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FEMA opens satelite office in Iowa City

October 2, 2009 By

Flood recovery efforts should pick up some speed soon on the University of Iowa campus. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division are opening up a satellite location in Iowa City that will employ about 20 people. Crystal Payton with the FEMA Recovery Office in Des Moines says the new center is likely to open on Monday and is expected to be in operation for six to ten months.

“The activities will involve everything from fieldwork, literally going out and measuring and looking at and making sure that work is being done and that projects are eligible…to some fairly complicated equations and regulatory reviews,” Payton said. One of the center’s top priorities will be rebuilding Hancher Auditorium.

“The rebuilding of that is going to take a lot dedicated and trained staff to work through all of the regulatory issues surrounding it,” Payton said. “So, it only seemed appropriate to have staff on site and able to work closely with university officials whenever they are available.” So far, FEMA has obligated nearly 150-million dollars to more than 100 recovery projects at the University of Iowa. Payton says now that recovery money has started coming in it’s important to have a location in Iowa City.

“It’s certainly much more convenient to have them established there in Iowa City so there can be close and have daily communications and reviews and that kind of thing,” Payton said. FEMA also has satellite locations in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and the northeast Iowa town of Dike.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Genealogical Society helps link you to the past

October 2, 2009 By

Anyone interested in learning about their ancestors should consider a visit to the Iowa Genealogical Society. The Des Moines-based office is home to thousands of volumes of valuable historical information about Iowa and Iowans. Barb Hug, president of the Iowa Genealogical Society, says solving mysteries is a wonderful challenge.

“It’s very much like being a detective, I call it the cold case files,” Hug says. “It’s just like putting pieces together.” October is Family History Month and the society is hosting an Open House and workshops on Saturday in addition to its annual conference next weekend, October 9th and 10th. Hug says more than one-thousand new resource volumes have been added to the library’s remarkable collection in the past year. While she says they aren’t a storehouse for old birth and death certificates, they can go one better.

“Over the years, a lot of the county genealogical societies have transcribed those records from the courthouses and have created books from those transcriptions,” Hug says. “We have most of those in our library as well as other states’ and other counties in other states.” In addition to being home to many actual volumes, detailing a host of census information for example, she says they can access a wealth of information online. They can also resort to using the microfilm readers.

“Cemetery records are very important for people when they’re studying genealogy because it often gives the birth and death dates and you also know where that person is buried,” Hug says. “Another thing that we have is many of the funeral home records from Polk County, so even if you don’t know where they’re buried, funeral home records can sometimes be of great value.” She says one of the society’s most valuable resources is the knowledgeable volunteers who will work with you one-on-one to uncover your family’s history. For more information, call (515) 276-0287 or visit the Iowa Genealogy  Society website.

Filed Under: Human Interest

ISU opens conference play, Iowa takes break from Big 10

October 2, 2009 By

The Iowa State Cyclones open the Big-12 race in Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium against Kansas State. The Cyclones are 3-1 and a running game that has been impressive will be tested by the K-State defense.

I.S.U. coach Paul Rhoads says the Wildcats will be hard to run against as they are well coached. Rhoads says the Cyclones will need to make adjustments on offense during the game as they haven’t seen K-State defend a spread offense, so they don’t know where they will be able to attack.

The Cyclone defense has made strides but now must get set to take on the high powered offenses of the Big-12.

The Iowa Hawkeyes hope to avoid a letdown when they host Arkansas State. Iowa is 4-0 after a victory at Penn State and a win tomorrow would give the Hawks their first 5-0 start since 1995. Just four weeks ago the Hawkeyes escaped an upset bid by U.N.I.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says there’s so much more football to play and so many things can happen. He says things can change a lot and their offense has already been impacted by injuries. He says they just need to “hang on tight and hope that we’re getting better.”

Ferentz says the Red Wolves will look to spread the field on offense and are a lot like Northwestern. Ferentz says the Hawks won’t take this team lightly. He says they beat Texas A&M last year and won’t be intimidated by coming into Iowa City.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Iowa Supreme Court overturns sentence in statutory rape case

October 2, 2009 By

The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned the 25-year prison sentence of a man who was convicted of statutory rape for having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend in January of 2006. Jordan Bruegger was 21-years-old when he was charged and then found guilty of third-degree sexual abuse, commonly know as statutory rape, for the encounters with his teen girlfriend in Sioux County.

Breugger’s sentence was raised from a maximum of 10 years to a mandatory 25 years because he had a prior sexual offense in Minnesota when he was 12-years-old. The sentence would require him to serve 21.25 years before he would be eligible for parole. The district court judge said he felt the sentence was “harsh” but he had no choice under the law. Brueger filed an appeal saying the 25-year prison term was cruel and unusual punishment.

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned the sentence, saying Bruegger committed a serious crime for which legislators may impose a serious penalty and the do not believe that Bruegger’s prior conviction as a juvenile is irrelevant to his sentence. The High Court said however, their sole concern was whether under the facts and circumstances requiring Bruegger to serve 21.25 is “off the charts.” The court sent the issue back to the district court for a new sentencing hearing.

Justices Mark Cady and David Wiggins dissented from the decision. Cady wrote that the decision of the majority “will only permit the courts to substitute their judgment for that of the legislature in cases to follow. This approach is contrary to the principles of judicial restraint and separation of powers.”

See the entire Iowa Supreme court ruling here: Breugger ruling PDF.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Gronstal: state budget picture “daunting”

October 2, 2009 By

The top Democrat in the Iowa Senate says the state’s financial position is “daunting,” but Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal is ruling out a tax increase as a “fix” for the situation. 

State tax revenues have been on the decline and, in September, there was a 19 percent drop in state tax collections. According to Gronstal, it’s “highly likely” Governor Culver will order an across-the-board cut in state spending this month. Gronstal says raising taxes to fill the gap isn’t something legislators are considering.

“We need to respect what’s happening to family budgets out there,” Gronstal said during this morning’s taping of IPTV’s “Iowa Press” program.  “They’re going through the same kinds of struggles and we’re not going to pile on by adding new taxes at the state level to people struggling to meet their own kids’ health care needs or their own kids’ educational needs.” 

According to Gronstal, legislators have a “bumpy road” ahead in January when they start crafting next year’s state budget.

“We’re going to really struggle with our budget. We’re going to struggle to maintain the critical services, things like health care, education in the state. We’re going to have trouble maintaining our commitment to those things so there’s a very bumpy road, but the long-term economics for Iowa, I actually think, are quite bright,” Gronstal said.  “We have a great farm economy. We have new value to commodities, so the long-term I think is fairly bright for us. It’s going to take us a while to get out of this.” 

The union contract with state employees does not call for a wage increase this year and Gronstal said on top of that, state employees will “pay at the workplace” with greater workloads, as retiring workers aren’t replaced and some, “limited” layoffs occur.

“Listen, our hope would be that we can manage this through attrition,” Gronstal told a group of reporters after this morning’s taping.  “…There’s going to be more work for fewer employees.” 

“Iowa Press” airs this evening on IPTV’s 11.3 channel

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Education, Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Football Friday Night scores October 2, 2009

October 2, 2009 By

It’s week 6 of the high school football season.  Listen to Radio Iowa’s Football Friday Night and get all the scores here.

Thursday, October 1
Class 4A
Mississippi Athletic Conference
Assumption, Davenport 54, Davenport North 12
Mississippi Valley Conference
Cedar Rapids Washington 47, Iowa City West 21

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Football Friday Night, Sports

Gronstal: only 50-50 chance film tax credits will survive

October 2, 2009 By

The top Democrat in the Iowa Senate says there’s only a 50-50 chance the state tax credit for film makers will survive. 

An audit may be released later today, revealing more details of the problems in the Iowa Film Office.  Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs says regardless of the details, it’s “very much an open question” as to whether the tax credits for the film industry will continue.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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