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Bill targets out-of-staters

March 5, 2009 By

A bill that’s cleared a senate committee would raise the license fees for out-ot-staters who come into Iowa to hunt or fish.

An earlier version of the bill would have raised hunting and fishing license fees on Iowans as well, but Governor Chet Culver has made it clear he objects to that. "We have to be very sensitive to the economic realities out there. This is not the time to raise taxes on Iowans. This is not the time to raise fees," Culver said Thursday morning. "People are hurting. They’re having a tough time putting gas in the tank and paying their utility bills and making their mortage payments and making their car payments."

On Thursday afternoon, the Senate Natural Resources Committee approved the bill which riases hunting and fishing license fees on out-of-staters only. Senator Dick Dearden, a Democrat from Des Moines, says without a fee increase, the Department of Natural Resources will find it difficult to make ends meet. "There’s a real shortage in the fish and wildlife trust fund," Dearden says. "We either lay people off or close down fish hatcheries."

If the bill were to become law, out-of-staters would pay an extra $10 for an Iowa fishing license and an extra $30 for a hunting license. The cost of a deer license would double to $300 for out-of-state hunters. Dearden estimates those fee increases on out-of-state sportsmen and women would raise up to $2 million more dollars for the D.N.R.

While Governor Culver has made clear he opposes hunting and fishing license fee increases for Iowans, he’s not yet decided whether he supports or objects to the bill which would apply the increases to residents of other states.

 

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

Marshalltown reacts to power plant news

March 5, 2009 By

Local officials say they’re disappointed, but not entirely surprised Alliant Energy has decided not to build a coal-fired electric plant in Marshalltown. The $1.5 billion facility was expected to employ up to 1,500 people.

Dick Hierstein, the Marshalltown city administrator, says the city had worked closely with the company for the past two years on plans for the plant. "There were a lot of positive impacts from the project, if it were to occur," Hierstein says. Joel Akason, president of the Marshall Economic Development Impact Committee, says while he’s disappointed, he and others weren’t totally surprised by today’s announcement.

"Businesses make decisions every single day and Alliant’s a good business. They made a very prudent financial business decision," Akason says. "I think everybody around here fully understands that and maybe somewhat suspected that when the numbers were given on February 4th."

About a month ago, the Iowa Utilities Board did not grant Alliant Energy’s request for a 12.5% return on their investment, instead allowing the company a 10 percent return on investment, had the plant been built. The plant would have been built by Interstate Power and Light, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy. 

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

Congressman King sponsors "Victory in Iraq" resolution

March 5, 2009 By

A group of lawmakers in the U.S. House, led by Iowa Republican Steve King, has introduced a resolution outlining the success of 2007 troop surge in Iraq. King sponsored the "Victory in Iraq" resolution, which he admits is a symbolic move to simply send a message to President Obama.

"The message is there has been a definable victory that’s been achieved in Iraq," King said. "But, the battle is not all done. It is a fragile victory that’s been achieved. But, those achievements must be maintained, preserved and enhanced. We stand with President Obama to do so – but we call upon him to make sure we don’t lose those valuable gains that have been paid for at such a high price."

Obama, a U.S. Senator at the time, was opposed to the troop surge. King, who is from Kiron, has visited troops in Iraq six times. His resolution includes 35 co-sponsors and states that 17 of the 18 benchmarks for progress – established by Congress in May 2007 – have been completely or substantially achieved. Last Friday, President Obama says a troop withdrawl from Iraq is underway.

King says he questions if the move is a political decision or a tactical move. "If it’s a tactical decision, I’ll agree that we’re in a position where we can start to move troops out of Iraq," King said. "But, to take them all out and set a timetable…I don’t think that is necessarily the right thing to do."

President Obama said his plan would keep up to 50,000 troops in Iraq for continued counter terrorism missions. 

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

Harkin favors change in Electoral College

March 5, 2009 By

State lawmakers are weighing a plan to change the way Iowa’s votes in the Electoral College are cast, so all seven votes would go toward the winner of the popular vote nationally. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, says the times have changed and the nation’s political engine needs a tune-up.

Harkin says, "From the standpoint of equity and fairness, the Electoral College I believe is outdated and why it was set up in the first place no longer holds sway. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Electoral College eliminated and make sure that every person’s vote in America counted the same."

While many Democratic legislative leaders support the plan, other Democrats like Governor Chet Culver and Secretary of State Michael Mauro oppose it, as do many Republicans. Governor Culver says the change would hurt Iowa’s credibility and make us more of a "fly-over state." Harkin disagrees.

"Iowa would still maintain its first-in-the-nation (status) in terms of the Caucuses, that’s vitally important for Iowa and for us as a state and both of our parties, Republicans and Democrats," Harkin says. "I just don’t buy that argument that somehow we’d become less important."

Harkin says: "I’ve long advocated we should just have straight election of the president and then we wouldn’t have these problems of where somebody gets more popular vote but they don’t win the presidency. Al Gore and George Bush being the latest example but it’s happened a couple of times in our history."

In the 2000 election, Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide but George W. Bush won enough states to win the Electoral College vote and Bush became the 43rd president.

In each presidential election, Iowa’s Electoral College votes are cast for the candidate who carries the state. Under the bill pending in the Iowa Senate, Iowa’s seven Electoral College votes would be cast for the candidate who wins the popular vote nationally.

 

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

Report says casino impact on Iowa economy over $1 billion

March 5, 2009 By

The administrator of the state Racing and Gaming Commission told commissioners today (Thursday) that the casino industry generated over one billion dollars for the Iowa economy in 2008. Jack Ketterer says the 17 casinos purchased around $294-million in equipment and paid some $379-million in taxes, while also giving $83-million to charities.

The president of the Iowa Gaming Association, Wes Ehrecke, says the report shows how important the industry is to the state.

Ehrecke says it reflects that "we are a viable part of Iowa’s economy and adding a lot of value to the state’s entertainment and tourism industry."

The annual report on the gaming industry impact also showed a program requiring casinos to look for Iowa companies first when buying supplies has led to 92% of those items being purchased from businesses with ties to the state. Ehrecke says the program has come a long way.

Ehrecke says when the "Buy Iowa First" program started eight or nine years ago, there were around $140-million in purchases with 80% coming from Iowa businesses, and now it has gone to nearly $400-million and 92%.

Ehrecke handed out information that showed Iowa casinos had a 4.9% increase in gross gambling revenues last year, while Illinois had a 20.9% drop, and Colorado casinos saw revenue fall 12.3%. Ehrecke says both Illinois and Colorado implemented smoking bans in casinos last year — and that had an impact.

Ehrecke says it shows the importance of keeping Iowa’s smoking ban exemption in casinos. Ehrecke’s report showed the neighboring states of South Dakota and Missouri had increases in casino revenue of four-point-one percent and 5.6%. 

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Class 1A final set, 4A moves into semis

March 5, 2009 By

The class 1A semis highlighted Wednesday’s action at the girls state basketball tournament. Top ranked Springville is a victory away from a second consecutive title after the Orioles held off fifth rated North Butler 46-45 in overtime. Katie Eiben led Springville with 16 points, Sarah Davidson scored 10.

Jessica McDowell scored 15 points and third-ranked AGWSR put the game away with its free throw shooting down the stretch, beating No. 10 George-Little Rock 47-40 Wednesday night to reach the Class 1A championship game.

Top ranked Linn-Mar survived a defensive battle against Cedar Rapids Xavier to post a 32-29 win and advance to the class 4A semifinal round. Lions coach Mike Brandt says he was happy with the way his team battled through the tough game as he says they haven’t had a lot of games like that. Brandt says Xavier did an outstanding job of limiting what his team could do. Linn-Mar improves to 24-0.

After losing four straight games to close out the regular season Cedar Rapids Kennedy is a victory away from reaching the state title game. The Cougars shot a blistering 46 percent for the game and rolled to a 68-50 win over Waukee. Jade Rogers paced Kennedy with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Laura Boenish chipped in with 17 points, including 14 in the opening half.

Rogers says it’s great to get a win as they didn’t know what they were getting into in that four game losing streak. Waukee ends the season 17-7 and with no seniors on the team they are already looking ahead to next year.

[guess1] :16 :experience

Waukee coach Chris Guess says "it was a treat to qualify" and as a young team he says they hope to come back with more experiences.

In the class 4A quarterfinal round, second rated Sioux City North raced out to a 23-11 lead at the end of one and cruised to a 78-56 win over Indianola. The Indians did make a comeback and eventually trimmed the lead to five but the Stars took control midway through the third quarter of play as they improve to 23-1.

Sioux City North coach Kirk Walker says they hope their pressure wears on people and it did seem to create problems for Indianola. Brittni Donaldson led the way with 20 points as nine different Stars got into the scoring column.

Indianola coach Burt Hanson says the Indians were beaten by a better team. Indianola closes the season with a record of 17-7. 

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Statehouse reaction to decision to pull the plug on Marshalltown power plant

March 5, 2009 By

Legislative leaders from both political parties are holding out hope plans for a coal-fired power plant in Marshalltown may be resurrected. But Governor Chet Culver told reporters this morning he and the state have done all it can. "It’s really in the Iowa Utility Board court at this point," Culver said during a news conference in his office. "It’s completely their decision, if they don’t want to go forward."

Culver suggested the utility’s decision to pull the plug on plans for the plant was driven largely by the state of the economy. "I know that a lot of the leaders in Marshalltown were working hard on this. I know that labor was very engaged," Culver said. "But these are very complex projects that are extremely expensive and during a very tough economic downturn, it’s sometimes tough to get the financing together to make those projects work."

Legislative leaders, meanwhile, seem less inclined to declare the project dead. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs has been deeply involved in utility-related issues during his tenure at the statehouse. "We’re going to review that decision. We’re going to review the rational of the company involved," Gronstal said this morning during a news conference in his statehouse office. "We’re going to review the decision of the Utility Board and have those discussions."

According to Gronstal, Iowa’s laws are unique. "First of all, we’ve been able to work with companies. Warren Buffett says Iowa has the most progressive policy in the country as it related to energy production," Gronstal said. "We’ve done that with both base-load capacity for coal-fired plants. We’ve done it with natural gas plants and we’ve become a world leader in wind energy."

But Republican legislators warn the state may face brown-outs within a few years if utilities quit building new power generating stations. House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha disputes the governor’s contention the plant isn’t being built because of economic conditions. "I think the thing you need to know is at least as I understand it when the Alliant Energy or Interstate Power folks talked to me was this decision’s not being made, at least not directly, because of the state of the economy — either in Iowa or the national economy," Paulsen said during another statehouse news conference held shortly before noon today. "This decision’s being made because for whatever reason, Iowa regulatory agencies have decided to increase the cost of building it to a point where it no longer serves the rate-payer the best."

Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton hopes the deal can be resurrected. "It is extremely important to Iowa’s economic future that we have a sufficient supply of electricity and we believe that the state must be a parner in making that happen," McKinley said.

McKinley also questions whether Google or Microsoft will be interested in expanding into Iowa — as planned — if the state doesn’t have more electric generation plants on-line soon.

The $1.5 billion dollar plant was expected to employ up to 1500 people in Marshalltown.

Click on the audio link below to hear Governor Culver’s question-and-answer session with reporters, followed by a news conference featuring Democratic legislative leaders and concluding with a third news conference featuring Republican legislative leaders.

AUDIO: Culver, Democrats, Republicans (mp3 runs 30 min)

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