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Clinton authorities consider charges for “sexting”

June 25, 2010 By

Some students in Clinton are “sexting,” sending each other X-rated photos of themselves via cell phones, and authorities are considering pressing charges.

As Clinton school leaders and Clinton police learned of the incidents, a letter was sent to parents to alert them to the practice of sexting, while suggesting tips for parents to take control of their teens’ cell phones.

Police Chief Brian Guy would not specify how many students have been caught sexting, both in the middle and high schools. Chief Guy says there’s clearly a trend and they needed to take action.

“We need to make sure that the parents are aware of this concerning activity going on and we wanted to make them aware of the penalties for it,” Guy says. Interim school superintendent Deb Olson says there will be presentation on sexting by one of the school resource officers at the next board meeting.

Sexting is not unique to the community, according to Chief Guy, who says it’s a nationwide issue.

By Dave Vickers, KROS, Clinton

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Afghan actors help train Iowa National Guard troops

June 25, 2010 By

This is another in a series of reports on the Iowa National Guard training at Camp Riley in Minnesota.

The training for deployment to Afghanistan for Iowa National Guard soldiers includes a lot of planning and also some acting.    Dar Danielson report 1:40 MP3

The Iowa soldiers will come into Afghan villages with some idea of what to expect from the local people after running training sessions known as lanes. Soldiers from Davenport begin their exercise where they seek out insurgents with a strategy session. They go over the village set up that is laid out in a rough map drawn in the sand.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Military Tagged With:

Flood clean up continues in northern Iowa

June 24, 2010 By

Across much of northern Iowa, residents continue to clean out flooded basements from heavy rains that hit Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Vicki Boyington, the city administrator in the Wright County town of Clarion, says this week’s storm is the worst she’s seen.

“I’ve worked at city hall for 35 years and I have never seen one of this magnitude,” Boyington said. Clarion received 4.2 inches of rain during the overnight hours. Governor Culver, in response to recent storms, issued emergency disaster proclamations for Ringgold, Union, Taylor, Hancock, Wright and Franklin Counties.

Boyington says that will help with the clean up effort in Clarion. “A lot of people have been carrying items out of their basement to the curb. Then, we’ll coordinate with the state for clean up and debris removal,” Boyington said. A power outage in Clarion lasted five hours, shutting down many residents’ sump pumps. Highway 3 west of Clarion remains closed because of flooding.

Significant flooding is also reported in Dumont in Butler County, Hampton in Franklin County and Algona in Kossuth County.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather

Microsoft to “immediately” begin construction of data center in Iowa

June 24, 2010 By

State officials say Microsoft plans to “immediately” begin construction of a new data center in West Des Moines, although the project has been scaled down from initial plans. Governor Culver says the company promises to employ 25 people at the facility when it’s up and running next spring and those workers will be be paid more than $30 an hour on average.

“That’s the most important thing here:  economic development and job opportunities for people in this exciting information technology field,” Culver says. 

The so-called “server farm” will be located to the west of Interstate-35 and south of the Jordan Creek shopping mall that’s in West Des Moines. ”You’re talking about really good-paying construction jobs to build this $100 million facility and then 25 permanent jobs,” Culver says. “…We are very, very excited about this good news. We’ve been competing very aggressively for this project for about three years.” 

When the recession hit, Microsoft shelved previous plans to build a $600 million data center at the site in West Des Moines. Google is currently operating a “server farm” in Council Bluffs. The Google and Microsoft projects received special tax incentives from the state; over $3 million worth of road improvements were made around the Microsoft site in West Des Moines. Microsoft was considering sites in San Antonio and Chicago for its newest data center.   

“We’ve now scored the big trifecta,” Culver says. “We have IBM, Google and Microsoft all doing business and creating hundreds and hundreds of good-paying jobs in Council Bluffs, Dubuque and now West Des Moines so it’s a good day for our economy.” 

IBM has hired about 870 workers for its service center in Dubuque, with plans to expand the Dubuque workforce to 1300 by year’s end.  Google officially opened its data center in Council Bluffs two years ago, with plans to employ about 200 people.

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

Wandering bear spotted again in Buchanan County

June 24, 2010 By

A black bear that’s been lumbering through northeast Iowa for nearly a month has been spotted again — this time in Buchanan County, just east of Waterloo. Megan McConnell snapped a picture of the animal this morning as the bear wandered through the family’s backyard in Jesup.

Conservation officials believe the bear — estimated to be about 2-years-old — is the same one that was first spotted by residents in Worth and Mitchell counties Memorial Day weekend. After the initial sightings were reported, the animal was spotted about a week later in Floyd County, near Charles City.

Other sightings were reported again on June 14th in Bremer County, near Nashua. Bremer County Sheriff Dewey Hildebrandt confirms the bear was seen along U.S. Highway 63 on Wednesday, just south of the Chickasaw County line. Now, comes the latest sighting — this morning in Jesup. Conservation officials believe the bear is following the Wapsipinicon River.

The Iowa Department of National Resources is advising residents to leave the bear alone and avoid any contact, if they spot it. D.N.R. officials say the bear will leave humans alone, unless it’s provoked into being aggressive.

By Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Oelwein

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation

Harkin says Fremont, Nebraska immigration ordinance will face legal test

June 24, 2010 By

Voters just across the Missouri River in the eastern Nebraska town of Fremont approved an ordinance this week that bans the renting of apartments or houses to illegal immigrants, as well as hiring them for any job. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says he hopes no Iowa towns attempt to follow suit.

“Any ordinance like that has to meet constitutional tests and, as I understand it, there’s going to be a court case filed immediately,” Harkin says. “City councils can’t just do whatever they want. They couldn’t, for example, pass an ordinance saying we’re going to have segregated schools. They can pass the ordinance, but the courts would never uphold it.”

The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is vowing to file an injunction to block the ordinance from taking effect, in addition to another suit challenging its constitutionality. Harkin says city leaders elsewhere need to take note.

Harkin says, “Before towns and communities go rushing off to emulate what Fremont’s done, they’d better hold their fire and see what happens to the court cases on this.” The law will subject all renters to checks by the city, located just northwest of Omaha, and will impose fines on employers who don’t verify the immigration status of their workers.

The lawyer who wrote Fremont’s anti-illegal immigrant ordinance has written similar measures for other cities, in addition to the Arizona state law. He says the laws are on solid legal footing and will withstand any court challenge.

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

Texting ban is one week away

June 24, 2010 By

One week from today, a new state law takes effect that will ban texting while driving. Gail Weinholzer, spokeswoman for Triple-A-Iowa, says that form of thumb-typed communication via mobile device is extremely dangerous and the new statewide ban will apply to every motorist.

“The text ban is effective for all drivers in Iowa, driving through Iowa, effective July 1st, and that involves the act of composing, reading or sending text messages,” Weinholzer says. “That’s in effect for all drivers, regardless of age. The only folks that are exempt are certain types of emergency and professional drivers.” She says violators will face a $30 fine, but if there’s an accident with a serious injury or death, the texter can face a fine up to one-thousand dollars and a license suspension up to 180 days.

“We’re in full support of a text ban across the nation, in fact, 27 states have passed it, along with the District of Columbia and we’re hoping the other 23 states get on board,” Weinholzer says. “Texting while driving is a particularly dangerous distraction.” A federal study finds texting while driving was responsible for nearly 6,000 deaths and a half-million injuries nationwide last year. Weinholzer says studies have also found that people who text while driving are more than 20 times more likely to be involved in crashes than non-distracted drivers.

“When you’re driving down the road at 50, 60 miles an hour, if you’re on the interstate, you’re making decisions the entire time as it applies to other cars and speeds and exits and merging vehicles,” Weinholzer says. “You really need to be focused on the act of driving and not being distracted by texting.”

Under the Iowa law, texting while driving will be classified as a secondary offense, which means you can only be stopped and ticketed when committing another traffic offense. For novice drivers, texting while driving will be classified as a primary offense, which means you can be pulled over and ticketed based on texting alone.

While the texting ban applies to virtually all drivers, those drivers under 18 on “provisional” licenses will also be banned from talking on cell phones while behind the wheel, as of July 1st.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With:
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