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Big Ten baseball race remains close with 2 weeks to go

May 12, 2010 By

Fans of parity would love the Big Ten Conference baseball race this season. With two weeks remaining in the regular season just two games separate first place from last place. Four teams sit at the top of the conference with 10-8 marks while the Iowa Hawkeyes are one of four teams sitting at 8-10.

Iowa coach Jack Dahm says the parity throughout the Midwest is incredible, and he says it means every game is important. He says the teams that are 10-8 might not qualify for the tournament if they lose a few games. The Hawkeyes play their final six games at home beginning with this weekend’s three game series with Ohio State.

Dahm says they don’t have to travel and they are getting done with finals, so they should be ready to go. The top six teams in the regular season will move on to the Big Ten post season tournament. Dahm says everything is so close that a lot of teams have pressure on them, including Ohio State, which is hosting the conference tournament. He says things could go down to the third of fourth tiebreaker.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Drake hosts MVC tourney that includes UNI

May 12, 2010 By

Drake hosts a Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament beginning Thursday that will feature a new format. Gone is the single elimination format and now seeds three through eight will battle to join the top two seeds in a double elimination tournament. U.N.I. is the fourth seed.

Panther coach Ryan Jacobs says getting into the top four seeds is advantageous, especially when it comes to pitching. He says it helps keep the pitchers fresh when they only have to play one game the first day to make it to the double elimination round. U.N.I. will play the winner of the game between Missouri State and Evansville and will need a win to move on to Friday.

Jacobs says they changed the format to help protect the best teams in the league and to reward those teams for their success during the season.

Drake coach Rich Calvert says the top two seeds deserve to be rewarded for their play during the regular season. He says the old format never had a one versus two play in the championship. Calvert says it rewards the teams that did well during the regular season for that effort.

Drake is the six seed and will need two wins on Thursday to advance. He says the key is to get those wins and make it to Friday. Making a deep run in the tournament will stretch a pitching staff for the lower seeds but Calvert feels the Bulldogs have the depth to do it. Calvert says he thinks they have the best pitching for this format, as they don’t have to rely on one pitcher. He says you have to be able to keep your team in the game with pitching and hopefully scratch out a few runs.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Former Governor Branstad’s brother agrees to environmental fine

May 12, 2010 By

Former Governor Terry Branstad’s brother has agreed to pay a $17,000 fine for environmental violations at his livestock operation near Forest City in north-central Iowa. The Iowa Attorney General’s office reports Monroe “Monte” Branstad had 900 cows in open lots and 200 in confinement buildings at the time of August 2008 violations.

Attorney General’s office spokesperson Bob Brammer says Branstad allowed sweet-corn silage runoff to enter the Winnebago River. “The D.N.R. investigated it at that time and traced it back up river (to Branstad’s farm),” Brammer said. “I think they found pollution and dead fish for at least 16 miles down the Winnebago River.”

Branstad stated in court papers that the pollution was “unintentional.” He also denied the pollution killed thousands of fish. “The issue of restitution or compensation for the fish kill still needs to be resolved administratively by the D.N.R,” Brammer said. D.N.R. officials say they do plan to seek restitution for the dead fish. Monte Branstad has been accused of environmental violations in the past.

Tuesday’s court order included payment of fines, plus interest for a March 2007 penalty for solid waste and open burning violations. Terry Branstad, a Republican, is seeking a fifth term as governor. Terry Branstad released his tax returns to the media last month and they showed he has no business relationship with his brother.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Environment & Conservation Tagged With: , ,

PETA says going vegan saves water

May 12, 2010 By

The weather dampened a staged event by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals during the noon hour in downtown Des Moines. Two PETA volunteers pretended to take a shower in what organizer Amanda Fortino says was an attempt to prove a point about water use.

“We want people to know you don’t have to give up showering to have a clean conscience about the amount of water you’re using, instead you can just go vegan,” Fortino explained, “it takes nearly 2,400 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef. So you actually save more water by not eating the one pound of beef than you would by not showering for six months.”

PETA volunteer waves at traffic in downtown Des Moines.

PETA volunteer waves at traffic in downtown Des Moines.

The plaza where PETA set up the display is normally filled with people during the noon hour, but rain showers left only passing traffic to see the message. Fortino says she was disappointed with the weather, but says they decided to go forward to get their message out. She says people don’t have to eat meat, even in a top agriculture state like Iowa.

“It’s never been easier to go vegan, you can walk into local grocery store and find a vegan option. It’s in high demand and people really are starting to be more aware of what they can do for the environment and helping to save animals,” Fortino said. Although they appeared to be to passersby, the women in the makeshift shower were not fully nude.

They did elicit some honking horns and one man riding in a truck rolled down his window and said he was dirty and could use a shower too. PETA holds these types of events on an annual basis.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation

Iowa congressman Braley questions oil companies

May 12, 2010 By

Congressman Bruce Braley is a member of a House committee that’s been questioning executives from the four companies involved in operations of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. During today’s hearing, Braley questioned why alarms on the rig didn’t sound to warn that there’d been a dramatic increase in pressure in the pit and the flow of fluids into the well before the rig exploded.

“These events should have triggered alarms that would have given the people monitoring the situation on that well advance notice of a catastrophe in the making,” Braley says. According to Braley, congress needs to find out exactly what happened and that means asking questions of federal regulators, too, as British Petroleum had certified that the company could contain and control a spill of 250-thousand barrels of leaking oil per day.

[Read more...]

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

Police use trail of blood to catch convenience store robber

May 12, 2010 By

Police followed a five-block-long trail of blood to find a suspect in the attempted overnight robbery of a Des Moines convenience store. The two clerks at the Kum ‘N Go convenience store near the Drake University campus refused to give a robber any money.

The two clerks fought with the man, who had a knife. The would-be robber got stabbed in the stomach. He ran, but police followed the blood trail and found him in a nearby apartment. The suspect lunged at police with a knife, then jumped out a second-floor window.

He was taken to a Des Moines hospital for surgery. The man faces first-degree robbery, willful injury and resisting arrest charges. One of the convenience store clerks had a knife wound on his arm, but he was treated at the scene.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

More rain puts one third of state under a flood watch

May 12, 2010 By

With another rainy day in Iowa, about one-third of the state is now under a Flash Flood Watch. Some 30 counties across eastern, central and southern Iowa are included. Meteorologist Roger Valhollek, at the National Weather Service, says a large storm system covers much of the nation’s midsection.

A lot of moisture is coming up into Iowa from the south with the potential for heavy rainfall this afternoon and Valhollek says there’s the possibility of flash-flooding in southern Iowa tonight. He says the system producing the heavy rain should pull out by sometime early tomorrow.

The storm system that’s moving into Iowa from Texas and Oklahoma is bringing the potential for 2-to3 inches of rain in parts of southern Iowa tonight. Iowans should be in for some drier, warmer weather for the weekend with sunnier skies expected statewide and highs in the 60s to low 70s.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Weather
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