Iowa's Radio News Network
Unharvested fields like this one near Arcadia in November are now full of snow.
The U.S.D.A. estimates up to six percent of the 2009 Iowa corn crop is still standing in the fields, amidst all this snow.
State Ag Secretary Bill Northey says you can run a combine through a corn field that has a couple of inches of snow on the ground, but the winter storm that swept through the state and dumped over a foot of snow in many places has put a halt to harvesting.
Snowy street in Des Moines.
The Iowa Department of Transportation issued a news release at 4:30 this afternoon saying there are signs of improving road conditions, especially in the western half of the state. The D.O.T. says diminishing winds and brief glimpses of sunshine helped crews reopen many blocked roadways.
The tail end of the storm is now moving through the eastern part of the state and limited visibility and drifting snow can still be expected through the evening hours. Roadways are still likely to be partially or completely covered with snow or ice.
On Thursday, state road crews will focus on cleanup activities, including making sure that all lanes of traffic are restored, major drifts are cleared by large snow blowers and snow is removed from the shoulders. In addition, they will work to shave off any snow pack from the roadway surfaces. The goal is to restore roadways to normal winter driving conditions by Thursday evening, wherever possible.
Most cities in the state are still under a snow emergency and require residents to keep their cars off the streets so they can be plowed. City crews will be working to open side streets.
The Highway Assistance Teams that were staged at seven locations in Iowa during the winter storm have been deactivated. The teams consist of members from the D.O.T., Iowa National Guard and Iowa State Patrol.
The D.O.T. says the teams are credited with successfully completing five search and rescue missions during the evening hours of December 8th and early morning hours of December 9th, and rescued 13 individuals from multiple vehicles.
For the latest road conditions, call 5-1-1 or 800-288-1047 nationwide, or visit 511ia.org.
Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter talked about the medical procedure he underwent in an interview prior to the U.N.I. game. Lickliter says he had to have a stent put into his carotid artery after suffering headaches.
Lickliter says everyone he talked to made it obvious he had to have the surgery and the University of Iowa Hopsitals were the place to have the surgery. Lickliter says he is on the mend.
Lickliter says he is thankful for the prayers of everyone as he has heard from a lot of people who were praying for him. He says those prayers meant a lot to him and his family. Lickliter will miss the Hawkeyes game against Iowa State Friday, but hopes to be back next week.
Snowfall piled up and blowing along the roadway.
State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says Iowa hasn’t received this much snow from one storm, covering such a big chunk of the state, since the 1970s.
The heaviest snowfall totals measured this morning included 16.2 inches in both Corning and Osceola, 15 inches at Toledo and Lamoni, 14.5 inches in Des Moines and 14 inches in Clarinda.
Hillaker says portions of northwest Iowa received five to six inches of snow, while far southeast Iowa – near Burlington and Keokuk – received just one to three inches.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says he told President Obama that now is not the time to increase taxes.
Grassley was among a small group of 18 Democrats and Republicans from the House and Senate who met this morning with Obama in the White House. Grassley says when it was his turn to speak, he gave Obama this advice: ”He announced a year ago now, contrary to what he said during the campaign and I can understand why he did because we had a recession he didn’t anticipate during the campaign — and how deep it was, that he was not going to increase taxes because it would be bad for the recovery. And I said, since we aren’t any better off than we were 12 months ago and maybe a little worse off from the standpoint of unemployment, he needs to make the same announcement because we should not have a tax increase.”
Obama invited Grassley and the other lawmakers to a private meeting at the White House to discuss “the next steps for growing the economy.” According to Grassley, the president brought up the topic of “free trade” and suggested increasing exports to Asia would create a million jobs in the U.S.
“But what we’re seeing, I told him, is dithering on (the part of the Obama) Administration in regard to the free trade agreements and I used (South) Korea as an example,” Grassley says. “It ought to be sent up here (to the Senate). It ought to be approved. It’d be the best thing for us since the Canadian Free Trade agreement. It creates jobs as well because Korea is a big trading partner of ours and a free trade agreement would really be beneficial to us.”
Grassley says the Europeans are rushing to solidify trade relationships with the South Koreans, but if the U.S. “dithers” any more, Grassley believes we’ll “lose out” to Europe. Grassley is the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that reviews U.S. trade agreements and drafts U.S. tax policy.
After the meeting, President Obama said he is “absolutely committed to working with anybody who is willing to do the job to make sure we rebuild our economy.” Grassley says there’s a “very good chance” a bipartisan jobs bill can be developed if the president is willing to “rely more” on tax breaks rather than new spending.
“Getting jobs is number one in people’s minds,” Grassley says. “They want us to deal with the problems of the economy.”
Grassley made his comments during a telephone interview with Radio Iowa, right after the White House meeting concluded.
It was all U.N.I. in the McLeod Center last night as the Panthers rolled past the Iowa Hawkeyes 67-50. The Panthers took control with a 22-1 run in the opening half as they improve to 2-0 in the in-state series after winning at Iowa State last week.
It is the third time in school history that U.N.I. has beaten the Hawks and Cyclones in the same season. The Panthers are 6-1 and next up host Siena on Saturday. The Hawkeyes are 3-6 and visit Iowa State on Friday night.
The basketball series between Iowa and Iowa State will be played out over the next two nights in Hilton Coliseum beginning with the women’s matchup Thursday. The Cyclones are off to a 5-1 start after a victory against Arkansas-Pine Bluff over the weekend and their only setback was on the road against Drake.
With Kachine Alexander and JoAnn Hamlin out of the lineup the injury plagued Hawkeyes have dropped two straight and stand 5-4 on the season. The Hawkeyes opened the Big Ten race on Sunday with a 54-51 loss to Michigan and in their only in-state contest to this point posted a victory at U.N.I. The Hawkeyes won last year’s matchup in Iowa City and leads the all-time series 21-18.
The men’s contest is Friday night and the Cyclones will be a heavy favorite despite a three game losing streak. After starting the season 6-0 the Cycklones are now 6-3 after a 19 point loss at California and will host an Iowa team once again could not score more than 50 points in a lopsided loss at UNI on Tuesday night. the Hawkeyes are 3-6.
Forty Iowa National Guard soldiers remain on active duty, helping the D.O.T. and the highway patrol as the blizzard conditions continue. Guard units went out in convoys to rescue stranded motorists overnight and through the morning. Major Mike Wunn says the soldiers are standing by throughout the day at Sloan, Avoca, Camp Dodge, and other locations.
Wunn says the Boone unit’s in Ames is at the D.O.T. garage. In Cedar Rapids there’s a team at Kirkwood Community College, there’s a team at Coralville, and then down at Fairfield there’s a unit to assist the D.O.T. down in that area. Wunn says the army’s Hummers are very effective for traveling in heavy snow. The guard has also stocked cots and blankets at a number of locations in the event that any Iowa communities open up warming shelters.
“I think in this case most of those things have been taken care of by the local communities and that hasn’t been an issue, but we do have blankets and cots staged at various locations that would be available to help out,” Wunn says. In all the guard dispatched four rescue teams in Hummers to reach cars stranded in the snow in central and western Iowa.
O.KayHenderson.com