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Governor, Carroll’s mayor in spat over disaster response

January 25, 2010 By
Governor Chet Culver

Governor Chet Culver

The mayor of Carroll is expressing frustration about the state’s response to last week’s ice storm, while Governor Culver is suggesting the mayor doesn’t understand the proper protocol for disaster response.  Carroll Mayor Jim Pedelty spoke with KCIM Radio in Carroll this morning.

“Things are moving but his idea of moving and my idea of moving and the county board of supervisors idea of moving are entirely different,” Pedelty said.  Culver visited Carroll on Friday, a visit the mayor has dismissed as nothing more than a “photo op” for Culver.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government, Weather Tagged With: , ,

State to apply for grant to help packing plant workers who’re losing their jobs

January 25, 2010 By
Elisabeth Buck

Elisabeth Buck

State officials will survey the more than 2000 workers who’ll lose their jobs in a few weeks when two meatpacking plants in western Iowa close. 

Smithfield plans to close the John Morrell plant in Sioux City in mid-April, putting 1450 workers out of a job. Another 500 workers will lose their jobs in mid-March when the Tyson plant in Council Bluffs closes.  Elisabeth Buck, director of the Iowa Workforce Development agency, will meet with managers of the Tyson plant on Thursday.  

“We meet with them and sort of spell out what are all the services we have available for their workers, then we schedule worker meetings with the workers in those plants,” Buck says.  “…One of the most important things we do at the worker meetings is we do a survey of the workforce to see what kinds of skill sets these workers have and what their needs are.” 

Once those surveys are completed, the state will apply to the U.S. Department of Labor for a national emergency grant. “So if we find that most of these workers want to go into training, we will have the funds to assist them with that training that might be necessary to upgrade them and upskill them for the jobs of the future,” Buck says.

Since Tyson and John Morrell operate around-the-clock, Buck expects the survey of workers to take about a week to complete. On Thursday, Governor Culver plans to visit with local economic development officials in Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Webster City where the Electrolux plant will close soon.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

State officials provide ice storm update

January 25, 2010 By

State officials say today’s weather is complicating efforts to restore power to the 5,500 Rural Electric Cooperative customers who’ve been without electricity since last week’s ice storm. 

“It’s one of those good news/bad news situations.  Over the weekend what we saw was the utility companies put a lot of people back on power,” says David Miller, administrator of the Iowa Emergency Management Division. “The bad news is a lot of the isolated areas in the rural areas where there are a lot of downed lines are going to be slower to come on power and that causes us a concern about people being isolated and a little bit on the economic side, especially for large farm operations.”

Staff in Miller’s agency worked with staff in the Department of Agriculture this weekend to help farmers track down generators to buy or lease, and Miller says as of this morning, there was just one unmet request for a generator.

The governor has declared six western Iowa counties state disaster areas.  Damage estimates must be forwarded to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to put the counties in line for a federal disaster designation.

“Today’s storm isn’t helping.  We had hoped to have people on the ground in Carroll County this morning to do damage assessment and begin to walk through that process as a precursor to asking for a federal declaration,” Miller says.  “And of course the roads are treacherous enough they’ve asked us to back off for today until the weather clears a little bit and we can begin to put people on the ground.”

The mayor of Carroll complained over the weekend that the state wasn’t doing enough to help his community which was hard-hit by the ice storm.  Governor Culver was asked about those complaints this morning during a statehouse news conference.  According to Culver, the mayor apologized this morning for making those remarks.  The governor said Carroll’s mayor didn’t understand some of the process that must take place, as most of the debris removal equipment must come from other cities and counties. 

 The state D.O.T. doesn’t own a lot of debris removal equipment, according to Culver.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government, Weather Tagged With: ,

Ottumwa inmate remains on the loose

January 25, 2010 By

An inmate who escaped from a work release facility in Ottumwa remains on the loose. The Iowa Department of Corrections says 29-year-old Robert Thomas Andrews failed to return to a residential work release facility on Friday.

He was allowed to leave the facility to look for work, but never returned and was placed on “escape” status at 8:35 p.m. Andrews was granted work release by the Iowa Board of Parole in November after serving more than 11 years in prison for attempted murder, escape and assault on a peace officer. Anyone with information about Andrews’ whereabouts is asked to contact Ottumwa Police or the Wapello County Sheriff’s Department.

By Mike Buchanan, KBIZ, Ottumwa

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Minnesota man, Nebraska woman die in separate incidents

January 25, 2010 By

The body of a rural Elmore Minnesota man was found in a ditch in northern Iowa over the weekend. Kossuth County Sheriff Steve Kollasch reports that the victim is identified as 86-year-old Kenneth Eldon Reed. Reed was apparently driving to his farm late Saturday when he became stuck in a snowdrift, he tried to scoop the vehicle out but then started walking to get help, about three-quarters of a mile from his farm, he collapsed into a ditch and died.

Sheriff Kollasch says an autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death, no foul play is suspected at this time. The body was seen by a passing motorist at 8:25 AM Sunday on 480th Street in Hebron Township east of U-S Highway 169, some three miles south of Elmore which is on the Iowa/Minnesota border.

A Nebraska teenager was killed in a car crash in central Iowa on Sunday night. Police in the Des Moines suburb of Windsor Heights identify the victim as 19-year-old Lindsay Swanson of Kearney, Nebraska. Investigators say Swanson was driving the car that lost control about 11 P.M.  on Interstate 235.

The car reportedly vaulted off a bridge rail and landed on its top underneath the freeway. It had been snowing. Police say speed and the road conditions may have played a role in the crash, though the cause is still under investigation.

 Chuck Shockley, KLGA, Algona also contributed to this story.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Names of Clinton fire victims released

January 25, 2010 By

Authorities in the eastern Iowa town of Clinton are releasing the names of the victims of a weekend housefire. The four victims in the Friday night fire are identified as six-year-old Tyler Wade and three-year-old Patrick Molitor and their mother, Tonya Molitor, and Francine Molitor.

They died in the Friday night fire in Clinton. One person, Deb Molitor, escaped from the home. The boys were students at one of the elementary schools and special preparations are being made the school to provide assistance to the staff and students. The investigation into the fire is continuing although investigators say it looks accidental in nature.

They also said there were no working smoke detectors in the home. The state medical examiners office will be conducting autopsies on the victims.

By Dave Vickers, KROS, Clinton

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

More winter weather hitting Iowa today

January 25, 2010 By

Iowans are starting the work week with a batch of foul weather advisories. Forecasters say one to four more inches of snow will fall today over a wide section of Iowa, primarily the western two-thirds of the state. Some areas of the state still have more than two feet of snow on the ground. Craig Cogil, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, says a Wind Advisory is now posted.

Cogil says strong winds of 25 to 30 miles an hour will be felt today, with gusts up to 45 miles an hour. The wind will be blowing that new snow around and reducing visibility for motorists to less than a mile, which is why Cogil says a Winter Weather Advisory is also posted. Cogil says the week ahead promises to bring more cold air into the state.

He says it won’t warm up much from this point out, with highs only expected in the teens and 20s all week. Also this morning, 14 counties in east, central and southeast Iowa are under a Flood Warning — for cities including: Clinton, Davenport, Iowa City, Burlington and Keokuk. For details, visit the National Weather Service website.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Weather
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