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Cyclones look for better rebounding against Hawkeyes

December 10, 2009 By

Iowa State coach Greg McDermott wants to see the Cyclones put forth more effort on the glass when they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday night. The Cyclones have dropped three straight games and McDermott says a lack of rebounding has been a big part of it.

McDermott says they are giving up far too many second chance opportunities and that’s why they had trouble against U.N.I and Cal.

Iowa State forward Craig Brackins says it is more a lack of effort than a lack of toughness. Brackins says they are not going to let someone push them around, he says they just need to play harder. He says when you play harder you look tougher because you are outworking the other team.

Brackins says they need more effort on defense, he says it’s a matter of them going out and doing it.

Iowa State is 6-3.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Snowfall most since 1971

December 10, 2009 By
Trucks like this have been busy with the recent snowfall.

Trucks like this have been busy with the recent snowfall.

The blizzard that blew through Iowa this week was the snowiest storm the state’s experienced in nearly four decades. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker continues to crunch the numbers, but says it appears the statewide average snowfall between Monday and Wednesday was 10.2 inches.

That’s the largest snowfall total from a single storm since early January of 1971. The storm of ’71 produced an average of 10.4 inches of snow. The biggest snowstorm to hit Iowa since 1950, at 14.3 inches, occurred in March 1951. The last big winter storm in Iowa dropped 6.7 inches of snow statewide in March 2007.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Weather

Utility says clean out snow around vents

December 10, 2009 By

As Iowans dig out from the heavy snowfall, utility officials are reminding us to make sure snow and ice are removed from around our homes’ furnace vents and utility meters. Alliant Energy spokesman Scott Drzycimski says vents for newer furnaces need to be checked since most of them are three or four feet off the ground.

He says it’s a lot easier for snow to drift up against that sort of vent and it can cause a protective device to trigger and shut off the furnace to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning in the home. Drzycimski says you also need to clear snow away from gas and water meters to keep them properly running, too.

He says there is a device called a regulator on the gas meter that allows gas to escape and properly regulates the flow of gas going into the home. If it’s covered, it can cause gas to stop going into the house or other problems with service. Drzycimski says if there is snow and ice around the meter, don’t use a shovel or bang on the meter pipes as you may cause bigger problems.

He suggests you should put gloves on and use your hands to clear around the meter as you don’t want to damage anything. Drzycimski says just taking a few minutes to check the areas around the vents and meters can prevent a lot of trouble. For more information, visit: “alliantenergy.com” or call 800-ALLIANT.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Weather Tagged With:

Board of Regents approves $100 surcharge for students

December 10, 2009 By

The board that governs the three state universities voted today to approve a $100 surcharge on students to make up for the state budget cut. Board of Regents president, David Miles, made a few comments before the vote.

“As we noted at the last meeting when this was first discussed, this is certainly nothing I believe that any regent favors,” Miles said. He says it will be an additional burden on the students, but says they have had good dialogue with student leaders about the surcharge. Miles says the surcharge is part of the overall effort to meet the budget cuts.

“We believe that the sacrifice has been, continues to be, and will be shared across all elements of the institutions, And in the scope of things, as I have said before, I believe this is a regrettable, but reasonable sacrifice,” Miles says. None of the other regents made any comments before the vote.

The vote was 6-3 in favor of the surcharge. Regents Ruth Harkin, Michael Gartner, and student regent Gretta Johnson of Le Mars voted no. The surcharge is expected to generate nearly six-million-dollars and is equivalent to 10-percent of the money cut by the state. The surcharge will only be applicable to Iowa, Iowa State and U.N.I. students enrolled during the spring term and would be prorated for part-time students based on the number of credit hours taken.

Regents staff say they expect the impact of the surcharge on enrollment to be minimal.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

Pregnant woman given snowplow escort to hospital during blizzard

December 10, 2009 By

Snowplows had to clear the way so a pregnant Grinnell woman could get to a Des Moines hospital Tuesday evening. Twenty-four-year old Sierra Van Ersvelde was 34 weeks pregnant and started having strong contractions. She was taken by ambulance to Grinnell Regional Medical Center, which can handle deliveries.

But Suzanne Cooner, the vice president of operations at the Grinnell hospital, says the expectant mother had to be taken to a bigger hospital that’s considered a “tertiary care center” because it can deal with high-risk pregnancies.

“It was because of her blood disorder that we needed to get her to a tertiary (care center),” Cooner says, “because there were things that we couldn’t get in the storm that she would have needed.” Normally, getting a patient to Des Moines is fairly routine, but the snow storm complicated things.

Transporting the woman via helicopter wasn’t possible in the midst of the storm and Midwest Ambulance Service was reluctant to dispatch a team from Grinnell to Des Moines when travel wasn’t recommended on Interstate-80.

“It was very urgent that we get this patient to a tertiary center,” she says. “And so what we ended up doing was I called and pretty much begged Midwest (Ambulance Service), their administrative offices, and they agreed that if we sent a nurse and if we got the D.O.T. to clear the road for them — kind of daisy chain all the way to Des Moines and then back — that they would attempt it, just because of the urgency of the situation.” Cooner says semi-trucks on the highway caused some concern.

“The bad part about it was the trucks were passing the ambulance and they were so concerned there was going to be an accident because of the trucks passing so fast and I think it scared the patient,” Conner says. “It scared our staff member, for sure, so in Jasper County, the Jasper County D.O.T. put both blades out so they couldn’t pass.” The pregnant woman arrived at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines at about midnight, where her contractions were halted — preventing a pre-mature birth.

By Chris Johnson, KGRN, Grinnell

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Health & Medicine

King speaks out against terror trials on U.S. soil

December 10, 2009 By
Congressman Steve King

Congressman Steve King

Congressman Steve King was among a group of Republicans from the U.S. House who stood on the sidewalk outside the U.S. Supreme Court building this morning to denounce the idea of bringing suspected terrorists to trial in U.S. courts. “We’re not going to grant these terrorists a beachhead on U.S. soil,” King says. “Especially we’re going to oppose granting them a beachhead in the civilian U.S. court system.”

King, a Republican from Kiron, is critical of the Obama Administration’s decision to try suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal district court in New York. “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the worst of the worst and to send him here to the United States to try him under a civilian court when it is perfectly legal and appropriate and safe to try him under a military tribunal says that any terrorist that might be picked up — might have been picked up or might be picked up — could be brought into the United States and granted access to the U.S. civilian judicial system, also the defense paid for by taxpayer dollars,” King says. “…I think it is a colossal mistake.”

Attorney General Eric Holder announced in November that Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay prisoners will stand trial in New York and prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty. Holder said the U.S. “has no higher priority than bringing those who planned and plotted the (9/11) attacks to justice.” King says it’s “illogical” to try Mohammed in a U.S. court.

“Khalid Sheik Mohammed has already offered to plead guilty,” King says. “So one of the other messages is, take the guilty plea if they offer it to you and punish the man for the crimes that I believe he’s likely to have committed.” President Obama plans to close the prison in Cuba where suspected terrorists have been detained. King opposes bringing those Guantanamo Bay prisoners to a vacant Illinois prison and he says if Mohammed is tried in a U.S. court, the “Git-mo” prisoners will petition to be tried outside of a military tribunal, too.

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

Utilities almost done restoring power after the storm

December 10, 2009 By

Iowa’s two largest utility companies have almost wrapped up restoring power to thousands of customers. At the peak of Wednesday’s blizzard, around 10,000 customers of the two utilities were without electricity.

Today, MidAmerican Energy is reporting less than 100 customers are still without power – all in the Quad Cities. Alliant Energy has only a few dozen customers scattered around the state waiting for their electricity to be turned back on.

In some cases, utility teams have to wait for snowplows to access remote areas. MidAmerican spokesman Mark Reinders says half of the state received around a foot of snow, but most of the outages were caused by ice and wind.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather Tagged With:
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