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King named in lawsuit fighting "In God We Trust"

July 17, 2009 By

Congressman Steve King is outraged by a lawsuit filed to a group trying to prevent the motto "In God We Trust" from being engraved in a wall in the new Capitol Visitors Center.

"I have said all along that there is an effort to scrub the word ‘God’ from anything that we have here (in Washington, D.C.) that commemorates our history and our values," King says. "And it has been driven and now confirmed by the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, the atheists from Madison, Wisconsin."

The lawsuit was filed by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. It’s considered the largest group of American atheists and agnostics. The group’s lawsuit is trying to prevent the engravings of the motto "In God We Trust" as well as the Pledge of Allegiance — which includes the phrase "Under God" — from going on the walls of the Capitol Visitors Center. The group argues the taxpayer-funded engravings would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

The group directly mentions King in its lawsuit, citing his complaints that the Capitol Visitors Center "portrays the role of religion as less central than (he believes) is appropriate."

"Being named in the lawsuit I think is flattering and I’m glad they noticed that what we say here does matter," King says, "but it tells you that the Freedom From Religion Foundation has clearly been lobbying members of congress to block references to religion in the Visitors Center."

The phrase "In God We Trust" was declared the national motto in 1956 and "In God We Trust" has been printed on U.S. currency since 1957. King, a Republican from Kiron in western Iowa, says the lawsuit is another attempt by "liberal activists to rewrite history" and deny that religion played a role in the nation’s founding.

"There are strong efforts in this country to eradicate references to religion from our history and from our public buildings," King says. "It isn’t accurate from a historical standpoint, the position that they take. God was very much a part of the lives of our founding fathers and very much a part of our lives today, but yet we’re up against this and it’s clearly confirmed by the lawsuit that’s been filed."

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has asked a federal judge to issue an injunction that would put a halt to the project to engrave "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance in the Capitol Visitors Center.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government, Religion Tagged With: , ,

GOP chair calls for resignation of Democratic lawmaker

July 17, 2009 By

The chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa is calling for the resignation of a state legislator — a Democrat accused of fudging his address and getting reduced school tuition rates for his children.

A special investigation by the state auditor concluded State Representative Kerry Burt, a Democrat from Waterloo, misstated his home address and saved $37,000 in tuition and fee for his children to attend the Price Lab School at the University of Northern Iowa.

Matt Strawn, the chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, says Burt has shown a "lack of respect for the law" and should immediately resign from the legislature. Strawn says Burt should repay the $37,000, too.

A spokesman for the Iowa Democratic Party says they have no statement to make on the matter.

Burt was accused of drunken driving earlier this year; a trial on those charges is scheduled to start in about a month.

The Price Lab School’s former director, Dave Smith, also misstated his home address and the auditor says Smith saved almost 15-thousand dollars in tuition as a result. Smith recently left the Price Lab School. He’s now the superintendent in Spririt Lake.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Survey: small town banks not feeling impact of federal stimulus package

July 17, 2009 By

A Creighton University economist says it doesn’t appear the federal economic stimulus package is doing much to lift rural communities out of the recession. Ernie Goss conducts a monthly survey of small town bankers in 11 Midwest states, including Iowa. "None of the bankers, and that’s zero, reported large and significant impacts. In fact, most of the bankers report that the impacts thus far have been none to very, very modest…so, we’re not seeing much of an impact from the stimulus package," Goss said.

The survey also quizzed small town bankers about President Obama’s health care plan. "Almost 70% reported that they did not, definitely did not, support taxing the wealthy to provide health insurance for the uninsured," Goss said. "So there is some real concern about how the new health care plan is funded and where that money comes from."

According to the survey, the bankers’ economic outlook dropped for the second straight month in July and is at its lowest point since March. Goss says that can be blamed in large part on declining crop prices. About one-third of the bank CEOs expect crop income for 2009 to be down significantly from last year. Goss’ Rural Mainstreet Index focuses on nearly 200 rural communities with an average population of 1,300.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business

Actress returns to Iowa for movie premiere

July 17, 2009 By

A Hollywood actress who grew up in northern Iowa brought her latest film home for its Midwestern premiere tonight. Tanna Frederick, a 1995 Mason City High School graduate, is co-founder of the Iowa Independent Film Festival, underway in Clear Lake.

Tanna

Frederick says she wanted to start the festival and bring films like hers back to the area due to her hometown’s emphasis on fine arts. "It’s because of this community and because of the people here who are open-minded and excited to support art," Frederick says. "I just have always felt so confident and so loved and have been given such a great, fertile hometown to grow in. When I went out to Los Angeles, I had that as my coat of armor and that kept me through so many rough times in Hollywood."

Frederick’s new film, "Irene in Time," will be shown as part of the festival tonight. She says despite great "mind-blowing" reviews in Hollywood, she really wants to bring it back to north-central Iowa to share it with her family and friends.

The movie is about the complex relationships between fathers and daughters and the potential lifelong consequences of those relationships. It follows the story of Irene, a woman who has trouble finding the right man. The character’s father was something of a hustler and gambler who died when she was 13. Irene has a sort of "daddy complex," Frederick says, and the movie deals with how women’s relationships with their fathers affects their choices in men throughout their lives.

"Irene in Time" kicks off the Iowa Independent Film Festival with a showing at 5 o’clock tonight at the Lake Theater in Clear Lake. The festival runs all weekend. Learn more at www.iowaindie.org .

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment

Harlan man charged with animal deaths, neglect

July 17, 2009 By

A Harlan man faces more than 50 charges involving dead and neglected animals. Fifty-five-year old Darvin Lund was released from custody after posting $1300 bond.

An investigation into the animals’ welfare by Shelby County Sheriff’s officials and the Shelby County Environmental Health Department resulted in the discovery of about 40 dead sheep on Lund’s property in Harlan.

Twelve other sheep carcasses were in a state of decomposition. Several other animals were in need of food and water. Sheriff’s deputies also observed several sheep owned by Lund, at a second property in Harlan, that also lacked food and water. About 40 sheep carcasses were found on the second property as well.

The charges of failure to dispose of dead animals is a serious misdemeanor, while animal neglect/failure to provide food and water is considered simple misdemeanor.

 

 

Filed Under: Agriculture, Crime & Courts Tagged With:

Beat It! Michael Jackson-in-butter no go

July 17, 2009 By

Voters are telling a buttery Michael Jackson to "beat it."

Results from an online poll show 100,000 people voted and 65 percent said "no" to a Michael Jackson butter sculpture being part of the Iowa State Fair.

"While we know some people will be disappointed, we believe the vote was the only way to let fairgoers voice their opinion in a meaningful way," Gary Slater, manager of the Iowa State Fair said in a written statement. "With the Fair just over three weeks away, we are pleased to now move on with final preparations."

On June 30, the Iowa State Fair announced the "world-famous Iowa State Fair butter cow will share the spotlight…with a salute to the late Michael Jackson.  Butter sculptor Sarah Pratt of West Des Moines plans to honor Jackson’s extensive contributions to the music and dance industries through a butter sculpture of the pop icon."

The next day, Fair officials issued another statement, saying Jackson’s butter likeness would be "small" and part of a larger tribute to honor Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk on July 20, 1969.  Jackson gained fame with a dancing moonwalk of his own in 1983.

On July 8, Lori Chappel, a spokeswoman for the Fair, admitted the idea of creating a Michael jackson butter sculpture had created a lot of "churn." That’s the day Fair officials announced an online poll to decide whether the dairy tribute to the self-proclaimed "King of Pop" would go on.

"We have heard many opinions, both positive and negative," Chappel said back on July 8.  "For us, it’s a testament to how important the Fair is to Iowans and how much they appreciate the butter cow and the sculpture."

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With:

Iowa unemployment reaches 23-year high

July 17, 2009 By

Iowa’s unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in June, a 23-year high.

"It’s primarily due to continued layoffs across the state as well as our recent graduates from May and June entering the workforce," says Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Workforce Development agency. "This would be college graduates as well as high school graduates who have chosen not to go on to further education, so a lot of these individuals are looking for jobs and if they haven’t found them, then they’re part of the workforce and they’re part of the unemployed."

A year ago, Iowa’s unemployment rate was significantly lower, at 4.1 percent for June of 2008. Iowa’s current unemployment rate is still well below the national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent.

"Iowa is not at that kind of a level, so that’s good, but…we are still seeing declines in manufacturing and construction," Koonce says. "And we also witnessed a rather large decline in professional and business services this month which is primarily affected by the temp agencies."

State officials say just over 104,000 Iowans are classified as unemployed in June — the highest level reported since Februayr of 1986.

"Typically Iowa is fortunate to be one of the states that gets individuals off of unemployment quicker than a lot of other states. Unfortunately now we are seeing a lot of these individuals who are on (unemployment) longer," Koonce says. "Roughtly, right now for the last couple of months approximately 2000 people a week are exhausting all of their unemployment benefits."

That means they’ve collected unemployment benefits for the maximum of 46 weeks.

"A lot of these individuals are individuals (who have) typically never been unemployed," Koonce says. "They may have been let go from a manufacturing job that they’d held for 15 or 20 years, but it’s really just affecting everybody across the board."

Iowa manufacturers laid off 1800 workers in June. In the past 12 months, nearly 28,000 workers in Iowa manufacturing plants have been let go.

Filed Under: Business
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