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A day of lop-sided scores

July 29, 2010 By

Top-ranked Mason City advanced to the Class 4A semifinals at the State High School Baseball Tournament on a day which featured lop-sided scores. The Mohawks scored seven runs in the top of the seventh inning to blow the game open in an 11-4 victory over Ankeny. Mason City starter Brandon Platts gave up only one run and two hits in five and as third innings of work to earn his tenth victory of the season against no losses.

Mason City will meet seventh-rated Cedar Rapids Kennedy in Friday night’s semifinal round. The Cougars scored five runs in the top of the fifth to erase a 2-0 deficit then pulled away from second-rated West Des Moines Dowling Catholic for a 12-2 victory. Austin Christensen had a big night on the mound and at the plate for Kennedy. Christensen recorded eight strikeouts in more than five innings of work and also had two hits and drove in a pair of runs. Terrell Sykes had a pair of doubles and drove in four runs for Kennedy.

Andrew Redmen tossed a two-hit shutout as third-ranked Dubuque Hempstead rolled past Indianola 10-0. The Mustangs ended the game by scoring six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and advance to take on fourth ranked Iowa City West in the semifinals. The Trojans ousted defending state champion Sioux City North 11-1. Ryan Rumpf drove in three runs and Spencer Bonner had three hits to lead West.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

Quad Cities Chambers of Commerce vote to merge

July 29, 2010 By

The metro area is known as the Quad-Cities but many consider it one big community. So, why not one Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce?

That was the thinking when the Iowa and Illinois Quad-Cities chambers of commerce voted Wednesday to merge.

Members say they’ll work together to pull the Quad-Cities out of the recession. Chamber leaders say they’ll combine their resources to unite current Quad-Cities businesses, attract new ones and create more jobs.

They say this merger is not about saving money like most mergers but instead it’s about doing a better job. The merger becomes official in September.

By Phil Roberts, Davenport

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Culver & Grassley quarrel over unemployment benefits

July 29, 2010 By

Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, is accusing Republican Senator Chuch Grassley’s staff of distributing “misinformation” about potential federal benefits for Iowans who’ve been out of work for months. Meanwhile, a Grassley spokeswoman says state officials failed to sign up for a federal program last fall and, as a result, as many as 18,000 Iowans may miss out on extended unemployment benefits.

“It is not accurate to say that any Iowans are losing out on benefits because of what the state did or didn’t do,” Culver says.  “The problem is Senator Grassley voted against extending unemployment benefits to 16,000 and they’re looking for some political cover, apparently, to try to justify that bad vote.”

Last week Grassley and other Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted against a bill which extended benefits to the long-term unemployed.  “Because of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate — and despite Charles Grassley’s bad vote — those benefits will be extended to 16,000 additional Iowans and I’m glad,” Culver says. 

While Iowa was barred from signing up for one new program because the state’s unemployment rate was under the threshhold for qualifying for that type of extended benefits, Grassley’s spokeswoman says the state could have signed up for another unemployment extension offered by the federal government.

Culver’s staff says the state didn’t sign up for that program in order to keep the state’s unemployment trust fund solvent and to avoid an increase in business taxes that are paid into that fund.

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

Troopers make 2 arrests, seize $500,000 in cocaine, heroin

July 29, 2010 By

Authorities are now releasing details of a sizeable drug bust in Poweshiek County on Tuesday morning. Iowa State Trooper Eric VanderWiel executed a traffic stop on Interstate-80 six miles east of Grinnell. The initial stop was for improper use of lanes.

While conducting the traffic stop, Trooper VanderWiel observed numerous indicators of ongoing criminal activity. He then requested consent to search the vehicle. Written consent was granted and during the search a large quantity of cocaine and heroin was seized.

According to the Poweshiek County jail booking log, two-and-a-half pounds of heroin and 12 kilos of cocaine were seized. Raul Gallo of Lemon Grove, California, and Francisco Javier Pineda-Luna of Burlington, North Carolina, were arrested and charged with possession with intent to deliver and violation of the drug tax stamp law.

The street value of the drugs seized is estimated at more than $500,000.

By Chris Johnson, KGRN, Grinnell

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Law officers break up bare bike bash

July 29, 2010 By

Authorities had to shut down a wild skinny-dipping party along the RAGBRAI route near Mason City on Wednesday afternoon.

Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals says the party at a private pond in Cartersville along the route between Clear Lake and Charles City had to be stopped by authorities at about 2:30 PM after swimmers started taking off their clothes. Reports say many of the partiers were “alcohol-impaired.”

Sheriff Pals says there several hundred people in the pond and about one out of every ten were either not wearing shorts or were topless. Deputies and the Iowa State Patrol’s RAGBRAI Alcohol Team shut down the party but did not make any arrests.

The special State Patrol team is a group of officers who follow the ride and make sure riders leave each community early enough so they aren’t riding in the dark to the next overnight stop.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Recreation & Entertainment

Iowa State Fair to feature high-tech kid-finding gizmo

July 29, 2010 By

Parents will be able to use a new gadget at the Iowa State Fair next month that’s designed to help them keep closer tabs on their kids at the large, crowded venue. Chris Holbert is the inventor and CEO of what’s known as SecuraPAL — PAL for personal automated locator — and it’ll rent for just under ten bucks a day.

“It gets its location from the satellite systems and relays that location to parents or other caretakers, or in the case of the Iowa State Fair, to a group like SecuraTrac,” Holbert says. “If a child goes missing, we know exactly where they are and we can find them quickly.”

The small device can be placed in the child’s pocket, strapped onto an ankle or arm, or laced into a shoe. “There’s also a little panic or SOS button on the device that if the child is scared or lost, they can push,” Holbert says. “In about five to ten seconds, our network will be notified of their location and that they’re missing or they’re scared and we’ll go and find them quickly.”

If the parent becomes separated from the child or just wants to check on the kid’s location, he says it’s a fast, easy process using the parent’s existing cellular phone.

“If they have a web-based phone that can get to the Internet, then they can actually see on the screen a map of the fair and a little dot of where their child would be,” Holbert says. “Or, if they have text or email capability on their phone, they’ll get a read-out, an email or a text, that will say this is where your child is.”

The device can also be set so the parent is notified if the child enters or leaves certain areas, for example, if they leave the fairgrounds. The Iowa State Fair runs August 12-22. It will mark the first time the California-based SecuraTrac will be renting the devices at an event in Iowa.

Learn more at www.securatrac.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Culver hopes to provide new state aid to flood victims

July 29, 2010 By

Governor Chet Culver says he hopes to unveil a new state program today that would provide state aide to Iowans at Lake Delhi and elsewhere who’ve been hit by flooding this summer.

“We’re looking at any options available here to help businesses and homeowners not only in the Lake Delhi area but in Delaware, Jones and Jackson County that have all been impacted by the catastrophic breach there,” Culver says.  “In addition we have 41 other counties across the state that are having flood-related challenges.” 

After floods hit many parts of Iowa in 2008, Culver and his staff created what was called the “JumpStart” program. About $40 million from state programs designed to promote business development, renewable energy and cultural attractions were redirected to JumpStart and JumpStart grants helped flooded-out Iowans make downpayments on new property or repair their damaged homes and businesses.    

“JumpStart worked in 2008 to assist homeowners and businesses as they waited on any additional federal help from agencies like FEMA, so we’re going to explore that option,” Culver says.

The governor says he has the authority to “tap” a broad range of state programs and cash reserves to find the money for flood victims.

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