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Turkey industry dealing with some tough times

November 26, 2009 By
An Iowa turkey. (file photo)

An Iowa turkey. (file photo)

Iowa supplied the turkey for the White House Thanksgiving celebration last year and that was one of the bright spots in what has been a tough time for producers. Gretta Irwin, a spokesperson with the Iowa Turkey Federation in Ames, says turkey growers have faced some of the same problems as other livestock producers.

Irwin says the higher corn prices did have a ripple affect on the industry and forced some of the west coast processing plants to shut down. She says the shutdowns helped ease some of the strain on the number of turkeys raised and help the industry adjust. While there’s been the closing of some plants outside the state, Irwin says those in the state continue to maintain and develop in Iowa.

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Filed Under: Agriculture, Business

About 11.5 percent of Iowa households “food insecure”

November 26, 2009 By

A U.S.D.A. report issued earlier this month concluded just over 11-and-a-half percent of Iowa households are “food insecure.” 

It means the adults and children who live in those Iowa homes sometimes go without food for a day at a time — and many eat food that’s cheaper, but with low nutritional value, just to have something to eat.  The U.S.D.A’s Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services is Kevin Concannon, a man who served as director of the Iowa Department of Human Services from 2003 ’til 2008. 

“I think reports like this one, which has been coming out annually now for 14 or 15 years, are and should be an occasion for us to get as serious as we can be as a country and as individuals about hunger,” Concannon says.

This year, more than 36 million Americans are enrolled in SNAP — the “supplemental nutrition assistance program” which used to be known as the food stamp program. 

“Many of your listeners may not be aware that in the Department of Agriculture some 70 percent of the agency’s total budget goes into feeding programs,” Concannon says.  “I know when speaking to people outside of government informally they’re surprised by that.  I don’t think they realize that the federal government has made a commitment in this order.”

In addition, the federal government provides free or reduced-price school lunch or breakfast at school for millions of American kids.  Concannon says 31 million American children get those meals at school each weekday.

“For many of these children in these households, in these very poor households, that school lunch or school breakfast may be the principle source of food and nutrition that particular day,” Concannon says. “And at USDA we have been on a sustained effort to make access to these programs — the SNAP program, the school breakfast program, the school lunch program — more available to individuals and families.”

Last year, an average of 256,000 Iowans were enrolled in the federally-funded food assistance program each month.  The average monthly payment to an individual Iowan was just less than a hundred dollars.

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

NW IA man “not guilty” in connection with ’07 accident

November 25, 2009 By

A jury this afternoon found a northwest Iowa man not guilty for a fatal traffic accident near Le Mars in 2007.  

Fifty-one-year-old Danny Robinson of Merill was charged with homicide by motor vehicle after a van he was driving struck a woman. Seventy-eight-year Fern Nielson of Lake Norden, South Dakota, was hit near her car just minutes after she’d used a cell phone to ask for help for a traffic accident she had. Nielson died later at a Sioux City hospital.  

The Plymouth County District court jury began deliberating Tuesday and reached a verdict of not guilty of homicide by vehicle Wednesday afternoon.

(Reporting by Joanne Glamm, KLEM Radio News, Le Mars)

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Cornell players adapt well to new coach

November 25, 2009 By

With a new coach in place the Cornell College men’s basketball team is off to a strong start. The Rams are 3-0 as they get ready for their Iowa Conference opener next week. Cornell has three starters back from last year’s team that finished 21-7 and advanced to the NCAA division three tournament.

After the season, coach Mike DeGeorge resigned and Chad Murray took the reigns after being an assistant at North Central College in Illinois. Murray says the team embraced what he was trying to do from day one and he says that is not always the case when you replace a successful coach and do a lot of things differently.

Murray says the players have accepted and adapted to his coaching style. He says he was told when he started coaching to not try and teach something you don’t know or the players will pick up on the. Murray says he has a different style and way of doing things, but the players have adapted.

The Rams open the Iowa Conference race next Wednesday at home against Coe and Murray says he does not mind the early start to the conference race. He says they are a rival, so it is not hard to get motivated to play. Murray says they expect a packed house and they want to keep the momentum they’ve built up early as they head into the conference season.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

DOT says Thanksgiving is most dangerous travel holiday

November 25, 2009 By

The Thanksgiving weekend is the most dangerous holiday travel time in Iowa, according to records from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Last year, nine people died in traffic crashes and in 2007 there were 16 fatalities.

Scott Falb, with the D.O.T.’s Office of Driver Services, says Thanksgiving is always a four day weekend so people are often traveling further than they would during a shorter holiday period. “You couple that with the fact that the end of November is always iffy as far as the weather goes and this weekend is a perfect example where we have rain possibly turning into snow,” Falb said.

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Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

Defiance man charged in sex abuse case

November 25, 2009 By

The Shelby County sheriff and the Iowa Department of Human Services have concluded an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of a child — by making an arrest. Sheriff Mark Hervey says 33-year-old Jesse Smith, of Defiance, faces charges that include lascivious acts with a child and second degree sexual abuse.

Smith was arrested Tuesday in connection with acts involving a 12-year-old that are alleged to have occurred at a residence in Defiance. He was being held in the Shelby County Jail, on $25,000 bond.

Contributed by Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Census Bureau hiring thousands

November 25, 2009 By

Iowa has the nation’s best response rate for the U.S. Census Bureau and officials with that agency hope to maintain the stellar numbers. Hiring is now underway for thousands of Census workers at several locations in the state, according to Kelly Campbell, manager of the Census office in Des Moines.

“We’ll hire approximately a thousand people for each office,” Campbell says. “There’s five offices in the state of Iowa: Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Sioux City, Ames and Des Moines, so roughly about five-thousand people.” Campbell says they’re putting together the office staffs now and will start the big hiring push soon.

The recruiting process is underway now for the five Iowa offices, he says, while the bulk of the hiring will start in January and go into April. Campbell says they’re looking for help from all sorts of Iowans in all areas of the state, suburban and rural.

“We give everybody that wants to be a Census employee a test,” Campbell says. “It’s 28 questions. It’s general knowledge. If you’d like to take a practice test before you come and take the actual test, you can go to the website which is “2010censusjobs.gov” and click on practice test.” With so many people out of work, he’s hopeful for a wide array of applicants.

The pay range for Iowa goes from $9 an hour up to $16.75. “That’s some very good wages for a part-time, temporary job,” Campbell says. For more information, call toll-free, 866-861-2010 and enter your ZIP code to be sent to the nearest office.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:
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