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Drake coach hopes they’re over scoring drought

April 26, 2010 By

Drake softball coach Rich Calvert hopes the Bulldogs struggles on offense are a thing of the past. Drake won the second game of a doubleheader at Indiana State on Saturday 8-2. It snapped a four game skid in which Drake failed to score a run.

Calvert says very game is important and they went through a stretch where they had trouble getting runs across the plate, and hopefully, this will break the ice and get them scoring again. Calvert says there were a number of reasons for the dry spell. He says when you get into streaks, it becomes a team mental thing as you face good pitching.

Calvert says you never like to go through that and hope it only lasts a couple of games. It was a costly skid for the Bulldogs who were in the thick of the Missouri Valley chase. They are now 10-8 in the conference. He says they have probably taken themselves out of a one or two seed for the conference tournament with 7 games left.

There is plenty of time to regroup and the good news for the Bulldogs is they will host the Valley post season tournament. He believes they have the best 1-2 pitching combination in the conference, and says when they get on the same page offensively they can score some runs. Calvert says it’s nice to be home, but unfortunately they haven’t played well at home yet this year.

Drake returns to conference play on Tuesday with a visit to Creighton.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Governor says he’ll sign gun permit bill into law

April 26, 2010 By

Governor Chet Culver said today he’ll sign into law a bill that would set a statewide standard for issuing permits to Iowans who want to carry a concealed weapon.  Under current law, Iowa’s 99 county sheriffs get to decide who can and cannot get a concealed weapons permit. The new law will require a permit to be issued, in nearly every case, if the applicant has taken safety courses and hasn’t been convicted of a felony.

During his stop in Mason City today, Culver said he wants to make sure it’s a fair process statewide for those who apply for a permit.

“I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment,” Culver said.  “I think we have to level the playing field to make all of the rules universal in terms of concealed weapon permits in all 99 counties and I want to make sure that if people want a concealed weapon permit, and they are eligible for one, that they get one.”

Culver indicated he’ll sign the bill into law on Thursday.

By Bob Fisher,  KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Maharishi University hopes to set the standard for “green” buildings

April 26, 2010 By
Proposed "green" building at Maharishi University.

"Green" building that's under construction at Maharishi University.

A new classroom and research building is under construction on a college campus in southeast Iowa that aims to set a new global standard for green buildings.

David Fisher, director of the Sustainable Living program at Maharishi University in Fairfield, says the building promises to be unlike any other structure on the planet.

“It will be off the grid completely with respect to electricity, heating, cooling, water and waste disposal,” Fisher says. “In addition, the building will be day lit throughout the building.”

Banks of solar panels will provide the electricity for the Sustainable Living Center, Fisher says, and solar energy is being used by workers during the construction phase, as well. During the warm months, he says the building will be kept cool using a geothermal system.

“The heating will be done with solar water heaters on the roof,” Fisher says. “We will have insulation provided in part by very local materials, that is compacted earth blocks which came from some earth right across the street that was being cleared out for a parking lot.” That dirt was compacted into 26,000 bricks that will make up the building’s insulation. The building’s skeleton will use whole tree post and beam techniques.

“Water will be all rainwater,” Fisher says. “It will be collected on the roof and stored in a cistern and, of course, for drinking purposes, it’ll all be filtered with (an ultraviolet) filter.” Fisher says the system for handling waste is also accounted for as a green effort. Fisher says, “We have a constructed wetland and we’re planning to use a system that’s similar to what they use in submarines and on space capsules, purifying the water with a system that puts very, very finely-divided bubbles through the water to keep it aerobic and to completely degrade all of the organic matter so as to purify the water.”

Fisher says the building is designed to meet the Living Building Challenge, the highest standard for sustainable design and green building in the world. It will also be the first to combine that standard with the standards of LEED Platinum certification, Building Biology and Maharishi Vedic Architecture.

The building will serve as the base for the university’s Sustainable Living major. It will have classrooms, a workshop, a meeting room, a greenhouse, a kitchen, a research lab, a recycling center and offices. Fisher says it’ll be a building that teaches. The one-point-seven million dollar project is expected to be complete late this year.

Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine

Ag Secretary says Iowa Guard will help continue Afghanistan ag work

April 26, 2010 By

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says Iowa soldiers will continue an effort to move Afghan farmers away from growing poppy plants to a more diversified system when they are deployed there later this year. An agriculture development team of about 60 Iowa National Guard soldiers and airmen will arrive in Afghanistan by August to replace a guard team from California.

The poppy plants are used to by drug producers to make opium and Vilsack says the Afghan farmers had few other options. Vilsack says it was a very rational thing for the Afghan farmers, as they got the poppy seed virtually free, and the crop was picked up at the harvest and there were no costs associated with it. He says they had to figure out ways to reduce the perceived risk of growing wheat or other crops.

Vilsack, the former Iowa governor, says they’e been successful in cutting the production of poppies. He says people began to see there was a much easier and better way to grow “legitimate” crops their families could use, their neighbors could use, and that they could ultimately sell outside of Afghanistan to produce wealth. Vilsack says they showed them financial information that indicated they could get more money if could raise crops like pomegranates, saffron, table grapes.

Vilsack says one thing the soldiers will also do is to help rebuild the irrigation system in Afghanistan that was destroyed during the war with Soviet Union. Vilsack says the country has precious resources that have to be used effectively. He says it “isn’t about turning this into an Iowa cornfield, this is really about focusing on what they can do with very limited…natural resources, and very limited technology.”

Vilsack says an ag expert from his department will be embedded with the Iowa National Guard Agriculture Development Team.

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

Marble Rock lottery winner has faced lots of recent adversity (audio)

April 26, 2010 By
Richard Koenigsfeld speaks with the media while holding a picture of his family.

Richard Koenigsfeld speaks with the media while holding a picture of his family.

A northern Iowa man is celebrating a run of good luck after a heartbreaking few months. 

Fifty-eight-year-old Richard Koenigsfeld of Marble Rock stopped by Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines today  to claim a one-million dollar prize in the “Lifetime Riches” instant scratch game. Koenigsfeld’s wife Dian — who he referred to as “mom” — died of cancer in March.

Their 27-year-old son Gabe was killed in a construction accident last November.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Libertarians nominate statewide candidates for ’10

April 26, 2010 By

The Libertarian Party held its state convention this weekend and nominated a slate of candidates in statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor and the U.S. Senate.

Forty-four-year-old Eric Cooper of Ames is the Libertarian Party’s nominee for governor.  Cooper says it’s time for a much smaller and vastly more limited government. He says government should be focused only matters that require a “use of force” — protecting people from body and property crimes, enforcing contracts when there’s a dispute and providing “public goods” the free market cannot provide, like roads.  

“But very little else does require force,” he says. “And having government perform any activities other than the limited set that require force is foolish because the govenrment’s a monopoly and like all monopolies it has very little incentive to please its customers and very little incentive to be cost effective.” 

Cooper, who is an Iowa State University psychology professor, admits he won’t be elected governor. ”I am a third-party candidate and as such I don’t have the money to compete with the Republicans and the Democrats,” Cooper says. “My goals are two in this election. Number one:  I want to start a real dialogue with my fellow Iowans about the notion of smaller government, a dialogue that I think the major parties have been very reluctant to have.”

Cooper’s second goal is to garner at least two percent of the vote in November so the Libertarian Party can gain “major party status” in Iowa.  Cooper’s ultimate goal, though, is to have Libertarian candidates win about 10 percent of the vote in each election.  He argues that will force Republicans and Democrats to adopt key Libertarian priorities as their own.

“This has been done in American history. The Populists did in the 1890s.  The Socialists did it in (the second decade of the 20th century),” Cooper says.  “They got everything they wanted without winning elections and we can do it, too.”

Cooper’s lieutenant governor/runningmate is 30-year-old Nick Weltha of Des Moines, an administrator in the Iowa Judicial Branch. Forty-six-year-old John Heiderscheit of Bettendorf if the party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate. In addition, Libertarian candidates are running for congress in Iowa’s first and second districts which are currently represented by Congressmen Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack.

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Iowa National Guard soldiers will soon deploy on ag mission to Afghanistan

April 26, 2010 By

A team of around 60 Iowa National Guard soldiers is moving into final preparations to deploy on a year-long mission to Afghanistan. Iowa Guard Colonel Craig Bargfrede will lead the agricultural development team that’ll help rebuild the country’s agricultural system.

He says they will look at projects that are sustainable for the future and will work in a province in the northeastern part of Afghanistan, known as Kunar province. Bargfrede says guardmembers with an ag background were asked to volunteer, and then they chose the members of the team from the group.

“This is truly a unique effort, in that this is the first ever deployment from the Iowa National Guard that is a joint deployment — meaning that we have both Army and air guard members from Iowa on this team,” Bargfrede says. The team members have been getting some training from Iowa State University on the specific types of crops used in Afghanistan.

He says I.S.U. will provided “reach back” capability, so if they have questions on projects, they can reach back to Iowa State and get questions answered. Bargfrede says the Iowa soldiers will replace a team from California that take up the projects they started.

Bargefrede says the projects range from animal husbandry type projects, to crops to irrigation, to marketing and storage of the various crops and produce.

He says in many cases the crops grown by the Afghans are for their own use. Bargefrede says they want to create an ability for the Afghans to be able to export products and and make money on them. Iowa National Guard Sergeant Major, Robert Reedy, has been overseeing the initial training.

He says the team if from all over the state and the last few months they have really been focusing on building the team. Reedy says they have just completed the first phase of the Yellow Ribbon pre-mobilization plan, which helps explain the mobilization to the soldiers and their families. Reedy says while they are going on an agriculture mission, they are still soldiers and have to be prepared to protect themselves.

“We all know that Afghanistan is a very dangerous place and we bring a very robust security force with us from our M-P company here in Des Moines,” Reedy says. He says the training also focuses on the basic soldier tasks so they can protect themselves, and will also train to use the equipment in Afghanistan. The team will leave Iowa the end of June for additional training and then expects to be in Afghanistan by August.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Military Tagged With:
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