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Culver "very confident" state budget is balanced

July 2, 2009 By

Governor Culver, Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald (l-r) Governor Chet Culver says he is "very confident" the state budget is balanced and there’s no need to call legislators back to Des Moines to adjust spending.

Culver, a Democrat, is also accusing rival Republicans of trying to "scare" Iowans about the status of the state budget.

"In a very partisan way, the Republicans running for governor are misleading people," Culver says. "…So I think it’s very important to make sure that we hold those people accountable that are misleading Iowans. It’s just not fair. It’s not appropriate and there’s no need for alarm." 

The last day of the state’s 12-month spending plan for fiscal 2009 was this past Tuesday, June 30th. Some Republicans have suggested state spending was too high and state tax receipts fell so low that the budget actually dipped into red ink.  Culver rejects that.

"It’s important for anyone in elective office, especially those running for governor, to be responsible, to not try to scare people," Culver says.  "And you know I think Iowans, in part because of this political rhetoric, they’re not sure, you know, what the situation and I think unfortunately that’s part of the partisan intent and, you know, I think it’s important that we deal with the facts." 

Culver is also stressing that the Wall Street firm "Standard and Poors" just "reaffirmed" Iowa’s triple-A bond rating.

"What a timely testimonial from (Standard and Poors.)  They’re just looked at our books inside and out," Culver says.  "They’ve looked at our debt.  They’ve looked at our revenue streams.  They’ve determined…that Iowa is one of the best-managed states in America." 

The governor held a statehouse news conference Thursday afternoon, inviting State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, a fellow Democrat, to tout that Standard and Poors rating.

"I was with the team that went to the rating agencies on Wall Street to ask them, ‘How are we doing?  Will you rate us?  Tell us what you think of the State of Iowa,’" Fizgerald said. "And we got the ‘gold star’ rating." 

Fitzgerald said he was "proud to stand" with Culver and declare that the state is on sound fiscal footing.

"There’s been, I think, a misconception that’s been floating around out here in the press in the past couple of days about our budget, like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got a crisis.’  We don’t," Fitzgerald said.  "The 2009 budget that just ended…that budget is balanced and we have almost $600 million in reserves." 

As for the state spending year that started on Wedneday, July 1, Culver told reporters it was too soon to say what may have to be done to keep that in the black.

"It is very possible that I’ll have to do additional cuts and we’re going to take that step as quickly as we know the facts," Culver said.

Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton issued a statement after Culver’s news conference, saying the govenor was still "in denial about the fiscal condition of the state." 

An hour before Culver’s news conference started, House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha issued a statement, saying Culver had "spent too much, cut too little" and racked up "a generation’s worth of debt."

Click on the audio link below to listen to Culver’s news conference.

(This story was updated at 5:54 p.m.)

AUDIO: Culver news conf…MP3 33 min

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

Hawkeye Downs to compete with football in September

July 2, 2009 By

Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids is extending its racing season. Chris Stocks is director of racing and says the track has lost four dates to rain so far this season. He says the drivers felt adding three Friday races in September was the best option.

Stocks says they offered the options of racing on Wednesdays and add a couple of Saturdays in September, and he says the option to do nothing was the lowest.

The track will now offer racing on September fourth, 18th and 25th. Stocks says he is not sure how the attendance will be effected since those nights will compete with high school football games. He says that was considered and they didn’t do races on Saturdays because of college football.

Stocks says they have to keep working to get to the point where high school football worries about them. He says the drivers have to race and if it is successful they might race in September in the future too. Stocks says the drivers put a lot of money into their cars and the track needs to provide them a full season.

He says tires and racing fuel cost a lot of money, along with oil costs, so it gets costly pretty quick.

 

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Drake men’s soccer enjoying pre-season ranking

July 2, 2009 By

Drake men’s soccer coach Sean Holmes does not mind the high expectations the Bulldogs have for the upcoming season. After advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the program’s history.

Drake is ranked 21st in the College Soccer News pre-season poll. Holmes says it’s a new experience to deal with heightened expectations as it’s the first time they’ve been in the pre-season rankings.

Holmes hopes the ranking serves as a motivator rather than getting the team "too cocky." Holmes says the players are thrilled with the ranking after see them on the internet. Holmes says the notoriety that comes with the ranking is good to have on the recruiting trail.

They are in the midst of recruiting right now and he says it’s better to say they are good instead of saying they will be good. Drake was ranked as high as 19th nationally a year ago during a season in which the Bulldogs posted a 13-5-1 mark, the best record in the program’s history.

Holmes says they have a humble, hard working group and they have 16 lettermen returning with 10 starters. He says they have a bit of an underdog mentality. Drake will open the next season on August 27th against seventh rated Indiana.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Law enforcement out in force for holiday traffic

July 2, 2009 By

Thousands of Iowans are traveling today to visit friends and family over the Fourth of July and Randy Hunefeld with the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau says law officers are hoping the roads are much safer than they were over the last major holiday weekend.

Twelve people were killed in motor vehicle crashes in Iowa during the Memorial Day weekend. "That’s just way too many," Hunefeld said. "We’re concerned that some people are probably driving too fast to get where they want to go or maybe they’re drinking and driving and not selecting a designated driver."

Between today (Thursday) and Sunday, nearly 250 law enforcement agencies across the state are said to be adding officers to patrol the roads. Hunefeld is hoping that increased presence will encourage motorists to pay closer attention to the task at hand. He says distracted drivers are causing too many accidents.

"Having been involved in law enforcement for 20 years, I think I’ve seen it all, but it seems like I still tend to see things I haven’t seen before," Hunefeld said. "Cell phones are one thing that really distracts people, but I’ve seen people eating breakfast, combing their hair, putting on makeup and reading a book."

The special enforcement project this weekend is funded through a program with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Hunefeld says the money enables more officers to work more hours on roadways all across the state and catch motorists who are speeding, driving drunk or not wearing a seatbelt. Last year, over the Independence Day weekend, four motorists were killed in traffic crashes in Iowa. 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With:

Parks full up, grass a little longer this 4th of July

July 2, 2009 By

Iowa’s state parks will be as full as ever this Independence Day holiday, but they might not be as tidy looking as they have been in the past. Department of Natural Resources state parks bureau chief, Kevin Sczodronski, says a cut in the budget will mean fewer cuts of the grass.

Sczdronski says,"We’ve cut back on some of our routine maintenance. They’re going to see grass longer in some areas of the park than we care to see it. But the fact of the matter is we have to make ends meet somewhere and that’s one of the ways that we’ve done it." Sczdronski says the number of people heading to the parks hasn’t ease at all.

"People have made their reservations far in advance. And those without reservations, you know, half of the sites are available first-come first-serve, they’ve been out there as early as Monday to get their site secured, so I would guess right now, if you don’t have a secured site, you might find it tough going to actually find one out there," Sczodronski says. The state park system saw a 15% cut in its budget for the new fiscal year that began Wednesday. 

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Iowa Court of Appeals rules on college payments for unwed parents

July 2, 2009 By

The Iowa Court of Appeals has waded into a debate about whether unmarried biological parents can be ordered to help pay for their kids’ college expenses. The Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled in a Woodbury County case involving a woman who went to court to try to get the biological father of their daughter to help pay for the girl’s college education.

The Iowa Court of Appeals sided with the mother. The ruling cited a court order issued in 1989 which established that Edwin Beckner was the child’s father, and that the girl’s mother could go back to court to get him to help pay for their child’s higher education. But it was not a unanimous decision.

Judge Rosemary Shaw Sackett wrote a dissent, saying the man and woman were never married, and under current state law she believes court-ordered child support that extends to cover college expenses is intended for "children whose parents divorced."

In February the Iowa Senate passed a bill which would have let judges order unmarried parents to help foot the bill for college for their biological children, but the bill never passed the House.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education

Close calls bring warnings about warm cars and kids

July 2, 2009 By

There were two close calls in Iowa last week with children being left locked inside hot cars. Both children survived the incidents in Iowa City and Cedar Falls and two adults are charged. Nationwide, 14 infants have died this year after being left inside hot vehicles.

BeLinda DeBolt, administrator of the Page County Public Health Department in Shenandoah, says it doesn’t take long for the heat to skyrocket in a closed car. "When the outside temperature is 93 degrees, even with the window cracked, the temperature inside a car can reach 125 degrees in just 20 minutes and 140 degrees in 40 minutes," DeBolt says.

Last year, there were at least 42 deaths in the United States due to hyperthermia after infants were left in hot vehicles. Since 1998, there have been at least 428 of these deaths. These incidents can happen with relatively mild temperatures, even 70 degrees, as DeBolt says vehicles can occur reach life-threatening temperatures very quickly.

"Extreme heat rapidly overwhelms the body’s ability to regulate the temperature, so the body can go into shock and circulation and vital organs will begin to fail when it gets too hot," DeBolt says. "Infants and small children are particularly vulnerable due to their body configuration." DeBolt shares a few important tips for keeping children from playing in cars without their parents’ permission.

"Keep your cars locked at all times, even if it’s in the garage or driveway," she says. "We don’t want to teach our children to play in or around cars." She adds, keep car keys out of children’s reach and out of their sight.

A study of 361 child vehicular hyperthermia deaths for a ten-year period (1998 through 2007) shows the following circumstances: 51% – child "forgotten" by caregiver, 30% – child playing in unattended vehicle, 18% – child intentionally left in vehicle by adult, and 1% – circumstances unknown.

 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine
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