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Be on the lookout for bats

October 31, 2009 By

It’s no Halloween prank — Iowans are being warned to be on the lookout for bats. Pam Weis, a Humane Society spokeswoman, says this is the season where the furry, flying mammals are searching for homes, and they may choose yours.

“This time of year, bats are looking for places that are warm and cozy for them to hold up for the winter so a lot of times people will begin to see more activity in their attics, places that are enclosed,” Weis says. “That’s what bats are looking for, a place to shield them from the weather in the wintertime.” Weis says if you notice a bat in your home, don’t panic, but they can carry rabies, so be careful.

Wies says, “If you go into a room and see a bat into the room and there is a small child or there is an adult that is incapacitated or a frail, elderly adult that may not be able to tell you whether or not they came in contact with the bat, then you need to keep the bat contained and call animal control to get it because they need to hold it for rabies testing.” Wies says if you see a bat in your home, don’t take chances.

“Try to get it somewhere you can shut the door, put a towel under the bottom of the door so it’s stuck in a spare room or whatever, call us and we’ll come and get it and test to make sure it doesn’t have rabies,” Weis says. “If it hasn’t come into contact with anybody and you know it hasn’t come into contact with anybody, then absolutely. If you can safely get it out of your house by shooing it out of your house or by putting on big, huge gardening gloves, you can do that.” Weis says several areas of the state have large bat populations.

“It happens more than not this time of year, in the fall and in the spring, we get so many bat calls when people open a closet and something flies out and you go, ‘Oh, my goodness! What is that?’ and it turns out to be a bat, yes, absolutely, animal control can help you with that.” The most common bat in Iowa is the little brown bat. Weis says bats play an important role in nature and need to be handled properly. She also reminds people who are bitten by a bat to get immediate medical attention.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation

Four problems identified, on civil side, in film office flap

October 31, 2009 By

The Iowa Attorney General’s chief of staff this week confirmed the state may file lawsuits to try to recover some of the $32 million in state tax credits that have already been awarded to film and TV productions.

Governor Culver suspended the tax credit program in September and fired the manager of the state film office.  Earlier this month, officials confirmed a criminal investigation was underway. But Eric Tabor — chief of staff for the state’s attorney general — this past week said there’s a side of this investigation that will be played out in civil court as well.

“There’s really four ways that we think the law was just ignored and inappropriately applied,” Tabor told a legislative panel this week. 

Tabor said the film office was “a complete mess” and while investigators are searching, it’s hard to find proper documentation for many of the film and TV tax credits.

“Of course, the way the program worked is after a movie was completed, the filmmakers would submit their qualified expenditures and get a tax credit,” Tabor said.  “What we found in most cases was that there was extremely poor documentation of those expenditures, in some cases just a spreadsheet with no documentation to back up that spreadsheet.” 

The second problem, according to Tabor, was that the only expenses that qualified for the state tax credits were payments to Iowa residents or Iowa-based businesses.

“We think in numerous cases the requirement for an Iowa-based business was skirted and was not followed at all,” Tabor said. 

The state tax credits were not just available for the salaries paid to Iowans who worked on the films and for the expenses incurred in the state, though.  The tax credits also were available for investors in the movies.

“The way the film office was supplying those credits, it ended up oftentimes in a 50 percent credit when we think that in many cases it should have been a whole lot less than 50 percent because they were not applying the investment tax credit provisions correctly,” Tabor said. 

According to Tabor, it’s hard to see how some of the film and TV productions which did receive state tax credits had any economic impact in Iowa.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

Dog helps catch bank robbery suspect in Des Moines

October 30, 2009 By

Police in Des Moines say a witness and a dog played critical roles in the apprehension of a bank robber this morning. The male suspect entered the Community State Bank office at 9 a.m. wearing a ski mask. Police Sergeant Lori Lavorato says he pointed gun at a teller and left with cash. A woman called police a short time later saying a man was in her back yard fidgeting with money.

“She yelled out to that person and the suspect ran into a warehouse nearby. She let officers know that and that absolutely played a key role in capturing this bank robber,” Lavorato said. Police entered the dark warehouse with a K9 unit leading the way. Lavorato says the suspect was spotted and appeared to be holding a weapon, which turned out to be a stick.

“The dog jumped toward the suspect, bit the suspect, taking the suspect to the ground…at that point it was revealed that it was a stick and officers were able to take this man into custody,” Lavorato said. Police have not released the man’s name, but confirmed the robber is not Ray Edward Lee, the man suspected of two other bank robberies in Des Moines this week.

Officers say the man stole a car prior to the robbery. The vehicle was recovered along with the weapon, a BB gun, used in the bank heist.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Harlan student arrested on terrorism charge

October 30, 2009 By

Authorities in Shelby County say a student at the Harlan High School was arrested Thursday for allegedly making terrorist type threats. According to the Harlan Police Department, during an interview with Police, 18-year old Joey Barrell admitted to writing a note, in which he allegedly threatened to shoot “several students” and himself.

Superintendent Bob Broomfield of the Harlan Community School District said officials at the high school became aware of the threat shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday, after a student told officials about the note, but Broomfield says the school never went into “lockdown.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education

ISU researchers keep eye on satelite launch

October 30, 2009 By
SMOS satelite

SMOS satelite

A satellite is scheduled to be launched this weekend which Iowa State University researchers say could bring a host of benefits to Iowans, especially farmers.

The orbiting device is called SMOS, for Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity. Brian Hornbuckle, an I.S.U. agronomy professor, says the satellite’s sophisticated instruments will measure and map soil moisture levels globally every few days.

Hornbuckle says, “The most direct application for the Iowa farmer is going to be potentially better weather forecasts and forecasts of climate which could also lead to forecasts of crop yield maybe months now in advance of harvest.” Since the satellite will be soaring around the planet at a fast clip while surveying the entire globe, the resolution will only be about the size of Story County, where I.S.U. is located.

Still, Hornbuckle says that’s plenty large enough to provide a wealth of valuable data. He says a team from Iowa State will be directly involved in the information-gathering process. “We’re going to be helping them develop the model that they use to turn the SMOS data into soil moisture data and we’re also going to be taking the measurements that we make on the ground of the actual soil moisture and comparing that with the soil moisture that SMOS measures,” Hornbuckle says. “That’s called validation.”

The ground measurements will be collected on some 200 acres of I.S.U. research farmland south of campus. The satellite is expected to generate global maps of soil moisture every two to three days for at least the next three years, which he says will have applications far beyond farming.

Hornbuckle says, “SMOS is one more piece of the puzzle that will help us improve the forecasting of floods because if we know how soil moisture varies on the landscape, we have an idea of how much of that precipitation is going to soak in and how much is going to run off and cause flooding.” The satellite is due to be launched at 7:50 P.M./Central time on Sunday by the European Space Agency. America’s space agency, NASA, is planning for a similar type of mission in 2014 which Hornbuckle says will provide even a more active role to researchers at Iowa State.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Education Tagged With:

Hawkeyes shoot for 9-0, Cyclones look for bowl eligibility

October 30, 2009 By

The Iowa Hawkeyes try to stay unbeaten and in the thick of the national title chase when they host Indiana. The Hawkeyes are 8-0 for the first time and take on a Hoosier team that is 4-4 after a loss at Northwestern. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says a key matchup will be the Hawkeye offensive line against Indiana’s defensive front.

Ferentz says it’s a matchup of veterans versus veterans on both sides of the line. The Hoosier offense is led by quarterback Ben Chappell who is averaging 228 yards per game. Ferentz says they have some big play guys at runningback and receiver, and have an outstanding kick return team.

Ferentz says the Hawks have approached each game in a consistent manner and this week is no different. He says they’ve played well together and through tough situations like injuries. Ferentz says they seem to find themselves in the tough situations every now and then, including almost every Saturday.

The Iowa State Cyclones can become bowl eligible with a victory at Texas A@M. The Cyclones are 5-3 after a victory at Nebraska while the Aggies are 4-3 after a win over Texas Tech. A@M has been inconsistent this season but ISU coach Paul Rhoads says it is a talented team.

Rhoads says they have an outstanding offense and that shows by the number of points they put up. Rhoads says he is concerned about the Aggie’s speed. He says his team plays together well, but they don’t have great speed, so they will have to play well to try and slow down the Aggies.

Rhoads says the Aggies defense is aggressive, as he says they get after the quarterback in the pocket as good as any team and can cover receivers. The Cyclones will be without center Reggie Stephens who underwent an apendectomy on Wednesday. Stephens has started 36 consecutive games.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

U-of-I, ISU, UNI post campus safety info on-line

October 30, 2009 By

Campus officials in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City have posted detailed information on-line so students can find out what to do if they’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted.

That’s just one of the steps taken at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa after questions were raised about the U-of-I’s response to an alleged rape on the Iowa City campus in October of 2007.  Two former Hawkeye football players are scheduled to go on trial in the next few months in connection with that alleged assault.

Jonathan Carlson, senior associate to the University of Iowa’s president, says consultants told the universities they needed to improve their websites.

“So we created a ‘Safety and Respect’ page with a button on the homepage of the University of Iowa so that when students click that button — ‘Safety and Respect’ — they’re immediately taken to a web page that provides them with links to various types of information that they need,” Carlson says, “and….gives them…information on how to report situations.” 

Dione Sommerville, I.S.U.’s Dean of Students, says there’s now a “Safety” link on Iowa State’s homepage, too. 

“So if you scroll toward the middle of our homepage, you’ll see a link for safety and that links students not only to information about sexual misconduct policies, but also other safety-related issues in campus,” Sommerville says.  “We also have updated our webpage significantly because students have told us…that they’re not going to read a brochure.  They want it on the web.  They want it searchable and they want it easy to find.”

Sommerville says they want to ensure students have an understanding of what sexual misconduct is, how to report it and how to prevent it. 

“Our goal is that wherever a student turns, that this person can be directed to the appropriate resources,” Sommerville says, “and that can be done in a swift and appropriate and caring way for them.” 

Jon Buse, dean of students at the University of Northern Iowa, says the university’s safety website now has a “prominent” link on U.N.I.’s homepage.

“We’ve also revised our existing Violence Intervention Services website which is the department that serves as the central coordinating office for victim services on our campus,” Buse says.  “We’ve made a concerted effort to make that website comfortable and appealing to students and we’ve actually involved a significant number of students in that process to ensure that our language is something that they understand, that they will relate to, that they will connect with.” 

Buse says it means crucial information is available on-line, 24/7, for students, staff and faculty.  Buse, Sommerville and Carlson made this comments this week during testimony at a legislative committee hearing in Des Moines.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , ,
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