May 22, 2012

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More ice and freezing rain on the way

January 22, 2010 By

Another round of ice and gusty winds could create more problems across Iowa tonight into tomorrow. National Weather Service Meteorologist Frank Boksa says the greatest threat for freezing rain and drizzle is north of Highway 30.

“Northwest Iowa may see the worst of it and by that I mean they might get two-tenths of an inch of ice versus one-tenth of an inch of ice elsewhere,” Boksa said. Areas south of Highway 30 should be spared more ice accumulation, but strong winds will present dangers statewide.

“Those that already have ice on trees and power lines, especially in the southern part of the state, that ice will be melting and when those winds pick up, it’ll be breaking the ice free from trees and power lines and creating pretty much ice missiles,” Boksa said. The forecast could further complicate efforts to restore power to thousands of Iowans who’ve been in the dark since Wednesday.

There is a chance for rising temperatures on Saturday to melt the ice before it could cause more damage. “Hopefully this warm air will surge all the way across the state and we won’t have to deal with much, but at this point, it looks like the northern three or four tiers of counties will be dealing with ice issues overnight and early tomorrow morning,” Boksa said. Saturday’s high temperatures are expected the mid 30s north to mid 40s south. There’s a chance of snow on Sunday, mainly across western and central Iowa.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Humboldt County teen dies after snowmobile accident

January 22, 2010 By

A 17-year-old Humboldt County youth died Thursday of injuries received in a snowmobile accident on Wednesday night. The Iowa State Patrol identified the victim as Tanner Ruberg from Hardy.

The accident happened just north of Humboldt on 215th Street. The initial investigation indicated that the snowmobile driven by Ruberg struck an object that knocked him from the machine. Ruberg was transported to the Humboldt County Memorial Hospital and was later transferred to Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge where he later died of his injuries.

Ruberg was a junior at Humboldt High School. He was active in sports and a reporter for the school newspaper. Grief counselors will be on hand today to meet with students at Humboldt High School.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Audit report finds state Medicaid payments to dead people

January 22, 2010 By

A report by State Auditor David Vaudt, says the state overpaid thousands of dollars of Medicaid claims in a period from July 2006 through December 2008. Vaudt says the claims involved payments after patients had died.

Vaudt says in some cases the payments are set up on a monthly basis, and if the patient’s death isn’t reported promptly, the payments can continue. He says they sampled about 1,100 claims in a two-and-a-half year period out of over 350,000 claims paid. Vaudt says they found one in five claims had been paid even after the recipient died. And in one case he says a recipient was still receiving monthly payments more than three years after their death.

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Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government

Schools looking at ways to make up snow days

January 22, 2010 By

School kids may be excited about all of the recent snow days — and ice days — but they’ll quiet down quickly if the principal says those days will have to be made up during Spring Break or even on Saturdays. Lyle Schwartz, superintendent at the South Hamilton Community Schools in Jewell, says they’ve had six snow days already this school year and four late starts.

Schwartz says the current plan is to make all of those days up at the end of the school year, having students conclude classes on June 2nd. We’re only one month into winter though, and school officials statewide know they may be facing many more snow days before Spring. If more school has to be called off, Schwartz says he’s considering other options, like cancelling Spring Break, though he knows that would be an unpopular move.

“We have quite a number of people, both parents with students in school and staff members, who have made plans for that time and have paid for those (vacations),” Schwartz says. “It would be a possibility but probably not a first choice.” He says he’s also looked into holding classes over the weekend to make up for all of the snow days.

“We’ve not done that but it is permissible to have school on Saturday,” Schwartz says. “I actually looked that up this morning just to make sure. It is something as we go along here that we’ll probably have some conversations about.” In addition to this week’s ice storm which knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses statewide, Iowa’s experienced three large snowstorms since December, two that were classified as full-scale blizzards.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Education

House decides to charge for coffee

January 22, 2010 By

How much for a bottom-less cup of coffee in the Iowa House of Representatives? House leaders have decided the going rate this year will be $25 per person. The money raised from members of the House or their staff who are coffee drinkers will hopefully replace the $2,200 budgeted for coffee in the Iowa House this year.

As one person put it — it’s part of the effort to find every last drop of savings in the state budget. House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha supports the fee, but doesn’t plan to pay it.

“You know, I’m not a coffee drinker,” Paulsen says. “I have a selection of Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Sunkist Orange and Diet Sunkist Lemonade.” Paulsen jokes that he’d pay $25 for a bottomless mug of Mountain Dew.

Statehouse reporters are bringing in their own coffee and using a “French press” to make their own coffee.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Community colleges contemplate tuition increases

January 22, 2010 By

The leaders of Iowa’s 15 community colleges are contemplating large tuition increases to help cover budget cuts from the state. The 10% reduction in funding coincides with a 14% increase in enrollment. Steve Ovel, who works at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, says many of the new students are displaced workers who are seeking new employment skills.

At Kirkwood, students over the age of 25 increased this school year by 33%. Overall enrollment at Iowa’s community colleges climbed above 100,000 for the first time this fall. Ovel, who also represents the Iowa Association of Community College Presidents, says the colleges are preparing for another 10% cut in state funding in fiscal year 2011.

“We’re theoretically looking at a budget situation going into 2011 in which we could find ourselves 30% below where we were two years ago and at a time when we have record enrollment,” Ovel said. “That kind of funding level would take us back to where we were in 1997, when we had about 65,000 to 75,000 students.”

 Around  75% of each community college’s budget is spent on faculty. Ovel says the schools can offer early retirement packages to save some money, but furloughs and layoffs aren’t an option because of the record enrollment. According to Ovel, students attending an Iowa community college next year can expect to pay 8% more on tuition.

“We’re going to see tuition increases that none of us are going to be comfortable with,” Ovel said. “What’s happened is that the percentage of our budgets that are supported by state general aid has continued to decline – I think statewide it’s around 39% – so tuition is now supporting in excess of 50% of our budgets. So that’s really the only discretionary area that we have to help us in terms of addressing the general aid budget shortfall.”

The average tuition at a community college in Iowa currently stands at $3,500. An 8% increase would bump that up to around $3,780. Ovel made his comments on the Iowa Public Radio program The Exchange.

Filed Under: Business, Education

Northwest Iowa colleges offer special scholarships

January 22, 2010 By

Lower-income students enrolled at four colleges in northwest Iowa can now apply for special scholarships as part of a new program. Ron Ludwig is executive director for the service agency known as Upper Des Moines Opportunity, which is based in the town of Graettinger.

Ludwig says, “This scholarship is a program that is based upon the economic stimulus program that the federal government implemented last year.” The scholarship is for students attending Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon and Iowa Lakes Community College with campuses in Algona, Estherville, Emmetsburg, Spencer and Spirit Lake. Ludwig says students who attend any of the schools should look into the program, based on their income levels.

“We have funds available and we partner with the college and come up with guidelines,” he says, while the income parameters are based on the federal poverty levels. Those interested can learn more at: “www.udmo.com” or by calling 800-245-6451.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Education
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