Authorities are investigating the death of a person who was trapped in a sand storage bin in Clear Lake. Clear Lake authorities were called to the Andrews Pre-stressed Concrete plant at about 5:42 last night after it was discovered that a subject was trapped in a sand storage structure. Rescuers found the person dead and was removed from the structure and taken to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City. Authorities have not released the name of the victim at this time. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.
Person found dead in Clear Lake storage bin
January 28, 2009 By
DNR says air quality improved in Muscatine and Scott counties
January 28, 2009 By
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says air quality data from 2006–2008 has improved for Muscatine and Scott counties from the previous two years, when air monitors showed too much pollution in the air.
Air Quality bureau chief, Catharine Fitzsimmons, says the readings that were above the E-P-A standards threatened to put the counties under stricter regulations.
Fitzsimmons says the E-P-A had proposed declaring the area was in "non-attainment" status which meant restrictions on any new construction air pollution emitting sources. She says that would put a damper on any new economic development, but with the numbers falling, those more stringent regulations won’t come into play.
Fitzsimmons says the readings in the two eastern Iowa counties have been up and down. She says they’ve seen an every other year fluctuation where they see a good year and then a bad year, but they are hoping efforts in the area will keep the bad readings from happening again. Fitzsimmons says the new numbers have been sent to the E-P-A.
Fitzsimmons says the E-P-A has prepared a process to assure quick review of the numbers and they hope to have the issue resolved very quickly. The air quality problems involved fine particles in the air which must not exceed 35 micrograms per meter under the E-P-A standard. The readings hit 36 in Muscatine and 37 in Davenport to go over the standard.
Movie star Kevin Costner to play a concert in Leland
January 28, 2009 By
A Hollywood actor and musician is bringing his country band to Iowa. The tour will include a gig in a Winnebago County barn. Kevin Costner and Modern West have a song called "Leland Iowa" on their debut album, which was released in November of last year.
It’s become quite a hit around the small, north-central Iowa town thanks to heavy rotation on KIOW in Forest City. Mark Skaar, the radio station’s program director, says he first heard about the tune from a listener’s email.
"We did a little bit of digging around, a couple of us at the radio station, and found out that a gentleman by the name of John Coinman wrote the song," Skaar said. Coinman, who plays guitar in Costner’s band, has relatives that live in Leland. Skaar also noticed that Costner and Modern West scheduled a tour through the Midwest and there was an open date between shows in Omaha and Minneapolis.
Skaar proposed filling the date with a gig in Leland. "We shot a couple emails to (Costner’s) management company and to John, they were very receptive to coming and lo and behold, it’s going to happen," Skaar said. The show will take place this afternoon (Wednesday) at a barn at Jim Ambroson’s residence, located on the west of Leland. Skaar believes the barn will hold a few hundred people.
Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and while there’s no cover charge, free-will donations will benefit community projects in Leland. Costner and Modern West will perform a short, stripped-down acoustic set and then return to the bar circuit with shows in Omaha on Thursday and Des Moines on Friday.
House passes disaster relief package
January 28, 2009 By
The Iowa House voted unanimously Tuesday night to adopt a $56-million disaster relief package for flood and tornado victims. The bill includes $24-million for housing assistance, $22-million for community repairs and $10-million for individual disaster grants.
Representative Tyler Olsen, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says while it’s not a cure-all, the bill does close some of the gaps in federal aid. Olsen says: "The passage of this bill will show that we hear Iowans’ concerns and that inaction is not an option. We must make progress and this bill is progress." Olsen says the measure is a positive beginning.
He says, "I think we’ve come up with a good bill that begins the work of putting Iowans back in their homes and businesses." Republicans, in the minority, eventually backed the bill but first tried to strip a provision that provides vouchers for flood or tornado victims who need to buy new clothing, appliances or food.
Representative Steve Lukan, a Republican from Dubuque, argued that people should have to buy the item first and produce a receipt.
"Under a voucher system, I fear there may be room for fraud and waste and misuse of these dollars," Lukan says. "When someone potentially could be given several hundred dollars to go out and buy clothing for their kids but they maybe use that to buy a big screen television instead."
Lukan says Hurricane Katrina proved the voucher system is easily abused. Lukan says: "I did a little research. Some specific examples include $450 that went to pay for a tattoo, $1,300 that bought a pistol, $1,100 that bought a diamond ring, plasma TV, dog booties."
Democrats argued the state’s poorest victims cannot afford to replace lost items and then wait for reimbursement. Representative Wayne Ford, a Democrat from Des Moines, says most Iowans are honest and deserve the trust and respect of the legislature. Ford says: "I’ve been in the non-profit field 25 years. I’ve dealt with thousands of vouchers. Very few people who have nothing want to go and buy 60-inch color TV even during the week of the Superbowl."
The Democrats prevailed in the argument and the vouchers remained in the final bill. The measure now goes to the Senate where debate is expected today.
Legislators ponder ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving
January 28, 2009 By
Iowa Department of Public Safety officials are urging the state legislature to make it illegal to use a hand-held cell phone while driving on Iowa roads.
Ross Loder of the Iowa Department of Public Safety says distracted driving is a critical safety issue. "There is research that pretty strongly suggests that driving while mentally engaged in a telephone conversation and talking on the cell phone is actually very similar to significant alcohol impairment," Loder says.
The proposed legislation does not entirely ban cell phone calls while driving, but it does require the driver to use a hands-free device. Loder says there’s new research almost daily which points to the danger of having one hand on the steering wheel and another wrapped around your cell phone.
"When people are driving down the road and they are engaged in a conversation and become distracted and fly off the road and hit a telephone pole, many of them don’t admit that they were talking on the cell phone," Loder says, "so some of the true scope of the problem is masked by a reluctance of people to admit what occurred and the way that traffic data was collected historically."
If the proposed ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving were to take effect, there would be exceptions for law enforcement officials and for those who operate ham radios or two-way radios while they’re driving. The proposal was discussed Tuesday by a subcommittee in the Iowa House of Representatives.
Five states and the District of Columbia already have laws which ban driving while talking on a hand-held cell phone. The three of the five states are on the east coast — Connecticut, New Jersey and New York; the other two — California and Washington — are on the west coast.
King encouraged but not "swayed" by Obama meeting
January 27, 2009 By
Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron, says he was encouraged by not "swayed" by President Obama earlier today. Obama met privately with Republicans in congress to try to gain G.O.P. support of his economic stimulus package.
"I wasn’t swayed by the president’s remarks, although I will say that the atmosphere in the room was as good as a bipartisan effort could be asked to be," King says. "The president’s demeanor was relaxed and congenial and ours was respectful and there was significant applause when he came in the room, of course, a standing ovation — he’s the president of the United States."
According to King, there weren’t a lot of specifics discussed — just a "general, broad outline" of the stimulus package. "For the most part, there wasn’t much common ground to be found," King says. "Although I will say that his discussion on opportunities to provide some relief for small business as part of the stimulator was the most encouraging component from my perspective."
King voted against the economic bailout which passed congress in September and provided billions to banks, insurance companies, even major car companies. King says it’s clear to him he and Obama have different views on the impact of Franklin Roosevelt’s actions during the Great Depression.
"I have drawn a lesson from the Great Depression that all of the spending that went in on F.D.R.’s New Deal, although it may have diminished the depths that we fell to in the Great Depression, it extended the needed time for recovery. President Obama has made it clear he drew a different lesson," King says. "His lesson was that F.D.R. lost his nerve on spending and was more concerned about spending too much when he should have been spending more and we had, according to President Obama, a recession within a depression that delayed the recovery would have come if F.D.R. would have been more bold on the New Deal."
King says he’s opposed to Obama’s "New New Deal" — as outlined in the economic stimulus package — and King calls Obama’s economic view "entirely wrong."
"I think the free market brings the solutions and I think we should suspend capital gains taxes right now, for at least two years, and then go to t he national sales tax at the end of this year, but we don’t agree," King says. "He’s in the White House and we’re going to get the best deal we can, with the leverage we have to work with."
King says Obama has been more open to Republicans than has Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat who controls the U.S. House. "The point that was made to President Obama that he really needed to hear was that even though he is open to this discussion and he made the trip over the capitol to meet with Republicans in a closed-door session — and I very much appreciate that — that has not been the case with Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, and the Democratic leadership. It has been clearly a shut out," King says. "And that shut out was something that was conveyed to President Obama very emphatically."
Obama met privately with Republican senators, too.
Iowa Senate votes to toughen drunken boating law
January 27, 2009 By
The Iowa Senate has voted to toughen the standard for judging who is too drunk to drive a boat. While the blood alcohol limit for driving a vehicle was lowered to 0.08 a few years ago, the standard for piloting a boat while drunk has remained at 0.10.
Senator David Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan, has long sought to make the standards identical for drunken driving and drunken boating. "In 2007 and 2008, there were 61 arrests for boating while intoxicated in this state…and that was over the .10 limit, but during that same time 168 people were field tested and had a blood alcohol concentration between .08 and .099," Johnson says.
It means, according to Johnson, that those boaters could have been picked up for drunken driving soon after that if they got on the roads. "In that case, they could take their boat out of the water, put it on the trailer and head down the roads and highways of this state and they’d be considered — if arrested and tested — they could be charged with drunken driving," Johnson says.
Johnson argues Iowa Department of Natural Resources officers who patrol the state’s lakes and rivers won’t be out to "get" drunken boaters. "They’ll launch an educational program. This is really to bring safety into this," Johnson says. "There have been some tragic accidents. The General Assembly has heard discussion of those things…where there have been some fatalities. There have been some serious injuries."
The drunken boating bill passed the Iowa Senate on a 49-1 vote this afternoon. In 2007, the senate unanimously passed a similar bill, but the bill died in the House.
