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Unemployment benefits extended 13 weeks

September 25, 2009 By

Iowa Workforce Development says the federal government has approved a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits for those out of work. Workforce Development spokesperson, Kerry Koonce. Koonce says when the extension is coupled with the original 26 weeks of benefits and past extensions, people can be eligible for up to 59 weeks of benefits. She says they will be going back to 5,000 people who exhausted their benefits after June 27th and may be eligible for the extension.

Koonce says they’ll let the 5,000 know how to apply for the extension. She says letters with information are going out today, and depending on their situation, they may be able to go to a local office to sign up or may be able to sign up on-line. Koonce says the increased level of unemployment triggered the extension. Koonce says it’s important for those getting benefits to keep up with the requirements. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

Week 5 features several key high school football matches

September 25, 2009 By

A pair of rated teams collide in eight-man action this evening as sixth ranked North Sentral Kossuth visits second rated Armstrong-Ringsted. N.S.K. coach Troy Adams says they need to slow down an Armstrong-Ringsted ground attack that is averaging nearly 300 yards per game.

Adams says they are kids with “pretty good wheels” and he hopes they can force them into a passing situation and take them out of what they want to do.

Armstrong-Ringsted coach Robert Zotz says the Eagles have a solid ground game of their own with a good inside out game that includes the option outside.

In class 2A, third rated North Fayette puts an unbeaten record on the line when the Hawks visit ninth rated Sumner-Fredericksburg in district four. North Fayette’s running game has led the way to a 4-0 start and coach Bob Lape says it begins up front. lape says they’ve put a lot of emphasis on the lines as they carry the team. He says you can have a great back, but without blocking, not much is going to happen.

The Hawks don’t throw it much but when they do it has been effective. North Fayette only has 12 completions so far this season but five have gone for touchdowns. He says they lull teams to sleep running the Wing-T and when people start to overload, they can hit the quick passes.

North Fayete is playing a Sumner-Fredericksburg team that is coming off a loss to number five Cascade. He says their backs are against the wall as they have to win to stay in contention for the district title.

In class 2A, seventh rated Collins-Maxwell-Baxter is at home in district seven against a West Marshall team that is 2-0 in district play after dropping its first two games of the season.

C.M.B. coach Rob Luther says they are well coached and won’t make many mistakes. Luther and his staff attended coaching clinics at Notre Dame and Iowa State this past spring. The result is a no-huddle, spread offense that is averaging 420 yards per game. Luther says it allows them to control the game and get the players in the best position to run a play that will succeed.

West Marshall coach Ken Winkler says this would be a very big win for his team. Winkler says Bondurant and C.M.B. are the two most talented teams in the district. Winkler says he is not as concerned about C.M.B.’s style of offense as he is the players running it.

He says the no huddle is designed to keep you from substituting, and in high school you don’t make as many substitutions. So he says the personnel are more of a problem.

Chris McArdle KILR Estherville and Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein contributed to this story.

Filed Under: Sports

King says Patriot Act should be kept in place

September 25, 2009 By

Republican Congressman Steve King is criticizing Democrats who object to reauthorizing parts of the Patriot Act. The legislation was passed after the 9/11 attacks to give the government greater authority to investigate suspected terrorists. Three sections of the Patriot Act are set to expire on December 31st and King, a Republican from Kiron in western Iowa, wants all three kept in place.

“The Patriot Act has proven itself very useful in keeping us safe,” King says, “including in opening up the terrorist plot that looks like it was targeted at Grand Central Station in New York.” Democrats want to tighten provisions which let the F.B.I. get a judge’s permission to conduct secret searches of bank accounts, computers and even the library records.

King is a member of a House subcommittee which held a meeting this past Tuesday to discuss the Patriot Act. King says the “roving wiretaps” allowed under the Patriot Act are useful because they allow federal agents to monitor cell phones. “Terrorists buy a cell phone, use it briefly and throw it away and get a new one,” King says. “We need to have a law that’s adaptable to that changing technology.”

While President Obama criticized the Patriot Act when he was a U.S. Senator, officials in his administration have said they would accept only minor modifications in the law. “It’s interesting that the president and the administration have taken a position in support of reauthorization of the Patriot Act even though people on his side of the party are working against it today,” King says. Some Democrats in the U.S. Senate intend to rewrite the law, add more restrictions, and rename it the “Justice Act.”

The American Civil Liberties Union argues the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and violates the privacy rights of Americans.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Group finds cash to restore Park Inn Hotel

September 25, 2009 By

A community development entity that helps administer federal tax credits has secured the cash to close the funding gap for a big project in northern Iowa. The money will help restore the Park Inn Hotel, the last standing Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel building in the world.

Officials with Iowa Community Development L.C. announced that the “Wright on the Park” group in Mason City will receive over two-million dollars in tax credits from the federal New Markets Tax Credit program. It’s designed to compensate investors for the perceived risk of investing in economically distressed communities, with the credits being distributed through community development entities.

I.C.D. board member Dan Robeson made the announcement. He says the money will allow the project to clear “a major hurdle.” Robeson says the I.C.D. board saw the positive impacts of restoring the building for Mason City’s downtown area.

“We get involved in projects where there’s a strong likelihood that the investment will produce economic activity to stimulate a positive outcome in and around the census tract where the project’s located,” Robeson said. “Simply said, this project does qualify. It’s in the right census tract.” Robeson says the I.C.D. board had been following the Park Inn restoration effort for a while and didn’t want to see it fail.

He says the board concluded that they wanted to make sure that Mason City was the community that saved the last Wright-designed hotel instead of the town that tore it down. The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 expanded eligibility to the New Markets Tax Credit program to communities with census tracts in “high out-migration rural counties” based on 2000 census data. Cerro Gordo County has two qualifying tracts, including the Mason City downtown area where the Park Inn Hotel is located.

Contributed by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Human Interest

Iowa veterans warned about phone scam

September 25, 2009 By

Iowa veterans are being warned about a new scam where callers claim there was a change in how prescriptions are being handled and a credit card number is now required before the veteran can be issued meds.

Veterans Administration spokeswoman Maggie Oldham says the “scammers are trying to get veterans’ credit card numbers over the phone by claiming they’re from the V.A.” She says don’t believe the caller, even if they’re persuasive. As yet, no arrests have been made.

“We really don’t have much information on the people who are doing the scamming, but what they’re doing is just terrible for our veterans” Oldham says. “We would never ask a veteran for their credit card number for prescriptions.” Oldham says if you get such a call, simply hang up.

She says, “We don’t know of anyone in Nebraska or western Iowa who’s fallen prey to this but we are aware that this is happening around the nation.”

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Military

Ag economist says harvest is shaping up a lot like last year

September 25, 2009 By

An Iowa State University economist says the 2009 crop outlook is shaping up to be a repeat of what farmers saw in 2008. Chad Hart is a grain marketing economist who has been tracking the crop conditions. He says there were late plantings and concerns early on this year, but as the year has gone on, things improved and the only thing holding back the possibility of record or near record crops is an early frost.

Major weather events have also had an impact on the crop season, but Hart says this year’s hail doesn’t compare to last year’s flooding. Hart says the hail damage was much more localized as it was a wipe out for those who got hit, but the flood damage had a much wider state impact. Hart says the potential of a record crop is already showing its impact.

Hart says prices have declined throughout the summer as the possibility of a big crop threat continued, and he says that’s something to continue to watch as corn prices dropped below three dollars a bushel and beans below nine dollars a bushel. There are some benefits to lower prices.

He says having the larger crop means lower input prices for livestock producers and ethanol producers and lower prices for exports as well. Hart says if things stay the same, the book on 2009 could end up a lot like the end of the 2008 harvest season. Hart says the one thing he will watch from here on out is the demand, especially in the livestock industry, as he says livestock producers throughout the state are hurting.

Hart said long-range weather forecasts point to a continuation for the rest of the growing season of the relatively mild temperatures — setting up the repeat crop scenario.

Filed Under: Agriculture Tagged With:

State officials says Honey Creek is struggling to pay off debt

September 25, 2009 By

State officials admit the new “Honey Creek Resort State Park” in southern Iowa is struggling to pay off what is, essentially, its mortgage. Pat Boddy of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says day-to-day operations are in the black, but they’ve fallen short in retiring the debt taken on to build the resort.

The D.N.R.is covering the balance and Boddy says her agency may ask legislators to find more money for the resort. “The Department of Natural Resources is bearing the burden almost entirely,” Boddy told lawmakers. “We would like to figure out a way to spread that piece.” A Republican lawmaker told Boddy: “Good luck with that.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:
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