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Arrest made in hit and run death of bicyclists

September 14, 2009 By

Authorities in south-central Iowa have charged a man in connection with the hit and run death of a bicyclist. The Warren County Sheriff’s office says 80-year-old Paul “Jud” McKinney turned himself in this morning. The Winterset man is charged with leaving the scene of a fatality, concealment of evidence and failure to maintain control.

The charges stem from a pickup versus bicycle collision on a rural Warren County road on August 30. The bicyclist, 54-year-old Mark Grgurich of Des Moines, died at the scene. McKinney’s attorney asked that his client be released because of his age and poor health, but a judge ordered McKinney be taken into custody and set bond at $10,000.

His arraignment is set for September 22.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Man shot and killed by Waterloo police

September 14, 2009 By

Waterloo police shot and killed a man while responding to a domestic disturbance over the weekend. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is probing the incident, which occurred early Saturday morning outside a Waterloo home.

According to police officials, two officers were sent to the home on the report of a domestic dispute between a man and a woman. Shortly after their arrival, police say a struggle ensued between the man and two officers. They tried to subdue him, but couldn’t. Police say that’s when one of the officers pulled out his service revolver and shot the man in the chest, killing him.

The man,later identified as 31-year-old Eric Rule of Waterloo, died at the scene. One officer was treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital; the other officer was not injured. On Sunday, the state medical examiner ruled the man’s death a homicide, saying Rule died of multiple gunshot wounds.

D.C.I. officials say the two officers involved in the fatal shooting are now on paid administrative leave. Their names have not been released. This latest incident is the third in Waterloo since June involving an officer shooting at a suspect.

Submitted by Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Oelwein

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Creston man killed in accident

September 14, 2009 By

A Creston man was killed Sunday when the pickup he was driving crashed in Adair County. The Adair County Sheriff’s Department say 26-year-old William Daniel Joseph Barber — who was wearing his seat belt — was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident east of Greenfield, near the intersection of Highway 92 and the Stuart Road.

The crash occurred at around 7:25 AM. Officials say Barber’s 1998 Chevy pickup was headed west on Highway 92 when it crossed the center-line of the road, hit a driveway embankment and went airborne before landing on the south side of the driveway. The vehicle rolled and came to rest on its top.

Submitted by Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Iowa Ag Secretary comments on Norman Borlaug’s death

September 14, 2009 By

Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says Nobel Peace Prize-winning ag scientist Norman Borlaug leaves quite a legacy behind after his death over the weekend in Dallas Texas. Northey says Borlaug certainly changed the direction of agriculture, and millions of people would not be alive today had he not taken an aggressive scientific approach to find ways to increase grain production.

Northey credits the atmosphere that Borlaug grew up in around the Cresco area to his later success in life.

He says Borlaug’s agricultural roots, hard work ethic, and knowing how a person can make a difference in the world set an example for so many folks. Northey says Borlaug loved teaching not only students but world ag leaders how they could help shape the world.

He says one of Borlaug’s passions was to bring young people out of their hometown and get them around the country and the world and study the technology available in agriculture. Northey says Borlaug also challenged people to look into the future and see what would need to be done.

Northey says he challenged people to see what they need to do to make a difference in the world. Northey says Borlaug is like a lot of people who grow up as regular Iowa farm kids that grew up in small towns, “and the world would not notice the day they are born, but would certainly notice the day of their passing.” Borlaug was known as the father of the “green revolution”, winning the Nobel Prize for his role in averting global famine during the second half of the 20th Century.

Submitted by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Agriculture

Borlaug pushed for scientists to use all tools to help feed the world

September 14, 2009 By
Cresco Iowa native and Nobeal Prisz winner Norman Borlaug died Friday.

Cresco Iowa native and Nobeal Prisz winner Norman Borlaug died Friday.

Norman Borlaug, the native Iowan who won the Nobel Prize for helping save millions of people in Pakistan and India from starvation died Saturday at his home in Texas at the age of 95. Borlaug’s work was dubbed the “Green Revolution” as it used plant breeding to create new varieties of wheat that were used to feed the starving people.

Borlaug gave an address as the 2004 World food Prize Symposium where he talked about his early years in Iowa and how the influenced him later. Borlaug talked about his father building the family home in 1922 on the farm in Cresco, and showed a picture of the barn his father later built.

Borlaug says the family moved onto the farm from his grandfather’s farm, and says his father bought the lumber for the barn from his savings just weeks before the banks collapsed in 1929. He says if the banks had collapsed before his father had bought the lumber, then they would not have had the barn and the farm might not have had the modest production that Borlaug says gave him and his two sisters their start. Borlaug says growing up in the midst of the depression led to his work to help the starving.

“Life in those good old days was a sort of precarious thing, and I think it condition me for many of the things…that would happen later in life,”Borlaug said. Borlaug says another Iowan, former Ag Secretary and Vice President Henry Wallace, and the Rockefeller Foundation helped get the program started in Mexico that Borlaug used to feed the hungry. Borlaug says he used all the tools available to try and find a way to feed the hungry. He talked fervently in 2004 about how that approach has to continue.

“Today this precautionary principle is fine for elite people in elite countries, but if you are dealing with hunger starvation, you better use the information you have at hand and use it courageously, and get the political leaders to see the benefit,” Borlaug said. Borlaug said at the time the resistance to genetically-modified crops was something that was holding back the efforts to feed the world. Borlaug says mother nature has for years used genetic modification as different crops developed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agriculture, Human Interest Tagged With:

UNI QB player of the week after win

September 14, 2009 By

UNI quartertback Pat Grace has been named the Missouri Valley Conference offensive player of the week. Grace had four touchdown passes, three touchdown runs and 455 yards of a passing in a 66-7 win over South Dakota. After a heartbreaking loss at Iowa coach Mark Farley called it a much needed win.

Farley says there was a concern about the game as they needed it to put some closure on the close loss to Iowa and move forward. Farley says the most import thing is it has been a tough week to get over the Iowa loss and Farley says it’s nice to see smiles on their faces and have the win after what happened last week.

The Panthers host St. Francis of Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Submitted by Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Iowa medical professionals treat underpriviledged in Jamaica

September 14, 2009 By

A team of medical professionals from Iowa are in Jamaica today. The 21 doctors and nurses are taking vacation time, but they won’t be spending the next week lying around on a beach. Instead, they’ll be providing free medical clinics targeting underprivileged children.

Diane Pollard of Altoona started the non-profit Issa Trust Foundation  which organized the trip for the fifth straight year. She says the Iowa health professionals will be joined by others from Maryland and Philadelphia as they conduct clinics around Ocho Rios and Negril, Jamaica today through September 22.

“In all, we have 38 medical physicians, nurse practitioners and specialists,” Pollard said. The group will hold 11 separate clinics and help up to 1,200 children. “Many of these children have never seen a doctor or a doctor visits a clinic once a month, so this is of dire need to these children,” Pollard said. Doctor Stacey McConkey is part of the group from the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital in Iowa City that’s heading to Jamaica.

McConkey made the trip last year as well and says there’s a lack of pediatricians working on the island. “In most of the clinics we visited, they’re primarily staffed by nurses who don’t have the degree of training that our nurses do here,” McConkey said. “They see the children for needs in between the doctor’s visits which are anywhere between once a week to once a month in some of the clinics.” McConkey says she was astounded by the conditions in the clinics.

“They’re doing the best they can with what they have, but I’m sure it’s frustrating with the lack of equipment. For instance, (one clinic) had an X-Ray machine, but it was broken and they don’t have the people qualified to repair them. So, that’s a major problem for them,” McConkey said. The medical volunteers will provide preventative care for the Jamaican children, while also treating cases of malnutrition, asthma, skin conditions, diabetes and more.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:
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