Big things are expected from the Minnesota Viking’s defense this season and one of the reasons is former Iowa standout Chad Greenway. The linebacker led the Vikings in tackles in 2008 and says the defensive line frees up the linebackers to make tackles. Greenway says he doesn’t know of any other defensive lines that have three pro bowlers.He says they are focusing on making the defense better, which will make the team better. Greenway says a solid defensive backfield rounds out the defense. He says he expects them to all improve this year and with no new faces in the huddle they should all improve.
Greenway expects Viking defense to be improved
August 7, 2009 By
Des Moines man faces charges in daughter’s death
August 7, 2009 By
A Des Moines man is facing charges after his infant daughter drowned in a bathtub. Police Sergeant Lori Lavorato says officers were called to Blank Hospital Thursday night and were told 30-year-old Dustin Nyonee’s 20-month-old daughter, Celine, was dead upon arrival.
Nyonee reportedly told hospital staff that the infant was in the bathtub with her two siblings, ages 6 and 3. "We spoke with the children and we found that the 20-month-old became submerged under the water," Lavorato said. "I think the other two children got scared, didn’t know what to do and got out of the bathtub."
According to the police report, the three children were taking a bath without supervision. "The 6-year-old drained the water from the bathtub, picked up her little sister, wrapped her in a blanket and took her into a bedroom," Lavorato said. "Afterward, she went downstairs to get her father."
It’s believed the 6-year-old waited 30 minutes before notifying her father about the situation. Nyonee told investigators he was downstairs on a computer. "We found out that this was kind of a normal thing, that the 6-year-old kind of tends to the other children as opposed to the father. She’s kind of the caretaker," Lavorato said.
The mother of the children was at work at the time. Nyonee is facing three counts of child endangerment, one of which is a felony offense due to the death of the infant in his care. The two additional counts are for leaving the other children unattended while he went to the hospital. Lavorato says the Department of Human Services is "actively involved" with the welfare of the two surviving children.
Iowa Veterans Cemetery busy in first year of operation
August 7, 2009 By
The Iowa Veterans Cemetery was dedicated and began burials in July of last year. The cemetery’s director says since then, just over 300 veterans have been buried there. Director Steve Young says many more veterans have decided to use the cemetery as their final resting place.
Young says they try to stress "pre-need planning" for those who call, and there are over three-thousand veterans and family members who have already applied for future burial. He says it really helps the process to have all the paperwork filled out ahead of time. Young says keeping the grounds up is one of the big issues now that the cemetery is open.
Young says the major challenge has been the weather and trying to keep the grounds looking appropriate with watering and erosion control. He say another challenge is the great number of people who want to visit during the week. Young says people have been respectful as they visit the cemetery during funerals.
He says veterans who’re interested can find out more about on the Iowa Veterans Affairs Department website under the cemetery section. He says look under the "eligibility for burial" section to get forms to submit. Young says they hand out forms to people who visit and you can also call the cemetery at 515-996-9048.
The cemetery is located off Interstate 80 at the Van Meter exit.
Vaccination requirements have changed for kids
August 7, 2009 By
With school starting soon, Iowa parents are getting their kids in to doctors’ offices for their shots — and they’re finding some changes in vaccination requirements. Betty Krones, a disease prevention specialist with the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health, says the pneumococcal vaccine used to be just recommended for younger children but now is required to help prevent pneumonia and meningitis.
The "PCV7" is required for children entering daycare, she says. Children normally receive that at two, four and six months with a booster at 12 months. Krones says children entering kindergarten must also have more vaccinations for polio and chicken pox now than in the past.
She says a fourth dose of polio vaccine is now required, rather than just three, and a second dose of the varicella shot is required before kindergarten to prevent chicken pox, unless the child has already had the ailment.
Krones says another recent change adds another dose of the combination vaccine that covers diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis for kids six and under. For more about changes in vaccination requirements or about National Immunization Awareness Week, see the health department’s website .
"Bleak" outlook for pork industry; federal help sought
August 7, 2009 By
Governors from Iowa and eight other states are asking the Obama Administration to provide more federal help to pork producers. Governor Chet Culver and the other governor are asking that the U.S.D.A. buy an additional $50 million worth of pork for government programs that provide food for the needy.
"That’s something that there’s precedent for, I believe," Culver told reporters today in a conference call.
The governors also say it’s crucial U.S. negotiators work to re-open key foreign markets that closed to U.S. pork after the newest strain of the flu was initially called the "swine" flu.
"China, as you all know, has denied U.S. pork based on the H1N1 issue and I have had contact with Chinese officials to urge them to also lift this import ban, but we haven’t, to date, had luck," Culver said.
Dave Moody of Nevada, the immediate past president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, also participated in the conference call. "Iowa hog farmers have been struggling for some time and the financial outlook currently is very bleak," Moody said.
According to Neil Dierks, C.E.O. of the National Pork Producers Council, farmers have been losing about $21 for every pig sold in the past two years.
"The outlook right now is very bleak," Dierks said, "and people are having to make decisions, basically, about their financial wherewithal and where they’re going to go in the future."
Gary Machan, the person in charge of buying hogs for the Midwestern meatpacking plants that Tyson owns, offered a similarly stark assessment.
"We certainly as an industry miss the robust exports we had a year ago and, as a result, along with the economic conditions — the global recession as well as our domestic economic downturn — it’s created a demand that’s much weaker than it was a year ago and certainly, then, much lower prices," Machan said.
While every sector of American agriculture has been suffering, market analyst Steve Meyer told reporters the pork industry had its second worst year ever in 2008.
"Ironically, it occurred during the year when the average price that pork producers received for their pigs was the third-highest in history," Meyer says. "So the primary reason for this huge drain of producer equity is extremely high costs, mainly in the form of corn and soybean meal."
Producers haven’t been able to recover financially in 2009 and Meyer warns the financial pinch pork producers are feeling is being felt throughout rural America.
The governors of Iowa, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Oklahoma co-signed a letter that was sent to President Obama today.
There are currently 73,000 pork producers in the United States.
Click on the audio link below to listen to today’s conference call.
Southeast Iowa men accused of using "electrofishing" device
August 7, 2009 By
Three southeast Iowa men are in hot water, as authorities charge they were using electricity to catch fish. Department of Natural Resources conversation officer Tom Campbell says they got a tip three men were using an "electrofishing" device on the Cedar River in Louisa County this past Sunday. "It’s not that often that people get caught doing it," Campbell says. "I’ve been an officer for 24 years and this is only the second time that I’ve actually charged somebody for this type of activity." Campbell says you can buy "electrofishing" gadgets and some people even make their own. Officers discovered the three fishermen had two of these devices at their home. "They’re illegal to use to shock fish," Campbell says. On Wednesday, the three men were each charged with six counts of taking catfish by electricity, as authorities discovered six catfish in the residence. Forty-nine-year-old Daniel Wehmeyer of Columbus Junction and 47-year-old Harlan Warnstaff of Conesville are scheduled to appear in court on August 12th. Twenty-one-year-old Eric Pugh of Columbus Junction is to appear in court on August 19th. Wehmeyer, the oldest person in this fishing trio, faces an additional charge of not having a valid fishing license. If convicted, the three face fines that could top 26-hundred dollars.
Shenandoah woman dies in accident
August 7, 2009 By
Authorities in southwest Iowa’s Fremont County say a Shenandoah woman was killed Thursday in a single-vehicle crash. Sixty-eight-year old Nancy Rae Whitehill was pronounced dead at the Shenandoah Memorial Hospital after the car she was driving went out of control on Highway 59 and rolled-over into a ditch, three-miles south of Shenandoah. Sheriff’s officials say Whitehill’s car ran off the road, onto the shoulder, and back onto the roadway. When she overcorrected, her actions caused the vehicle to spin around before sliding into the ditch where it rolled onto its top, trapping the woman inside. The accident happened at around 4:15 P.M.
