The junior second baseman had eight hits in 16 at bats and slammed four home runs, had eight RBI and scored five runs in four games. Schwartz homered and drove in three runs in a win over Denison-Schleswig. He also had three home runs asnd drove in five in a win over Council Bluffs St. Albert.
Class 4A: Jake Yacanich, Dowling Catholic
July 13, 2010 By
The junior third baseman batted .600 with 18 hits in 30 at bats. He had a home run, six doubles, drove in eight runs and scored nine times. Yacanich was five-of-seven with four doubles, three RBI and scored two runs in a double header sweep of Indianola. He had a pair of hits, including a solo homer, in a victory over Urbandale.
Tea Party billboard in Mason City raises concern
July 13, 2010 By
Tea Party billboard in Mason City. (Photo courtesy of Bob Fisher)
A new billboard in downtown Mason City features a photo of President Obama, flanked by pictures of German dictator Adolf Hitler and Communist leader Vladimir Lenin.
The billboard features phrases like “Live Free or Die” and “Radical leaders prey on the fearful and naive.”
It’s the same spot where a billboard last fall featured the phrase “Obama-Nation, Live Free or Die” with the Communist symbol of a hammer and sickle. The billboards were paid for by the North Iowa Tea Party.
Report says state homeless population grew by 38% last year
July 13, 2010 By
Iowa’s homeless population grew by more than 38% last year according to an annual report produced by the Iowa Finance Authority. Around 23,000 Iowans were without a regular nighttime residence in 2009. Roughly 14,000 of those were part of homeless families.
Tim Wilson, Executive Director of the Willis Dady Emergency Shelter in Cedar Rapids, says there used to be slow periods throughout the year, but not anymore. “Unfortunately, we’re able to serve fewer than half the families that approach us for a place to stay,” Wilson said. “So, we turn away more people than we’re able to help, which is really heartbreaking. For men, the beds tend to turnover fast, so we’re able to serve 90 plus percent of (the men) who come to us.”
The Willis Dady shelter has four family units and 16 beds for single men. Wilson says some of those they serve are suffering from mental illness or addiction while others are simply looking for a safe place to stay. Emily Minear is director of the men’s residence program at the Riverfront YMCA of Greater Des Moines. She’s noticed a rising demand for services the last two years, as the tough economy hit many people who never expected to be homeless.
“We’re getting a lot of guys that come in and they say that, ‘I never expected to be here, I have a college degree, I owned my own home.’ Maybe they go to family or friends first, but that can only last so long, so they’re having to start fresh and transition again,” Minear said.
The YMCA of Greater Des Moines has 186 dormitory style rooms and Minear says approximately half of their residents hold down jobs. She says most men end up at the Y after a divorce, eviction or layoff. Often times, Minear says, medical bills or child support payments make it difficult to afford housing. Minear and Wilson made their comments on the Iowa Public Radio program The Exchange.
GPAC able to rework football schedule after Dana closes
July 13, 2010 By
The Great Plains Athletic Conference has adopted a ten game conference football schedule for the upcoming season. Several GPAC members were only going to have nine league games after Dana College in Nebraska announced it was closing its doors but commissioner Corey Westra led an effort to rework the schedule to make sure all the teams had ten games.
Westra says it seems like a simple thing to add back a game, but he says so many teams have games set because of homecoming, so it becomes a jigsaw puzzle. He says they tried to avoid giving long stretches of games on the road or at home so that it works out that each team will have just two road games in a row.
Westra says the coaches were helpful and it looks like they are ready to move forward. Westra says they wanted to avoid a team playing three consecutive road games and also wanted to ensure five home games for all of the teams. He says that was not negotiable, there had to be five home games and five away.
With 11 football playing schools remaining the changes will end up with a round robin with everyone playing each other.
State casino revenue down from the last fiscal year
July 13, 2010 By
The report on casino revenues by the Racing and Gaming Commission shows a drop in revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30th — the first drop in 17 years. The report on the revenue generated by the 17 state-licensed casinos shows a drop of %3.5 in revenue compared to last year. Gross revenues went from $1.41 billion to $1.36 billion.
The impact of the economy was one of the factors discussed recently as the commission voted to award a new casino license to Lyon County, and the latest revenue numbers reflect those concerns. The Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino took in the most money with gross revenue at just over $186.6 million, followed closely by the Horshoe Casino and Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in Council Bluffs with $185.9 dollars in gross revenue.
Grassley undecided about vote on financial reform bill
July 13, 2010 By
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is still on the fence when it comes to the massive financial industry reform bill that may go to a vote within days. Two fellow Republicans announced Monday they’d support the measure, which should give Democrats the 60 votes needed to get the legislation passed. Early on, Grassley said he’d back many major components of the bill, but now isn’t so sure.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Grassley says. “I’m still going through it. It’s a 2,000-page document and there’s some good and some bad. There’s some changes made in the conference. They’ve changed it so much that maybe I’d have to vote otherwise but I have not made my mind up yet.” Grassley knows the deadline is looming as a vote may come by the end of this week.
“Earlier, I thought that I would have my mind made up but I haven’t finished studying it yet,” Grassley says. “Quite frankly, I don’t know whether we’re going to have a vote before next week, until a new senator’s appointed from West Virginia.” That appointment is to fill the seat left vacant by the death last month of Robert Byrd. One of Grassley’s primary objections to the financial reform bill happened during the conference committee meetings between the House and Senate.
The panel had an 18-billion dollar hole to fill with what are called offsets, and he says they filled the hole with leftover TARP money from the federal bailout. “We should be using TARP to pay down the federal debt because when that was voted (on) two years ago, the idea was that we would help out banks to get back on their feet, when they paid the money back, it’d go into the Treasury to pay down the national debt,” Grassley says. “I don’t think it’s right to spend it when it was meant to not be spent, just a loan to the banks.”
Grassley says he also opposes how the bill raises fees on FDIC-insured savings accounts. He also wants tighter restrictions on credit agencies, which essentially get to choose their own interest rates. Grassley says proposed reforms on those agencies were “gutted” by the conference committee. Lastly, Grassley says the bill’s original intent was to shape up the investment firms that started the whole financial mess.
“You’ve gotta’ remember, this is supposedly going after Wall Street, but Goldman Sacs is supporting it,” Grassley says. “So is it really doing much to Wall Street if Wall Street wants to get it passed?” Many consider the bill to be the top legislative priority for congressional leaders and for President Obama. The two Republican senators who pledged their support for the new version of the bill Monday are Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe of Maine.
