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Grassley says he’s still working to get healthcare reform

April 9, 2009 By

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says if a bill to reform healthcare fails to pass Congress this year, it could be four years before the issue comes up again. The Republican spoke at a healthcare forum today on the North Iowa Area Community College campus in Mason City.

Grassley says he understands why voters are cynical about the matter, but he believes significant healthcare reform is possible in 2009. "In fact, I would go further to say, if we don’t get it done this year…next year is an election year. The following year is not an election year, but you’re in the cycle of an election of a president and it ain’t going to be done for four years," Grassley said.

The New Hartford resident, who’s the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, says he working closely with committee chair Max Baucus of Montana to get a bill through Congress. Grassley says he wants to make sure that any bill would ensure that people would be able to keep their private health insurance.

But, he says a recent study indicates a government-run health plan would attract 119-million people to leave their private insurer.

"It’s quite obvious, if you have 119-million people opt out, you aren’t going to have affordable coverage for those that are left in a private health care system," Grassley said.

The forum, sponsored by the Divided We Fai l coalition, included comments from National Federation of Independent Business state director Andy Warren. He says most small businesses are reaching a point where they can no longer afford to provide healthcare coverage for their employees.

Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa senior vice president Doctor Paul Manternach added that Iowa’s Medicare reimbursement rate is the lowest in the nation, which is hurting the state’s ability to recruit quality physicians.  

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

Iowa Soybean Association spokesman likes outlook

April 9, 2009 By

The Iowa Soybean Association is celebrating its 45th year this year and a spokesman says the outlook heading in to spring planting won’t hamper the celebration. Ray Gaesser says demand for the crop this year will probably be better than most people are expecting.

"Demand is really strong right now. We’re exporting as many or more soybeans than we did even last year when they expected exports to be down," Gaesser explains. "Production around the world is going to be flat rather than growing, as it appears Argentina and Brazil have had some problems. They’re still going to have a pretty good crop. So I think our future looks good. It looks like soybean acres are going to be up for ’09 by maybe five million acres around the nation."

Gaesser says the current tax incentives for biodiesel are an important investment that needs to continue to help farmers. "It’s really important to have those incentives for a young industry like the soy biodiesel industry to keep it going, to help it get started and get established in the market," Gaesser says. "It’s also so good for soybean farmers. Biodiesel has really helped the price of soybeans. It’s really good for our engines. So it’s just a great environmental product, too."

According to Gaesser, some studies show last year, demand for soybeans caused by biodiesel production increased prices by as much as $2.00 per bushel. For more information, visit: www.iasoybeans.com . 

Filed Under: Agriculture Tagged With:

Iowa man wins contest that will help bone marrow donor program

April 9, 2009 By

Rusty Bishop on extreme race. An Iowa man whose hobby is running long-distance through some of the world’s hottest deserts has won a national contest that’ll benefit the state’s bone marrow donor program.

 Rusty Bishop, of Des Moines, was among five "extreme sports" athletes picked by an outdoor magazine and a shoe company — and Internet voters chose Bishop as the favorite.

"All five semi-finalists received $5,000 for their charity of choice and then the grand prize was an additional $25,000," Bishop says. "My charity is the Iowa Marrow Donor Program at the Iowa City hospitals, so they’ll receive $30,000." Running is a hobby for Bishop. "More of an obsession," he corrects.

His day job is running a shop in Des Moines that specializes in hot tea. He’s thrilled his enthusiasm for the endurance racing has paid off for the non-profit group. "Those funds will go to pay for tissue typing to add people to the national and global registry for the marrow and stem cell donation," Bishop says. "Thirty-thousand dollars will pay for roughly 500 to 700 people to be added to the registry which is an enormous amount of people to be added, which is fantastic."

In 2001, Bishop was matched with an infant in Oklahoma who was suffering from a rare disease and he donated his bone marrow to the girl. Just last year, Bishop attended a party with the girl and her family to mark eight years since the transplant surgery. "In knowing the process, how simple it was to be able to give a family, and in this case a child, a chance at life, it’s just an amazing thing," Bishop says. "This is really close to me and the important thing to me is to share the process with people to get more people interested in joining the registry to be potential donors."

Bishop uses his runs to promote and raise funds for the Iowa Marrow Donor Program. The races are typically 150-miles over seven days and participants carry all of their food and clothing for the week through deserts around the world. He’s done them in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, considered the driest place on earth, as well as the Gobi Desert in China and the Sahara Desert in Africa. To learn more about the contest, log on to the  "Inspiring Soles" website .

 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Human Interest, Recreation & Entertainment

Gronstal: King "too chicken" to run for governor

April 9, 2009 By

Mike Gronstal The top Democrat in the Iowa Senate is questioning the political fortitude of a former state senator who’s now a congressman.

Earlier this week, Republican Congressman Steve King said his dismay over the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage might prompt him to run for governor in 2010.

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs says he doubts King will challenge Democratic Governor Chet Culver’s re-election.

"Steve King’s too chicken to run for governor because he knows he’d get his butt beat," Gronstal says.

King mulled running for governor back in 2006, but decided to seek re-election to his seat in congress. The fifth district is Iowa’s most-Republican congressional district and King has served as the area’s congressman since 2003. He was a state senator for six years.

Late Thursday afternoon, King issued a one-sentence, retaliatory statement in reply to Gronstal:  "Senator Gronstal is afraid to allow a vote on marriage," King said. King’s making reference to Gronstal’s vow to block a vote in the legislature which would set the wheels in motion to allow a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage. 

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

Gay marriage opponents shout at legislators: "Let us vote!"

April 9, 2009 By

Chuck Hurley and Reverend Keith Ratliff wear red suits at rally asking for Consitutional Amendment on gay marriage. There was more drama today at the Iowa capitol over the gay marriage issue, with opponents of same-sex marriage angrily shouting at legislators in the House of Representatives.

The top Republican in the Iowa House tried but failed to force legislative action on a resolution which calls for a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

Opponents of gay marriage who were in the House balcony, watching the proceedings, immediately started chanting.

"Let’s us vote," they repeated. A House officer advised the crowd: "The chief clerk would remind people in the gallery that demonstrations are not permitted in the House gallery."

House Speaker Pat Murphy, a Democrat from Dubuque, is the one who ruled the vote in the House would not occur today. "The bottom line is we’re not going to let ‘mob rule’ rule this state," Murphy says. "This demonstration in the gallery today, granted we were out of session, but it was wrong. They want to do this, they can take a rally outside. There’s no reason for this type of behavior here and we’re not going to put up with it. Period."

At 8:30 this morning, both opponents and supporters of gay marriage gathered in separate sites just outside the statehouse. About 300 people on the west steps of the capitol prayed and cheered as a Baptist minister and a leading opponent of gay marriage who were dressed in identical red suits led a rally.

Crowd listens at rally calling for Consitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage. "I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing red today," Iowa Family Policy Center executive director Chuck Hurley said.

The crowd applauded, and Reverend Keith Ratliff laughed. "Total solidarity of the red," Ratliff added.

Hurley challenged legislators who’re blocking a vote as well as Governor Culver to reverse course and support a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage. "We will not give up until our hired servants who we elect and diselect and whose salary we pay….let us vote," Hurley said.

An Iowa Supreme Court ruling issued last Friday legalizes gay marriage here and Hurley urged the crowd to take action in the voting booth in November of 2010 and remove three of the justices from office. "We will remember, next November," Hurley chanted.

Reverend Ratliff, who is head of the Iowa/Nebraska chapter of the NAACP, rejects the notion the gay rights movement is akin to the civil rights movement for blacks. For five-and-a-half minutes, Ratliff led this morning’s crowd in prayer.

"Let them understand, oh God, is that your way is the way that we must live, that separation of church and state did not mean that man should live unholy," Ratliff prayed.

Supporters of gay marriage put on t-shirts with a blue dot. A few dozen gay rights activists gathered on the south side of the capitol at 8:30 this morning.

Ryan Crane, a local organizer for the "One Iowa" campaign, advised them not to clap, cheer or even speak while they were in the House chamber to watch today’s drama unfold.

"The opposition will almost certainly outnumber us, but not to worry," Crane said.

Wendy Vasquez of Des Moines was among those wearing a t-shirt with one dot to symbolize the "One Iowa" campaign. "My brother is gay and he’s been with his partner for, like, 20 years and they have the most wonderful relationship I’ve ever seen," Vasquez says. "Why I can be married and he cannot is beyond me."

A Radio Iowa reporter tried to interview opponents of gay marriage as they filed out of the House chamber this morning, but they refused to give their names.

Click on the audio links below to listen to the "One Iowa" gathering which started at 8:30 a.m. and the anti-gay marriage rally which started at 8:35 a.m.

AUDIO: One Iowa gathering 1:24 MP3
AUDIO: Gay marriage opponents rally 26:00 MP3

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Offensive line key for Iowa and Iowa State

April 9, 2009 By

There has been no bigger key to the success of the Iowa football team over the past few years than the play of the offensive line and that unit will have plenty of experience heading into next season. Iowa must replace Rob Bruggeman and Seth Olsen from last year’s "o-line" that helped pave the way to a 90-4 record and a win over South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says they have three guys who were playing pretty well at the end of the season, so they have something to build on. He says they have plenty of younger guys who realistically can contend for playing time.

One of the players in the hunt at center is senior Rafael Eubanks, who battled injuries this past season. Ferentz says some of the guys who played well last year had a tough year the year before.

Ferentz says Eubanks is in that same situation and has played some good football in the past at guard and center and is in contention for both positions.

At Iowa State it has been back to basics for the offensive line where new coach Paul Rhoads is not only installing a new offense but a new style of blocking as well. Rhoads says it’s been a big adjustment in the fundamentals of how they block.

Rhoads says the focus is on style not assignments, or the nuts and bolts of blocking, which he says is the hardest thing to teach. He says knowing who to block is easier to teach than it is teaching them how to block.

Both the Cyclones and Hawkeyes conclude spring drills on April 18th. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Shooting death near Eagle Grove under investigation

April 9, 2009 By

The shooting death of a north-central Iowa man is under investigation. At about 8:45 last night, the Wright County Communications office received a 9-1-1 call reporting the discovery of a body at a rural Eagle Grove residence.

The victim was identified as 40-year-old Mark Hanson of Eagle Grove. Hanson did not reside at the residence. Preliminary investigation shows Hanson died from a gunshot wound. The Eagle Grove Police are assisting Wright County Sheriff’s deputies and the state D.C.I. in this case.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
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