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Economic development pros gather in Sioux City

May 28, 2009 By

Sioux City is hosting 160 economic development professionals from across the state this week. Sioux City economic development director Marty Dougherty says the annual spring meeting gives them a chance to talk about ways to deal with the tough economy.

Dougherty there are a lot of issues and challenges in these tough times and the theme of the conference is "Changing Times Conquering Challenges." He says there will be state economic development officials as well as representatives from utilities and other businesses as they discuss the issue. Dougherty says the conference brings its own economic boost to the western Iowa city.

He says it’s an opportunity to show off Sioux City and the economic development steps they’ve taken, and he says the hotels and motels will benefit from hosting the conference. The Professional Developers of Iowa hold two conferences each year, rotating from the east and the west side of the state.

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Change extends tax credit for Iowa Speedway in Newton

May 28, 2009 By

Governor Culver signed legislation this week that should make it easier for the Iowa Speedway racetrack in Newton to expand. The measure will let the speedway continue to enjoy a refund of the sales taxes it collects, even though out-of-state investors will own a greater share of the track.

State Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, says more outside investment is needed to upgrade the speedway. "In order for the Iowa Speedway to get the major races like the Craftsman’s Truck Series, and the possibility in the next near future of what they call the Cup Series Race, the Speedway’s going to have to make some investments and improvements," Dotzler said.

To attract initial investments, the state offered to give back the first 10 years worth of sales taxes as long as the track remained 60% Iowa-owned.  The legislation signed by the governor reduces that to 25%. The sales tax break is capped at $12.5 million.

Dotzler, who holds season tickets at the Iowa Speedway, says without more outside investment the facility won’t grow. "They’ve had some great races there and they’ve got great, nationally-known people who designed it, built it and are managing it," Dotzler said.

"We need to take it to the next level and that’s why this bill is so important to attract some investment from outside the state." 

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Iowans out of National Spelling Bee

May 28, 2009 By

It was what you might call a perturbing day for one of the Iowans participating in the National Spelling Bee in Washington. Both of the Iowa students participating in the National Spelling Bee misspelled words yesterday and were eliminated in the opening rounds of the competition.

Annie Howard of Des Moines made it to the third round, but she misspelled the word macarize, knocking her out of the competition. Macarize means to congratulate, by the way. Quinn Meyer of Dubuque was Iowa’s other participant. He misspelled the word perturbed and dropped out in the second round.

Filed Under: Education, Human Interest

U-I research breakthrough could help with Lupus treatment

May 28, 2009 By

New research, led by a professor at the University of Iowa, could eventually help treat a chronic autoimmune condition that affects an estimated one-million Americans. Doctor Petar Lenert is the lead author of the research into lupus that is appearing today in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.

Lupus is nine-times more common in women than men and is a rather unpredictable disease that damages a person’s skin, joints and internal organs. Lenert has helped generate D.N.A.-like compounds that have lessened lupus flare-ups in mice.

"It had a profound effect on kidney disease, it could reduce the enlargement of the lymph nodes and the spleen in the animals, and also affected the ability of the immune system to attack (the animal’s) own tissue," Lenert said. When given to mice with lupus, the compounds effectively delayed death. Lenert calls it his biggest breakthrough in nearly 20 years of researching the disease.

"Potentially we are at crossroads of getting a completely new treatment for lupus that would be more disease specific," Lenert said. "If we can translate this research into humans, we may avoid some of the serious side effects of the current treatments." There is no known cure for lupus.

Patients are currently treated in a variety of ways – primarily with anti-inflammatory drugs and pain killers or occasionally steroids. Lenert says the D.N.A-like compounds have reduced the activity of various immune cells.

"By having this new weapon, we think (the cells) may act more specifically and may really shut-down the abnormal cells…and therefore, help resolve the ongoing inflammation and tissue damage in lupus," Lenert explained.

A team of researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine assisted Lenert with the study.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:

Iowa families with health insurance pay $1,000 a year to cover uninsured

May 28, 2009 By

Iowans who buy health insurance for their families pay over $1,000 a year to cover the uninsured. That’s the conclusion of a new, national report issued by Families USA, a group pushing for health care reform.

Families USA president Ron Pollack says it’s a "hidden health tax" that those who buy insurance pay for to cover the uninsured.

"It is over $1,000 last year and probably this year, because more people lost their jobs and as a result lost their health care coverage, my guess is that it’s closer to $1,100 this year," he says.

According to Pollack, a thousand dollars is a "substantial amount" for families to pay to provide health care to the uninsured.

"What that means is that all of us, even if we have insurance, have a big financial stake in expanding health coverage to those people who don’t have it," Pollack says. "Because as long as there are tens of millions of people who don’t have health insurance coverage, when they get health care (treatment), we pay for it through this hidden health tax."

It’s not just families and individuals who buy private insurance who wind up paying for charity care, according to Pollack, as businesses wind up paying this "hidden health tax" in health care policies for employees. Pollack says that’s one reason why getting more Americans covered by some sort of government-paid policy will likely reduce premium costs for businesses and individuals.

"If employers provide health coverage to their workers, the amount that the employer is paying in addition for that health coverage to pay for the uninsured is over $1000 today," Pollack says. "That means that if we extend coverage, that hidden health tax to the employer can be eliminated, just as it would be eliminated for individuals who purchase family coverage on their own."

Pollack is holding a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. at 8:30 (Iowa time) this morning to discuss the issue. 

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

Federal grant will help rebuild Waterloo railroad bridge

May 28, 2009 By

The Federal Railroad Administration is giving the Iowa Northern Railway Company a grant of nearly $2.2 million to help rebuild a bridge across the Cedar River in Waterloo that was dropped by flooding last year. I.N.R. president, Dan Sabin says the grant is a big boost to his company’s efforts to recover from the flooding.

Sabin says his company is the only one that uses the bridge, but it is owned by Union Pacific, and their contract with U-P requires them to pay for 50% of the cost of replacing the bridge. He says that total replacement cost is expected to be about $6.2 million. Sabin says the state legislature has included one million dollars in its budget to help replace the bridge.

Sabin says the loss of the bridge has been a major headache to work around. He says they had to send things like John Deere tractors from Waterloo, to Manly and then down to Nevada and across to Cedar Rapids, which added an extra 300 miles in shipping. Sabin says the detours have doubled the cost of shipping corn on the line and they are only shipping about 40 percent of the corn they would normally ship.

The bids are expected to come in on the Waterloo bridge in the next couple of weeks, and he says construction could begin at the end of June with completion by the end of October. Sabin says work to repair the CRANDIC bridge the I.N.R. uses in Cedar Rapids is nearing completion, and they hope to start using it again at the end of June. Sabin says getting both bridges back will help the company’s bottom line.

Sabin says it’s costing them about $800,000 to one-million dollars a month in lost revenue and additional costs to have the bridges out of service, and it is probably costing their customers twice as much. The railway has built its business in hauling corn for ethanol plants, but Sabin says they’ve worked with the Union Pacific and the wind turbine industry is increasingly a bigger part of their freight.

distribution center"

He says they are expanding their Manly terminal to add 20 acres to the 20 that are there to handle wind turbine components and they are looking at expanding to handle more transmission line components — like poles, cable, wire and transformers — as that industry grows. Sabin says they will haul around 50,000 loads this year, and once the bridges are back in use they should climb to 70,000 loads.

The Iowa Northern covers some 165 miles and has about 89 employees.

Filed Under: Business, Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

St. Ambrose wins Commissioners Cup

May 27, 2009 By

It was another successful year for the St. Ambrose athletic department. The school won the Commissioners Cup as the all-sports champion in the Midwest Collegiate Conference.

Athletic director Ray Shovlain says they’ve been blessed with some quality student athletes as well as committed and dedicated athletes. Shovlain says he’s proud that they have been able to be successful in all their programs.

St. Ambrose won five league titles in the MCC and the football program also won a Mid-States Football Association title. Shovlain says the athletric department receives a great deal of support from the university’s administration.

St. Ambrose won conference titles in men’s cross country, women’s soccer, volleyball and men’s and women’s golf. Grand View was second in the all sports race and Mount Mercy was third.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,
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