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Waterloo mayor finally determined after recount

December 17, 2009 By

It took two elections and a ballot recount, but the City of Waterloo finally has a new mayor. Local businessman Buck Clark is the winner of the tight race. A three-member recount board completed a hand-count of the December 1st run-off election ballots late Thursday morning.

The review shows Clark beating city councilman Steve Schmitt by a margin of 55 votes. Schmitt requested the recount last week after the official canvass showed him losing to Clark by 50 votes (4,304 to 4,254). The recount confirmed the run-off election results, but the board counted an additional five absentee ballots that apparently weren’t read by the voting machines.

Those absentee ballots all favored Clark. The Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to certify the results on Tuesday, with Clark taking office on January 2nd. He’ll replace current three-term Waterloo Mayor Tim Hurley, who chose not to seek re-election. Schmitt, meanwhile, will return to his at-large council seat to complete the remainder of his two-year term.

By Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Waterloo

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Pottawattamie County investigating assault and robbery

December 17, 2009 By

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s office is investigating an assault and robbery that happened early this morning in Council Bluffs. Sheriff Jeff Danker says deputies were called to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs after receiving a report a 27-year-old man had been beaten, robbed, and thrown into the Missouri River.

Authorities located the crime scene and are trying to find two people believed to have been with the unidentified victim at the time the incident took place. The persons of interest were identified as 32-year-old David Mattox and 24-year-old Jeremy Gibler, both from Council Bluffs. Anyone with information on the men’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s office at 402-676-3778.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Iowa scores high in report on public health preparedness

December 17, 2009 By

Iowa scored a 7-out-of-10 on a new national report that gauges the states on being prepared for public health emergencies. Serena Vinter, senior research associate of the group Trust for America’s Health, says the report ranked the states’ preparedness to address several issues, from obesity to bioterrorism to pandemic flu.

“Iowa has shown great progress over the past several years that we’ve done this report in terms of its public health lab capacity,” Vinter says. “They’ve done a great job of upgrading that. They are able to identify food-borne disease outbreaks at a rate that’s greater the national average. Iowa is one of a handful of states that was able to maintain or increase its level of funding for public health services.”

Other areas where Iowa did well on the report include the fact the state bought 50% or more of its share of federally-subsidized anti-viral medications to prepare for a potential pandemic flu outbreak. Another plus, Iowa tracks diseases through an Internet system used by the CDC. Also, Iowa has a law or legal opinion in place to limit liability against organizations that provide volunteer help during emergencies. Vinter says there were a few areas where the state could show improvement.

One of the ten key factors looks at whether state-regulated child care facilities are required to have emergency evacuation plans in place, an indicator that Iowa did not meet. In another area, Vinter says Iowa does not have a dedicated person acting as a statewide coordinator of medical reserve corps units.

“These are basically your fellow citizens sign up to volunteer,” Vinter says. “They do a lot of work on regular health issues, like flu vaccination clinics or if there’s flooding, maybe they’ll staff some sort of shelter.” They also respond to emergencies and without a state coordinator, she says it’s harder to “get those pieces all moving together as one.” Overall, no states scored ten out of ten, while eight states earned nines.

Two-thirds of the states ranked seven — like Iowa — or lower, while Montana had the worst ranking, a three. For full details on the “Ready or Not” report, visit: “www.healthyamericans.org“.

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

UNI looking for 7th win in a row at North Dakota

December 17, 2009 By

The U.N.I. men will try to make it seven in a row on Saturday when they visit North Dakota. It will be a homecoming for Panther coach Ben Jacobsen who played at North Dakota and also spent time there as an assistant coach. Jacobsen says he’s looking forward to the opportunity to take the team to Grand Forks to see family and friends, but he says the team may not like it.

He says they usually do these type of games to take a player close to home, and they will still have to focus on the game. Jacobsen says there have been a number of changes since he was there. They have a new arena on campus, and he says he might walk over to look at the old arena.

The Panthers are shooting 64% from the foul line and Jacobsen is confident that number will improve. He says you want to be able to shoot in the mid to high 70′s, but he says it doesn’t bother him because they do have a good shooting group. And he says the players spend a lot of time at it.

Jacobsen says the Panthers have played well the past two weeks and improvement needs to continue as the Missouri Valley race approaches. He says they need to continue to sharpen up in practice before they get into conference play.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Iowa coach returns to the bench Saturday

December 17, 2009 By

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter will return to the bench on Saturday when the Hawkeyes host Drake. Lickliter missed the last three games after undergoing surgery on December fifth to repair a tear in his carotid artery. Lickliter says he may be better than he was before he went in for the surgery, as he says he hasn’t had any headaches since then. He says he doesn’t have any limitations, other than they say he will get tired.

Lickliter returned to practice on Monday. He says he wanted to return gradually and not jump right in and he has tried to do that. Lickliter says he has been moved by the outpouring of support. He says he’s a firm believer in prayer and says he’s heard from “countless” people that they prayed for a successful procedure and he believes that’s what happened.

Lickliter says there is not way to thank the people enough who have given him well wishes and prayers.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Grinnell College track coach to be honored in Florida

December 17, 2009 By

Long-time Grinnell College track and field coach Will Freeman will be inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame next spring. Freeman was a pole vaulter for the Gators in the 1970s and during his time captured five Southeastern Conference titles. He says it was a great time to be a part of the track program as they won the schools first SEC title.

Freeman made two bids to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team before joining the coaching ranks at Grinnell. He says the Olympic trials were in Eugene, Oregon both times that he competed in 1976 and 1980 and he did make the finals, but said it wasn’t to be and he didn’t make the team. Freeman says he had a wonderful run the whole time he was down there.

By John Martinson KGRN Grinnell

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Northwestern women living up to expectations

December 17, 2009 By

The Northwestern women’s basketball team came into the season with lofty expectations and they are third ranked in the NAIA poll heading into Friday night’s game at William Penn. Coach Earl Woudstra’s team did not have a senior a year ago and the Red Raiders finished 26-9 and made it all the way to the Final Four. They are 9-2 this season and Woudstra feels the players have done a good job of handling the expectations.

Woudstra says it’s not much fun to have a target on your back, but it is fun to know you have a good team and you need to perfom well.

Woudstra says experience is one of their biggest strengths. He says even their young players have some big game experience playing in the national tournament. Plus he says they play in a great conference.

The Raiders feature balanced scoring and depth. He says they have four kids averaging in double figures and he feels like they have 10 kids that can contribute. The Red Raiders average nearly 78 points a game and on defense opponents are shooting just 34 percent, including just 27% from three point range.

He says they have tried to build the defense on not giving up easy baskets and making sure very shot is contested. Northwestern will close out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule on Saturday with a visit to Central College.

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