"I’ve made a lot of jokes about Des Moines and Iowa and the great thing about it is that people realize it’s affectionate teasing. I’m really, really proud to be an Iowan," Bryson said. "There isn’t any place that I’d rather be from and people really seem to respond to that." The 57-year-old Bryson says one of the reasons he’s comfortable living in England is that the English people’s sense of humor is similar to that of Iowans. "If you leave Iowa and go to other states, you find that people don’t have the same kind of sense of humor we do in Iowa," Bryson said. "I think in Iowa, the sense of humor is very much based on the idea of not taking yourself too seriously, making jokes that are directed at yourself, being self-depricating and that’s not true of a lot of other places." Bryson’s books have sold 10-million copies worldwide, but his most celebrated work in his home state is "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid." The memoir, released in 2006, chronicles Bryson’s adventures as a boy growing up in Des Moines in the 1950s and 60s. Bryson says the city has changed quite a bit in the last 50 years. "But the real thing that hasn’t changed, and I mean this sincerely, is the friendliness of the people," Bryson said. "The kind of feeling of the city is kind of what it always was." A play based on "Thunderbolt" will debut at the Des Moines Playhouse this Summer. Bryson says he’s disappointed he won’t be able to see the production. "I can’t imagine how they’re going to do it," Bryson said. The University of Durham, where Bryson is chancellor, will hold its graduation ceremonies at the time of the play’s run between the 12th and 28th of June. Several of Bryson’s books have involved extensive traveling. Currently, he’s working on book titled "At Home." Bryson says he promised his wife he would write a book from home. "So, I decided I’d do a book about the home," Bryson explained. "The whole idea is that I’m just going from room to room around our house in England and writing about a history of private life as lived in various rooms. So, it’s a kind of history of the world without leaving home." Bryson and his wife have four children and four grandchildren. They live in the country outside of Norfolk, England. Bryson says it’s a relatively stress-free life. "When I started out as a freelance writer, I quit my job in London and moved out to the country with my wife and we had two small kids at that time. All I wanted to do was make a living at it…just be able to pay the bills," Bryson said. "So, it’s turned out fantastically well. I’ve been really, really lucky." Bryson’s mother, who is 96, still lives in Des Moines. 
A best-selling author, who grew up in Des Moines, says he’ll always call Iowa his home – despite living in England the last 35 years. Bill Bryson returned to his alma mater, Drake University, Thursday to accept an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, an Alumni Achievement Award and deliver a speech. Bryson also visited with members of the media and said as time passes by, he appreciates Iowa more and more.
AUDIO: Bill Bryson interview. 7:42 MP3
Author Bill Bryson returns to Des Moines
Hammer may have been used in beating of NW Iowa boy
The Lyon County sheriff says a five-year-old boy from George is being treated for severe head injuries after multiple blows — possibly from the claw end of a hammer.
The sheriff’s office says the child suffered a fractured eye socket and stab wounds to his back along with other injuries including bite marks and a volleyball-sized scab area on his back which may be the result of a burn.
Authorities say some of the injuries may have been caused by the child’s six-year-old brother.
On Tuesday, the child’s mother, Nikki Moreno, was arrested on a child endangerment charge. Juan Carlos Moreno was also arrested on the same charge. Both are being held in the Lyon County Jail on $10,000 bond each.
Fort Dodge plant lays off workers
Officials of the Tate and Lyle corn wet milling plant in Fort Dodge announced Thursday the layoff of 56 of its 90 employees. The director of community and government relations Chris Olsen said that most of the layoffs were immediate though a few of these employees will remain on the job through June 3rd. Twenty employees will be retained to preserve the plant’s equipment and prepare for an eventual startup. The remaining employees will be transferred to other Tate and Lyle facilities. Ground was broken for the corn wet milling plant in Fort Dodge back in September, 2006, and was to have been completed this spring. Back on March 18th, the construction came to a halt after three years due to the current market conditions for ethanol. Company officials are hopeful for a turnaround in the market and an eventual completion of the ethanol facility located just west of Fort Dodge.
Iowa Supreme Court clears the way for gay marriage in Iowa
The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled the state law which forbids gay marriage in Iowa is unconstitutional. Six gay couples filed a lawsuit in 2005, arguing a state law which banned same-sex marriage was discriminatory.
This morning at 8:30, the court issued its ruling on the case as activists on both sides of issue stood waiting outside the Iowa Judicial Building — ready to speak with reporters on the scene.
Read Radio Iowa’s stories with supporters and opponents . Since 1998, a state law had stipulated that the only legally recognized marriages in Iowa are those between a man and a woman. Today’s ruling will allows same-sex couples to file for a license and get married here. State law does not require people who are married in Iowa to be Iowa residents, so couples from out-of-state may travel to Iowa to tie the knot.
Last year, a district court judge ruled the 1998 state law which banned gay marriage was unconstitutional. A gay couple from Ames obtained a license and were able to find a cleric to perform a marriage ceremony on the sidewalk in front of his home before the judge issued an injunction that put same-sex marriage on hold until the state’s highest court could issue its ruling.
The justices on the Supreme Court heard arguments in this case on December 10, and the chief justice told court watchers it would be "months" before a ruling was issued.
With today’s ruling, it took the justices less than four months to decide and write the opinion which was released to the public and can be found online at the Supreme Court’s website.
On Thursday, legislative leaders from both parties said the 2009 legislature will likely adjourn for the year within the next week or 10 days without passing a bill in reaction to this ruling.
Opponents of gay marriage have been pressing for an amendment to the state constitution which would ban gay marriage in Iowa. If the 2010 legislature endorses the idea, November of 2012 is the earliest Iowans would be able to vote on that constitutional amendment.
Read the court’s entire ruling here.
AUDIO: Gay couples and attorneys react 3:00 MP3
AUDIO: gay marriage opponents react 10:00 MP3
Two weeks into Spring: 8-14" snow possible by Sunday
The calendar says we’re well into spring but winter is making a comeback this weekend. A Winter Storm Watch is posted for tomorrow and into Sunday for much of northern and western Iowa. Ben Moyer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Johnston, says a storm system is developing over the Great Plains.
He says it’ll be pulling in colder air from the north and wrapping in a lot of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico which could end up dropping heavy snow. Strong winds are also expected which, with the blowing and drifting snow, could make driving trechererous.
Moyer said it’s still too early to estimate how much snow will come down in parts of Iowa. Forecasters say several inches of snow is possible, likely more than six inches, while some areas could see eight to 14 inches. Moyer said the nice thing about all this is that the snow should rapidly melt by the middle of next week.
As for today, he say most of Iowa should enjoy at least one more nice day of weather with highs in the 40s and 50s and plenty of sunshine.
Genetic abnormality could lead to male birth control pill
University of Iowa researchers say they’ve discovered a genetic abnormality that prevents some men from conceiving children. The findings, which were published this week on the American Journal of Human Genetics website , could one day lead to a birth control pill for men.
Dr. Michael Hildebrand helped lead the study and says the defective gene basically makes sperm unable to swim forcefully enough to penetrate the egg. "In these particular patients that have this defective gene, without the protein they need, these sperm can swim to the egg but they can’t make it into the egg and fertilization doesn’t take place," Hildebrand said.
Researchers now hope to find and study more men that carry the defective gene. Hildebrand says the next steps would involve finding ways to correct the gene that causes infertility and then potentially develop a male contraceptive. Currently, the only contraceptives available for men are condoms or a vasectomy. Hildebrand says a great deal of research is still needed, so it could be some time before a birth control pill for men hits the market.
"Probably somewhere in the range of five years," Hildebrand said. "Initially, studies would have to be done in animal models to show that a particular drug was effective in actually reducing fertility and that it was actually safe. Following the animal studies, we’d have to do clinical trials in human patients."
Hildebrand says he’s confident that any treatment could also be reversed. Researchers have been working for years to develop a male birth control pill, but those studies have generally focused on hormones and sperm production, rather than genetic traits.
Former VeraSun ethanol plants now under new operation
Ethanol plants in Fort Dodge, Charles City and Hartley came under new ownership just after midnight Wednesday. The Iowa plants were part of a group that also included plants in Minnesota and South Dakota that were sold by bankrupt VeraSun Energy to Valero Energy of San Antonio, Texas. Valero spokesman, Bill Day, says the change of ownership has gone smoothly.
Day says other than the new signs at the plants, there won’t be any visible changes to the people in the communities. He says they have visited the plants are working with the existing managers and employees, and they are all running and making ethanol. Valero also has purchased two other ethanol plants in Albert City, Iowa and Albion, Nebraska, and that deal is expected to close in the next several weeks.
Day says these are the first ethanol plants for the company, but he says they have lots of knowledge of ethanol as the largest oil refiner in North America. Day says they have 16 refineries, and their refining capacity of three-million barrels a day is more than Exon-Mobil, Chevron or Connoco-Phillips.
"So we are making a lot of gasoline, and because we make gasoline, we have to buy a lot of ethanol for blending into the gasoline," Day says, "so we were already into ethanol as a purchaser, but not as a producer." Day says they saw the financial troubles of VeraSun as a chance to get into ethanol production.
He says there were a lot of ethanol assets available at discount prices as the companies were in bankruptcy or had financial problems. Day says they were able to buy the ethanol plants for about 30% of what it would have cost to build them from scratch. Day says the problems that plagued VeraSun, won’t be a problem for his company.
Day says VeraSun got locked into hedging contracts that anticipated that corn prices would stay a certain level, and when corn prices fell, the company was trapped. He says Valero bought the hardware of the plants and not the existing corn contracts, so they can work with the corn suppliers.
Day says there are some 400 jobs the company was able to add or maintain by buying the plants. The company paid 477-million dollars for the five plants which it has already taken over. It is paying $72-million for the Albert City plant, and $55-million for the Albion plant.
