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Iowa football team getting healthier for Homecoming

October 6, 2009 By

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says the Hawkeye’s health situation is improving heading into Saturday’s homecoming matchup against Michigan. Ferentz says cornerback Shawn Prater will be back in the lineup after missing the Arkansas State game due to a slight knee injury. Tight end Toni Moeaki will practice and is improving and could play.

The Wolverines are coming off their first loss at Michigan State and their spread option attack is led by true freshman quarterback Tate Forcier. Ferentz says Forcier plays with tremendous poise, as he says it’s impressive for any first year player to play college ball. He says it’s an adjustment for all players and impressive that Forcier is playing and giving the team a lift.

Ferentz says the Hawks are well grounded despite being 5-0 for the first time since 1995. He says typically when you win you have a lot of things to clean up. Ferentz says you have to be focused to keep winning and he says there is still a lot of work to do and big challenge this week.

Ferentz feels the play of the offensive line regressed in the win over Arkansas State but he is thrilled the Hawks are still unbeaten and is not concerned the game was closer than expected. He says people who bet were probably disappointed, but outside of that they could have played better and Arkansas State was a good team.

This will be the second time the Hawks have played under the lights in prime time. Ferentz says it will be a great environment like it was playing at Penn State. He says it will be nice to be on the home side and that will hopefully work to their advantage.

Michigan’s spread attack will try to create mismatches against an Iowa defense that wants to employ its base look. He says sometimes they match up with four or five receiver sets, but he says most of the time they keep the base package and adjust to avoid mismatches.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

State Senator going to Washington for health care lobbying

October 6, 2009 By

A state senator from Des Moines will be among a group of 24 state legislators who will go to Washington, D.C. next week to lobby congress to pass health care reform. Senator Jack Hatch, a Democrat from Des Moines, says they hope to persuade their political peers to pass a bill that includes a so-called “public option” that would compete with private insurance.

“To deliver the message again and again to our colleagues, to those senators and representatives that may be on the fence,” Hatch says. “They need to hear the story one more time from people, like them, who get elected and have to face the same public that they face.” According to Hatch, “everyone” recognizes the nation’s health care system is broken.

“From Republicans to Democrats, from providers to even insurance providers, and most importantly, from the public — we hear it,” Hatch says. “And we hear the stories.” Hatch spoke this afternoon (Tuesday) during a “Progressive States Network” telephone conference call, along with legislators from Arizona, Maine, New Jersey and Washington state who intend to be part of next week’s lobbying effort.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Maya Angelou will appear at Drake, is not dead

October 6, 2009 By
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Famed poet and author Maya Angelou is finding herself quoting Mark Twain, in that the rumors of her death are “greatly exaggerated.”   Matt Kelley report on Maya Angelou :40 MP3

The 81-year-old Angelou had to cancel a recent talk because she was feeling ill, but somehow, word spread on the Internet she’d died. It was a shock to Sue McEntee at Drake University, who’s organizing Angelou’s trip to Des Moines for this week’s lecture. McEntee says the Information Superhighway is a two-way street.

“While it gives us just-in-time and immediate response to information,” McEntee says, “it also gives us immediate response to misinformation and certainly that’s what’s happened in this case.” McEntee, Drake’s assistant to the president for advancement, says she’s talked to Angelou’s agent and confirmed, she’s still very much among the living.

“She was feeling a little bit under the weather but she is doing very well and today should be on her way to New York for an event and then she’ll leave New York and come back this way, to Iowa, for Thursday evening,” McEntee says. “She is alive, she’s well.” McEntee says they’re expecting a large crowd for Angelou’s Thursday night lecture in Des Moines with several shuttle buses hauling in students and guests from a number of area schools.

“It begins at 7 P.M. at the Drake Knapp Center on the north side of our campus,” she says. “It is free and open to the public. The doors will open at 5:30 P.M. We are anticipating 8,000 people for this lecture so if you can carpool or take the shuttle bus, I think it’s going to make their trip to Drake much more enjoyable.” For more on the lecture, visit: “www.drake.edu/bucksbaum“.

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With:

Lt. Governor says budget a challenge for Homeland Security

October 6, 2009 By

Iowa’s Lieutenant Governor and Homeland Security advisor told officials from across the state they did a good job responding to last year’s storms and flooding, but will face a new challenge this year that’s on paper. Patty Judge told those at the Governor’s Homeland Security Conference today, it will be tougher to find the money to work into their budgets.

“Years of reckless spending on Wall Street and in Washington, D.C., finally caught up with everyone, including Iowa. And as many communities across the state were trying to pick up the pieces from the floods and the storms, the worst economic recession since the great Depression, hit Iowa,” Judge said. Judge says the situation doesn’t look to improve anytime soon.

Judge says: “Governor Culver and I know those of you have a big job to do. We know that you are already working day and night and you are short of the resources you need. We have also seen a trend in federal grant funding that affords us fewer dollars to accomplish the tasks at hand. Unfortunately, I have to tell you, this is not going to get better right away.” Judge says they will have to adapt to leaner budgets.

“We are going to have to continue to do more with less. And I know that this is just one more challenge that we are going to meet head-on together,” Judge says. She says the last three years have been ones of enormous change for the state, but Judge says the disasters have taught everyone that they need to be resilient. Over 200 people from across the state are attending the sixth annual Homeland Security Conference.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government

Kansas coach says ISU is improved

October 6, 2009 By

Kansas coach Mark Mangino says the Jayhawks will face an improved Iowa State team when they matchup in Lawrence this weekend. The Jayhawks are 4-0 and ranked 16th in the latest A-P top 25 while the Cyclones are 3-2 after a heart breaking loss to Kansas State. He says the Cyclones will feel they let one get away, so his team will have to be ready Saturday.

Kansas did not play last week and Mangino says the time off came at a good point in the schedule because they are getting ready for conference play and spent a lot of time on fundamentals. Mangino says there is no chance the Jayhawks will overlook the Cyclones. In last year’s meeting Iowa State raced out to a 20-0 halftime lead before Kansas rallied for a 35-33 victory.

He says they were outplayed in the first half last year and showed a lot of character coming back. Mangino says they learned you can’t take anybody lightly in the Big 12 and he doesn’t think they will have that problem Saturday.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

ISU coach says the team will keep getting better

October 6, 2009 By

Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says running back Alexander Robinson should be able to play this weekend when the Cyclones visit 15th ranked Kansas. Robinson saw limited duty in ISU’s 24-23 loss to Kansas State due to a groin injury and Rhoads feels he will be able to return to practice this week.

Rhoads says they feel very good about what they’ve seen and Robinson will be able to play. He says it’s not known how long Robinson will play. Rhoads says even if Robinson plays on Saturday there is a chance the injury will “tighten up”. That depends on the number of carries and work he gets. He says it’s a tough injury to overcome.

Grant Mahoney had a game tying P-A-T blocked with 32 seconds remaining against K-State but Rhoads says it was not because Mahoney’s kick was too low. Rhoads says when the ball is blocked, you can always say that the ball could have been higher. He says they ball was not drastically low, and he does not blame Mahoney. He says it was the best blocking for a kick all day.

“Call it luck, call it whatever you want, it’s 24-23 and we don’t get the point,” Rhoads says.

Rhoads says the Cyclones bounced back from the loss with a spirited workout in the evening. He says it was as sharp a no pad practice that they’ve had and says that’s a response to what happened.

Rhoads says the Cyclones will keep improving and they won’t let the loss linger and hold them back. He says they will be better this week than they were last week. Rhoads says as long as they continue to improve victories will come, “at what point, I’m not sure.”

The Cyclones are 3-2 and Rhoads says they realize the toughest part of their schedule is ahead of them. He says every game provides them more of a challenge, and he knows that. “When I mastered two-plus two and three minus one in school, the teacher gave me tougher problems, and I got better at math,” Rhoads says. He says if they are going to improve, they have to be ready to meet the challenge.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

No point person, yet, for Midwest passenger rail push

October 6, 2009 By

Iowa’s federal application for expanded Amtrak service could be approved before the end of the year.

The federal stimulus package includes about $8 billion for passenger rail throughout the country. There are two proposed routes in Iowa, one from Dubuque to Chicago and another from Iowa City to Chicago. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood urged a coalition of nine Midwest states to select a point person to manage the region’s application. The governors of those states have yet to choose somebody.

Nancy Quelhorst, President and C.E.O. of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, says choosing a point person would be an added benefit.  ”I think that opportunity still exists and I think it would behoove us to listen to what Secretary LaHood indicates the Obama administration needs to advocate on our behalf. Although, the decision on that would be one of our governors,” Quelhorst said.

Chicago recently lost a bid to host the 2016 Olympics. Quelhorst says that should not affect Illinois’ and Iowa’s chances for federal funding.  ”While there would certainly have been economic value to having the Olympics held in Chicago and the subsequent patronage in Iowa City, the conditions of the grant were that it be a multi-state project – which obviously it is for us,” Quelhorst said.

State officials sent in their application for funding on Friday.  The federal government is expected to decide which projects get funding in December or January. Quelhorst is optimistic about Iowa’s chances of getting more Amtrak service because she says there has already been cooperation among states, especially between Illinois and Iowa.

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