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Tougher seatbelt rules signed into law

April 28, 2010 By

The governor signed a bill into law today that will soon require all children under the age of 18 to wear a seatbelt while riding in the back seat of a car. Current law only applies to kids up to the age of ten. The Governor signed the bill at Blank Children’s hospital in Des Moines where he was joined by hospital president David Stark.

“We see firsthand, unfortunately, the affects of kids who don’t wear seat belts,” Stark said, “We see it in our emergency departments, we see it in our clinics, we see it in our therapy. And we would love nothing more than to avoid seeing that going forward. This bill will save lives.”

Stark says nearly half of all teenage deaths in Iowa result from car accidents which is why the hospital and child safety advocates have pressed for this law for nearly ten years. Eighteen-year-old Isaiah Krull of Shellrock was seriously injured in a car accident two years ago while riding from one field to another during detassling. Krull was in the back seat and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Since then he has lobbied hard to strengthen Iowa’s seatbelt law.

“I’m extremely pleased. I worked for like a year on this bill,” Krull says, “But I don’t think this should be it. I think it should be for everybody. But I’m happy it’s just for teenagers.” Krull says he will continue to press state lawmakers to eventually mandate back seat seatbelt use for everyone. Authorities say parents who have more kids than seatbelts will not be ticketed. The new restrictions begin July 1st.

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

Fallen workers honored in ceremony in Des Moines

April 28, 2010 By

Several families who lost loved ones in workplace accidents last year gathered in Des Moines today for an Iowa Workers’ Memorial Day ceremony. Governor Chet Culver addressed the crowd outside the State Capitol. Two Iowans in the military were killed last year, while 46 people died in accidents on job sites.

“No one deserves the pain and grief that the families of these 48 people are feeling today and no words will take away that pain. But I do want to make one thing very clear – we will always remember the lives of these Iowans and their sacrifices,” Culver said. “Their lives will serve as a constant reminder to people…of the necessity of workplace safety.”

Iowa Federation of Labor President Ken Sagar also spoke to the families as they sat near 48 white crosses marked with each of the victims’ names. “I say it’s time that we work to make sure there are no white crosses on the lawn over here,” Sagar said. “There are fewer than in years past, but there are still too many.”

The first Workers Memorial Day was observed in 1989. Sagar has spoke at many of those past ceremonies. “I don’t want to stand here, year in and year out, looking at a crowd of people who have lost a loved one,” Sagar said. “If we truly believe that workers are valuable and safety is important, than we have to take action.”

Mark Cooper, President of South Central Iowa Federation of Labor, called on state and federal lawmakers to increase penalties on employers when workers are injured or killed on the job. Cooper is also requesting increased funding to agencies that inspect workplaces to prevent accidents.

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

Davis the leader at qb after UNI spring ball

April 28, 2010 By

Zach Davis is the leader but U.N.I. coach Mark Farley says there is a good battle this spring to see who will replace Pat Grace as the starting quarterback for the Panthers. Davis appeared in seven game last year and in 2008 was 3-0 as the starter when Grace was injured. Davis is being pushed by former Ellsworth quarterback Terrell Rennie.

Farley says he likes what he sees out of Davis and says he has really improved this spring after having a chance to start last year.

Farley says right now Davis has the edge, but he says Rennie has made it competitive with his talent. Farley says it will come down to who can make the players around him better. He says Davis is ahead in that area now, but Rennie shouldn’t be counted out.

U.N.I.’s spring game is Friday night.

By Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Tonni Engle

April 28, 2010 By

Tonni Engle is a senior at Ottumwa High School. She was nominated by her mother, Julie Engle:

TonniEngle200“Tonni is an all around superior young lady! I am, of course, a little biased, being her mother. However, Tonni is a very dedicated student and her hard work over the years has earned her very good results. Tonni is very mature and highly committed to her education and extracurricular activities. Here are a few examples…President of the Ottumwa High Scool Future Educations Association (FEA), President of Tes Trams Sorority, member of Friends of Rachel, Teen Pregnancy Task Force, Students Against Destructive Desicions (SADD), Just Eliminate Lies (JEL), Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Girls Scouts (13 years), cheerleader (4 years), jazz-tap-ballet (15 years).

I could go on and on. While being involved in all these activities and working a part-time job she maintained an excellant GPA. Also her community service with Festival of Trees, Race For The Cure, Relay For Life, these are just a few to mention. She also started and organized a fundraiser in Ottumwa, Flock for the Cure to raise money for local Breast Cancer Awareness by flocking yards with Flamingos (because of my breast CA).

I believe her outstanding leadership, community service, dedication and leadership by example shows why she is a worthy candidate for INS Student of the Month.”

AUDIO: INS Superior Student

Filed Under: INS Superior Student

Looking for crisis manager at IASB

April 28, 2010 By
IASB sign

IASB sign

Within the next week the Iowa Association of School Boards likely will have a new interim director, someone who’s had experience in handling a “crisis in the past.” 

The association’s former executive director is under scrutiny over allegations of inflated salaries and questionable spending decisions and she was fired in late March. Iowa Association of School Boards spokeswoman Megan Forgrave says the group’s board of directors plans to name an interim director in the next few days.

“The board just feels this is not the time to try and take on a big search process so what they’ve done is go out to experts in the field, gotten some recommendations, taken people’s names who’ve said they’re interested in the position, held some interviews,” Forgrave says. “They’re doing some background checks and they want to make sure they’re very, very thorough in that this time around.” 

The association’s long-time executive director retired last year and the group hired Maxine Kilcrease as his replacement. Nolden Gentry is the attorney who was hired in March to sort through the group’s affairs.

“I think that there are a number of board members who are concerned that they didn’t go far enough last time and so we want to try to avoid that this trip,” Gentry says. “We want to do our due dilligence before we select and designate a person who comes into a pretty bad situation and tries to make it better.”

According to Gentry, the candidates for the interim role as director of the association are four people who have run school districts that “have had some degree of crisis in the past.”

Two members of the group’s board of directors have resigned, including the man who went on the board in January as the treasurer for the Iowa Association of School Boards.  In addition, the group’s past-president has resigned. Jack Hill, a member of the North Scott School board, had been on the Iowa Association of School Board’s executive board for eight years. What looks like Hill’s signature is on a document that outlined a hefty salary hike for Kilcrease just a few months after her hire.  Hill told The Des Moines Register he had signed the document, but later said he had not.

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

Iowa’s congressional delegation votes against pay raise

April 28, 2010 By

Iowa’s congressional delegation has voted against giving themselves a pay raise. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution that stops the “cost-of-living” pay bump which had been scheduled to show up in congressional pay checks.

 All five Iowa congressmen — Bruce Braley, Dave Loebsack, Leonard Boswell, Tom Latham and Steve King, all voted for it. By their action, those five congressmen and the rest of the U.S. House had voted to freeze their pay though the end of next year.

The U.S. Senate last week had already voted to freeze senators’ pay. Officials expect the pay freeze for members of the House and Senate will save the U.S. treasury about a million dollars.

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

Families of guard members learn about upcoming deployment

April 28, 2010 By

Over 200 people attended the fourth of seven town hall meetings hosted by the Iowa National Guard Tuesday evening in Waterloo. The meetings are designed to try and let family, friends and communities know what to expect when nearly three-thousand Iowa Guard soldiers deploy to Afghanistan later this year.

Julie Balk and her husband drove an hour from West Union to find out what is ahead for their 20-year-old son. She says they wanted to find out as parents what their responsibilities and obligations are. Balk says their son is an adult, but is a full time student and still on their health insurance, and they want to know what happens with that. She says the also want to know how to contact him, if they have to go through the Red Cross. Balk says they are proud of their son’s military involvement, but are apprehensive because this is his first deployment.

Command Sergeant Major, Craig Berte of Cedar Falls has been deployed before, and has come up with a way to help his wife and five children deal with this deployment. “I talk about it with my children in terms of just missing a whole year. So one thing I’ve been able to talk to with my kids is I’ll miss a certain grade…so I think that kind of puts it in a time perspective for them,it helps them understand how long a year is,” Berte says. He says he deployed for a year one other time when his children were younger and they have no recollection of it at all.

Colonel Tom Staton, will command the 2nd Brigade combat team that’s being deployed. Staton says family members should find someone that they can talk with and share their thoughts and concerns while their soldier is deployed. Staton says families are always going to have things come up, and there’s no way to keep that from happening. He says it’s important if something happens that the family knows where to go for help.

The soldiers will leave in July for several weeks training at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, and then will undergo more training in California before shipping out to Afghanistan at the end of October. The final three town hall meetings are scheduled for Des Moines Thursday, May 4th in Cedar Rapids and May 6th in Davenport.

Filed Under: Military Tagged With:
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