February 9, 2012

You are here: Home / 2009 / April / Archives for 23rd

New restrictions on where sex offenders may go, work, volunteer

April 23, 2009 By

As lawmakers begin what could be the final weekend of the 2009 legislative session, the House is scheduled on Friday to consider a bill that would make changes in Iowa’s sex offender laws.

Tonight, the Iowa Senate passed the legislation at the urging of Senator Keith Kreiman, a Democrat from Bloomfield.

“This legislation increases supervision of violent offenders, keeps sex offenders from hanging schools and other places children gather and improves the safety of our communities,” Kreiman said.

The bill creates new “safe zones” where paroled sex offenders are forbidden, places like schools, parks, day cares, libraries and public swimming pools. The state law which has banned all convicted sex offenders from living within two-thousand feet of a school or daycare will apply only to those who have committed “crimes against children,” according to Kreiman.

“This legislation recognizes that regulating where a sex offender spends their days is as important as tracking where they sleep,” Kreiman said.

Senator Pat Ward, a Republican from West Des Moines, was among the handful of legislators who worked behind-the-scenes on the bill.

“This bill is an example of what is good in politics. Democrats and Republicans have come together and worked to improve the 2000 foot rule that applies to sex offenders,” Ward said. “This is 2000-foot Plus.”

Ward argued the new restrictions on where sex offenders may go and what they can do will make Iowa communities safer. For example, those who’ve been convicted of a sex crime against a child will be barred from working or volunteering at a school, day care or other institution which serves children.

“We worked on this bill not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as people who care passionately about protecting children from sex offenders,” Ward said.

The bill passed the senate on a 49 to 0 vote. Governor Culver issued a written statement early Thursday afternoon, praising legislators for their “bipartisan effort” to improve Iowa’s sex offender laws.

Click on the audio link below to listen to senators discuss the bill.

AUDIO: Senate debate..,,MP3 12 min

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

No change in rules for convenience store hard liquor sales

April 23, 2009 By

A bid to make it easier for convenience stores in Iowa to sell hard liquor has fallen short.

Earlier this week, the Iowa Senate narrowly voted to remove restrictions which require convenience store owners to install a separate entrance and a separate cash register if they want to sell hard alcohol. But on Thursday the Iowa House voted to maintain the current restrictions.

Representative Bruce Hunter, a Democrat from Des Moines, said his "gut feeling" is it is a "bad idea" to have a single convenience store clerk selling everything in the store — including bottles of hard alcohol.

"All I can do is picture an 18-year-old clerk at one o’clock in the morning — and we’ve all seen their elaborate security system there, pretty much the camera…trying to dissuade someone who’s 20 years old…and shouldn’t be buying a bottle of Black Velvet to take out of the convenience store with them," Hunter said.

Representative Dwayne Alons, a Republican from Hull, opposed the change, too.

"I think this is very egregious," Alon said. "It just proliferates this possibility of more juveniles getting access to hard liquor."

Representative Deborah Berry, a Democrat from Waterloo, said providing greater access to hard liquor in Iowa’s inner cities isn’t a good idea.

"One of the problems that I see that we have in urban communities and particularly poor communities, minority communities is the fact that there is an abundance of alcohol…and to me, by making it easier, I do believe that we are going to see an increase in alcoholism among our young people," Berry said, "not to mention an increase in communities that are already distressed."

Representative Jim Lukan, a Republican from New Vienna, argued some small town convenience stores need the extra revenue from hard liquor sales, and can’t afford to install a second entry door and hire an extra clerk to run the second cash register.

"There’s a lot of small business people awfully fed up with the actions we take around here from time to time and I’m not a super big fan of drinking, I’ll grant you that, but I come from a small business background," Lukan said. "I know how hard it is to keep those places open and keep those places businesses going."

Today, there are 34 convenience stores in the state which have that separate door, room and cash register for the sale of hard liquor. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal says with the "overwhelming" vote of 63 to 24 in the House, the restrictions will stay and the issue will be dropped for this year.

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

Governor signs bills boosting wind energy industry

April 23, 2009 By

Governor Culver has signed two bills into law that are designed to boost the state’s wind energy industry.

Roya Stanley, director of the Iowa Office of Energy Independence, kicked off a bill signing ceremony in the governor’s office. "We come here to celebrate, in effect," Stanley said.

One bill sets aside $1 million in tax credits for wind energy companies that engage in research and development. The other bill allows colleges and universities, cooperatives and other groups of Iowans who want to generate their own electricity to qualify for the wind energy production tax credit.

Bill Schrad of Carroll is part of the Carroll Area Wind Association. "I’m a technology coordinator for Kuemper Catholic Schools in Carroll," he says. "I am hopefully a future owner of one of 10 wind turbines our group is working to install in Carroll County."

Schrad says their project started about six years ago.

"This will be one of the first, locally-owned wind farms in Iowa," he says. "It involves 10 utility-scale wind turbines which will produce enough electricity for approximately 8000 typical Iowa homes. The 10 turbines will owned by 10 mostly-local Carroll County residents who are farmers, land owners or business owners. As entrepreneurs, we believe in the importance of local ownership in this 21st century industry. This legislation starts to level the playing field for locally-owned projects. Our project would not happen without this legislation."

A few dozen legislators crowded into the governor’s office to watch him sign the bills into law. The governor suggested the new tax credit for wind energy research and development could lure a company to northwest Iowa.

"Specifically, this has the potential to create up to 400 new jobs in Sioux City alone," Culver said.

According to Governor Culver, nearly 2300 "pioneering" Iowans currently work in wind energy-related businesses.  Listen to today’s ceremony in the governor’s office by clicking on the audio link below.

AUDIO: Ceremony MP3 10 min

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

ISU graduate returning to space

April 23, 2009 By

Clayton Anderson The first and only Iowa State University graduate who’s been in orbit is going to make a return trip.

NASA astronaut Clay Anderson has been named to the crew of the space shuttle Discovery for a mission to the International Space Station early next year.

Anderson says they plan to launch around March 18th of 2010.

“We’re going to have a cargo element inside the payload bay of the shuttle that contains science experiments and racks and supplies and clothing and all good stuff for the station crew,” Anderson says. “We’re going to transfer all that over and we’re going to bring home some stuff they don’t need anymore. I’m going to go outside (the space station) and do three spacewalks, two of which are required to change out an ammonia tank assembly.”

In his first space assignment, Anderson spent between June and November of 2007 living aboard the orbiting space station. There are many risks in spaceflight, the worst of which were realized most recently in 2003 with the break-up of the shuttle Columbia which killed all seven astronauts aboard. Anderson says he’s often asked one question.

“Are you afraid? Are you scared? You get to that point where you’re so well-trained that you don’t think about anything about going wrong. And, then if something does go wrong, you try to handle it in real time,” Anderson says. “Of course, the Columbia astronauts, they tried but they didn’t have the capability to do anything about their predicament, so that’s the tough piece of it and that’s one of the things we tend not to think about.”

Anderson says he’s thrilled to be assigned to another mission to the space station. He and his wife have two kids and the 50-year-old Anderson says he visits schools across the country whenever his training schedule allows. Anderson caught the space bug around age eight and says he hopes he can inspire young people to get involved in the program.

“I try to instill in them that they can certainly do it if they want to and what they maybe don’t realize yet is there’s so much cool stuff that’s going to happen in the next 10 to 25 years,” Anderson says. “You think of Star Trek and all those kind of things, I think we are on the verge heading in that direction.”

Anderson earned his master of science degree in Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University in 1983. He’ll be back in the region this week. Anderson is a native of Ashland, Nebraska, and the Strategic Air and Space Museum near Omaha is hosting the debut of a movie about Anderson.

“I haven’t even seen a piece of the finished product so I’m a little nervous but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m very excited and very honored they would do this about me,” Anderson says. “My whole family gets to be there, so it’s going to be a great time.” The movie, “Homemade Astronaut: The Clayton Anderson Story,” will debut at the museum on Saturday. 

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With: ,

Suspension upheld for Burlington Notre Dame baseball player

April 23, 2009 By

Burlington-Notre Dame junior Cody Gabella will not be able to play baseball his junior season for the Nikes. That’s after the Iowa High School Athletic Association upheld his season-long suspension.

Gabella was suspended for taking part in an exhibition game on April 7th between the Burlington Bees of the Midwest League and Southeastern Community College. He appealed the decision and lost. Gabella’s father Jim is the manager of the Bees.

Gabella made two plate appearances in the exhibition game, which violated rules set forth by the athletic association that say a high school athlete can’t compete in an interscholastic sport if they have participated in a contest, or trained with, a sanctioned collegiate team in that same sport.

Notre Dame Principal Ron Glasgow was unhappy with the ruling. The next step in the appeal process would go through the Department of Education. Cody Gabella will still be eligible to play for the Nikes his senior year. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

Group calls for closing of Glenwood Resource Center

April 23, 2009 By

Sylvia Piper, executive director of Iowa Protection and Advocacy Services. A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services says the agency is correcting past problems at the Glenwood Resource Center.

The facility in western Iowa serves persons with intellectual disabilities, but has been fined several times for poor conditions and treatment of residents.

D.H.S. spokesperson Roger Munns says conditions have improved at both Glenwood and the Woodward Resource Center.

He notes that the U.S. Justice Department recently announced that Woodward is in full compliance will all care standards. "I mention Woodward because we know that Glenwood is not far behind," Munns said.

But, an advocacy group for the disabled is calling on state officials to close the Glenwood facility and transfer oversight and management of services to citizens with mental disabilities from the D.H.S. to the Department of Public Health. Sylvia Piper is executive director of Iowa Protection and Advocacy Services.

"In the whole scheme of things, we believe the Department of Human Services is very broken," Piper said. "It definitely needs to be re-configured and reorganized." She’s calling for the closure of Glenwood within the next 30 months and asks that the institution cease admitting disabled residents immediately.

Piper believes the resources spent at Glenwood should be reallocated to support community-based programs that help persons with disabilities. Munns says the D.H.S. is committed to transferring people with disabilities to home or community settings "when it can be done with safety and dignity."

He says a 50-million dollar federal grant, awarded two years ago, has helped the agency develop community options. In addition, Munns says – over the last five years – the Medicaid Waiver Program has allowed "dozens of people" to leave both facilities in Woodward and Glenwood. Munns says the residents that do remain in the institutions have "enormous needs," but the goal is to return individuals to their community.

"While both of our institutions continue to admit new residents who need services, our overall population is in steady decline," Munns said. Piper, meanwhile, describes institutional living as "old technology." She’s asking lawmakers to create a new Department of Disability Services.

"The new department’s first charge would be to develop a comprehensive state plan that reinforces a commitment toward the goal of ensuring a fulfilling and quality life for people with disabilities," Piper said. She notes that the other 49 states have closed 155 institutions for residents with intellectual disabilities. Piper says it’s time for Iowa lawmakers to follow suit and shutdown Glenwood.

"Iowa has over the course of many years studied, in my personal opinion, to death – all issues related to disabilities over and over and over…forming committees for one thing or another and yet, with no conclusion," Piper said. Munns insists that the D.H.S. and Glenwood staff have improved both conditions and care at the facility and Iowans can find out for themselves.

"We’re inviting people to see for themselves, if they’d like to," Munns told Radio Iowa. "Lots of legislators have gone to both (Glenwood and Woodward) this year…and you can see the commitment for yourself." The full report issued today is available at the  Iowa Protection and Advocacy Services website .

 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government

Sheldon man arrested in raid by federal agents

April 23, 2009 By

Federal, state and local law officers took part in a weapons bust at a home in Northwest Iowa Wednesday. A number of Iowa State Patrol Troopers and Agents from The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives came to Sheldon to execute a search warrant.

A.T.F. Resident Agent In Charge, J.D. Underwoodsays numerous “items of evidence” were recovered from the house, and one person was arrested at gunpoint. Underwood says the man an initial appearance this morning in Federal Court in Sioux City.

His name is Tony Hulstein. At this point, he’s charged with dealing in firearms without a license. According to eyewitness reports, over 12 patrol vehicles responded to the search and arrest. 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
« Older Posts