May 21, 2012

You are here: Home / 2009 / August / Archives for 31st

Domestic violence shelters given state money for renovations

August 31, 2009 By

Sixteen domestic violence and homeless shelters around Iowa are getting state funding for renovations and new construction. Governor Chet Culver visited the Willis Dady Emergency Shelter in Cedar Rapids today to announce that nearly 10-million dollars in I-JOBS funding will go to shelters throughout the state.

“Last year more than 17,000 people sought help at Iowa’s shelters, Culver said. “Nearly 8,000 of these clients were members of families and close to 40% of them were children. As long as there is one family in need of services, it’s our goal and our responsibility, I think, to try to help those individuals and those families.”

Tim Wilson, executive director of the shelter in Cedar Rapids, says there is an increased demand for services. “We have been very full from the spring through the summer on the men’s beds and particularly the family units. Lately, we’ve been turning away many more people than we can actually accommodate,” Wilson said.

Most of the shelters, including the one in Cedar Rapids, are receiving funding for renovations. The I-JOBS money will also help finance the construction of three new facilities in Des Moines, Iowa City and Sioux Center.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

DHS assembling medical response team

August 31, 2009 By

The Iowa Department of Human Services is implementing a new policy for cases of potential child abuse. D.H.S. spokesperson Roger Munns says the agency is assembling a team of medical experts to be on call for consultation to help determine the cause of injuries to children.

Socials workers already have access to task forces of police officers, medical officials and prosecutors, but Munns says they aren’t always available on short notice. “These groups meet regularly and they have brief meetings. They’re not paid,” Munns said.

“What the director believes is needed is a standby group of medical authorities who can, on very short notice, give us an opinion on a particular case.” D.H.S. Director Charles Krogmeier announced the decision today in a letter to Governor Culver, who requested a review of child welfare regulations. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Domestic violence shelters given state money for renovations

August 31, 2009 By

Sixteen domestic violence and homeless shelters around Iowa are getting state funding for renovations and new construction. Governor Chet Culver visited the Willis Dady Emergency Shelter in Cedar Rapids today to announce that nearly 10-million dollars in I-JOBS funding will go to shelters throughout the state.

"Last year more than 17,000 people sought help at Iowa’s shelters, Culver said. "Nearly 8,000 of these clients were members of families and close to 40% of them were children. As long as there is one family in need of services, it’s our goal and our responsibility, I think, to try to help those individuals and those families."

Tim Wilson, executive director of the shelter in Cedar Rapids, says there is an increased demand for services. "We have been very full from the spring through the summer on the men’s beds and particularly the family units. Lately, we’ve been turning away many more people than we can actually accommodate," Wilson said.

Most of the shelters, including the one in Cedar Rapids, are receiving funding for renovations. The I-JOBS money will also help finance the construction of three new facilities in Des Moines, Iowa City and Sioux Center. 

Filed Under: Politics & Government

ISU coach ready to start season

August 31, 2009 By

Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says the Cyclones are ready for a game. ISU opens the season on Thursday night against North Dakota State and it will be Rhoads’ first game as the head coach. Rhoads says it’s Wednesday and they’re right in the middle of preparation for the game Thursday and are excited to have a healthy football team.

Rhoads has placed three walk-ons on scholarship. One of those is Iowa City Regina product Michael O’Connor. The junior is listed as the Cyclones starting free safety. He says O’Connor has been productive and accountable and able to play both safey positions. Rhoads says the Cyclones need to play a game after weeks of playing against their teammates and they start developing bad habits.

Iowa State was 2-10 a year and improvement this season will begin with a defense that Rhoads says is tackling better. He says from the first padded practice in the spring, they are tackling better, not good yet, but better. The Cyclone offense is experienced but Rhoads says it may take a while for that unit to become comfortable in a new spread attack.

He says by the time they got into their second scrimmage the offense was proficient, but he says they knew what they were seeing, and in this first game they don’t know what they will see.

One of the biggest surprises has been the play of junior college transfer Darius Reynolds. He is listed as a starting wide receiver. Rhoads says for a newcomer to play, you have to survive fall camp, and he says Reynolds did that and more. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Drop in land-lines means drop in revenue for E-9-1-1 surcharge

August 31, 2009 By

More and more Iowans have cut the cord and gone to wireless phones which means less money from the E-9-1-1 surcharge for Iowa counties. Counties set the surcharged for land-line phones, while the state sets and collects the money from the cellphone surcharge. Barbara Vos is the E-9-1-1 program coordinator for the state and says the surcharge funds from cellphones are given out based on a formula.

She says they pay 65% of the money to the wireless carriers and telephone companies that are part of the networks that provide the service, and then they pay 25% of the funds to the local entities based on the number of calls the local public safety answering point has handled each quarter.

Vos says cellphone usage in Iowa has jumped more than 20% in the past three years. Linn County is considering a surcharged to increase the E-9-1-1 fees on land-lines to make up for the loss. Hamilton County supervisor David Young is also chairman of the county E-9-1-1 board, and says the loss of land-line revenue has not become a problem yet.

He says they have been close to the same revenue for the last couple of years, but they know it will be declining as the land-line usage drops. Young says the E-9-1-1 boards will face an even bigger challenge as technology advances. Young says the next real threat is voice-over I-P equipment where someone can call in from their computer into 9-1-1 dispatch.

He says that brings a whole other requirement for expensive equipment to handle those type of calls and he says Hamilton County is not ready for that yet. Counties can set a surcharge from 25 cents to one dollar per land-line for E-9-1-1 service.  

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

DHS assembling medical response team

August 31, 2009 By

The Iowa Department of Human Services is implementing a new policy for cases of potential child abuse. D.H.S. spokesperson Roger Munns says the agency is assembling a team of medical experts to be on call for consultation to help determine the cause of injuries to children.

Socials workers already have access to task forces of police officers, medical officials and prosecutors, but Munns says they aren’t always available on short notice. "These groups meet regularly and they have brief meetings. They’re not paid," Munns said.

"What the director believes is needed is a standby group of medical authorities who can, on very short notice, give us an opinion on a particular case." D.H.S. Director Charles Krogmeier announced the decision today in a letter to Governor Culver, who requested a review of child welfare regulations.

Munns says it’s not clear yet how many medical experts will be involved, how much they’ll be paid or when the group will be in place. "It’s not a group that will be sitting around waiting for our phone calls. They’ll be a group we can call on short notice and who’ll be able to render an opinion quickly," Munns said.

Krogmeier, in his letter, said the new system should help the D.H.S. take quick action when the child’s safety is at risk. His decision came on the same day that two parents pleaded not guilty to charges of child endangerment in Des Moines. Jonas Neiderbach and Jherica Richardson, both 20, are accused of injuring their son, Ethan, who was 7-weeks-old when he was hospitalized in mid-July.

The infant is still in the hospital with head and chest injuries, but his condition is not being released.

Officials says Ethan was born with marijuana in his system and suffered a broken arm before he was one-month-old. But, the D.H.S. did not remove him from his parents’ care. Munns says Krogmeier still believes there is no cause to remove a newborn from a home based solely on the finding of marijuana in a child’s system.

"The director reviewed that whole issue and got advice from experts who told him that – unlike other drugs with greater risks of addiction – cases involving marijuana do not always indicate an imminent threat to the health and safety of a child," Munns said. "So, (Krogmeier) is not recommending a change at the current time."

A trial date for Jonas Neiderbach has not been set. Richardson’s trial is scheduled for November 2. 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government

Search on for driver in Warren County fatal hit-and-run

August 31, 2009 By

Central Iowa authorities are looking for a hit-and-run driver who killed a bicyclist on Sunday morning southwest of Des Moines near the town of Cumming. The victim is identified as 54-year-old Mark Grgurich of Des Moines. Warren County Sheriff’s Deputy Neil Gurwell talked with the witnesses who say the driver of the white pickup truck hit the cyclist and kept going.

Deputy Gurwell says it’s unclear what sort of pickup it was, Chevy, Dodge or Ford, but it had a black ladder rack in the back. There was also some sort of placard on the passenger door that was damaged in the collision. "I’m guessing it’s some type of business sign that’s made out of white plastic and it was bolted to the door," he says. "We’ve got a piece of it but really not enough to make an identification on the company name."

Gurwell says they’ll be checking with body shops to see if anyone’s trying to get their pickup repaired. "It’s going to have some obvious damage to the front quarter-panel and probably down the door," Gurwell says. "If they see this type of a white logo, it’d be plastic, bolted to the door, give us a call at the sheriff’s office."

The accident happened about 10:50 Sunday morning on Warren County Road G-14, not far from the Great Western Trail, a popular bike path that goes from Des Moines to Martensdale. Gurwell says the witnesses thought the truck was speeding and evidence at the scene backs that up.

"The driver of the pickup was traveling in excess of the 45 mile-an-hour speed limit which is in the area," Gurwell says. "The bicyclist was next to the bicycle. I’m guessing, from my initial investigation, both the bike and the cyclist were thrown about 60 feet." Both the bike and the truck were eastbound on the hilly county road and Gurwell says the truck hit the bike from behind and continued east. Contact the sheriff’s office at (515) 961-1122.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »