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Dean predicts gay marriage will be a "non-issue" in 2010

May 28, 2009 By

Howard Dean Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean says the "tide is turning" on gay marriage, partly because of the attitudes of younger Americans. Dean, a 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, was in Iowa tonight to speak at a fundraiser for "One Iowa" — a group that has lobbied for gay marriage.

"This new generation is not nearly as divisive or confrontational as my generation and they also all know somebody who is gay because somebody has publicly said so to them and once you know somebody who is gay or lesbian, you can’t say the things that you used to say about them," Dean says. "I remember growing up, we used to say things about gay people; we didn’t know anybody who was gay — we didn’t think we knew anybody who was gay. Once somebody says, ‘I’m gay and I wish you wouldn’t do that,’ you don’t talk like that anymore because they’re a human being."

Dean says he was "shocked" when he learned of the state Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in Iowa.

"I was just so amazed ’cause I knew so much about Iowa because I spent so much time here," Dean says. "I have to say that once the decision came down that Iowans, being fair-minded and practical, would ultimately accept it, but I also knew that the right wing is very strong here and that there would be, you know, a big to-do about it."

Opponents of gay marriage pressed legislators to set the wheels in motion to allow a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage. But the top two Democrats in the statehouse — Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs and House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque — would not allow it. Dean saluted the two at tonight’s event.

"I’m the first governor to ever sign a civil unions bill which nowadays is no big deal but then it was a very big and I just believe in fundamental fairness and social justice," Dean said in an interview. "And I’ve always thought Gronstal and Murphy were terrific people and I know what it takes to stand up for a decision like this and it takes a lot of courage. You always want people in public life who have courage."

Republicans believe they will be able to win some races in Iowa in 2010 over the gay marriage issue, but Dean, who just finished a four-year term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, offers the opposing view.

"This has just become a non-issue in states where there’s a lot of neighborliness," Dean said. "Because even if people don’t think, for religious reasons, that gay people ought to be able to get married, they’re also respectful of their neighbors who may have a gay person in their family."

Dean, who practiced medicine before entering politics, spoke at a health care forum in Des Moines late this afternoon before attending tonight’s fundraiser.

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

State says 53 schools will get grants for pre-school

May 28, 2009 By

Governor Culver leans on podium to talk to preshoolers in Des Moines. Governor Chet Culver and the director of the Department of Education visited a school in downtown Des Moines Thursday to announce that 53 more schools will get state funding for pre-school programs for the next school year.

Culver says environments that "support and stimulate and nurture" our children play a critical role in developing the full capacity of every child to learn. He says the benefits of quality early learning environments are "long-term and far-reaching."

Culver says nearly 10,000 kids have been able to go to preschool in the first two years of this program. Culver says they estimate next year almost 13,000 4-year-olds at 172 school districts statewide will be able to attend preschool statewide.

Education Department director Judy Jeffrey says the tight budget will keep them from reaching all the kids they’d hoped for. Jeffrey says they were scheduled to have 90% of the 4-year-olds in preschool in four years by spending $15-million each year. But she says the legislature cut funding back to $11.5 million, so they will not hit their goal this year.

Jeffrey says while they won’t hit their goal, they are glad to be able to keep the program going. She says they are pleased they are getting new dollars this year considering the economic conditions. Jeffrey says the announcement of the new grants is key for districts to get things going.

She says they don’t hire staff until they know they have the grant funds — and now they will go into high gear to hire the staff and let the parents know the program will be offered. Jeffrey says there are some schools offered pre-school already, but charged parents, and now they will be funded by the state. Jeffrey says the investment now will pay dividends down the road.

Jeffrey says pre-school decreases the dropout rate, there are less people who land in prison or on social services, more students who go on to post-secondary education, and less teenage pregnancies. "I mean the research is very clear about a quality early start, and that’s why we are so adamant about a qualified teacher in every single classroom," Jeffrey says. Jeffrey says the amount each district will receive depends on their teacher costs.

Here are the 53 districts announced Thursday as recipients of the state grants for pre-school programs:

Alden, Algona, Allamakee, Atlantic, Bellevue, Boone, Cardinal, Central Clinton, Clayton Ridge, Clear Lake, College (Linn County), Corning, Dows, Eldora-New Providence, Graettinger-Teril, Guthrie Center, Hampton-Dumont, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, Humboldt, Independence, Indianola, Jeferson-Scranton-East Greene Paton Churdan, Johnston, Lone Tree, Lynnville-Sully, Malvern, Manning, Maquoketa, Marion, Missouri Valley, Mormon Trail, Moulton-Udell, Nashua-Plainfield, Newell-Fonda, North Kossuth, Norwalk, Preston, Red Oak and Stanton, South Tama, South Winneshiek, Southern Cal, Tri-County, Villisca, Vinton-Shellsburg, WACO, West Harrison, West Sioux, Western Dubuque, Winfield, Mt. Union.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

Iowa loses first game on overseas tour

May 28, 2009 By

The Iowa basketball team suffered its first loss on a tour of Greece and Italy. The Hawkeyes rallied late but fell short in a 76-75 loss to a Greek Select team on Wednesday.The Hawkeyes started slow and trailed 27-10 before coming back.

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says they want to learn during each possession and understand how they can be successfull. Lickliter says they’ve made strides in a tough environment and he has been impressed with the inside duo of Aaron Fuller and Jaryd Cole.

Fuller is averaging just over 12 points and 12 rebounds the first two games whil Cole is averaging 15 points and 11 boards. Lickliter says he believed Fuller would get more effective as he got stronger and says you can see that.

The Hawks are 1-1 on the trip and will next play on Friday in Athens. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Iowa Policy Project says give workers, not businesses, subsidies

May 28, 2009 By

Researchers at the Iowa Policy Project argue the state would be better off offering direct subsides to low-income workers so they can get a college degree rather than giving worker training incentives to businesses that promise to hire more employees.

Iowa Policy Project researcher Lily French says the Iowa workforce data clearly shows the benefits of a college education  “For example, those with a bachelor’s degree earn on average $7.26 more an hour than those with only a high school diploma,” French says.

The wage gap is startling, according to French. “Over the past three decades the wages of workers with a college degree increased by 17 percent, while the wages of workers with less than a high school diploma has actually declined by 27 percent,” she says.

“So, as a result, families headed by a parent with a college education are also much less likely to live in poverty even in hard economic times like we’re facing today because they spend less time without work after a job loss and are more likely to be reemployed at comparable wages and at jobs that offer health insurance.”

Iowa Policy Project research director Peter Fisher says a state scholarship program for low-income adults would result in higher lifetime wages for those workers — and the state would benefit, too.

“If you actually invested in a low income worker and gave them a tuition-free, cost-free, two-year community college degree they’re going to earn more over their working life, they’re going to pay more state taxes over their working life and we will get much more than our money back over the next 40 years as they pay more in taxes,” he says.

According to Fisher, every dollar the state would invest in such scholarships would reap more than two-dollars in return for the state. Fisher says it would also help address the looming worker shortage the state faces.

 

Filed Under: Business, Education Tagged With:

Waterloo man faces charges after alleged crime spree

May 28, 2009 By

A Waterloo man faces multiple charges following an unexplained 12-hour crime spree in the city. Authorities are trying to figure out why 43-year-old Arthur Schmelzer damaged apartments, a hospital building, and attacked a sheriff’s deputy.

The alleged series of incidents began early Tuesday morning when police say Schmelzer set fire to a rug in his apartment, then struck his wife’s head with a hammer. Schmelzer is accused of using the hammer to break-out windows at neighboring apartments and at Covenant Medical Center’s Professional Building, which is nearby.

Police say 21 windows were damaged at the hospital building and two vehicles parked outside had smashed windshields. Authorities say Schmelzer then walked into the hospital and threatened workers and later lunged at a Black Hawk County sheriff’s deputy while a nurse was treating Schmelzer for minor injuries.

Schmelzer was eventually taken to jail on a variety of charges, including arson, domestic assault, and assault on a peace officer.

His bond is set at $100,000.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Finchford makes plans for flooding

May 28, 2009 By

Residents of the unincorporated town of Finchford northwest of Cedar Falls are preparing for another flood. The Cedar River runs through the Black Hawk County town of 200 and is forecast to hit its third highest crest on record sometime Monday.

The pastor of the Finchford Community Bible Church, Jim Bauer, says sandbagging will start this evening. Bauer says volunteers from the nearby Janesville fire department will be there at 5:30 to help with the sandbagging. He says they went around last night and asked the homeowners who might be affected to make a plans, so they know where to sandbag tonight.

The National Weather Service predicts the river will reach 17 or 18 feet — flood stage is 12 feet. Bauer says past experience has everyone ready to take precautions. Bauer says after the predictions of last year, which were off by a couple of feet, he thinks everyone is "more gun shy or acceptable to making necessary preparations ahead of time."

No one is expected to be evacuated from Finchford. Flood warnings are also posted for the Skunk River at Oskaloosa and the Iowa River at Marengo, but only minor flooding of farm fields is predicted. 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Congressman Brayley holds workshop on energy bill

May 28, 2009 By

Congressman Bruce Braley is hosting a workshop in Cedar Falls this morning to review the energy bill that cleared the U.S. House Energy Committee a week ago. Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, became a member of the panel this year.

"I ran for congress in 2006 because I felt that our failure to address fundamental issues of climate change and to reshape our energy policy was going to have an enormous longterm impact on my kids and their children," Braley says. "And this comprehensive bill achieves many of the goals that we set out to accomplish."

The American Climate and Energy Act of 2009 will reduce dependency of foreign oil, according to Braley, who says it will help create more "green collar" jobs. But Braley admits some of the bill’s provisions may lead to job losses, too. "One of the things the bill is designed to do is to reduce the impact on those areas of the country that would be most dramatically affected by this shift," Braley says.

"But, for example, one of the things that I can tell you from firsthand experience is there are utility companies in some of those affected parts of the country that investing in wind energy and wind farms out here in my state and that’s one of the ways that these utility companies are going to be able to transform and diversify their energy portfolio and, at the same time, help workers transition to those new jobs in a new energy economy."

The bill is 946 pages long. Some environmental groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are critical of the bill, saying Braley and others on the energy committee made too many compromises in the bill. "One of the things that happens is that we live in a world where compromise is a necessary part of moving forward on any groundbreaking legislation like this energy bill," Braley says. Braley made his comments during an appearance on a Public Radio International program called "To The Point."

At 10 o’clock this morning, Braley opened his Iowa briefing on the bill. The event’s being held at the University of Northern Iowa Center for Energy and Environmental Education.

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