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DOT says Highway 20 plans are moving ahead

September 14, 2009 By

State D.O.T. leaders say they’re making progress toward completing Highway 20, what promises to become one of Iowa’s main east-west corridors. Iowa Department of Transportation District 3 Engineer Tony Lazarowicz said the new four lane right of way in Webster and Calhoun Counties is nearing completion.

Paving will begin in 2010 and conclude by the end of the calendar year. He also said bids have been let and contracts awarded for the grading of four lane U.S. 20 in western Calhoun and eastern Sac Counties to U.S. 71 at Early.

Grading for the segment from Iowa Highway 4 to County Road N-14 east of Sac City will begin next year with paving planned for 2011 and 2012 when it will finally open to traffic. The grading work from N-14 to U.S. 71 will begin in 2011 with paving to follow. The plans call for this segment of traffic to open at the end of 2013.

While the grading and paving take place east of U.S. 71, survey crews have been at work on the segment between Moville and Correctionville in Woodbury County. By the end of this year all road survey work from Moville to Holstein will be complete. The survey work from Holstein to Early will be done as well. Once completed, Highway 20 will be stretching from Sioux City all the way to Dubuque.

Submitted by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Last year’s floods could impact 2010 Census in Iowa

September 14, 2009 By

Iowa had the best rate in the country for returning census forms in the 2000 Census, but last year’s floods and other factors may make it hard to repeat that good performance in the upcoming 2010 count. Seventy-six-percent of Iowans returned their forms last time, compared with 67% nationwide.

Beth Henning of the State Data Center is the Iowa liaison for the U.S. Census Bureau says Iowans’ civic-mindedness played a role in the good return rate, along with a high rate of home ownership. But she says this time it’s going to be hard to count everyone who lost their homes in the floods.

“The Census Bureau can’t be certain that those housing units are vacant so they have to go make sure that they’re vacant,” Henning says. Henning says there will be an extra push to count every resident with congressional seats on the line. Minnesota for example, is on the bubble for losing a congressional seat

She says it’s a matter of a few thousand people who could make the difference in the Minnesota county.The Census Bureau has already hired hundreds of Iowans to help with the count. Henning says we could start seeing some local promotional ads soon as Iowa communities gear up to get every resident counted.Census forms go out next February.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Iowa Air Guard unit prepares to deploy to Iraq

September 14, 2009 By

Around 300 members of the Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd Fighter Wing are preparing for another operation in Iraq. Major Michael Wunn is a spokesperson for the Iowa National Guard. “They’ll deploy in the next month or so,” Wunn said.

“They’ll send their Aviation Package overseas…they’ve done this quite a bit in the recent past. I think their last (mission) was 15 to 18 months ago.” The 132nd Fighter Wing’s mission will involve support of coalition ground forces in Iraq.

Major Wunn says the 132nd will team up with Airmen from the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing. Another 70 Airmen from the 132nd will deploy this fall to numerous locations throughout Southwest Asia.

Filed Under: Military Tagged With:

Borlaug remembered in hometown

September 14, 2009 By

Nobel Prize-winning agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug is being remembered around the world and in his hometown of Cresco. Borloug remained active well into his 90s, campaigning for the use of biotechnology to fight hunger, and working on projects to alleviate poverty.

Right now, the Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation is trying to restore much of Borlaug’s history and they’re hoping to make his boyhood home and other areas of the Cresco community a national landmark. Borlaug is survived by a sister, Charlotte Culbert, who lives in Cresco. He will be honored during the Borlaug Harvest Festival on September 25 and 26 in Cresco.

Borlaug died Saturday at his home in Texas at age 95 from complications from cancer.

Submitted by Cheryl Knight, KSZQ, Cresco

Filed Under: Agriculture, Human Interest

Expert says banning social media at work could be a mistake

September 14, 2009 By

Some Iowa businesses ban employees from accessing social networking websites and other media tools like Twitter while they’re at work, but one expert says that could be a costly mistake. Drew McLellan, owner of Des Moines-based McLellan Marketing Group and one of the world’s top 50 marketing bloggers, says sites like Facebook and MySpace can lead to a loss in productivity, but they can also be important avenues used to reach a much wider spectrum of potential clients.

“They see their employees playing on them, in air quotes, and assume that there’s no business that can be done there,” McLellan says. “What they’re missing is the fact that literally millions of people are gathering on those places and some of those people are your customers or your prospects.”

While some people are squirting each other with virtual water guns and are catching up with long-lost chums, McLellan says social networking websites also offer much more than just socializing. He suggests business owners need to be savvy before restricting employees.

“Long before there was MySpace or Facebook, there was eBay and other things you could do online that had nothing to do with work,” McLellan says. “It really comes down to having a culture where, A) you trust your employees and, B) you know your employees are finding a balance between personal business and work.”

He says social media can allow a business to focus on a very specific audience. Recently, he says they were able to help out a client who wanted to reach people in three particular ZIP codes in Iowa, and it could be done fairly easily via social media. “We were able to micro-target down that small and run some information and some advertising that was targeted to just those three ZIP codes,” McLellan says. “That’s pretty effective marketing when you can get down to that sort of sophistication.”

When the Internet first became popular, it was a challenge for businesses to draw people to their websites. Now, he says, you can market a product or service through a place like Facebook and go where the people are already gathering. For more, see McLellan’s blog here.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

ISU coach says team ready to move on from Iowa loss

September 14, 2009 By

Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says the Cyclones have put Saturday’s loss to Iowa behind them and have already moved on. ISU takes a 1-1 record on the road to Kent State Saturday night after a 35-3 loss to the Hawkeyes. Rhoads says he told the staff once they got through that “I’ve pouted longer than any of you” and it is time to move on.

Rhoads says the Cyclones had an outstanding practice on Sunday and it did not surprise him. He says the attitude in the lockerroom showed him they were upset with themselves and knew they didn’t represent themselves well. Rhoads expects quarterback Austen Arnaud to bounce back with a solid effort. Arnaud threw four interceptions in the loss to Iowa.

Rhoads says Arnaud is so competitive and wants to create things and “he put our football team in harms way because of that.” He says Arnaud was back out bouncing around and not showing any self pity in practice Sunday. Rhoads says there were some bright spots.

“We improved as a defensive football team Saturday. I’ve had a chance to watch the game film twice, and there were a lot of encouraging things. We’re not the steel curtain by any stretch, but we tackled better in space, we were simpler in scheme and that helped our execution.

Junior safety David Sims had two interceptions on Saturday and now has a total of three in the first two games. He says Simms made a huge jump from week one to week two and did it with his approach to being coached. Rhoads says if that approach continues, he could become a really fine football player.

Rhoads says the Cyclones know that Kent State will provide a tough matchup, as the team has been beaten by them in the past and they are concerned and exciting about preparing and being ready to play.

Kent State is 1-1 after a loss at Boston College and coach Doug Martin says they are thrilled with the chance to host a team out of a BCS conference. Martin says it’s great to do that and he says having them at home will be a big advantage.

Last year Iowa State claimed a 48-28 win over the Golden Flashes in Ames. Martin says they’ve upgraded their talent and says Coach Gene Chizik had recruited a lot of talent before he left.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Radio Iowa Poll: December 14, 2009

September 14, 2009 By
Class 4A
1. Ames (3-0), vs Waukegan, IL. (Thur)
2. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (3-0), @ Iowa City High (Tue)
3. Johnston (3-0), @ Mason City (Tue)
4. Sioux City East (4-0), vs CB Abe Lincoln (Fri)
5. Des Moines Hoover (3-0), @ #8 Marshalltown (Tue)
6. Bettendorf (3-0), @ Clinton (Tue)
7. S.E. Polk (3-0), @ Waukee (Tue)
8. Marshalltown (4-0), vs #5 DSM Hoover (Tue)
9. Pleasant Valley (4-0), vs North Scott (Tue)
10.Cedar Rapids Jefferson (3-0), @ Dubuque Senior (Tue)

 

Class 3A
1. Harlan (2-0), vs Carroll Kuemper (Tue)
2. Mount Pleasant (5-0), at Fort Madison (Fri)
3. Norwalk (2-0), @ South Tama (Tue)
4. LeMars (3-0), @ Emmetsburg (Tue)
5. Sioux City Heelan (2-1), vs Sioux City West (Fri)
6. Carroll (3-0), vs Boone (Tue)
7. Dallas Center-Grimes (3-0), vs Adel ADM (Tue)
8. Davenport Assumption (3-1) @ Muscatine (Tue)
9. Creston (3-0), @ Atlantic (Tue)
10.Grinnell (5-0), vs Pella (Tue)

 

Class 2A
1. Western Christian (Hull) (2-0), @ Cherokee (Tue)
2. Pella Christian (4-0), @ Knoxville (tonight)
3. Grundy Center (5-0), @ South Hardin (Fri)
4. Solon (3-0), vs Dyersville Beckman (Tue)
5. Unity Christian (3-1), @ South O’Brien (Tue)
6. PCM Monroe (4-1), @ Roland-Story (Tue)
7. Fort Dodge St. Edmond (3-0), vs Iowa Falls-Alden (Tue)
8. Des Moines Christian (2-0), @ Earlham (Tue)
9. West Fork (Sheffield) (4-0), @ Saint Ansgar (Tue)
10.BGM (Brooklyn) (4-0), vs North Mahaska (tonight)

 

Class 1A
1. Rock Valley (3-0), vs George-Little Rock (Tue)
2. Cedar Falls NU High (4-0), @ Jesup (Tue)
3. Algona Garrigan (5-0), @ Pocahontas (tonight)
4. Iowa Mennonite (3-0), vs Mediapolis (Tue)
5. Lynnville-Sully (4-0), @ Keota (tonight)
6. Council Bluffs St. Albert (4-0), @ Treynor (Sat)
7. Bedford (5-0), vs Clarke (tonight)
8. N.E. Hamilton (5-0), vs Waterloo Christian (Tue)
9. Ankeny Christian (3-0), vs Walnut (Tue)
10.Boyden-Hull (1-1), @ Sioux Center (Tue)

 
Filed Under: Radio Iowa Poll, Sports
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