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A fallen soldier who grew up in southeast Iowa will be buried Saturday.
Thirty-nine-year-old Sergeant Scott Stream was killed while serving with the Illinois Army National Guard in Afghanistan.
Stream was among four soldiers killed late last month when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Kandahar.
Stream graduated in 1987 from Davis County High School in Bloomfield. His funeral will be held tomorrow in Kentucky.
Stream is survived by a wife and two daughters.
Coffee — it’s not just for breakfast anymore.
The director of the University of Iowa’s Sleep Disorder Clinic says this weekend’s change to Daylight Saving Time will likely mean a boost in fender benders — and worse.
Dr. Eric Dyken recommends a strong cuppa’ Joe late in the afternoon all next week if you find you’re getting sleepy sooner.
Dyken says, “The initial period, whether it’s spring of fall, that one-week period following the change, there’s usually an increase in traffic-related fatalities, especially in pedestrians being hit by cars around 6 o’clock P.M. when people are getting back from work because they’re tired.”
Everyone reacts differently to the twice-a-year “Spring Forward, Fall Back” ritual. He says some people readjust to the change within 24 hours, while others need a full week. He says Iowans need to recognize the time change -can- have an impact on their bodies.
“Be aware that you might be at risk for making a fatigue or sleepy-related accident doing something difficult,” Dyken says. “Around 5 or 6 in the afternoon when you’re driving home, be extra cautious, just common sense.” He says he’s usually prone to recommend more holistic solutions, however, he says some Iowans might want to resort to more traditional alternatives to keep themselves alert over the next week.
“There is something to a good caffeinated beverage,” Dyken says. “A Red Bull has 80 milligrams of caffeine in it. A good strong cup of coffee, maybe 120 milligrams of caffeine. It takes about 30 minutes for that caffeine to get into the system once you ingest it.” He says studies find the use of Daylight Saving Time helps conserve energy, saves money and actually reduces the number of traffic fatalities by 1%.
Iowans need to shift their clocks forward one hour before heading to bed on Saturday night
The Iowa Board of Corrections today approved the appointments of two new prison wardens.
Corrections Director John Baldwin also appointed three people to key administrative positions. John Fayram is the new warden of the Anamosa State Penitentiary.
Fayram grew up in the Jones County town and has spent 20 of his 30 years with the Department of Corrections in Anamosa. He’ll take over a stone fortress facility that was built in the late 1880′s and houses more than 1,200 inmates.
"Because of our age, we don’t have all of the technology that some of the institutions have, so I think (the Board of Corrections) is interested in bring Anamosa along in terms of modernization," Fayram said.
Any changes in Anamosa, however, would follow plans already in place for a new maximum security prison in Fort Madison and improvements to the women’s prison in Mitchellville. Dan Craig is the new warden at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale. The 25-year veteran of the Iowa prisons system will be in charge of a facility where new inmates are processed.
Craig says he doesn’t plan to make any major changes and will work to improve Iowa’s recidivism rate. Craig most recently served as the Western Region Deputy Director. Baldwin has appointed Diann Wilder-Tomlinson to fill that position in an "acting" role. She’s currently the warden at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women. Baldwin has also named former Anamosa prison warden Jerry Burt as the new Eastern Region Deputy Director.
Burt says he’ll focus on improving offender re-entry into the community. "Ninety-three or 94-percent of all the folks that we work with in corrections, go back home. They get back into the community," Burt said. "Both in the institutions and community corrections, it’s our job to provide the services, programming and role models that those folks need to grow, so when they go back into the community they’re better prepared to live their life successfully there."
Around 35% of the people released from Iowa’s prisons end up back in prison. Burt says that’s better than most other states. "The biggest reason for that is the quality of staff we have working in the department," Burt said. All of the changes follow the recent deaths of Lowell Brandt, who had been Oakdale’s prison warden, and Larry Brimeyer, who was in charge of eastern Iowa operations. Both men died suddenly of heart attacks.
In addition, Jeanette Bucklew, who has been responsible for offender services, is retiring. Jerry Bartruff has been appointed the acting deputy director for offenders.
Governor Chet Culver said today he will veto any attempt by the legislature to increase the state’s gas tax. The governor has repeatedly said he opposes the idea of an 8-cent increase in the state’s gas tax.
But now he wants lawmakers to know his veto plans before the House and Senate transportation committees vote on the proposal next week. Culver says, "This not the time to raise taxes on hard-working Iowans who are already struggling to pay their utility bill, their food bill, their mortgage payment."
The Governor maintains there is money available for road and bridge repair at least for the next couple of years.
"We just received 360-million dollars in federal recovery funds just for roads and bridges. That’s the equivalent of raising the gas tax 20 cents," Culver says. Culver also plans to steer at least a third of his proposed $750-million state stimulus package toward roadwork if it passes the Legislature.
Culver says he’d be willing to consider raising the gas tax in a couple of years when the stimulus money runs out and the economy improves. But he says he refuses to increase the tax during a severe economic recession.
Top seeded Northern Iowa held off Indiana State 73-69 today in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament. UNI was led by Kwadzo Ahelegbe and Adam Koch , who each had 19 points.
UNI, which tied with Creighton for the regular season title, advances to the semifinals of the tournament.
The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the decision to throw out evidence in a case where a driver struck and killed pedestrian. The Iowa State Patrol says Remie Harris struck and killed a woman with his car in Des Moines in April of 2006. A state trooper on the scene said he noticed a strong smell of alcohol on Harris’ breath and noticed his eyes were bloodshot. The trooper gave Harris a breath test that showed his alcohol level at .125. Harris however refused consent for the trooper to take blood for an alcohol test after Harris had been taken to a state patrol post. Trooper David Overton consulted with an assistant county attorney and then took a blood sample from Harris before a search warrant was obtained from a judge. Police are allowed to take a blood sample without a warrant when it is believed that waiting might allow the alcohol in a person’s blood to dissipate. A district court judge ruled that the trooper took the warrantless blood test on the instruction of the district attorney and not because he was worried about destruction of evidence. The Iowa Supreme court agreed, and upheld the decision to not allow the blood test to be used in the case.
The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled against a mother’s insurance claim following an accident that killed her son. Court records in the Iowa County case show that Anthony Moore was sitting on the trunk of the car driven by Nicole Eckman on May 13, 2005 when Moore fell off the car and suffered a head injury that led to his death.
Moore’s mother Carole arrived on the scene of the accident immediately after it occurred, and was the first person to try and help her son. The driver Eckman, was sued for negligence, and included in the suit is what’s called a bystander claim by Carole Moore for the emotional distress. The insurance company asked the district judge to dismiss the bystander claim because Moore did not actually witness the accident.
The district court however, allowed Moore’s claim to stand. The Iowa Supreme Court says the district court was in error as the undisputed facts in this case show that Carole Moore did not observe the accident.
The high court says while it recognizes that Moore’s grief may be as great or greater than one who observes the accident, the issue is the requirement under law that the person must witness the accident to qualify to make such a claim.
O.KayHenderson.com