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Iowa first to enact 10 Defense Department suggestions for military families

April 28, 2010 By

Iowa is the first state in the nation to enact into law 10 pieces of legislation the Defense Department has designated as priorities for supporting military service members and their families. Governor Culver Tuesday signed a total of seven bills into law that address issues for current service members, veterans and their families.

One measure prohibits utilities from disconnecting service to military families while a family member is deployed. Another directs employers to allow holiday time off for veterans on Veterans Day. One more bill signed into law will allow parents who’re in the military to transfer their visitation rights to other family members during deployment.

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

Lawmaker says consider not building in 500 year flood plain

April 28, 2010 By

A Cedar Rapids lawmaker is asking state agencies to consider denying state grants for construction projects in the 500-year flood plain. The 2010 Iowa Legislature failed to adopt a bill that would have restricted new development in the 500-year flood plain. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, says state agencies could try to prevent the practice.

Hogg says evaluating a potential project’s flood risk could be part of the application process for the community development block grants that are handed out by the Iowa Department of Economic Development. “When the state is providing assistance, we shouldn’t be providing it to projects that are in jeopardy of future disaster damage,” Hogg says.

But an official in the Iowa Department of Economic Development says the agency would likely experience push back from community leaders who don’t trust the accuracy of the 500-year flood plain maps. Senator Hogg argues the state should err on the side of public safety and protect its future investments.

“We can build along rivers, but you just have to do it knowing that it’s going to flood in the future, so make sure that development is flood-safe,” Hogg says. The state needs to be “more proactive” when it comes to flood zones, according to Hogg, who says scarce state resources should be reserved for projects that are outside of the 500-year flood zone.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With: ,

Volunteers needed for Special Olympics in Omaha/Council Bluffs

April 28, 2010 By

Volunteers are needed from southwest Iowa to help with next month’s Special Olympics Summer Games in Omaha/Council Bluffs. More than 1,200 athletes are expected for the event and organizer Katie Bowser says the only way it can succeed is with hundreds of volunteers offering to help. Bowser says they need volunteers for a host of duties.

“Timing at track and field, awarding the medals,” she says. “We need help selling merchandise, checking in volunteers. We need lots of help with facilities, setting things up, tearing them down.” Bowser says volunteers do not need prior experience, just a willingness to help and learn.

“The day of the event the volunteer is coming to, there will be training provided and there is no experience or knowledge required of the sport that you sign up for.” Bowser says the events run May 19th through the 22nd and are actually one of eight Special Olympic competitions that take place in Nebraska each year.

“We’ve got about four-thousand athletes across the state and about 12-hundred of them will be coming to the Omaha area to compete in the Summer Games which host eight of our sports state competitions.” Some of the events include golf, roller skating, swimming and gymnastics. Bowser says about 500 volunteers will be needed to staff this year’s event.

To sign up, visit “www.sone.org“.

Filed Under: Human Interest

Hoiberg: “It’s great to be home,” named new ISU head coach

April 28, 2010 By
ISU media guide featuring Fred Hoiberg, Loren Meyer and Julias Michalik. (L-R)

ISU media guide featuring Fred Hoiberg, Loren Meyer and Julias Michalik. (L-R)

Fred Hoiberg was introduced this morning as the new head coach of the Cyclone men’s basketball team.

“It’s great to be home,” Hoiberg, an Ames native and former I.S.U. star, told a crowd of media and supporters who gathered in Ames for this morning’s news conference. “…I haven’t slept or eaten in two days because of the excitement I felt.”

Hoiberg paid tribute to his Ames High coach who was in the room and noted it was a homecoming for both him and his wife, who is also an Ames native. “We saw the opportunity to come home and make our dreams come true,” Hoiberg said. “…Here I am, realizing my dreams.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Hunters donate over 7,000 deer to HUSH program

April 28, 2010 By

Iowa deer hunters donated 7,070 deer to needy families over the past year through the Help Us Stop Hunger – or HUSH – program. HUSH coordinator Ross Harrison, with the Department of Natural Resources, says this was the seventh year for the program.

Hunters deliver the field-dressed deer to nearly 90 different lockers around the state. “The lockers love it because it’s guaranteed business for them and it generates well over one million servings for Iowa’s needy,” Harrison said. The HUSH program is open to any hunter who pays for an Iowa deer license.

A $1 fee is included on all licenses to pay the meat lockers $65 per deer in processing costs. Harrison says donations to the program have been declining along with the overall harvest of deer in the last three years. “That’s indicating that we’re doing what we set out to do – reduce the deer herd back to 1999 levels. So, it’s working,” Harrison said.

The program benefits the meat lockers, low-income Iowans and hunters – who are given the opportunity to shoot more deer. Harrison credits the Food Bank of Iowa for making the HUSH program a success. “Not only do they help distribute the venison through more than 500 social service organizations scattered throughout the state, they also make administrative payments to lockers and keep the books,” Harrison said.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Human Interest Tagged With: ,

Passenger rail supporters are hoping to get funding for Iowa City route

April 28, 2010 By

Advocates of expanding passenger rail service in Iowa say they’re optimistic a proposed Amtrak route between Chicago and Iowa City will receive federal funding by the end of October. The Chicago to Iowa City and Chicago to Dubuque routes were not in the first round of eight-billion dollars in funding announced in January.

The next round of rail funding includes two- and-a-half billion federal dollars. Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce president Nancy Quellhorst says the federal money does not come without strings. She says the ability to access federal funding is contingent on a 20% match by the state.

State lawmakers have approved and the governor signed a law committing an additional $6.5 million dollars to the cause. Quellhorst says it’s a good investment. “It’s a quality of life issue, it’s a job creation issue, there’s just opportunity to be gained here,” Quellhorst says. She says a Chicago rail route would provide an important link for Iowa City.

“We have a student base that includes 6,000 students (who) hail from that area so it’s a convenience and a safety and environmental issue. It’s not that all things aren’t well in Iowa City. This is just opportunity, “Quellhorst says. The total estimated cost of bringing passenger rail service from Chicago to Iowa City is about $230-million. The Iowa portion of that amount is about $100-million.

An announcement on the projects that’ll be funded with the new round of federal dollars is expected by the end of October.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Freelance technician in Iowa for Obama visit caught with pot

April 28, 2010 By

A freelance technician hired to cover President Obama’s appearance in Ottumwa yesterday wound up being booked by Ottumwa police.  

A 25-year-old man from Des Plaines, Illinois who was hired to be a “soundman” for the president’s visit was charged with prohibited acts and possession of drug paraphernalia. Ottumwa police say officers stationed at the Secret Service checkpoint outside the gym where Obama was to speak found a bag of marijuana in the man’s backpack.  Secret Service agents turned the man over to Ottumwa police. The arrest happened several hours before the event was to start. 

The man was a subcontractor, hired by a “local cameraman” who ABC News had hired to cover Obama’s speech in Ottumwa. An ABC spokesman issued a statement, saying while the network “did not hire this soundman directly,” the network regrets that the Secret Service and Ottumwa police “had to waste their valuable time dealing with this matter.”

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government
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