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Train derails near Jefferson

March 8, 2010 By

Clean up is underway in western Iowa’s Greene County following a train derailment Sunday night. The Greene County Sheriff’s Departments says about 37 of 140 Union Pacific rail cars left the tracks at around nine p.m. Sunday, five miles west of Jefferson.

Sheriff Tom Heater says the train was traveling east when the middle group of cars derailed at a crossing. The cars were carrying coal, and some of it spilled onto the ground. Other railcars remained upright after leaving the tracks. Both tracks remained blocked this morning. Officials are still trying to find out what caused the derailment.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

UNI wins MVC Tourney again, locks in NCAA bid

March 8, 2010 By

The University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team captured its second straight Missouri Valley Conference basketball title with a 67-52 win over the Wichita State Shockers on Sunday at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The Panthers were powered by a game-high 24 points from tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Kwadzo Ahelegbe. Ahelegbe posted a game high 24 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 12-of-14 from the free throw line. Redshirt freshman Jake Koch knocked in 13 points on

5-of-7 shooting, which included 3-of-4 from 3-point land.

U.N.I. is now 28-4 overall and will have to wait a week to find out where they are going in the NCAA Tournament.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Iowa and Iowa State prepare for post-season tournaments

March 8, 2010 By

The Iowa men’s basketball team traveled to Minnesota on Sunday looking to spoil the Gopher’s Senior Night. Instead, the Hawkeyes closed out the regular season with a loss, 88-53. With the loss, Iowa drops to 10-21 overall and 4-14 in the Big Ten Conference.

Iowa will next be in action on Thursday against Michigan in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa lost both games to Michigan this year.

I.S.U. will play Texas Wednesday night in the first round of the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City, Missouri. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Iowa City woman charged with stabbing man

March 8, 2010 By

An Iowa City woman is facing charges after a stabbing Saturday night. Officers were called at 8:15 p.m. to a home on the east side of Iowa City and found a man with a stab wound to the stomach. Police have not identified the man, but say he did require hospitalization.

A woman in the home, 32-year-old Kimberly Hudson, told investigators she was in an argument with the man and pushed him against the wall. She admitted grabbing a knife from the kitchen but claimed the man stood up from the couch and ran into the knife. Hudson is charged with domestic abuse assault with intent and displaying a weapon.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

EPC to change rule on tv, computer monitor recycling

March 8, 2010 By

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission will act on a new rule later this month that is designed to make it easier for televisions and computer monitors to be recycled. Theresa Stiner of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it changes the requirement for retailers to collect the old TV’s and monitors that contain cathode ray tubes.

Stiner says anyone who collects the devices with the tubes in them has to have a permit, the rule not just requires them to register with the state. She says it should make it easier for them, while still providing some regulation. Stiner says the tubes can pose an environmental threat if not properly recycled as the tubes have six to eight pounds of lead in them depending on the size.

Stiner says recycling the TV’s and monitors will not be new to some retailers as some are already doing it, such as Best Buy, Staples and Goodwill has a program for all sorts of electronics. Stiner says the retailers charge a fee to take the old TV’s and monitors, while others incorporate that into the sale of new items.

Stiner says the fees vary, but Goodwill does not charge a fee as they have an agreement with Dell to take them. She says Best Buy charges $10 , but gives a $10  gift card. Stiner says they charge a fee because it costs more to recycle the materials than what they get for them. Stiner says it’s important to see that the materials are properly recycle here and not sent overseas to countries that don’t regulate the recycling effort.

Stiner says some 100 million computers, televisions and monitors become obsolete in the U.S. every year. The E-P-C will take up the new rule at their meeting on March 16th.

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

Weather Service offering training to storm spotters

March 8, 2010 By

There may still be snow on the ground, but the National Weather Service wants Iowans to start thinking about severe weather in the spring and summer. Each year meteorologists travel the state to provide training courses for people who want to be storm spotters. Meteorologist John Hinsberger says all the technology they have available doesn’t replace a person watching severe weather at the source.

Hinsberger says they present spotter training because they need people out in the field to be the weather service’s eyes and ears. Doppler radar can show rotation in a storm but only people can tell them whether they see tornadoes forming or how large the hail is hitting the ground. Hinsberger says spotters will be shown plenty of examples of severe weather situations during the class.

He says there are several videos included in the presentation that show very interesting weather phenomena that spotters will be able to detect and report if they see something similar. Hinsberger says there won’t be a test to take at the end of the nearly two-hour session, but people will come away with a better understanding about severe weather.

He says it’s a lot of information packed in and people might be informally quizzed about a few things, but there’s no exam to pass or fail. Hinsberger says they can never have enough spotters to help out, especially in the state’s non-urban areas. He says they’d like to see more rural spotters since they have a bigger data gap in between cities and anything they can get to “fill in the picture” will give meteorologists a better idea of what to do on their end. More than 50 spotter training courses are planned statewide over the next several weeks. Find the one nearest to you at: “www.crh.noaa.gov/dmx/?n=spotterinfo“.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Weather

Legislators split over how to handle the Iowa Power Fund

March 8, 2010 By

Democrats at the Statehouse are divided over a key component of the budget. They’re wrangling over how much money to invest in the Iowa Power Fund. The $25-million-a-year grant program was created in 2007 to support renewable energy projects across the state. The top two Democratic leaders in the senate say they want to protect it from the 10% budget cut applied to the rest of state government.

That angers Senator Jack Hatch, a Democrat from Des Moines, who is chairman of the panel drafting the budget for state health and human services spending. “Funding Medicaid and funding children’s services and those services we’ve come to accept as being not only beneficial to the family also making the Iowa value as a safe place and a good place to grow your family,” Hatch says.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,
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