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Communities expect to get stimulus money for sewers, water systems

May 8, 2009 By

 Dozens of Iowa communities are expected to benefit from federal stimulus money designated for improving public drinking water systems and wastewater treatment plants.

Patti Cale-Finnegan, with the Department of Natural Resources, says Iowa was awarded $77-million. At least half of that money will be allocated in the form of forgivable loans.

"The advantage of the stimulus money is that it will help make these water and wastewater projects more affordable for communities," Cale-Finnegan said.

"Sometimes we’re looking at sewer and water bills upwards of 50 dollars a month. So, this money will help bring those down and keep rates more affordable in communities around the state."

Environmental Protection Commissioners are set to approve the spending plan for the money on May 19th. Around 60 communities should receive funding for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements.

"We have another 50 communities that have green projects, which means more efficient operations, storm water infrastructure and more environmentally innovative type projects," Cale-Finnegan said.

The funds are designed to create jobs, but will also help communities with some overdue upgrades to sewer and water systems. "Some of the systems that we’ll be assisting are 20 or 30 years old…sometimes we’re looking at water mains or sewer pipes that are older than that," Cale-Finnegan said.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Mail carriers picking up food donations this weekend

May 8, 2009 By

Postal workers across Iowa will be carrying a lot more than the mail Saturday, with your help. Roger Humphries, spokesman for the post office in Omaha/Council Bluffs, says letter carriers are partnering with local food banks and pantries for the annual " Help Stamp Out Hunger " campaign.

"The food bank is asking for non-perishable foods," Humphries says. "You can place those in paper sacks or plastic bags and have them sitting by your mailbox."

Tom Vaske, a letter carrier in Webster City, says this is the world’s largest single-day food drive. Vaske says they’ll pick up all sorts of items. He says the non-perishable category ranges from canned goods and boxed cereal to toothpaste.

This is the 16th year for the event and Vaske says the need is particularly great this year due to the nation’s economic troubles that have left so many people jobless or in foul financial condition.

"Food pantries are in need, there’s a lot of people in need," he says. All of the food items collected by letter carriers will be brought to post offices, then distributed to food pantries in their communities. The effort netted 50,000 pounds of food in central Iowa last year, 73-million pounds nationwide.

Filed Under: Human Interest

Harkin would vote against state ban on gay marriage

May 8, 2009 By

Democratic Senator Tom Harkin says he would vote against a ban on gay marriage in Iowa. In 1996, Harkin voted in favor of the federal "Defense of Marriage Act" which declared the federal government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriage and it declared states do not have to legally recognize gay marriages obtained in another state.

This afternoon, during taping of the Iowa Public Television program, "Iowa Press," Harkin said his views on the subject have changed in the past decade. "Well, you know, we all grow as we get older and we learn things and we become more sensitive to people and people’s lives and the more I’ve looked at that I’ve grown to think differently..and I’m to that point: ‘Live and let live.’"

On April 3rd, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a ruling which legalized gay marriage in Iowa and, on that day, Harkin issued a statement saying his "personal view has been that marriage is between a man and a woman." Harkin also said, just over a month ago, that the decision would be "very hard for many to accept," but Harkin added in that written statement that he would "respect and support" the state court’s decision.

Today, Harkin recommended that everyone read and be inspired by the court’s 69-page decision. "It seems to me Iowa has always been in the forefront of extending civil rights to people," Harkin said. "…And this, again, I think is just another step in that march we’ve had in Iowa and I think now you see a lot of other states now falling in line, just two in the last week."

Gay marriage opponents are pressing for an amendment to the state constitution which would ban gay marriage in Iowa. Harkin’s opposed to it.

"I would vote against it," Harkin declared this afternoon.

Harkin also rejects the idea Democrats, in general, will pay at the polls in 2010 because many of the state’s top Democrats have come out in support of gay marriage.

"A couple of years from now, people will look back and say, ‘What was the fuss about?’" Harkin said. "(In) 2010, the elections will hinge on the economy; health care reform; what we’re doing on energy and whether families are doing better — whether they can see that their kids are going to have a better education, whether their lives are getting better or not. It’s not going to have one whit to do with gay marriage."

Harkin predicts the issue will fade from the spotlight. "You know, there’s always going to be some who feel that they have to push this issue and for whatever reason they’re going to try to push it and try to divide people up, but they’re on the losing end," Harkin said. "They’re on the losing end of history."

Harkin first won his seat in the U.S. Senate in 1984 and was reelected to a fourth term last year.

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

Governor signs firefighter/police benefits bill

May 8, 2009 By

Governor Culver signs the bill as firefighters, police offices look on. Governor Chet Culver signed a bill into law today that makes it possible for firefighters and police officers to get disability benefits for cancer and infectious diseases from their retirement systems.

The bill also increases employee contributions to pay for the increased costs.

Culver says it’s an important step to protect the men and women on the front lines. He says the bill will ensure that "work related injuries, including cancer, will be given proper consideration for retirement and death benefits."

Culver says he’s concerned that the state’s first responders have "higher than normal" rates of some diseases, including cancer. Culver says the bill is one important way to ensure the state meets the needs of police officers and firefighters who put their lives on the line for Iowans.

Firmen's association patch. The president of the International Association of Firefighters General union, Harold Schaitberger, was on hand for the ceremony and says it’s a milestone.

 He says Iowa is the 29th state to "provide this critical and important protection and benefit to those that are on the front lines every single day." He says it’s an important benefit that is well deserved and that firefighters don’t take lightly.

State Senator Jeff Danielson, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, proposed the bill. Danielson is a firefighter in his job outside the legislature, and says the bill is more important to him as a firefighter than a lawmaker.

"It is who I am, I’m a blue collar guy, boots on the ground, and I think many of the folks that you see in the room here today share those same feelings about why they are firefighters and police officers dedicated to a life of service," Danielson says. Danielson says it took a lot of work to get the bill to this stage.

Danielson says most people don’t realize how difficult it is to actually get a bill to the governor’s desk. He says any bill that makes it through the process is considered a "mini miracle." Another firefighter who is a legislator, State Representative Kerry Burt, a Democrat from Waterloo, was also on hand for the bill signing.

(Note: Jeff Danielson is directly behind the governor in the above photo,  Kerry Burt is at the far left.)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Iowa astronaut hopes "Star Trek" becomes more real

May 8, 2009 By

Jim Kelly Iowa is prominently featured in the opening minutes of the new “Star Trek” movie that’s being released nationwide today.

Our real-life space heroes are hopeful science fact can more closely follow the fictional exploits of the film’s hero, Jim Kirk.

Astronaut and Burlington native Jim Kelly, who’s piloted two space shuttle missions, says he’s thrilled NASA is making significant progress with Project Orion as a replacement for the shuttle fleet.

“I’m really, really happy to see that America is back on the course to go to the moon and beyond that, to Mars, and to keep going out, so it’s something that’s been a long time coming,” Kelly says. “I’m very, very excited about the possibility of that. It’s exciting to have a new program starting up. It’s bittersweet to see the shuttle (program) end however it’s time for the shuttle to come to an end because it’s an aging vehicle that’s been around for a very long time.”

The space shuttle Columbia was the first to go into space in 1981. Project Orion is expected to become reality in about six years and may be landing Americans on the moon in 2020. Kelly says he doesn’t think he’d be a likely candidate for Orion but suggests fellow Iowan, veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson, might have a good shot at our nation’s next moon shot.

“Yeah, Peggy would be tremendously qualified for that,” Kelly says. “She did an absolutely fantastic job onboard the International Space Station on both of her flights and obviously she was the first female commander of the space station and I don’t know what her plans are but, I was the Cap-Com for a lot of her mission and she did an absolutely fabulous job up there. She’s incredibly well-qualified for when we go back to the moon.”

Whitson served two six-month missions aboard the space station in 2002 and from October of 2007 until April of 2008. Whitson, a Beaconsfield native, accumulated 377 days in space between the two missions, the most for any U.S. astronaut.

The tiny eastern Iowa town of Riverside claims to be the future birthplace of Star Trek hero James Kirk. The new film in the long-running series opens in a future-Iowa as the wanna-be space traveler gets a glimpse of a starship being built in a mammoth factory surrounded by cornfields.

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Iowa City-Corallville tries to lure in same-sex marraige couples

May 8, 2009 By

The Iowa City-Coralville area is developing a new advertising campaign directed at out-of-state gay couples that are ready to tie the knot. Iowa is the only state in the Midwest that allows same-sex marriage and one study claims the ruling could boost the state’s budget by five-point-three million dollars.

Laurie Haman, with the Iowa City Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau, says couples who might never have had Iowa in mind for a trip are now traveling here in large groups to get married.

"When you have bus loads of people come in, you naturally want them to feel welcome," Haman said. Last week, several Missourians filled a bus and traveled to Iowa City to marry. Another group came from Minnesota to Davenport over the weekend. Haman the advertising campaign will focus on bigger cities in the Midwest.

"We’ll look at different print publications in Chicago, Minnesota and surrounding states," Haman said. Attracting visitors, regardless of the reason, means more money for local businesses. Iowa City jewelery shop owner Mark Ginsberg is helping with the gay and lesbian campaign.

"Hopefully they want to visit and stay in our charming little community, and know that we are an all-inclusive type of community," Ginsberg said. He and a handful of other business owners are putting together a list of wedding resources, from jewelry to hotels to bakeries. The main marketing message is same sex couples are welcome, just like any other couple planning a wedding.

"We want to let them know that we welcome all couples…man-man, man-woman, woman-woman, it doesn’t matter," Ginsberg said.

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Ethics panel meets Tuesday to review complaint against GOP senator

May 8, 2009 By

A senate panel will meet early next week to consider an ethics complaint against a senator who’s a critic of gay marriage.

The Iowa Senate’s Ethics Committee will convene at noon on Tuesday to review the complaint against Senator Merlin Bartz, a Republican from Grafton.

Former State Representative Ed Fallon, a Democrat from Des Moines, argues it was inappropriate for Bartz to urge county recorders to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Fallon, a supporter of gay marriage, says it was wrong for an elected official like Bartz to urge the public to pressure county recorders to deny marriage licenses to gay couples.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa condemns Fallon’s complaint. The A.C.L.U. says it would be a violation of Senator Bartz’s free speech rights if he were punished for what he has said and written.

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