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DNR safety expert says boater education courses should be required

June 11, 2010 By

A boating safety expert with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is suggesting state lawmakers require all boaters to take an education course. Susan Stocker says the move would help reduce the rising number of accidents on Iowa’s lakes and rivers.

“I think that mandatory education should definitely be a push for Iowa,” Stocker told Radio Iowa. Over the Memorial Day weekend, there were at least 11 accidents and six deaths on Iowa waterways. Iowa law only requires mandatory boater education certificates for those operators between the ages of 12 and 17. Stocker says the law should be expanded to include everyone who operates a boat.

“There’s a lot of states that have mandatory education for everyone,” Stocker said. “It would assist not only the people who’ve been operating their boat for a lifetime…they would be able to react to the individuals who aren’t as experienced.” Stocker also believes it’s time for lawmakers to bring drunk boating standards in line with drunk driving a vehicle.

Currently, a boater in Iowa is considered legally drunk when they register a blood alcohol content of .10. That compares to .08 for motorists on the highway. “We are definitely going to bring that up again,” Stocker said. “Certainly, we feel the boating while intoxicated BAC level should mirror that of operating a vehicle.”

The B-A-C level issue has gone before lawmakers several times in recent years, but has failed to win approval.

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

Drake hopes USA championships will land them Olympic trials

June 11, 2010 By

Drake University officials hope the upcoming U.S.A. Track and Field Championships will help them eventually land the U.S. Olympic Trials. Drake Stadium hosted the N.C.A.A. Championships back in 2008 and the event set an attendance record. Associate A.D. Mark Kostek says they hope for similar success with the U.S. championships.

Kostek says the community needs to turn out and show their support to give the athletes a great experience in front of full stands. He says when that happens, then the bid for the Olympic trials is better. Kostek expects a number of the competitors at the NCAA meet to take part in the U.S. Championships.

He says many of the winners or runner ups will enter the U.S.A. championships. The U.S. Championships will also feature a number of future Olympians in the junior division. Kostek says you have to be under 20 for the entire year, so usually it’s the college freshmen and high school seniors.

The meet runs June 23rd through the 27th at Drake Stadium.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Casey’s files complaint against company attempting takeover

June 11, 2010 By

Casey’s has filed a complaint against the Canadian company that’s attempting a hostile takeover of the Ankeny-based convenience store chain. Casey’s officials say they filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court alleging that Alimentation Couche-Tard has violated federal securities laws in connection with its unsolicited offer to purchase all of Casey’s outstanding shares.

Casey’s says Couche-Tard made it’s offer public to buy Casey’s shares for $36 without disclosing that it already owned two million shares of Casey’s stock. They says Couche-Tard then took advantage of the market reaction to make millions of dollars by selling almost all of the shares the company owned at a price of $38.43.

Casey’s is seeking an injunction barring Card-Touche from taking further steps to consummate the stock purchase offer.

Read more here: www.caseys.com/pdf/Press_Release-June_11,_2010.pdf

Filed Under: Business, Crime & Courts

Branstad: no more “free” preschool

June 11, 2010 By
Terry Branstad talks with a supporter during a campaign event.

Terry Branstad talks with a supporter during a campaign event.

Terry Branstad, the 2010 Republican nominee for governor, says the state cannot afford to provide “free preschool” to three and four-year-olds in Iowa. 

Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat who is seeking reelection in the fall, has vowed to expand public preschool programs to every Iowa school district.  About 21,000 three- and four-year-olds were enrolled in pre-K programs in 325 Iowa school districts this year.

[Read more...]

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

Three found dead in Calhoun County

June 11, 2010 By

Three people have been found dead inside a farm house in northwest Iowa’s Calhoun County. Few other details have been released.

A team from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation was sent to the scene south of Lake City around 7:30 this morning.

There’s no word of any arrests, how the people died or the victim’s identities.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Iowa Supreme Court rules on Davenport Deere fire insurance claim

June 11, 2010 By

The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned a nearly $40-million award to an insurance company for the 2001 fire that destroyed a John Deere facility in Davenport. The fire was discovered in February 2001 in a warehouse that held Deere equipment. Davenport firefighters arrived on the scene thirteen minutes after the fire was discovered, but found there was not enough water pressure in the warehouse system to put out the fire.

The fire burned for several days, and all of Deere’s products were destroyed. The Davenport fire chief testified he believed they could have put out the fire if there had been sufficient water pressure. The cause of the fire has never been determined.

Factory Mutual Insurance Company had done the engineering evaluation of the building for Deere before the company took it over, and after the fire F-M-I was sued by Deere’s main insurance provider Royal Indemnity Company. Royal said F-M-I had breeched its contract with Deere in examining the building and was responsible for the losses in the fire. The district court ruled in favor of Royal and awarded them $39.5 million dollars.

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned the district court ruling, saying Royal is not entitled to the damages it seeks simply because a fire broke out in the warehouse and harmed the defendant. The high court says the cause of the fire was never determined, nor was it ascertained why there was insufficient water pressure to effectively fight the fire. It said there was no proof an adequate inspection could have prevented the fire or prevented the lack of water pressure to fight the fire.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

Grassley says congress shouldn’t step into conference realignment issue

June 11, 2010 By

The first domino has fallen. The University of Colorado is leaving the Big 12 Conference for the Pac Ten, and Nebraska may pull out of the Big 12 today to join the Big Ten. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the moves could bring the demise of the Big 12 and hurt remaining schools like Iowa State University. Grassley says getting federal lawmakers involved isn’t the best move.

Grassley says, “I’m not one that starts out with the idea Congress ought to or can solve every problem that we have and so I haven’t come to a conclusion of Congress doing anything.” He says there are some angles that could be investigated which may delay or prevent the conference realignment.

“The tax exempt status of these non-profit organizations and the other one is whether or not any anti-trust laws would be violated,” Grassley says. “In the case of anti-trust laws, Congress isn’t going to bring any action under anti-trust laws. That can only be the Attorney General, if there’s a reason for doing it because anti-trust laws have been pretty much the same for 120 years and we don’t prosecute, we only make laws.”

Critics of the conference change-ups remind that public universities are supposed to be focused on education, not on sports and making money. Grassley agrees. “Obviously, a tax exemption is for a specific purpose,” he says. “In the case of educational institutions, it’s for the education of kids, so does this in any way promote the education goals of the university?” Grassley says Congress can look into anything but it isn’t necessarily a good idea, and he clarified his comment on tax exemptions.

“I’m not looking for Congress to take action,” he says. “I’ve been asked by people is there anything Congress can do anything about it? I don’t know until you look into it and maybe even after that I’d say it’s not something we ought to get involved in. Lastly, I want to make clear I’m not trying to do anything about tax exemption. In fact, I’m just the opposite. I want to promote tax exemption.”

Nebraska and Missouri are considered the two leading candidates should the Big Ten expand. The Nebraska Board of Regents is expected to address the issue of switching conferences at today’s meeting in Lincoln.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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