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Walks in West Des Moines, Webster City, target pancreatic cancer

September 8, 2009 By

A Webster City woman is coordinating two simultaneous Iowa fundraisers this month to raise money and awareness about the disease that killed her father. Jody Moats is organizing what’s being called “Purple Stride Iowa” in both Webster City and West Des Moines on September 26th.

Moats’ father died from pancreatic cancer in 2005, so she did what she called “Hike Iowa for Hope” in 2006 and 2007. She walked across Iowa both years, accompanied by her family, to raise money for research. “I decided to give my legs a break and my husband and daughter a better vacation so we decided to reduce it to a one-day walking event.”

Moats says pancreatic cancer isn’t as common as breast cancer or lung cancer and thus, doesn’t get as much attention — or money. “It is one of the deadliest cancers out there and one of the least funded,” Moats says. “The survival rate is not very good and what we’re trying to do with this research is to find better detection. Most people that’re diagnosed with this disease, they’re already in the later stages.”

The first Purple Stride Iowa event was held last year in Webster City alone. She says they had good participation and generated nearly 12-thousand dollars in donations. Moats hopes for a much larger turnout this year by adding West Des Moines.

She says you can register online in advance for free. If you raise $25 or more, you’ll get a t-shirt at the event. You can register the day of the event for $30.

She says pancreatic cancer killed more than 37-thousand Americans in the past year.

Story by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Human Interest

Manpower job outlook is mixed

September 8, 2009 By

The latest Manpower survey shows the outlook for employers has leveled off. Manpower spokesman Mike Lynch says there’s not much movement.

Lynch says starting in Des Moines, 12% plan on increasing employment and 12%plan on decreasing employment. The rest of the state is the same, with Cedar Rapids looking at a seven-percent increase in hiring and the Quad Cities are looking at a decrease, while the Omaha-Council Bluffs are is looking at an increase.

Lynch says there are a few areas that show optimism. He says manufacturing looks like it is picking up as does the financial services industry, leisure and hospitality and government. Lynch says while there’s positive news that things appear to be holding steady, the Iowa job situation is the prime example of the so-called “jobless recovery.”

Lynch says that seems to be the consensus, that people are not going to ramp up hiring in anticipation of the need, they are going to wait until the need is there and then start hiring. He says that means the economy could continue improving, but the hiring will take time to catch up.

Filed Under: Business

Vander Plaats calls for paying off state “I-JOBS” debts

September 8, 2009 By

BVPandEthics-002Republican candidate Bob Vander Plaats says if he’s elected governor, he’ll shoot for an early pay off of about $800 million in borrowing that Governor Culver pushed his fellow Democrats in the legislature to approve this spring, but the state treasurer says that’s not possible.

Culver describes the so-called “I-JOBS” program as a state-level economic stimulus, but Vander Plaats says it’s a “borrowing scheme” that Iowans do not support.

“I think it was the wrong move by this governor and that’s why I’ve said that it would be my goal that in my first term as governor that we would pay off the I-JOBS bond, that we would not shackle a future generation with debt,” Vander Plaat says. “We would not limit our potential to fund our priorities here.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Ethics complaint dismissed; group wants new oversight of lobbyists

September 8, 2009 By

KibbieSenator Jack Kibbie, Senator Jerry Behn (l-r).The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed a complaint against a lobbying group that was five months late in filing a disclosure report about its pricey party for legislators.

The group’s tardiness came to light as the Iowa Pharmacy Association’s legislative reception was the same February night that State Representative Kerry Burt of Waterloo was arrested and charged with drunken driving.

The Senate Ethics Committee today voted five-to-zero to dismiss the complaint about the tardy report since the Pharmacy Association had finally filed its report about their $3000 party in February. Senate President Jack Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg, says lawmakers will consider streamlining the process for disclosing the details of such legislative receptions next year when the 2010 legislative session convenes. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Man accused of abusing bobcat kittens

September 8, 2009 By

Authorities say a southwest Iowa man abused two bobcat kittens. Fifty-nine-year-old Richard Muff, Senior, of Clarinda was charged with a variety of offenses according to Deb Smith, the state conservation officer for Montgomery and Page Counties.

“He took two bobcat kittens out of the wild and filed their teeth and their claws down,” Smith says.

The bobcats had baby teeth, but officials say filing those teeth damaged nerves and the bobcats are having problems eating. The wild kittens are now with a “wildlife rehabilitator” and the Clarinda man has gone before a judge.

“I charged him with two counts of unlawful possesion, transportation of the bobcat kittens and then, also, animal neglect,” Smith says. “He paid fines totalling $700 plus (court) costs. He paid $400 in liquidated damaged to the state and then he also is ordered is ordered to pay restitution to the wildlife rehabilitator because the bobcat kittens will be with the wildlife rehabilitator until minimum November. If they’re not able to be released by November, she’ll have them until next spring.”

Bobcats have a stubby or “bobbed” tail and grow up to be about twice as large as the common household cat. They are considered predators and generally live in woody or swampy areas.

“I want to reiterate to people: do not take wild animals out of the wild,” Smith says.

The conservation officer says Muff told authorities he took what he thought were abandoned kittens into his care. “Just because they’re there by themselves doesn’t mean the mother is too far away,” Smith says.

Conservation officers found the bobcats in Muff’s home in August. Muff was charged with hunting violations in the fall of 2007 and again in 2008. His hunting and fur harvesting privileges are now suspended until 2012 and he is not go along with anyone else who is hunting or who is checking traps.

Story by Kristan Gray, KMA, Shenandoah

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Environment & Conservation

Effigy Mounds to be on back of new quarter

September 8, 2009 By

The Effigy Mounds National Monument on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa has been chosen for the U.S. Mint’s "Beautiful Quarters" program. Effigy Mounds director, Phyllis Ewing, says they applied immediately upon learning the mint would honor national monuments on quarters, and were excited to learn they’ve been chosen.

"I think my first comment was, ‘this is really cool,’ but we are terribly excited by it. When the idea came we were really hopeful that we would be included in it. And Effigy Mounds happens to be the first national park in Iowa," Ewing said. Ewing says the park tells the story of early American history through the burial mounds of Native Americans.

She says there are a lot of conical or linear mounds, but there are also mounds in the shape of birds and bears, and that’s where the name effigy comes from, as they are in the shape of something that was living. The Beautiful Quarters program follows the success of the state quarters program, and will feature the national parks on the backs of quarters beginning in 2010. The parks will be featured based on the year they became a park.

Effigy Mounds was named a national monument in 1949 by President Harry Truman. Iowa’s state quarter featured a Grant Wood painting of a school house, but Ewing isn’t sure exactly how Effigy Mounds will be portrayed. Ewing says they have not been told yet what will be on the quarter, but they anticipated receiving a drawing that they will be able to review and see if it is what the park represents.

Ewing says the burial mounds are the main feature of the area, but says it’s location along the river is something that is also an important part of the park that visitors appreciated.

Ewing says visitors all visualize Iowa as flat cornfields and they are taken by the bluffs and the beauty, and she says many say it is as pretty as any other national park they’ve visited.

Ewing says the park is entering it’s busy time of the year. The park is open year round and only closes for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s and is open from eight until 4:30 and in the summer and fall they extend the hours until six p.m.

Ewing says October is the busiest month of the year as people come to see the fall foliage. The complete list of monuments chosen for the quarter program will be released Wednesday on the U.S. Mint’s website . Find out more about Effigy Mounds at the park’s website here .

 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Human Interest

Vander Plaats: no moderate, liberal running mate

September 8, 2009 By

Republican candidate Bob Vander Plaats says it’s too early to say who he might pick as a lieutenant governor running mate if he wins the G.O.P.’s 2010 gubernatorial nomination. But Vander Plaats is making his objectives clear and in the process is taking a shot at former Governor Terry Branstad, the four-term Republican governor who is mulling the idea of leaving his job as president of Des Moines University and running for a fifth term.

Branstad picked Joy Corning, a supporter of abortion rights, as his running mate in 1990 and ’94. Vander Plaats says he supports a "culture of life" and you won’t see him picking someone who doesn’t share that philosophy.

"I’m not looking to balance the ticket with somebody who is moderate or liberal or who doesn’t believe in those core values like I do," Vander Plaats says. "Hopefully they will bring different assets to the ticket, but they will believe in those core values."

Vander Plaats voted for Branstad in 1990 and 1994, despite Joy Corning’s presence on the ticket as Branstad’s lieutenant governor running mate.

"I did not withhold my vote from Governor Branstad because of his choice of Lieutenant Governor Corning," Vander Plaats says. "And to be quite frank with you when I voted for Governor Branstad both those times, I don’t think I knew who Joy Corning was, you know, that well."

Vander Plaats has no plan to announce his running mate this far in advance of the June primary, but Vander Plaats says they must share his opinion on core issues like gun rights, immigration and gay marriage as well as on abortion.

"The people that are voting for you, the people that you’re serving as their leader — they need to trust you first," Vander Plaats says. "And if you can’t be trusted on where do you stand on life; where do you stand on marriage; where do you stand on immigration; where do you stand on the second amendment; where do you stand on on state sovereignty; where do you stand on those core values, those core principles — why would they ever give you an opportunity to lead this state?"

Vander Plaats ran for governor in 2002 and lost in the Republican primary. Vander Plaats ran again in 2006, but ended his own campaign before the primary and signed on as Jim Nussle’s running mate. On Tuesday, Vander Plaats officially declared himself a competitor for the G.O.P.’s 2010 nomination for governor.

 

 

 

AUDIO: Vander Plaats news conf…23 min MP3

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