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District Court upholds smoking ban in West Burlington case

April 1, 2010 By

The Des Moines County District Court has upheld the decision of the Alcoholic Beverages Division Administrator Lynn Walding to pull the liquor license of Otis Campbell’s bar in West Burlington over the state smoking ban. The Alcoholic Beverages Division says the court found that the Iowa Smokefree Air Act constitutionally regulates smoking for establishments that have a liquour license.

Walding issued a statement that said, “Today’s win in the Iowa District Court was much appreciated but, more importantly, the Iowa Smokefree Air Act has been winning in the court of public opinion. The vast majority of Iowans support the smoking ban and, almost two years after its enactment, are enjoying the clean air benefits of the act.”

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Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Health & Medicine, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Gambling critics question casino contributions to Culver

April 1, 2010 By

Gambling opponents in Iowa are criticizing Governor Culver for accepting more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from individuals and organizations tied to gambling. Mitch Henry of the group “No Casino Iowa” says he sees a clear correlation between the campaign contributions and Culver’s letter to the Racing and Gaming commission urging it to approve four new casinos.  

“I think it’s highly inappropriate for the governor to get involved during the middle of the process,” Henry says. “It’s up to the Racing and Gaming Commissioners to make that decision, not Governor Chet Culver.” 

Henry describes himself as a recovering gambling addict and he’s culled through Culver’s campaign contribution list.  Henry says Culver’s received nearly $50,000 from people who’re lobbying for a new casino in Fort Dodge. “I see there’s a direct correlation between the campaign contributions and the casino proposals, him encouraging that,” Henry says.

Culver dismisses the allegation there’s a tie between the campaign cash and his public support for granting casino licenses to Fort Dodge, Ottumwa, Tama and Larchwood.  ”It’s ludicrous. I mean, I have raised millions of dollars. I’ve run for statewide office — this will be my fourth time,” Culver says.  “Last year we raised I believe more than $2 million. You’re talking about a very small percentage of that that was related to gaming interests at all.” 

Some of the contributions cited by Culver’s critics are from individuals tied to existing casinos and those casinos actually oppose the bid by the four cities to land new casinos. Culver says he’s not the only 2010 candidate for governor who has accepted campaign cash from casino-connected contributors. ”In fact one of Terry Branstad’s biggest contributors owns two casinos,” Culver says. “So I don’t think it’s accurate to suggest that has any impact whatsoever on anything but the fact that these groups are supportive of the Culver/Judge Administration and what we’ve done to move Iowa forward.” 

Gary Kirke, a Des Moines businessman, owns Wild Rose Entertainment which operates casinos in Emmetsburg and Clinton.  Kirke has given more than 25-thousand dollars to former Governor Branstad who is seeking a fifth term as governor.  Culver is running for reelection to a second term this November.

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: , , , , ,

Des Moines police looking into several tips in child abduction case

April 1, 2010 By

A Des Moines police task force continues to look for clues and are investigating over two dozen tips in the kidnapping of a child on March 28th. The five-year-old boy was returned around a half hour after he was taken. Police Sergeant Chris Scott, says they have 27 people assigned to the task force. He says their objective is to dedicate officers to specific jobs and to bring the information together. Scott says they’ve had lots of tips called in, but so far they have not helped.

Scott says they’ve had as many as 30 tips, and so far nothing new has come out of them. Scott says the information they do have indicates the man was driving a white care with black trim that had a broken tail light and three flames in the back window. He says this is a car that has been driven on the street and it now is parked at a home or apartment complex, so they are asking people to look around and notify police if they see the car.

While the man is still at large, Scott says other parents just need to continue paying attention to what their kids are doing. “I don’t think that I would offer them any different advice today as I would have last week,” Scott says, “and that is, it’s warm outside, our kids are playing and we need to supervise our kids. We need to know where they’re at, we need to know where they are going, we need to know how they are going to get there, and when they are going to be home.”

Police say the boy was missing his underwear and a shoe and his pants were on backwards when he came home, but initial results did not show signs of a sexual assault.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Drake football team excited about future

April 1, 2010 By

There is plenty of experience on the field for the Drake football team this spring. Fourteen starters are back from last year’s team that finished 8-3 overall and third place in the Pioneer Football League race with a 6-2 mark.

Drake coach Chris Creighton says they feel excited, not about what they accomplished, but about the future and the potential of the program. Creighton says the transition to his staff is now gone and they feel comfortable with each other.

He says one area of concern is the offensive line where three starters need to be replaced. Creighton says they have some talented, but young guys who will battle for those jobs. They will also be young at the receiver and secondary positions.

Creighton says there are a number of areas with experience, as the defensive front remains intact, the runningbacks and quarterbacks are coming back. The Bulldogs will have an intrasquad game on April 17th.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

UNI has holes to fill next season in basketball

April 1, 2010 By

Another run to the NCAA Tournament for the U.N.I. basketball team may depend upon how the Panthers are able to replace three seniors in the starting lineup. Guard Ali Farokhmanesh, center Jordan Egelseder and Missouri Valley player of the Adam Koch closed their careers with a loss to Michigan State last Friday in the semifinals of the midwest regional.

U.N.I. coach Ben Jacobson says that’s part of the way things work and when you have more seniors, it is harder to replace them. He was asked if the run to the “sweet sixteen” will help their recruiting efforts. Jacobson says it will, as they’ve had a great response from recruits and they expect to see benefits.

Still to be determined is the future of backup center Lucas O’Rear, who may have a future in the sport of baseball. He stayed at U.N.I. even though the school discontinued its program. Jacobson says O’Rear has indicated he would like to be back and he says they will talk soon about that. He says O’Rear’s dad really wants him to finish his college degree before he moves on to anything else, such as baseball.

By Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Nora Springs man dies after running into school bus

April 1, 2010 By

A Nora Springs man is dead after rear-ending a school bus in Floyd County Wednesday afternoon. The Floyd County Sheriff’s Department says a bus from the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock school district was stopped about three miles north of Rockford when it was hit by a pickup driven by 83-year-old Robert Kruger of Nora Springs.

Kruger was removed from his pickup by the Jaws of Life and taken to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City, where he later died. The sheriff’s department says the bus driver and the 14 students on the bus were not injured.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

March was warmer and had less snow than normal

April 1, 2010 By

The month of March started with cold temperatures and loads of snow on the ground, but ended with sunshine and highs around 80. Iowa State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says, on average, the third month of year was a little warmer than normal with slightly less precipitation than usual.

Average temperatures were 3.7 degrees warmer than normal. Iowa received a statewide average of just under two inches of precipitation. The winter of 2009-2010 was one of the coldest and snowiest in state history. Hillaker says Iowans received a welcome break from that snow in March.

“We had a statewide average of just two inches of snow during March, which is less than half the usual amount,” Hillaker said. “We really only had one snowfall of consequence on March 19th into the morning of the 20th.” Portions of northern Iowa received no measurable snow last month. The forecast for the first weekend of April includes rain and thunderstorms. Hillaker says Iowa did not have a single severe weather event in March.

“Which is a little bit unusual not to see anything whatsoever,” Hillaker said. “March is not typically a big month for severe storms, but we usually get a few of them on an isolated basis.”

Filed Under: Weather
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