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Braley says Guantanamo Bay prisoners could help Clinton’s economy

November 18, 2009 By

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley toured the Illinois prison Monday that’s being talked about as a leading candidate to house terror detainees being transferred from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, took a tour of the Thomson, Illinois, Correctional Center with federal prison and defense officials.

Braley says the facility, which is about 12 miles from Clinton, provides the highest security to house detainees and an economic analysis shows it could give a one-billion dollar economic impact over the next four years. Braley says that means people would come in and buy houses, rent apartments, buy food and groceries, and because Clinton is the largest community in the area there’s a very good possibility there would be a “substantial economic impact.”

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

Iowa State gets easy win over Drake

November 18, 2009 By

Iowa State dominated from start to finish as the Cyclones rolled past Drake 90-70 in Des Moines on Tuesday night. Lucca Staiger scored a career-high 32 points on 10-of-16 from three point range and for the game I.S.U. was 14-of-23 from behind the arc.

Cyclone coach Greg McDermott says he couldn’t be happier with his team as they were very efficient offensively and they defended Drake very well. Iowa State snapped a three game losing streak in the series and on their previous visit to Drake suffered a 35 point loss. McDermott says they were really able to control the tempo and several times ran the shot clock down and got the shot they wanted.

I.S.U. improves to 3-0. Drake was led by freshman forward Ben Simons who had 24 points. The Bulldogs drop to 0-2. Drake coach Mark Phelps on his postgame show on KRNT in Des Moines says Iowa State is a very good team that is deep and athletic. He says they have players that will stand out in the Big 12 and nationally as the season moves on. Phelps says the Cyclones have a lot of weapons and are very physical and his team needs to continue to improve its defense and also needs to play a more physical brand of basketball.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Iowa drops to 0-2

November 18, 2009 By

The Iowa Hawkeyes are 0-2 for the first time since 1970. Bill Clark canned a three pointer with 17 seconds remaining as Duquesne posted a 52-50 win in Iowa City. The Hawks are struggling so much on the offensive end that they held the Dukes to just 19 second half points and still lost. They finished six-of-27 from three point range.

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says he would have said in the preseason their greatest strength was shooting, but he says Duquense hit two big three’s down the stretch that were contested. Lickliter says he still feels good about his team.

He says the team is really hurting, but he says San Antonio and Duquense are good veteran teams to start the season and he says that will benefit them down the road, but they have to stay positive and keep fighting.

Iowa hosts Bowling Green on Friday night.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Des Moines schools join initiative to help drop outs

November 18, 2009 By

The largest school district in the state is now the 25th school district in the country — and the only one in Iowa — to join the “Gateway to College” initiative for high school drop-outs. The Walmart Foundation has given the Des Moines Public Schools a three-$300,000 grant to start the project.

Drop-outs between the ages of 16 and 21 will be able to enroll in classes at the Des Moines Area Community College “urban campus” in Des Moines. Nancy Sebring, the superintendent of Des Moines schools, says this is an alternative that may be a better fit for some students.

“When you’re in a large high school with 2,000 students in it, you’re on the superhighway, you’re on the interstate to graduation — and you’re taking the route most students do,” she says. “But there’s a different route and multiple routes you can take to get to this destination.” School officials know where many recent dropouts are, but Sebring says they’ll have to search for those who have been out of school for a while.

“I know that there are probably students who are older that we don’t know about or have lost track of in the Des Moines schools who are over-aged and under-credited and looking for options,” Sebring says. Once students complete the “Gateway to College” program, they’ll have enough credits for a high school diploma and half the number they need for an associate arts degree from the community college.

The first class of 25 returning high schoolers is expected to begin classes in the spring semester of 2011. The students won’t have to pay community college tuition. That will be covered by the school district, partly through the grant.

Filed Under: Education

Mother seeks tougher teen driving laws

November 18, 2009 By

The mother of a teenager who died in a crash on Interstate 380 in eastern Iowa is pushing for tougher laws and punishments for teen drivers involved in crashes, even if the teen driver isn’t directly at fault. Marie McGee-Benedict says she knows nothing will bring her daughter back, but she fears for the other people and teenagers on the road. Sixteen-year-old Alyssa Benedict of Tiffin was killed this past September when the van she was in crashed near the Iowa River.

“I miss her smile and the light that comes off her,” Marie said. “She literally was like a burst of sunshine.” The Iowa State Patrol says a 15-year-old girl who was driving the van lost control when a tire failed. The girl only had only a learner’s permit at the time, but all charges against her were eventually dropped. Marie says instead of falling into a depression, she decided to turn her sadness into determination.

“What do you do? Sit in bed all day and cry? Become a hermit? That’s not me. I’m not that type of person,” McGee-Benedict said. “For me, this is kind of my grieving process because I don’t want other families to feel like I did.” McGee-Benedict recently started an online petition to the U.S. government asking lawmakers to pass tougher laws for teenage drivers.

“There just needs to be heftier consequences for their choice to get behind the wheel and the parent’s choice to condone it,” she said. Changing state and federal laws can require years of work.

“I won’t stop until something is done. If it takes me until the day I die, something will be done,” McGee-Benedict said. Alyssa attended Clear-Creek Amana High School. McGee-Benedict wants everyone to know that her daughter donated her organs and helped many other people when she died.

See the petition here.

By Mark Geary, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Cost of Thanksgiving dinner drops $1.70

November 18, 2009 By

If you plan on the traditional Thanksgiving dinner next week, the Iowa Farm Bureau says you’re going to spend a little less than last year. I.F.B. director of research, Dave Miller, says they did their annual price check of 12 items used to make the turkey day dinner and saw a 4% drop over last year.

He says the cost of the marketbasket was $42.91 or a drop of $1.70 compared to a year ago. That’s the biggest drop in price from year-to-year since 1991. Miller says the cost of the centerpiece of the meal saw the biggest drop. Miller says the turkey was a significant part of the decline and other whole food products like milk and butter also declined. He says the more processed food items did not go down as much.

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Filed Under: Agriculture Tagged With:
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