February 9, 2012

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Burlington woman will not be charged with feticide

February 10, 2010 By

A Burlington woman who was accused of trying to illegally end her pregnancy will not be charged in the case. Twenty-two-year-old Christine Taylor of Burlington was charged with attempted feticide after police say she intentionally fell down the stairs of her home to end the pregnancy because she didn’t want any more kids with her husband, who had left her.

Des Moines County prosecutor Lisa Taylor said new information received led them to dismiss the charges. She says they dismissed the charges based on information from Taylor’s doctor who said Taylor had not reached her third trimester of her pregnancy. Taylor said that in order for her to be found guilty of the charge of feticide, the mother would have to be in the final trimester of pregnancy.

She said the woman was initially arrested based on that belief. The prosecutor says officers were acting on the information that Taylor had given to the health care providers and the investigating officer, which was that she had just entered her third trimester of the pregnancy.

According to an interview with the Des Moines Register, Christine Taylor suggests that she was wrongfully accused based on personal views of medical workers and police. She maintains that she was not trying to kill her baby and says she was distraught and tripped and fell.

Both police and Taylor have said no harm was done to the baby. If the trial had moved forward, it would have been the first case of feticide prosecuted in the state of Iowa.

By Bryan Nichols, KBUR, Burlington

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Group wants to make eye tests mandatory for school kids

February 10, 2010 By

A group called Prevent Blindness Iowa is pushing for the legislation which require all school children to receive vision screenings before first grade. The executive director of the group, Jean Burmeister, says it’s crucial to catch vision problems early.”We know that one in four school-age children has a vision problem and it’s important that they get it checked,” Burmeister said.

“Eighty-percent of what a child learns prior to age 12 is through vision, so it’s so important that we have it checked.” Burmeister says the bill also establishes clear guidelines for school nurses who conduct the eye tests. A spokeswoman for the Iowa Association of School Boards, Mary Gannon, says districts can’t afford more unfunded mandates.

“Our estimate we supplied to the legislative services agency is about a one-point-one million dollar price tag for K-12 education and that’s money we don’t have right now to spend,” Gannon said. Prevent Blindness Iowa Board member Dan Garrett says it’s time for the state to catch up with the rest of the nation when it comes to vision screenings for young people.

“Iowa is one of only ten states in the nation that does not have provisions for vision screenings for children,” Garrett said. “So, it deeply concerns us that one of the finest states for education does not have such a safety net in place.” But, Gannon says she believes the current system is working.

“We think the current system is working, which is the postcards school districts use for parents to remind them to get their kids screened and then some reporting mechanism for the Department of Public Health…so that we have an idea how many kids are or are not currently being vision screened either inside or outside the district,” Gannon said.

A bill to require the screenings is under consideration in the Iowa Senate, but must come out of committee by the end of the week to be eligible for floor debate this session.

Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine Tagged With:

Iowa hosts Northwestern

February 10, 2010 By

The Iowa Hawkeyes are at home in the Big Ten to take on Northwestern. The Hawks are 2-8 in the Big Ten while Northwestern needs a victory to boost it’s post season hopes. The Wildcats are 5-6 in the league race and at 16-7 overall are looking for their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid. Iowa will need to be patient on defense against a Northwestern style that coach Bill Carmody made famous at Princeton.

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says it’s not just a system, as they all play and you also have to know their personnel. He says the Hawks are at their best when they get the ball inside and don’t settle for three point attempts. Lickliter says they need to continue to go inside, but it has been hard against the length they’ve seen in the last couple of games.

Iowa is 8-16 overall.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Snow causes collapse of Osage plant roof

February 10, 2010 By

Heavy snow has caused the cave-in of the roof of an Osage manufacturing plant. Fox River Mills co-owner Jeff Lessard says the collapse impacted the sock manufacturer’s shipping and storage departments.

Employees coming to work this morning noticing the roof sagging and they cleared everyone out. They saw the roof move again and then shut off the sprinkler system and electricity. Lessard thinks a lot of snow was blown around overnight and built up on the roof, and that caused it to eventually collapse.

He says the roof caved in right around 9 o’clock this morning as rivets started popping and dropping. He says a 40-by-100 foot piece of the roof dropped at around that time. Lessard says luckily nobody was hurt since they evacuated the area.

Lessard says if nobody had noticed the roof when coming into work this morning, it’s possible someone could have been hurt since it’s an area people do go through. Lessard says production was stopped temporarily, but things are back to normal. He says they brought everybody to the east side of the building to make sure everybody was safe, and now the plan is to seal off the impacted area so they can open up shipping once again.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Business, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather

State auditor says governor’s budget doesn’t add up

February 10, 2010 By

The Republican state auditor is accusing the state’s Democratic governor of failing to submit a balanced budget plan to the legislature in January. State Auditor Dave Vaudt says Governor Culver’s entire state spending outline is four-hundred-million dollars “out of balance.”

“I can write 1+1=3 on a sheet of paper, but we all know it doesn’t work,” Vaudt says. “And that’s where we’re at with this budget.” Vaudt faults Culver to failing to provide enough money in his budget plan to match his spending promises to K-through-12 public schools. Vaudt says it’s a 270 million dollar gap that will force schools to either raise property taxes or lay off more staff.

Vaudt also disputes the budget-cutting estimates Culver included in his spending plan. The auditor says at least one of the ideas has never been implemented in any state and there may be too many legal hurdles to getting it implemented in Iowa. “The governor probably had very good intentions, but good intentions doesn’t get you the right answer,” Vaudt says.

Vaudt will ask the state’s attorney general whether Culver should submit a new budget plan to legislators. “Regretfully, the governor’s budget numbers just don’t add up,” Vaudt says. Culver is standing by his plan.

“The budget that I submitted to the legislature was smaller than the one that I inherited,” Culver says, “so we’re reducing the size of government. We’re making it more lean. We’re making it more efficient.” Culver says the state budget has been balanced “every single day that I’ve been governor,” and Culver suggests Vaudt’s criticism is politically-motivated.

“It’s easy to take little political shots from the sidelines,” Culver says. “I’m gettin’ the job done every day.” Earlier today, Culver signed a bill that provides early retirement incentives to long-time employees in the executive branch of state government. Culver says it’ll save 60-million dollars. Vaudt says that savings isn’t correctly calculated in Culver’s budget plan.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Racial slurs, swatiska graffiti now reported in three NE IA counties

February 10, 2010 By

Law enforcement agencies in northeast Iowa are trying to track down a graffiti artist who has spray painted similar racial slurs, hate messages and swastikas in three counties. The latest defacing with a racial tone happened sometime early Friday morning on Highway 218 at the northern edge of Cedar Falls. A welcome sign at the city limits is now covered with a tarp to hide a swastika and a racial slur. An employee at a nearby business, Kevin Claussen, says he’s surprised the vandal went to so much trouble.

“It’s kind of crazy climbing up on a street sign like that, especially right by a freeway,” Claussen said. The single incident in Cedar Falls is the only one in Black Hawk County so far. But sheriff’s departments in both Butler and Bremer (BREE-mur) Counties have investigated four or five similar incidents since last fall. Bremer County Detective Dave MacDonald says the messages certainly qualifiy as racist, but might not rise to the level of a hate crime.

“It’s not been directed at any one (individual or at any one) particular piece of property. It’s just been scattered around different areas,” MacDonald said. In Bremer County, the graffiti artist has put the swastikas and racial messages on bridges, road signs and on the side of an abandoned farm house.

Most of that vandalism has taken place is very isolated areas. But the vandal may be getting bolder by spray painting slurs along busy Highway 218 in Cedar Falls. Investigators say similarities in style and message lead them to believe they are looking for the same person in all three counties.

By Dave Franzman, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Lawsuit against Cherokee School District dismissed again

February 10, 2010 By

The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld a decision that dismisses a lawsuit against the Cherokee School District. Randall and Karin Cedar sued saying the school district was negligent in allowing snow and ice to accumulate on the steps of a school building and that led to their daughter slipping and falling in November of 2005.

The Cedar’s however did not file the suit until June of 2008 and the school district asked that it be dismissed as the suit did not fall within the two-year statute of limitations. The district court in Cherokee County sided with the school district, saying the suit had not been filed in the required two-year time period and dismissed the suit.

The Cedar’s appealed the ruling, saying they were “unfairly prejudiced by the Iowa Supreme Court’s interpretation and allowance of an unfair law.” The Appeals Court says that may or may not be true, but they are nevertheless bound by Iowa Supreme Court pronouncements, and upheld the district court ruling.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education
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