The senior forward averaged 17 points, over ten rebounds and three assists in two wins. Dorr finished with 24 points, on 11-of-17 shooting, hauled down ten rebounds and had three assists in a victory over Chariton.
Class 2A: Brad Vogel, Central Lee
March 3, 2009 By
The junior guard poured in 29 points in a sub-state victory over Wilton in overtime. Vogel finished 11-of-16 from the field, including four-of-six from three point range and also dished out four assists.
Class 1A: Jordan Dykstra, Rock Valley
March 3, 2009 By
The junior forward averaged 23 points and eight rebounds in a pair of victories. Dykstra scored 24 points on nine-of-12 shooting in a victory over Boyden-Hull and had 22 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Remsen-Union.
Grassley says Obama needs work on the vetting process
March 3, 2009 By
Yet another person President Obama wants to place in a top government office is having tax troubles. Ron Kirk, Obama’s choice to be the U.S. trade representative, owes some ten-thousand dollars in back taxes. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s not going to pass judgment on Kirk until he goes before the Senate Finance Committee.
Grassley says, "I think we have to look at how this could happen with a president that bragged about a vetting process that was going to be faster and better and bring about a more ethical administration than any other president." Grassley, a Republican, says the means by which Obama administration officials are screening potential nominees clearly still needs tweaking.
"I’m not talking about the good intentions of my president on that point," Grassley says, "because I think it was well-intentioned but it sure wasn’t administered the way it was intended." Kirk, a lawyer and the former mayor of Dallas, Texas, has agreed to pay the back taxes he owes. This marks the fourth high-profile candidate Obama has named to an upper-tier post who’s been found owing a significant amount of money to the I-R-S. Grassley says he hopes the administration does a better job of screening its next round of candidates.
"They ought to be very, very careful on prospects that they leave by the statements they make and if they make statements, to make sure that they perform according to those statements," Grassley says, laughing. "I do believe that they’re probably going to be very, very careful with future nominees." One of the tax-troubled earlier nominees, Tim Geithner, was confirmed as U-S Treasury Secretary, though he had to pay some $34,000 in taxes and interest.
Two other administration candidates bowed out — Nancy Killefer and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Grassley says the vetting process, which was much-touted by Obama, evidently needs to probe deeper. Grassley says, "Quite frankly, there’s no reason for my committee and my staff to have to point this stuff out to the administration because we’ve found things that they haven’t found." Kirk is scheduled to testify next Monday.
Trial gets underway for former Creston cops
March 3, 2009 By
Two ex-police officers in Creston are going on trial for sexual abuse. Jury selection started this morning in Sioux City, as the case was moved from Union County court to Woodbury County due to extensive media coverage.
Former Creston Police Chief James Christensen and former assistant chief John Sickels face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Both were arrested following a report filed by an agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation alleging that Sickels raped a female bartender in the early morning hours of April 18th at the Crestmoor Golf Club, while then-Police Chief Christensen watched.
The two were later fired from their positions, a decision upheld by the city’s civil service commission. The Woodbury County Clerk of Court says two weeks have been set aside for the case.
Hinton downs Central Decatur in 2A
March 3, 2009 By
Sixth rated Hinton trailed by two at the half, but took the lead in the third quarter and held off ninth-ranked Central Decatur 54-45 in the Class 2A quarterfinals of the Girls’ State Basketball Tournament.
Hinton Coach Joel Small says they were not worried being down only two at the half.
Small says they’ve been a third quarter team all season long and were again today, as they outrebounded Central Decatur and were able to keep them from shooting the three. Small says they have to get ready for the next game. He says they move on and they have to keep to the goal of winning one game at a time, something they’ve done for 25 games and will stick with it.
Hinton had a 40 to 28 rebounding edge and senior Britni Freed says they had to get tougher on the boards in the second half. She says Central Decature was quick and would pull the rebounds out of their hands, so they had to start holding onto them better and they did that better in the second half.
Central Decatur Coach Curtis Boothe says Hinton did a good job of rebounding and guarding against the three point shot to hand them their first loss of the season. He says it’s tough to judge the team by one game at state, but he says they had a good season and have a lot to be proud of. Central Decatur finishes the season at 25-1.
Official says U-of-I, ISU & UNI don’t have reserves to use as offset for tuition
March 3, 2009 By
Last Friday a top legislator said the board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U.N.I. should dip into university reserves rather than raise students’ tuition to deal with the latest round of state budget cuts. House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines said the university had "pretty healthy reserves."
But David Miles, president of the Board of Regents, suggests the board doesn’t really have the option at this point of using cash reserves to plug budget holes. "What reserves we have are not freely available. They’re committed to future encumbrances or one kind or another," Miles says. "We really don’t see a lot of opportunity there."
Miles says university officials are looking to identify whatever savings is possible, and Miles expects a report tomorrow from university staff, outlining what reserves might be available. "But particularly in the case of the University of Iowa, we’re actually having to look at doing some short-term debt financing because the flood has so drained down our operating cash," Miles says.
Miles and the presidents of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are at the statehouse this morning, to testify before a panel of legislators that’s crafting the budget for the Regents institutions in Iowa City, Ames and Cedar Falls as well as the state’s special schools for dear and blind students in Council Bluffs and Vinton.
In December, the Board of Regents — the panel which governs the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa — voted to increase tuition rates for undergraduate students who are residents of Iowa by 4.2 percent next fall. That was before Governor Culver ordered an across-the-board cut in the entire state budget for the current year, and Miles — the president of the Board of Regents — said in late January raising tuition above the level set in December is an option on the table.
