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Another attempt to crack down on meth makers

March 16, 2009 By

If the State of Iowa gets a $750,000 federal grant, the state may create an electronic database to track the sale of one of the ingredients for an illegal drug. 

Under current Iowa law, over-the-counter medications which contain "pseudoephedrine" must be behind the pharmacist’s counter. There are also limits on how much can be purchased at one time and those who buy the products are to sign a log book. But investigators say some meth-makers go from pharmacy to pharmacy, buying up huge quantities of over-the-counter medications in order to get enough to make a batch of meth.

A bill which won final legislative approval in the House Monday evening would require people to sign an "electronic logbook" to better track those kind of bulk purchases. The bill, however, requires pharmacies to continue to maintain that paper log books listing who’s buying the meds until that statewide electronic log book is on-line.

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

Judge says Spirit Lake school board broke open meetings law

March 16, 2009 By

District Court judge John Duffy has ruled the Spirit Lake school board violated the state open meetings law in two of four cases in a lawsuit brought by several district residents.

One was a meeting held in a lobby of a Des Moines hotel in November of 2007, and the other was a closed meeting that should have been opened on January 9th of 2008.

Duffy ruled the meeting in the Des Moines hotel lobby 200 miles from Spirit Lake was held in his words, "in a blatant disregard for the public’s right of access to the meeting." The judge says the January 9th meeting should have been opened when none of the candidates for the superintendent’s job asked that the meeting be closed.

Board members at the time of the violations will have to pay 400 dollars plus court costs. 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education

UNI coming off rest, Purdue comes in with momentum

March 16, 2009 By

UNI. enters their NCAA tournament game Thursday against Purdue after a week off following the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. Purdue enters the game with no time off after winning the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday.

Panther coach Ben Jacobson says either team could gain from the way the schedule has played out. Jacobson says the Boilermakers are playing great right now, and when you are in the midst of a string of wins, you want to play again right away.

Jacobson says Purdue will be riding the confidence and momentum of the Big Ten tournament win. His team is well rested, but he doesn’t know which team will have more of an advantage.

UNI. is the 12th seed and Purdue the 5th seed, which is often a matchup where the lower seed has been picked for the upset. Jacobson talks about that idea. He says those matchups have been talked about the most over the years, but he says that doesn’t mean that the 12th seed always gets the win.

Jacobson says a lot of things will have to go right for them to win the game. Jacobson was asked if there is any pressure on them to win as UNI’s last three trips to the NCAA Tournament ended in first-round loses.

"I don’t think that pressure is the right word, our guys expect a lot of each other and they expect a lot of their team. As do I," Jacobson says. He says they’ve accomplished a lot of things for the first time this season and didn’t think there was any pressure during the season.

Jacobson says playing good defense will be the key in this game. Jacobson says the team defense has been very good and that’s given them the opportunity to win games, and this game will be no different. The two teams meet at 1:30 in Portland, Oregon. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Health Department says flu season not yet over

March 16, 2009 By

The state Department of Public Health is asking Iowans no to let their guard down — even though the flu season has been relatively mild. Department medical director, Patricia Quinlisk, says flu cases have show some upturn in the last several days.

She says the flu season has been kind of late, and they’ve seen the cases go up lately in children in schools. Quinlisk says everyone should still take precautions to prevent spreading the flu.

Quinlisk says the flu season isn’t over yet, and parents are reminded that if their child is sick, keep them home so that they don’t spread it to others. Quinlisk says it’s hard to predict how tough he flu season will be.

Quinlisk says there’s no easy way to tell as a lot of things make a difference, such as the weather, humidity, whether the flu is spread among children or among the elderly.

Quinlisk says if you are worried about getting the flu, it’s not too late to get a flu shot. She says it is late in the season, but she says if you have a school-aged child and are worried about them getting the flu, talk with your doctor about getting them a flu shot.

Quinlisk says children can be sick for five to seven days and in some cases as long as 10 days if they catch the flu. 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

It’s Flood Safety Awareness Week

March 16, 2009 By

While Spring arrives Friday, today marks the start of Flood Safety Awareness Week, though some Iowans have already seen flooding in recent days. Jeff Zogg, senior hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Johnston, says there will be daily topics on things people should know when they encounter high water.

The first topic covers AHAPS, the Weather Service’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System, which features 90-day outlooks, river forecasts and a variety of up-to-the-minute data on waterways. Zogg says links can be found to the service through the website “ weather-dot-gov “.

Tuesday’s topic is the flood safety campaign “Turn around, don’t drown,” which stresses if you see a flooded roadway, turn around — don’t try to drive through it. On Wednesday, they’ll cover floods, droughts and related weather phenomena. Later in the week, the subject is flood insurance and how to obtain it.

Zogg notes most homeowners’ policies don’t cover damage from flooding. Zogg says Iowans are becoming better educated to the dangers of flooding, especially after what happened almost a year ago. He says last year’s Iowa floods were devastating. While the flood of ’93 covered a larger geographic area and lasted longer, the flood of ’08 was much more expensive and did much more damage to some communities, especially Cedar Rapids.

For the upcoming three months, Zogg says the flood risk statewide is about normal, while the risk for the Rock River in northwest Iowa is somewhat higher than normal and the flood risk for the Mississippi is slightly lower than normal. Again, for more information, visit the National Weather Service website .

 

 

Filed Under: Weather

State tax receipts down nearly 7%

March 16, 2009 By

State tax receipts were down nearly 7% last month compared to February of 2008. Over half a billion dollars in taxes were paid to the State of Iowa in February, but the total was 6.9% percent less than state tax receipts in February of last year.

A report from the Legislative Services Agency makes a number of February, 2009 to February, 2008 comparisons. For example, it shows corporate tax payments to the state were down over 90% last month. And individual income taxes paid to the state were down nearly five percent.

Sales and use taxes are an indicator of retail sales, and sales and use taxes fell over 1.5% last month. Finally, people appear to be gambling more, as the taxes paid by the state’s gambling operations were up almost seven percent in February.

The total tax picture will be the subject of intense interest at the statehouse on Friday when a three-member panel of experts meets to set its official estimate of state tax revenue for the current fiscal year.

Legislators have held off making final decisions on the state budget, waiting for that estimate to be made.

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Commissioner says she wanted another term on Racing and Gaming Commission

March 16, 2009 By

A longtime member of the state Racing and Gaming Commission will not be reappointed to the board that oversees the state’s casinos and race tracks.

Diane Hamilton of Storm Lake says she asked to be reappointed to the commission. Hamilton says "it’s not entirely a surprise" as she says it’s "very unusual" to be reappointed to a fourth term, as she filled out the term of a previous commissioner and then was reappointed for three terms.

The commission is studying the possibility of expanding the number of gambling licenses, and will get the final report on two studies of the issue in June. Hamilton says she would have liked to have seen that through. "That was sort of my motivation for asking to be reappointed for another three years," Hamilton says.

She says it is going to be an issue facing the commission in the next and would be helpful for someone with experience to deal with it. "But, the governor had other ideas so, and you know, that’s fine too," Hamilton says. Hamilton says she will miss the commission.

Hamilton says she feels fortunate to be a member of the commission for 10 years and says most of the work has been enjoyable. She says she has enjoyed the relationships she’s built with the members of the commission, members of the staff and officials at the casinos.

Hamilton says deciding among the applicants for new licenses a few years ago was the hard part of being a commissioner. She says picking out the sites was almost the toughest job she’s ever had to do. Governor Chet Culver has nominated Angela Rivera-Harrison of Des Moines to Hamilton’s spot on the board. Rivera-Harrison has been on the electrical contractors board and has ties to labor. 

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