett said. "It also has to address agricultural land uses. There are wonderful opportunities out there to look at new ways of doing things that provide economic benefits as well as environmental benefits." Patchett and Ramsay will both speak at a Green Symposium scheduled for December 4th in Cedar Rapids.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Bedford man sentenced to life

November 26, 2008 By

A man from the southwest town of Bedford was sentenced to four terms of life in prison. Twenty-four-year-old Eric Houk was handed the sentences, plus 10 more years, after he was found guilty by jury in October on one count of first degree kidnapping, three counts of third degree sexual abuse, and one count of second degree arson.

Houk was accused in the December, 2007 kidnapping of an 18-year-old Bedford woman. D.C.I. officials say he also set her car on fire and sexually assaulted her. The woman was seen leaving work at the Bedford Hy-Vee before police found her car on fire in a local café parking lot.

Hours later, officers located Houk and the missing woman at his residence in rural Bedford. He was apprehended without resistance. In October, the jury heard four days of arguments before returning guilty verdicts on all five felony charges.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Poll shows Iowans opposed to gay marriage

November 26, 2008 By

A poll conducted in late October found one-third of Iowa voters are opposed to any step that grants legal status to same-sex couples. University of Iowa political science professor, David Redlawsk, help direct the survey that asked what should happen if the Iowa Supreme Court rules for gay marriage. Redlawsk says it means the idea of gay marriage is still a step too far for most Iowans.

Redlawsk says they gave people three choices, banning any type of same-sex relationship, civil union or gay marriage, and about 29% support that. The middle option was to ban gay marriage but accept civil unions, which had 27% support. The third option had 35% of people accepting the decision of the court to approve gay marriage.

The poll, though, found support for gay marriage would get a boost if the state’s high court rules in favor of it. Redlawsk says the poll found the big movement would be in the middle, as the independent or moderate voters would be about 14 points more likely to support gay marriage. Redlawsk says this often happens when the Supreme Court issues an opinion.

Redlawsk says a court ruling in favor of gay marriage would give a "stamp of approval to that position." "Granted it’s still not majority support, but it’s significantly higher if we get a ruling in that direction," Redlawsk says.

Redlawsk also says the poll found a majority of Iowa voters under age 30 favor gay marriage. He says more than 50% of voters under 30 favor gay marriage and another 20% support civil unions. The poll was conducted before the election, from October 19th to the 22nd. The Iowa Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on the case December 9th. A summary of the poll is on-line at the University of Iowa’s website.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:
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