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Iowa Wesleyan opens football season on the road

August 26, 2010 By

Iowa Wesleyan opens the football season on the road Saturday with a visit to Trinity International. Kent Anderson is entering his first season as the Tiger’s coach and takes over a program that scored only eight points per game in 2009 and gave up nearly 40 per contest is posting a 2-9 mark.

Anderson says they want to establish a foundation with a good attitude, increased toughness and discipline and good fundamentals.

Anderson says they don’t have a goal for a number of wins they want to achieve and instead just want to get better. He says setting goals isn’t what they want to do, they want to be a “tough gritty” football team, as he says if they are tough and gritty and playing fundamental football, then the chances of winning are good. And he says that will carry over to the classroom.

Anderson set the tone after he was hired when he canceled the spring game citing a lack of progress in the classroom by several players. He says on one hand it was a tough decision, because you need the practice, but he says on the other hand as someone who works in the field of education it was the right decisions. Anderson says the decision was one step backward and two steps forward.

Anderson says they don’t know what to expect from Trinity International. He says hopefully they don’t know much about his team either as both have new coaches. He says they’ll just focus on controlling what they do.

Anderson says adjustments will be crucial in the opener, as the ability to coach and adjust on the fly will make the difference. He says that’s what they’ve stressed in practice, just to be good a few things and not try to do too much.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

Democrat says egg recall highlights call for “cage-free” laying hens

August 26, 2010 By

The Democrat who’s running for state ag secretary says the massive egg recall involving two Iowa companies is a sign there’s a “hole” in the inspection process. Francis Thicke of Fairfield says it also highlights a key policy difference between him and his Republican opponent Bill Northey, the current state ag secretary.

“He frequently gives the example of a 2.5 million chicken laying facility in Iowa that produces all the eggs for McDonalds west of the Mississippi,” Thicke says. “To him, this is really the epitome of agriculture and this is the kind of development he’d like to see.” 

Thicke favors a shift away from large-scale ag production toward small and medium-sized farms and processing facilities.  He says the benefits to food safety would be enormous.

“One isolated contamination incident is contained locally and  is easily isolated,” Thicke says. “And it doesn’t multiply and make it a national problem so readily.” 

More than half a billion eggs are part of the current national recall.  Thicke says he may be “ahead of the curve,” but he believes laying hens shouldn’t be caged. ”The European Union has announced they’re going to be outlawing caged-hen egg production in 2012 and even in this country some restaurant chains are beginning to phase out caged eggs and three states in the U.S. have put regulations in motion that will phase out caged eggs,” Thicke says. “And so in some ways this probably already an obsolete system and it’s just a matter of time before it becomes fully obsolte.”

Thicke runs a small, organic dairy, botting milk and producing yogurt and cheese on his farm near Fairfield where hens run free, feeding on grasses.

A spokesman for Ag Secretary Bill Northey issued a written response.  Dustin Vande Hoef says cage-free eggs are “a fine option for those who choose to buy them, but so far there has been no evidence that cage-free eggs would not be vulnerable to the same issues” as those involved in the egg recall.

According to Vander Hoef, the F.D.A. is responsible for the investigation into the current recall and he said “it seems imprudent to comment until all the facts are in.  Jumping to conclusions before we know what happened will not help us find out what happened so that those responsible can be help accountable and steps can be taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Women blend in to Iowa Guard as they prepare to deploy

August 26, 2010 By

Around 3,000 Iowa National Guard soldiers are training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi for a trip to Afghanistan. Men outnumber women on the deployment 15 to 1. Martha Kester is one of those 200 women. She’s the Iowa National Guard’s first female chaplain.

“I don’t see myself as a woman chaplain. I see myself as a chaplain. I don’t see my soldiers as male soldiers and female soldiers. I see them as my soldiers,” Kester said. Those sentiments are echoed by Lieutenant Colonel John Perkins. “Really, they’re just soldiers. I think we’ve gotten past whether somebody is male or female or what race or creed or anything. To me, they’re just soldiers,” Perkins said.

Out on the firing range, women take aim side by side with the men. The military won’t allow women to fight on the front lines and they also have to live in separate barracks. Specialist Eva Dziengel says, other than that, female soldier aren’t treated much differently than the men.

“Being a smaller stature than a lot of the males, it’s generally harder for me to do certain things, but you get it done one way or another,” Dziengel said. Many women, including Private First Class Sarah Bys, faced a lot of questions from friends and family when they signed up to serve.

“A female in the military? You’re going to be a combat medic? What? They didn’t think I could do it. So, I’m kind of proving them wrong,” Keating said. Although women are not allowed to fight on the frontlines, many still end up there as medics and in other supporting roles.

By Mark Geary, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids

Filed Under: Military Tagged With:

Des Moines police say there’s no evidence State Fair attacks were racially motivated

August 25, 2010 By

On the concourse at the Iowa State Fair.

Des Moines police say their investigation of attacks just outside the Iowa State Fair grounds has so far not found any indication that the events were racially motivated.

The incidents happened on the first and last weekend’s of the fair. All of the victims were white and all of those charged were black.

Lieutenant Joe Gonzalez says the idea that the events were racially motivated came from a police report. Gonzalez says there were some statements from “general intelligence” inside the fair about the “beat whitey night” comment, and while he says the statements were unsubstantiated, they ended up in the report.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Agriculture, Crime & Courts, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Latham says egg recall is a “major economic blow” to the state

August 25, 2010 By

Iowa Congressman Tom Latham, a Republican from Ames, says the egg recall is having a tremendous economic impact on his congressional district. Latham’s district includes Wright County Egg in Galt and Hillandale Farms of New Hampton, where about 550 million eggs have been recalled due to salmonella, as well as other farms that help make the state the nation’s largest egg producer.

Latham says the impact of the recall will be felt throughout the state. He says it’s an economic tragedy, as he says the fourth district has more egg production that any congressional district in the country. Latham says more inspection and oversight of the industry is needed to make sure recalls don’t happen in the future.

Jack DeCoster, who has a previous record of violating environmental laws and worker-safety rules, is linked to the two farms from where the eggs have been recalled. Latham says the actions of DeCoster are having a big impact other egg producers in the state.

“It is a major economic blow throughout the state and the district, Iowa has about twice as many eggs produced as any other state in the union, it’s something we’re very proud of and this is just I hope a short-term disaster,” Latham says.

He says Iowa egg producers normally do a good job in supplying the nation and this is an aberration. Latham says egg producers statewide have told his office they want to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. Latham says the producers want to get to the bottom of the cause of the salmonella outbreak as soon as possible since it’s a “black mark on the entire industry.”

Latham says they don’t know yet if the salmonella got into the eggs through the feed unknowingly fed to the chickens, if it was bad management, but he says they need to find out the cause as quickly as possible. The wholesale price for eggs has jumped nearly 40%percent in two weeks from 98-cents a dozen to $1.35.

At least 1,300 salmonella cases in three states have been linked to the eggs.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

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

New electronic program for poll workers getting praise

August 25, 2010 By

Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro, a Democrat, and the Republican who is Cerro Gordo County’s Auditor are touting a new electronic program for the people who work at the polls on Election Day. The program provides step-by-step instructions on how to properly administer elections.

Mauro says Cerro Gordo County Auditor Ken Kline and the county’s management information team has won a national award for the program. “Ken Kline has done a fantastic job. He put together, with his staff, the Electronic Poll Books that are being used in half of the counties in the state,” Mauro says.

“And we’re happy to partner with him to make this available to all the county auditors.” Mauro and Kline made stops yesterday in Mason City, Cedar Rapids and Davenport to discuss the program. “He’s made it very easy and he made it Iowa-specific,” Mauro says. “So we’re happy to partner with him and we’re going to go around the state and tell people how this adds another layer of integrity to the voting process.”

The “Precinct Atlas” will be used in 668 precincts in 46 counties this November. Last week “The Election Center” gave its “Stars and Stripes Award” to the Cerro Gordo County Auditor, his staff and others who work on Cerro Gordo County’s management information team for developing the program.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Lake Delhi Association president plans to appeal FEMA decision

August 25, 2010 By

Drained Lake Delhi

The rebuilding of the Lake Delhi dam just became much more difficult. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has ruled the project will not receive federal assistance.

A FEMA spokesperson says the agency has determined the private organization which owns the dam doesn’t provide any “essential governmental service to the public and the lake is strictly recreational.”

Lake Delhi Recreation Association President Jim Willey isn’t happy with FEMA’s decision. “We disagree with it and we are going to appeal,” Willey said.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment
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