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Iowans will be given chance to buy FEMA trailers

May 13, 2009 By

Some 350 Iowa families living in FEMA trailers will soon have the option of buying the trailers. The majority of FEMA’s trailers in Iowa are located near Cedar Rapids, with other large pockets in Black Hawk and Louisa counties. Lori Maach of FEMA’s Iowa Disaster Field Office says the voluntary program could be convenient for many families.

"It becomes their permanent housing plan. It speeds up the recovery process for them. They’re located in a unit, they do not have to move to an apartment or a house and it may be something that they’ve determined that they would like to be a mobile home owner," Maach says. She says it is also a benefit for the government.

Maach says,"It is a cost saving to the government to look at selling the units. It also does help with the permanent housing plan for individuals affected by the disaster, so it’s two fold." Maach says residents have been sent information on the program and must decide whether they wish to stay in trailers and

She says they have 30 days to reply if they have interest in buying the trailers. Maach says the price of units will vary depending on size and whether they are new or used. She says they will cost less than $17,000. There were once around 600 FEMA trailers in use in the state following the disasters last year. 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government

Suspected rapist shot and killed by West Des Moines police

May 13, 2009 By

Police shot and killed a man in a West Des Moines townhouse Tuesday night. He was reportedly a suspect in a series of home break-ins and at least three sexual assaults in West Des Moines and Waukee over the past several months.

West Des Moines Police Lieutenant Jeff Miller says it happened about 7 P.M. in the Village at Glen Oaks, a gated townhouse complex. “Officers from our department attempted to serve a search warrant,” Lieutenant Miller says.

“They knocked on the door several times, announced themselves, as is protocol. No one answered. The door was unlocked, they walked inside, again, announcing themselves. The subject approached them, pointing a firearm at them and the officers shot the subject.”

The man was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Miller says the man was a suspect in a string of violent crimes in the metro area dating back to December. “The suspect broke into the residence through a window, broke the window, got inside and sexually assaulted a young girl and then physically attacked the mother,” Miller says.

“We had a couple other incidents in West Des Moines where he got in and was either scared off or in the process of entering the apartment was scared off.” In one recent incident, a man who lived in the home was hit over the head with a hammer.

In all, Miller says the suspect is linked to six home invasions and eight assaults, including three sexual assaults. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is looking into the fatal shooting. 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Star Trek movie raises some controversy in Riverside

May 13, 2009 By

Trek Fest in Riverside. The eastern Iowa town of Riverside has long claimed to be the future birthplace of the fictional "Star Trek" hero James Kirk, but the new blockbuster movie in the series is making some Trek loyalists as angry as Klingons in a room full of tribbles.

It’s clear in the film, which debuted at number-one in box offices nationwide last week, the iconic Captain Kirk was actually born in deep space on a shuttle craft, but did grow up in Iowa. Carol Riggan is president of the Riverside Area Community Club, which hosts the annual Trekfest.

Riggan says Riverside will remain the "future birthplace" of the starship captain. "We feel that he was conceived in Riverside," Riggan says. "We have a plaque there where he was conceived at Murphy’s Bar and Grill, underneath a pool table. I talked to many people and they think this little bit of change with this new movie will not hurt us a bit."

Not all Riverside residents are as forgiving of the new film. Tim Geerlings, the vice president of the Riverside club, says he was stunned by the mishandling of the Kirk story line. "There’s a lot of nerdy physics phenomena that operate in this movie that were a little disconcerting anyway, but then when they stripped the birth of Captain Kirk away from our future, at least in one parallel universe, it muddies the waters," Geerling says.

"If Captain Kirk will be born in Riverside, which Captain Kirk? Which parallel universe?" The movie involves a villain who travels through time and changes the course of Star Trek history, which is one area where Geerling takes exception to the plot. "I’m not sure about time travel," Geerlings says. "Even Stephen Hawking doesn’t believe in time travel. The scenario being, if you go back in time and kill your grandmother you would not be here in order to go back in time and kill your grandmother. It’s an impossible loop."

The future-Iowa is featured prominently in several scenes in the new movie and Riverside is even made the home to a large spaceship-building port where the famed USS Enterprise is seen under construction. While Geerlings says the movie itself was "action-packed and exciting," he wishes the Hollywood people had taken a different course.

Geerlings says, "It didn’t seem like the writers were too concerned about keeping the folklore intact, so that kind of upset me a little bit." The new Star Trek film is the 11th film in the series. It’s considered a "prequel," exploring the early lives of the Starfleet heroes who were first introduced in the TV show that debuted in 1966.

Riverside is hosting its 25th annual Trekfest on June 26th and 27th, and will feature three cast members from the original series: Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, who played Chekov, Uhura and Sulu.  

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment

ISU studies the decline of the white-tailed jackrabbit

May 13, 2009 By

White-tailed jackrabbit Researchers at Iowa State University are trying to determine why the white-tailed jackrabbit is declining in Iowa.

The species’ population has been dropping since the 1960s and the Department of Natural Resources has now canceled a hunting season for the animal.

Sue Fairbanks in an associate professor in the I.S.U Natural Resource Ecology and Management Department.

She says white-tailed jackrabbits are technically hares, not rabbits, and are much larger than cotton-tailed rabbits that are common in residential areas. "The ones that we have captured are eight to nine pounds," Fairbanks said. "They don’t use burrows and they are born fully-furred, with their eyes open and basically running around with their mother immediately."

Fairbanks began studying the white-tailed jackrabbit three years ago with help from the D.N.R. She says a big part of their demise has to do with Iowa’s shift in agriculture. "As the number of small grains and alfalfa has declined in the state, so has the jackrabbit population," Fairbanks said. "They like open areas with high visibility."

The open areas help the jackrabbit identify predators – which, in Iowa, tend to be coyotes. Fairbanks says she and others at I.S.U. are trying to determine if the remaining jackrabbit populations in Iowa are genetically isolated. If that’s the case, those populations would eventually die out.

"We’re doing a population genetics study where we’re getting tissue samples from road kill jackrabbits all over the state to look at the genetic simularities," Fairbanks said. Eight jackrabbits have been captured and collared on the I-S-U research farm. They’re now being tracked to study their travel patterns and habits.

Fairbanks says jackrabbits pose little threat to farmers, but can pose problems at rural airports with grass runways. The animals have been hit by small airplanes. Fairbanks says jackrabbits have pretty much disappeared from Missouri and are listed as a "species of concern" in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Iowans that feel they have information on jackrabbit populations in the state are encouraged to contact Fairbanks. Her email is suef@iastate.edu. 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With: ,

Iowa Central names new president

May 13, 2009 By

The Iowa Central Community College Board of Directors announced its new president last night. Dan Kinney will assume the role of President effective July First. He has been serving as the Vice President for Student Services at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff.

Kinney will be paid an annual salary of $150,000. Kinney will take over the job held by Robert Paxton who resigned last August after a controversial photograph appeared in the Des Moines Register. Thirty-five people applied for the job of Iowa Central president.

The Iowa Central board narrowed down the list of candidates to four with interviews held in late March and early April. Iowa Central maintains campuses in Fort Dodge, Storm Lake and Webster City.

Filed Under: Education

Gun scare causes evacuation of Bluffs Mall

May 13, 2009 By

There was plenty of excitement at the Mall of the Bluffs in Council Bluffs Tuesday afternoon. Around 12:45, there were reports of a man armed with a gun entering the mall. Immediately, the mall went into lockdown and parts were evacuated. These women were a witness to the whole thing.

“All of a sudden, she sees this guy go running out of Christopher and Banks is shutting their doors, we look down and she says ‘Oh my God, Dillard’s doors are shut.’” “A cop comes down the corner with an M-16 screaming for us to lock our doors and get back.”

Two area schools were also put into lockdown due their location near the mall. Omaha Police were called to assist and trained dogs were called into assist in searching for the gunman. The mayhem continued until 1:30 when the all clear was given.

Council Bluffs Police say the suspect was a man who walked into a Skeeter Barnes restaurant with an umbrella over his shoulder. Authorities say he was minding his own business and was never a threat to anyone. The mall reopened around 2 p.m.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Transportation Commission approves 5-year plan

May 13, 2009 By

The Iowa Transportation Commission approved the new five-year plan that lays out the priorities for projects. Department of Transportation spokesman Jon Ranney says a major component of the plan is highway construction, and for 2010 through 2014 there’s a projected 2.1-billion dollars in projected funding available.

Ranney says the highway portion of the plan includes the completion of previously scheduled highway projects that include Highway 63 in Bremer County. It also includes the U.S. 61 Fort Madison bypass; the U.S. 30 Tama/Toledo bypass; U.S. 20 in Sac, Calhoun and Webster counties; U.S. 30 in Story and Marshall counties; and U.S. 34 relocation in Mills County. He there are also investments in major interstate economic development projects in Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Bettendorf.

Ranney says other work was added to the updated highway plan. That includes work on U.S. 30 in Benton County; U.S. 63 in Black Hawk County, specifically in Waterloo; U.S. 218 in Bremer County; U.S. 30 in Clinton County; Iowa 4 in Greene County; U.S. 61 in Louisa County; Iowa 330 in Marshall County; U.S. 75 in Plymouth County and Iowa 92 in Warren County. The funding for the program includes federal 2009 Recovery Act money of $400-million.

The Transportation Commission will take public input on the program and is expected to give it final approval in June. You can view the five-year plan here .

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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