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Walks planned to raise awareness about high number of suicides

September 11, 2009 By

Three walks are planned in Iowa over the next few weeks to raise awareness about the state’s record high suicide rate — and to help those who’ve been left behind. New state figures find 376 Iowans killed themselves last year. That’s more than one a day, the most ever in a year and nearly 50 deaths above the average.

Dale Chell, the state health department’s youth suicide prevention coordinator, says walks are planned in Cedar Rapids, Ankeny and Mason City. “The primary goal is to get suicide survivors to come out and recognize they’re not alone,” Chell says. “There’s others like them who are suffering some of the same battles they are in terms of working through their grief who have lost a loved one to suicide.”

The 2008 Iowa Youth Survey found 17% of 11th grade girls admitted attempting suicide and 4% admitted to three or more attempts. Nationwide, suicide is the number-three cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24. In Iowa, suicides are much more prevalent over a wider demographic.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Iowans between the ages of 15 and 40. Unintentional injuries, like car crashes, are the leading killer in that age group. Chell says one contributing factor to the high suicide rate is likely the recession. “When you have a worsening economy, you do have a higher rate of suicide deaths,” Chell says. “I think people who are already vulnerable when they have foreclosures, loss of a job, those might be the triggers that result in them deciding to take their life.”

Chell says the walks, called Out of the Darkness, are designed to promote awareness of the state’s climbing suicide rate and to offer assistance. “I don’t think many Iowans know what a big problem it is,” Chell says. “For every suicide death, you have multiple suicide attempts. You have a lot of people out there who are suffering and many of them silently from a mental illness, primarily major depression, that there’s a lot of stigma around.”

A hotline is available around the clock for anyone with concerns about themselves or a loved one: 800-273-TALK. The dates for the walks are: this Sunday (September 13th) at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids, September 20th in Ankeny at the DMACC Lake, and October 3rd in Mason City at Southbridge Mall. Find more information here.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Human Interest

Iowa State and Iowa meet for 57th time

September 11, 2009 By

Iowa State hosts Iowa in the 57th meeting in the series. Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads has been involved in the Pitt-West Virginia and Alabama-Auburn rivalries the past few years and says this series is much different. Rhoads says it might be closer to the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry because he says there’s not a lot of hate in that rivalry. He says in other rivalries the people in those games “don’t like each other and they are not afraid to show it.”

Rhoads says the fans in the Cyclone/Hawkeye rivalry will be eating chicken wings with each other in the parking lot.

Iowa State opened with a victory over North Dakota State and now looks to grab in-state bragging rights. Rhoads says it would be a nice shot in the arm, but he says it wouldn’t hold them back in recruiting efforts, but he’d certainly like to have the win over a loss.

Rhoads felt the Cyclone defense showed improvement last week but says the Hawks prevent a tougher challenge. He says they have to be in the spots where they are suppose to be to keep Iowa from getting to the second level in their blocking scheme. Iowa State’s offense will spread the field and probe for mismatches against Iowa’s 4-3 defense.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz expects another close game as he says the games the last 10 years have been pretty close. He says that’s typical of a good rivalry. Ferentz is concerned about Iowa’s secondary matching up with the Cyclone receivers. He says they have tall receivers and says it was a concern last week with UNI’s receivers.

Ferentz says this will be as tough as any Big Ten road game. He says they need to be well aware of that and it will be as lively a crowd as they will play in front of. Ferentz says this game comes down to the team that performs the best on that given day regardless of what they’ve already done.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

UNI faces South Dakota

September 11, 2009 By

The UNI Panthers will try to bounce back from a heart breaking loss at Iowa when they open the home schedule against South Dakota. Panther coach Mark Farley says his team can ill afford a letdown. He says South Dakota has a chance to win last year and they have a lot of those starters back.

Farley says they have prepared for a much different style as Iowa is a more controlled pro-style offense and South Dakota is a wide-open spread offense that requires a different type of defense.

Submitted by Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Oelwein

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

“Steak Fry” keynoter Al Franken “not interested in running for president”

September 11, 2009 By

Minnesota Senator Al Franken is the keynote speaker at this Sunday’s “Steak Fry” fundraiser for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Franken says he’ll deliver a “hopeful” speech that will rally his fellow Democrats.

“I have known Senator Harkin for quite some time and I’ve always had tremendous regard for him. He was a friend of (former Minnesota Senator) Paul Wellstone’s, a very dear friend and Tom came and campaigned for me in Minnesota which I’m extremely grateful for, ” Franken said early this afternoon, clearing his throat and pausing before he delivered the punch line: “You know I didn’t win by a lot there, so that might have made the difference.”

After a recount and a seven-month court battle, Franken won his seat in the U.S. Senate by 312 votes. His Republican opponent conceded in late June and Franken was sworn in as a senator in early July. Franken is no longer the most junior member of the senate, however, as a new senator from Florida was sworn into office this week.

“Of course we had the long wait between the election and the swearing in, but it’s been worth it. You know, I got here late, but not too late,” Franken said during a telephone interview with Radio Iowa. “I’m looking forward to having an impact on this health care debate.”

Franken is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee which Senator Harkin now chairs. Franken said there’s a lot of “political work” to be done on health care reform and President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night helped the process.

“I think that the speech did rally people and from what I can tell it clarified a lot to Americans about what this is about and what it isn’t about,” Franken said.

Franken also found himself at the center of the action just after he became a senator in July. He’s a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee which held a public confirmation hearing on Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I came to the senate at a very crucial time,” Franken says.

Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are among the list of previous “Harkin Steak Fry” keynoters and Franken wrote a 1999 novel titled “Why Not Me? The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency.” Today, however, Franken tamped down the idea he has White House aspirations.

“I guess that most people who speak at the Steak Fry eventually run for president. I guess that’s been the history but I’m not interested in running for president,” Franken said. “I’m coming because I like Tom Harkin and I like steak.”

Franken started as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” in 1975 and he left the program in 1995 after creating memorable characters like self-help guru Stuart Smalley. Franken has had three books reach the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, including his “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot.”

In 2004, Franken started a three-year stint as an “Air America” radio talk show host. During his last broadcast, on Valentine’s Day in 2007, he announced his candidacy for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Lieutenant Governor asks Iowans to prepare a disaster plan

September 11, 2009 By
Preparation guide prepared by Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management Division

State emergency preparation guide.

Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge used this anniversary of the September 11th attacks to remind Iowans that this is “Family Preparedness Month.” Judge says the most important thing we learned from 9-11 is that being prepared for an emergency will save lives.

“Please sit down sometime soon this month, make sure that you and your family are ready for an emergency. That is not only going to make our state safe, it is going to save the lives of those that matter the most,” Judge says. Iowa Homeland Security director Dave Miller joined the Lieutenant Governor and says there are three steps that every Iowan should do to prepare.

Miller says you should make a family emergency plan, build an emergency supply kit, and be aware of the hazards that may affect your community. Miller says making that emergency plan is the first step as you may not be together with your family when an emergency happens and you should know where to go and how to get ahold of them. Judge and Miller says natural disasters have shown in the last year how import it is to be ready. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government

Iowan continues to make “Freedom Quilts” inspired by 9-11

September 11, 2009 By

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11th in 2001, a northwest Iowa woman began making quilts. In the past eight years, Betty Nielsen of Fonda and a group of volunteers have made 6,600 of the so-called “Freedom Quilts.”

Nielsen says they first started giving quilts to the families of Nine Eleven victims, then to Hurricane Katrina victims, victims of the flood in Cedar Rapids, and now to the families of fallen soldiers. She says some of the quilts are on display at her shop, located on her family’s farm northwest of Varina.

This Saturday, the Siouxland Chapter of American Legion Riders will hold a benefit motorcycle ride to raise funds for Nielsen’s quilting project. The ride will begin in Marcus and go through Sutherland, Sioux Rapids, Albert City, and Newell, ending at Nielsen’s shop.

Contributed by Joel Hermann, KAYL, Storm Lake

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Deere, Monsanto cutting back workforce

September 11, 2009 By

Two agricultural giants are planning deep job cuts due to dropping demand for their products in the down economy. Quad Cities-based John Deere is putting nearly 370 workers at its harvester works there on indefinite layoff.

For the employees who remain, Deere plans to shut down the plant in East Moline, Illinois, for two weeks, starting September 21st. Also, Saint Louis-based Monsanto is cutting its global workforce eight-percent.

The chemical company, known for its herbicides like Round-up, now has 1,100 workers at its several facilities in Iowa, but hasn’t specified how many jobs here may be lost.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business Tagged With:
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