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Potential candidate for governor grills Census official

January 4, 2010 By

A former Des Moines school board member who is pondering a run for governor quizzed a U.S. Census official during a news conference in Des Moines this morning.

Jonathan Narcisse announced on December 24 that he was exploring a run for governor in 2010 as either a Democrat or an independent. Narcisse, the owner of a publishing company, attended the news conference and Narcisse asked why the Census Bureau isn’t doing more to encourage his fellow African-Americans to fill out their Census forms.

“I publish a statewide English-language paper targeting the Latino community and also a Spanish-language paper statewide and the outreach has been impressive. Contrasted, however, the outreach statewide to the African-American community has been almost nonexistent in a community that has historically been undercounted,” Narcisse said. “What strategies will you utilize to ensure that that undercount doesn’t continue, particularly since last time we only got about six out of every 10 African-Americans that lived in Iowa?” 

The Census Bureau has had an office in Des Moines for the past two years and soon will have five offices operating in the state, with a staff of about 5000 by April.  Narcisse suggested the Census Bureau has invested “huge resources” in reaching out to Hispanic residents in the state, while there has been — in Narcisse’s opinion — a “complete lack of commitment” to conducting outreach in areas of the state where African-Americans live.

“In a lot of the communities where we have African-Americans that have migrated here, there just is a nonexistent presence,” Narcisse said.

Narcisse said Iowa’s African-American community is harmed by an “undercount” in the Census, as spending for many federal programs is determined by a population-based formula.

Rich Gerdes of the U.S. Census Bureau is the official who fielded all ten questions from Narcisse.

“Did that answer your question?” Gerdes asked Narcisse, who replied: “No, other than that you don’t really have an Iowa-based plan.”

Narcisse, leader of the 2001 State of Black Iowa Initiative, held a series of debates in December with Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Rants.  During an interview with the Des Moines Register in December, Narcisse said he believes he has a “legitimate shot” at being elected governor in 2010.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Iowa basketball likely to miss out as fans watch Orange Bowl

January 4, 2010 By

Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter says he understands if they are the odd team out on Tuesday night. At the same time the Hawkeye football team is playing Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl the basketball team will be playing at Illinois.

Lickliter says the football program has earned the attention of the fans. He says there isn’t any question that what the team has done gives you a lot to be proud of. Lickliter says it’s too bad that you have to choose.

Lickliter says Hawk fans will be pulling for them even if they are not watching it. He says there are fans that love all their sports and will pull for them whether they are watching or not. Lickliter says they’re trying to get to the point where they have the same kind of support as the football team. He says maybe fan will record the game.

Iowa is 0-2 in the Big Ten and 5-9 overall.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Faulty furnace blamed for Dumont fire

January 4, 2010 By

Authorities believe a malfunctioning furnace is to blame for a weekend fire that destroyed a home in northeast Iowa.

Gary Bierman is the fire chief in Dumont, where the fire was reported at 6:40 Sunday evening. He says the first firefighters on the scene reported hearing the furnace “screaming” in the basement.

A man and three children lived in the home but were not there at the time. No one was injured, but it’s believed two pets were killed in the fire.

“A preliminary report of one cat and one dog, but nothing confirmed,” Bierman told Radio Iowa. The Red Cross is helping the displaced family. Bierman says the temperature at the time of the fire was around zero, which hampered efforts to knock down the fire.

“It makes everything slower, harder, slicker…guys slow down and equipment freezes up and doesn’t work,” Bierman said. “It at least quadruples problems.” The two-story home was full of smoke when firefighters arrived.

Bierman said it was too dangerous to send personnel inside to battle the blaze. Around 40 to 50 fire and emergency personnel from Dumont, Bristow, Allison, Aredale, Aplington and Greene responded to the scene.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Creighton survey shows economy sunk in December

January 4, 2010 By

While December is usually one of the most robust buying months of the year, a survey of Iowa’s business leaders and supply managers shows economic activity actually sank last month. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says Iowa ended 2009 much as it began the year, on a downswing. Goss says the state often takes its cues from the national economy.

“What we need to see out of Washington is more economic certainty, more clarity, in terms of health care reform, cap and trade, financial reform,” Goss says. “All that uncertainty is really putting businesses on the sideline, consumers as well. That’s not good because they’re not hiring or taking on new workers like we’d like to see.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Business

Old rail cars opening new possibilities for trails

January 4, 2010 By

Iowa bicycle enthusiasts say old railroad cars may provide more options for building new bike trails in the state. Several old railroad beds have been converted to bike trails, and now the old rail cars are being used for trail bridges over creeks and streams. Iowa Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Mark Wyatt says in the past trail builders have avoided many natural areas because it’s too expensive to put up a bridge.

“The opportunity to put in a bridge using a retired railroad car can allow you to do it at a fraction of the price and still have the same load strength that the railroad car has with its steel integrity,” Wyatt says. He says generally trail builders go out of their way to avoid crossing creeks and streams, but this opens up more options.

Wyatt says, “But certainly if there’s if there’s some feasible and cost-saving you can do, that does make it easier to go through some different terrain you might not be able to go through with a conventional bridge span.” Engineers developed the method in Buchanan County, where they’re turning railroad cars into bridges on county roadways. Wyatt says there should be an ample supply of cars, which are routinely retired after sveral year of use.

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment

Iowa healthy and ready to play Orange Bowl

January 4, 2010 By

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says junior quarterback Ricky Stanzi is healthy and will play in Tuesday night’s Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech. Stanzi missed the final two games of the regular season with an ankle injury but returned for bowl practice last month after undergoing surgery.

Ferentz says the first couple of workouts Stanzi was a little tentative and was trying to get his bearings, but he says the last couple of weeks he has looked good and they don’t anticipate any problems.

At his final pre-game news conference this morning Ferentz said The Hawkeyes are as healthy as they were heading into the season. He says other than those who have had surgery, they will have everybody back, including lineman Dace Richarson, who will play.

Ferentz says the Hawks have enjoyed their stay in Miami and now want to finish it the right way. He says it has been such a great experience and he can’t imagine they’ve had a better bowl experience. Ferentz says the hope now is that they go out and play in a way that represents this season.

An Iowa victory would complete an impressive bowl season for the Big Ten Conference which claimed two wins on New Years Day with Penn State in the Capitol One Bowl and Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Ferentz says there’s been a lot of “Big Ten bashing” going on and says for example, last year’s Texas-Ohio State game, or Missouri-Northwestern could have gone either way.

The Big Ten is widely considered to be a conference that lacks speed and that deficiency always gets exposed in bowl games. Ferentz says the other theory is their layoff is too long between games, but he says that didn’t seem to affect Penn State or Ohio State, which both won. He says it all comes down to two teams playing.

Georgia Tech will be carrying the banner for the ACC after winning the conference title this season. Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson says any time you play in a bowl game you’re representing the conference and your school. Johnson who says the players are getting anxious for the game to start. He says they’ve enjoyed themselves and he says you can see the game is getting closer and the focus is getting more on the game.

Johnson says there is not much left for his team to do, as they will do a walk-through today and then take a team picture.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Census kiosks in Hy-Vee, Casey’s stores

January 4, 2010 By
Rich Gerdes of the U.S. Census

Rich Gerdes of the U.S. Census

Hy-Vee, the state’s largest grocery store chain, and the Casey’s convenience store chain are partnering with the U.S. Census, providing space in their stores to answer questions about the 2010 Census. 

Rich Gerdes of the U.S. Census office in Kansas City says Casey’s will have “Be Counted” boxes with information about the Census. Part-time Census workers will staff “Quality Assistance Centers” in Hy-Vee stores throughout the region.

“If somebody has a question about ‘Do I count my kid in college or not count them?’ — they can come to those sites,” Gerdes says. “…We can give them an answer about how to fill out the questionnaire then.”

Iowans will start getting Census questionnaires in the mail in mid-March. Iowa and Minnesota tied in 2000 for the highest return rate, with about 67 percent of Iowans who received a Census form in 2000 returning it in the mail.  

“We’re kind of on the homestretch now for the Census,” Gerdes says. “And at this point, we are wanting to educate everybody who doesn’t know about what the Census does and so forth.” 

The funding for about 100 federal programs is distributed, based on a population formula.  According to a recent Census estimate, Iowa now has more than three million residents, but the state is expected to lose a congressional seat as other states have had far greater population gains. 

Up to 5000 people will be hired in Iowa to help conduct the Census.  Learn more about the Census by clicking on the audio link below to listen to a news conference Census officials held this morning in Des Moines.

CensusNewsConf

Filed Under: Politics & Government
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