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Iowa soldiers welcomed home from Iraq

October 28, 2009 By
Soldiers welcomed home in ceremony in Mason City.

Soldiers are welcomed home in ceremony at Mason City.

Thousands of Iowans attended homecoming ceremonies today for Iowa National Guard soldiers who spent the past year in Kuwait and Iraq. Around 300 soldiers with the 1133rd and 1168th

Transportation Companies were greeted by friends and family members at ceremonies in Audubon, Iowa City, Mason City, Perry and Marshalltown.

In Mason City, Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Timothy Orr addressed 130 members of the 1133rd. “Let me says first of all, thank you for your service and your dedication to not only our state, but to this nation,”Orr said, “you’ve made Iraq, and you’ve made Kuwait a better place.” Orr says the soldiers set the standard for the Army, and the standard for all services

This was the second tour of duty in Iraq for many of the troops. Both units were previously deployed to the region between 2003 and 2004. Soldier Peter Bieber of Nora Springs says it was a thrill to see so many people gathered on the North Iowa Fairgrounds.

“Incredible, incredible, we weren’t really sure what to expect with the weather and everything, but as soon as we got here and saw all the cars and people waving at us on the way in…it was a pretty incredible experience as always,” Bieber said.

The transportation companies traveled almost three-million miles over a 10-month period hauling equipment in and out of Iraq. Soldier Chad Holt of Northwood described the experience. “Hot, dusty, long drives…it wasn’t bad, but it’s good to be home,” Holt said.

Contributed by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Military Tagged With:

Child’s death linked to whooping cough

October 28, 2009 By

Officials at the Iowa Department of Public Health have confirmed the death of a young child in southeast Iowa from pertussis or whooping cough. Department medical director, Patricia Quinlisk, says whooping cough is caused by bacteria and causes coughing spells so severe that it becomes difficult for children to eat, drink or breathe.

Quinlisk says it is fairly unusual, but “unfortunately we have had children die every couple of years from this disease.” She says it’s unfortunate because the disease is preventable by getting everyone vaccinated. Doctor Quinlisk says children under five are most susceptible to the disease.

Quinlisk says the vaccine is required for kids going to kindergarten, but she says the smallest kids are most vulnerable because they have smaller airways. She says kids need five doses of the vaccine, and because of that they have to be sure that all the people around the children are vaccinated. Quinlisk says the vaccine for adults is relatively new.

She says pertussis was added to the tetanus booster five or six years ago, so if you have had the tetanus booster, then you should also be immune to the disease and not spread it to young kids. Quinlisk says adults are the key to stopping the spread of the disease. Quinlisk says it’s particularly important for the parents of young children to get the tetanus booster is up to date, and other adults should too as adults can spread the disease with “fairly minor” interchange with a child.

Quinlisk says it can sometimes be confusing trying to keep up on all the shots a child needs, but your doctor should be able to give you a history. She also suggests you ask your doctor about your history too. She says when you go in to get your child vaccinated, ask the doctor about your vaccinations too.

Quinlisk says if you are a grandparent or someone who will watch a child, you should also check to see if you need to get your vaccinations updated. For more information about pertussis, visit the Iowa Department of Public Health’s website here.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Governor seeks union concessions, or layoffs loom in prisons, public safety

October 28, 2009 By
Governor Culver announces budget cut plans.

Governor Culver announces budget cut plans.

Governor Culver has delivered a sort of ultimatum to unionized workers in the Departments of Corrections and Public Safety:  agree to pay reductions or hundreds of employees in those departments will be laid off.

 ”We’re talking about keeping the roads safe.  We’re talking about keeping the general public safe with those correctional officers in our prisons,” Culver said during a news conference this afternoon.  “…I’m hopeful that we can find an alternative to laying off hundreds of those essential workers.”

[Read more...]

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

Jewell man pleads guilty in son’s death

October 28, 2009 By

A 30 year old Jewell man has pleaded guilty to murder in the death of his infant son. Michael Meeker Junior today entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in Hamilton County District Court in connection with the death of 15-month-old Tanner Doran.

Officials said Doran was found dead at his home in Jewell on December 1st,2008. An autopsy showed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Meeker is being held in the Hamilton County Jail awaiting sentencing with the date to be determined.

Contributed by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

ICCI sees good signs for ethics oversight

October 28, 2009 By

A spokesman for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement sees hopeful signs in the group’s push to get better oversight of groups which lobby the Iowa Legislature. Adam Mason is state policy organizing director for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. “We were encouraged by the House Ethics Committee review today. They were very thorough in their review of our ethics complaint,” Mason says.

“They acknowledged that not only the Iowa Pharmacy Association had filed their function report late, but a number of other groups had also done that and that without our complaint they would not have had the authority to review these late filings.” The Ethics Committee in the Iowa House today decided to send a letter to the lobbying group, outlining its failure to disclose details of its legislative reception in February until news reports of the evening were linked to a lawmaker’s drunken driving arrest.

But the panel stopped short of issuing any sort of reprimand of the Iowa Pharmacy Association. Representative Kerry Burt, a Democrat from Waterloo, pleaded guilty in August to drunken driving charges filed against him in February. Burt attended an Iowa Pharmacy Association reception in Des Moines that evening and was arrested early the next morning in Ankeny.

Five months later, the Pharmacy Association filed its required financial report about its reception after news reports revealed more details of Burt’s evening. Financial reports are to be filed within five days of a reception at which legislators are invited guests. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement filed an ethics complaint about the lapse.

Mason says they hoped to draw attention to the legislature’s failure to properly oversee lobbying groups that sponsor receptions for legislators and they’re encouraged by changes legislators are considering. “At CCI we still believe the first thing that needs to happen is oversight and enforcement of these reports needs to be returned to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board,” Mason says.

Earlier this summer the Iowa Senate’s Ethics Committee voted to take no action on the complaint against the Pharmacy Association, saying by the time of their meeting the Pharmacy Association had filed its paperwork and had complied with the law. Representative Burt pleaded guilty to drunken driving in August, was given a deferred judgment and is on probation for a year. Burt, who lives in Waterloo, faces other legal troubles as a state audit found he was among the parents who fudged their home address on school paperwork in order to avoid paying tuition for his children to attend the University of Northern Iowa’s Price Laboratory School

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Nation’s top quilters show off work in Des Moines

October 28, 2009 By

Some of the nation’s top quilters are blanketing an auditorium in central Iowa with their best works this week. More than one-thousand quilts are featured at the American Quilter’s Society Expo in Des Moines. Society vice president Bonnie Browning says large cash prizes are being offered, including ten-thousand dollars for best-in-show. Browning says the judges consider an array of factors when determining the winners.

The judges will consider things like design, the use of color, the scale of the quilt and the sewing techniques used. The first expo of this sort was held in Des Moines last year and drew 24-thousand spectators and it’s hoped this year’s event will top that. Browning is a former Muscatine resident who now lives in Kentucky and she’s been quilting much of her life. She says the attendees have a lot in common.

She says 99% of the quilters being featured at the show are women, but they do have quite a few very good quilters who are men. Browning says most of the active quilters range in age from 45 to 65. She says quilting has a long tradition that’s been handed down from mothers to daughters to granddaughters.

“For our industry to survive, we have to involve young people and so there are different things that we do that involve school children to get them to sew,” Browning says. “Then the next age range is probably the young mother that’s making quilts and things like that for a new baby.”

There are more than 90 workshops, lectures and special events being offered during the four-day show, highlighting quiltmaking techniques, patterns, tools and entertainment. The expo runs through Saturday at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. For more information, visit: “www.AmericanQuilter.com“.

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment

Deere recalling 452 to Ottumwa Works

October 28, 2009 By

Good news on the job front in the Ottumwa area.  Deere and Company announced today that the majority of the manufacturing employees who had been laid off at the Deere plant in Ottumwa are being recalled.

Deere is recalling 452 employees, beginning November 30, with all of those employees expected to be back on the job before the company’s annual holiday shutdown which begins December 23.  The workers will begin production of the new 2010 models. 

However, 78 workers will remain laid off until market conditions improve.

John Deere’s Ottumwa Works manufacturers farm equipment used by hay and livestock producers, things like balers, mowers and forage harvesters.

(Reporting by Mike Buchanan, KBIZ, Ottumwa)

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business
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