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ISU hopes to finish strong at home

November 2, 2009 By
Paul Rhoads

Paul Rhoads

The Iowa State Cyclones hope the home field is an advantage as they play the first of two straight home games this weekend against Oklahoma State. The Cyclones are 5-4 after a loss at Texas A@M.

Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads says they are excited about entering the 4th quarter of the season with two home football games. He says they still have a chance to grow and improve and that’s what they want to do in these last two games.

Rhoads believes the Cyclones will be at full strength this weekend, with Alexander Robinson, Austen Arnaud and Reggie Stephens all back for the offense. Center Reggie Stephens missed the Texas A@M game after undergoing an emergency appendectomy last week.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Marijuana and meth two most abused drugs in Iowa

November 2, 2009 By

Marijuana and methamphetamine are the two most abused illicit drugs in Iowa, according to a new report released today. Gary Kendell is Director of the Iowa Office of Drug Control Policy, which compiles the annual report for the legislature. He says 23% of the adults in Iowa seeking substance abuse treatment cite marijuana as their primary problem. The percentage is even higher for teens.

“Marijuana continues to be a sufficient problem here in the state,” Kendell told Radio Iowa. “In the neighborhood of 55-% of the juveniles that are in drug treatment in our state are there because of marijuana as the primary drug of abuse.” Alcohol accounts for about 61% of all the clients in treatment centers, while 8% of those in treatment list meth as their primary drug.

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Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With:

Better Business Bureau warns of debt scam

November 2, 2009 By

The Better Business Bureau is warning Iowans about a sophisticated scam that’s cropped up elsewhere and involves phony debt collectors. The bureau’s Jim Hegarty says the amount of detail the callers appear to know about the victims is alarming. Hegarty says the perpetrators of the scam have a significant amount of personal information about the people they’re calling, including Social Security numbers and bank account information. He says the scammers accuse the victims of defaulting on a loan.

People are being called at home and told they are in default on loans or are behind on debts and are on the verge of being sued. Hegarty says the victims are then told they can resolve the situation, which is where the scam unveils itself. He says, “They tell the victims that they need to either wire them money or provide them with bank account information that will allow them to access their bank accounts to get these debts taken care of.” Hegarty says the con artists use fear tactics to get their point across, including abusive language.

He says, “They use very intimidating tactics and with the personal information that they appear to have, they lend credibility that they are indeed legitimate debt collectors.” Hegarty says Iowans should never provide personal information or send money to someone like this.

Demand the debt collector send verification through the mail. He says these scammers used fairly sophisticated methods to get phone numbers and other personal information about their victims. To reach the state’s chapter of the Better Business Bureau, visit: “iowa.bbb.org“.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Football Friday Night Monday Playoffs November 2, 2009

November 2, 2009 By

The Iowa Network Services Football Friday night covers the first round of the High School football playoffs.  Listen to Dar Danielson and Scott Pierce with all the scores and Monday night highlights, and see the scores below.  Radio Iowa will also cover Friday’s quarterfinal round.

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Filed Under: Football Friday Night, Sports

Eastern Iowa teen charged with attempted murder

November 2, 2009 By

A 17-year-old has been charged with attempted murder in connection with Sunday night’s shooting in Cedar Rapids. Cedar Rapids police officers interviewed witnesses to the shooting and this morning they went to the hospital to talk with the 38-year-old man who was shot in the stomach.

According to police, the victim and other witnesses identified 17-year-old Tim Reynolds of Hiawatha as the shooter.  Reynolds will turn 18 on December 7th and police say he’s been charged as an adult because he’s within six months of his 18th birthday. 

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Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Over 12,000 Iowa households disconnected from heat, power utilities

November 2, 2009 By

Today is the day Iowans who’re struggling to pay their utility bills can sign up for a one-time government payment to cover some of their heat and electricity costs. 

In October, households with someone who is over the age of 60 or someone who is disabled could sign up for the Low Income Heat and Energy Assistance program.  Households “in crisis” — facing the threat of disconnection — could also apply in October.  “So that month is reserved, but as of today, anybody who is income-eligible can apply for energy assistance,” says Jerry McKimm, manager of the state’s Low Income Heat & Energy Assistance program. 

Last year, over 95,000 households in Iowa signed up for the heat and energy assistance grants and McKimm estimates that means up to 250,000 Iowans lived in a household which had trouble paying its utility bills last year.  Each household received a one-time grant of about $600, on average.

“This year we look to have about the same amount of money and I fully would expect that we’ll see as many people and perhaps, even, an increase based on the economics out in the real world right at the moment,” McKimm says. 

The federal Energy Information Administration predicts heat and electricity bills will be at least eight percent lower this winter. ”Of course this nice weather here in the first part of November will go a long ways towards us not needing to use energy,” McKimm says, “regardless of how expensive it is.” 

Thousands of Iowans are living in a house which doesn’t have heat or electricity today.

“I have numbers through September, so the rate-regulated utilities that are required to report monthly — this doesn’t include the municipal utilities or the rural electric cooperatives, or these numbers would be even higher — but from April through September of this year there were 31,375 households that were disconnected,” McKimm says.  “In that same time period, a little over 19,000 that were reconnected, so that meant on October 1st there was right at 12,000 households across the state that had no power whatsoever.”

Iowans can contact their local “Community Action Agency” office to sign up for Low Income Heat and Energy Assistance grants. 

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

Men from Atalisa adjust to new surroundings

November 2, 2009 By

This week, the U.S. Department of Labor asked a federal judge to require a Texas company to pay a group of mentally disabled men thousands of dollars in back wages for the time they spent working at a turkey processing plant in West Liberty. The 21 men, ranging in age from 39 to 70, were relocated to Waterloo from Atalissa after it was discovered they were living in substandard housing.

Six of the men were eventually reunited with family and moved out of state. The 15 other men remain at Waterloo’s Exception Persons Incorporated. EPI Executive Director Chris Sparks says he was a bit surprised about how willing the men were to leave the only home they’d known for up to 20 years.

“As they came to Waterloo, as they got acclimated into their new surroundings, they enjoyed it, they appreciated it and one of their concerns was I don’t want to go back,” Sparks said. The men had been employed by Henry’s Turkey Service out of Texas. Sparks admits it took a good deal of time for them to feel secure at their new home in Waterloo.

“A number of them did experience some sleeping difficulties,” Sparks said. “They experienced some trauma related to the concern that they were going to have to go back and I know that because they shared that concern with me personally.” Sparks says because the men had worked in the same place for so many years, EPI staff asked the men if they would be interested in part-time work in Waterloo or within the EPI facility.

“A couple of the guys actually said to me, ‘I am interested in working, but not with any turkeys,’” Sparks said. “And of course, they’re not going to be working in that kind of endeavor or activity.” In Atalissa, the men lived in a bunkhouse that was deemed a fire hazard because of overloaded electrical circuits and space heaters which ran constantly as the only heat in the facility. Iowa Workforce Development officials say Henry’s Turkey Service used a federal law that allows companies to pay workers with diminished mental capacity less than minimum wage.

The law is designed to encourage businesses to employ people who would not otherwise find work. The U.S. Labor Department says the men were paid as little as $65 a month. The agency is asking the company to pay the men back wages, plus interest, for what they should have been earning. The results of a criminal investigation have been turned over to Muscatine County authorities.

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With:
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