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Iowa and UNI kick off football season in Iowa City

September 3, 2009 By

Iowa and UNI meet for the 15th time in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes have high hopes after going 9-4 in 2008 but they will be without running back Jewel Hampton this season who suffered a knee injury. Junior Paki O’Meara and redshirt freshman Adam Robinson are listed on the depth chart while two other freshmen, Jeff Brinson and Brandon Wegher could also see playing time.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says now it’s up to what they do in the games as he says they haven’t played at this level a lot. He says they’ve had success with young players before and while they try not to put anyone out there before they are ready to play, they will still have some ups and downs.

Ferentz who says the Panthers cause them a number of concerns as he says they have veterans on offense, including fast dangerous recievers with a good quarterback. He says defensively their strengths are up front.

Iowa’s defense is experienced but Ferentz says that unit will be challenged by the Panther offense that is efficient and uses multiple sets. UNI’s secondary is freshman laden but Ferentz does not expect the Panthers to change their style of play. He says they won’t make wholesale changes because they have been successful with what they do and are well coached.

After making it to the semifinal round of the national playoffs in 2008 the Panthers enter this season ranked in the top five of the FCS polls. Coach Mark Farley knows the Hawkeyes will provide a tough opener. Farley says Iowa has one of the best offensive lines he’s seen on film and he says Hawkeye quarterback Ricki Stanzi is very accurate and calm and manages the game very well.

Farley says Iowa is a tough matchup because of their style of play as they are not fancy, but are hard-nosed and physical for four quarters. Farley says there is no way to prepare his team for the atmosphere they will experience. He says playing in Kinnick was an experience the first time he went there as an assistant coach. He says it is one of the most unique venues in sports, and calls it an "awesome deal" that you can’t prepare for.

The Panthers are no stranger to opening against a ranked team. A year ago, they opened with a 41-17 loss at BYU. He says it compares statistically to BYU offensively, but he says Iowa is probably better on defense.

 

(Elwin Huffman of KOEL contributed to this story.)

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Grinell and Cornell meet in season opener Saturday

September 3, 2009 By

Grinnell College and Cornell College collide in the season opener for both this Saturday in Grinnell. The Pioneers were 3-7 in 2008 and second year coach Max Hawsey feels his team is vastly improved. He says the team will be hungry and they worked on getting more speed on the field.

Hawsey says pre-season workout have been much smoother during the second year for the staff. A key will be improvement of a defense that gave up nearly 36 points per game last season. he says they will be more aggressive and he expects them to be improved despite losing some good linebackers.

Cornell is looking to bounce back from an 0-10 mark in 2008. This will be the 90th meeting in the series. Both schools were part of the Midwest Conference before Cornell joined the Iowa Conference.

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Wartburg opens season as conference football favorite

September 3, 2009 By

Wartburg College opens the football season on the road at St. Norbert. The Knights are coming off a season in which they made it all the way to the quarterfinal round of the division-three national playoffs.

A number of key performers from that team have graduated and coach Rick Willis says a senior class of 20 players is expected to lead the way. Willis says they have a lot of guys who have done important things in the past, but they are going to be asked to play a larger role and how they step up will determine the team’s success.

Wartburg is the pre-season favorite in the Iowa Conference race and is ranked in many pre-season polls. Willis feels that is based in part on past success. Willis says they have a football team, but he doesn’t know where they should be ranked.

One of the biggest reasons for optimism is the return of quarterback Nick Yordi. The Solon native passed for more than three thousand yards and 25 touchdowns in 2008. Willis says Yordi had a tremendous camp and is a model leader on the field.

Willis says Yordi’s presence gives the team confidence, and there is no question he is comfortable with offense and allows them to do more things with the offense.

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Linn County residents get a tax break for flood property

September 3, 2009 By

Thousands of Linn County residents received property tax bills last month and were shocked to learn they were being asked to pay taxes on land they weren’t able to use because of last year’s flood. This week, the Linn County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to forgive property taxes for however long the land wasn’t used. Supervisor Brent Oleson (OHL-son) calls it a moral decision.

"If you, by an act of God…are deprived of the quiet enjoyment and use of your property, then it’s immoral to tax you for it," Oleson said. The decision means the county and some cities and schools will lose millions of dollars in revenue. However, Oleson says the board will seek retroactive relief from the state legislature when it meets in January.

"It could have a ripple effect though our entire social services that we provide citizens," Oleson said. "So, we need to try to spread that cost to the rest of the state and federal government to the extent that they can help." Some taxes will not be abated. Exceptions include property owners who have been reimbursed for that cost or for those delinquent on their taxes.

The tax forgiveness is different in Palo, which was largely destroyed by the flood. The supervisors decided to gradually forgive the taxes there over five years. They say doing it all at once would have eliminated that city’s government. 

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Iowa Egg Council CEO says methods used are humane

September 3, 2009 By

The C.E.O. of the Iowa Egg Council says producers in the state are not using inhumane production practices, despite what was shown in an undercover video shot by the group Mercy for Animals at the Hy-Line plant in Spencer. The video showed male chicks being separated out and being thrown into a grinder.

Kevin Vinchattle says the methods used to destroy male baby chicks as part of the egg production process are approved and standard operating procedure in the industry. He says there is no market for the male chicks.

"We’re in egg production, and boys don’t lay eggs and girls do, and so if you could tell in the shell which was going to be a male and which was going to be a female, you’d never even incubate the male eggs and they would get diverted to different use. Right now we don’t have the ability to do that," Vinchattle says.

He says the male chicks don’t have enough meat on them to be economical as a meat bird, and the euthanasia process is designed to be instantaneous and that is accepted by the industry in the U.S. and Europe.

Vinchattle says Hy-Line North America has always been a good producer, and follows proper and humane practices in their production. For that reason, Hy-Line has started an investigation, and they are questioning the video that shows inappropriate actions. Vinchattle says this is not the first time Mercy for Animals has done an undercover video and says some groups have people who go across the country shooting videos. "My understanding is it’s not always depicting things exactly as it happened that some things may in fact be more or less staged, and you can only determine that on a case-by-case basis," Vin Schittle says.

He says in the Hy-Line case they need to check things out and find out if the video is reality. Vinchattle says Mercy for Animals is a vegetarian group whose agenda is to destroy the animal agriculture industry. He says they are not sure who is funding the organization.

See the Mercy for Animals video here.

 

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business

U.S.D.A. buying $30 million worth of pork

September 3, 2009 By

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says administrators in his agency have found more money to buy pork products for government feeding programs, like the free and reduced-price school lunch program.

In August, Iowa Governor Chet Culver, the governors of eight other states and pork industry leaders asked the U.S.D.A. to buy more pork. A few days later Vilsack said the U.S.D.A. had used up most of the money it had to buy commodities. Today, Vilsack announced his agency has found more money for pork purchases.

"I asked the team to take a look at other pods of money that might be underutilized to see if we could put together some other resources," Vilsack said during an interview with Radio Iowa. "They were able to find $30 million for additional purchases, which puts the total this year to $147 million of purchases of pork products by U.S.D.A."

Vilsack, who served as Iowa’s governor from January 1999 to January of 2007, became U.S. Ag Secretary this past January. He said by buying $30 million worth of pork, the U.S.D.A. will help support the "depressed" pork market. The pork will be used by food banks and in government programs that provide meals to the elderly as well as in school lunch and breakfast programs.

"I know that schools have been a little bit reluctant in terms of pork purchases because of the misunderstanding about H1N1 and how the major media characterizes it," Vilsack said. "But hopefully with this purchase we’ll be able to reassure school officials that pork is safe and reassure families and consumers that pork is safe."

The commodities the U.S.D.A. buys for government feeding programs must meet quality guidelines and are normally required to be low in fat, sugar and sodium. Vilsack says pork is a high-protein-content item that fits within those guidelines.

"This purchase will help schools provide a more balanced and nutritious meal and at the same time help out our family farmers and not necessarily break the budget," Vilsack said. "So it’s a good solution and I appreciate the hard work of the folks at U.S.D.A. to figure this out and hopefully pork producers around the country and the governors who wrote to us, including Governor Culver, are pleased with our action."

Vilsack made his comments late this morning during a telephone interview.

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Dubuque man gets 50 years in prison on child porn charges

September 3, 2009 By

A 28-year-old man from northeast Iowa will spend 50 years in a federal prison on child pornography charges.

Casey Bastian of Dubuque pled guilty in December to one count of production of child pornography and one count of receiving child porn. Late last year F.B.I. agents seized Bastian’s computer and found dozens of videos and other images of child pornography. Authorities say Bastian sexually-abused four different girls in the past 12 years.

Bastian, who is 28, was sentenced this week to 50 years in prison. There’s no parole in the federal system so if he lives ’til he’s 78 years old, he’ll have to be on parole for the next 15 years after he’s served his time behind bars.

 

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