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Iowa State looks to stop the run in their opener

September 1, 2010 By

A young Iowa State defense will be out to stop the run in Thursday night’s season opener at home against Northern Illinois. The Cyclones will go up against the Huskies power ground game that averaged nearly 200 yards a game in 2009.

Senior free safety Michael O’Connell says stopping the run is their first goal in every game and it matters to the secondary as the safeties and cornerbacks play a strong role as run stoppers. He says this will be a tough test for their first game as they average 195 yards a game last year and have a solid attack.

There are a number of new players on the defense this season and O’Connell says the unit just needs game experience. He says the communication is coming, but they’re not where they want to be yet. O’Connell says this first game will be the true test of where they are right now.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

UNI coach in no hurry to name starter at QB

September 1, 2010 By

U.N.I. coach Mark Farley has not made a decision on the Panthers starting quarterback. U.N.I. does not open until a September 11th matchup at home against North Dakota State and the competition is between Zach Davis and junior college transfer Tirrell Rennie. Farley says they are just letting the two compete and they don’t have to make a final decision until next week.

Farley says the competition has been healthy for the team as the two are making each other better and he says it makes everyone better as they see the competition at a key position and they want to compete harder.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Report says 95% have access to high speed internet in Iowa

September 1, 2010 By

The Iowa Utilities Board unveiled a report today  that shows 95% of Iowans have access to high-speed internet. Krista Tanner, a member of the Utilities Board, is also chair of the Iowa Broadband Deployment Governance Board that was appointed by the governor to develop a plan to promote the adoption of high speed broadband access across the state.

Tanner says this report gives them a lot to work with and they’ll use the data to find gaps in availability and figure out how to fill the gaps. Tanner says they will also try to figure out why people aren’t adopting broadband. Tanner says this report gives a more detailed county-by-county breakdown they can use, and cites one area that raises questions.

Tanner says while 95% of households across the state have broadband available, only 68% of the households in Ringgold County have it available. Tanner says that’s in contrast to Pocahontas County — which has 99.98% availability — and it is also a highly rural county. She says the information in the report can help them analyze what Pocahontas County is doing and use that information to help other similar counties.

Tanner says they do know there’s a strong penetration of fixed wireless platforms in the area, and they need to examine if that high concentration of platforms is the reason why the broadband penetration is so good in the county. Tanner says they also want to find out why people who have access to broadband service are not using it.

Tanner says only about 66% of Iowans subscribe to broadband, so 34% of households aren’t using it. She says 29% have the service available, and don’t subscribe, and they want to find out why. Tanner says they’ll be talking with elected officials, civic leaders, educators, economic developers, and private entrepreneurs to help it better understand Iowa’s broadband challenges.

You can see the entire report titled “Iowa Broadband: Current Market Analysis & Initial Recommendations for Acceleration of Iowa’s Broadband Market” on-line at:www.connectiowa.org.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Economist says egg related industries will recover quickly from recall

September 1, 2010 By

An economist says the massive recall of eggs produced by two Iowa poultry plants will have a negative impact on other related industries in Iowa, but there will likely be a fast recovery. Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University, says the state’s economy overall is continuing to grow and strengthen as it pulls out of the recession.

Goss says Creighton’s August survey of supply managers and business leaders in Iowa and eight other states shows promising results. “For Iowa, it’s the 8th straight month that we’ve recorded a number above growth neutral,” Goss says. “What I’m expecting for Iowa is growth in the months ahead, although that growth is going to be a bit softer than what we saw earlier in the year. We’re seeing a bit of a slowdown but it’s still growth and we’re seeing a bit more inflationary pressure than what we’re seeing at the national level.”

Goss says the negative nationwide publicity about the recall of a half-billion eggs, linked to some 1,500 suspected salmonella cases, will undoubtedly spill over into other parts of Iowa’s ag-based economy. “It’s certainly going to have some impact for the food processing industry, those companies and industries connected to that, but overall, we’re still going to see growth ahead,” Goss says.

“A lot is going to depend on the value of the dollar. If we see a weaker dollar, that bodes well for the agricultural sector.” Goss says he’s seeing “very healthy growth” in Iowa’s durable goods manufacturing sector, which he says has more than offset weaker conditions among nondurable goods producers, especially food producers.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Health & Medicine

State tax receipts up 1.8 percent for July & August

September 1, 2010 By

State tax receipts for the month of August were up compared to the same month a year ago. Jeff Robinson of the Legislative Services Agency has crunched the numbers.

“Generally, things have gotten better, but they aren’t still running as well as they normally do,” Robinson says. “So good news in the short run, but we need more growth before things can be said to have turned around.”

Iowans paid eight percent more in personal income taxes last month compared to August, 2009. ”Personal income tax was definitely up, not only this month but for the two months of the fiscal year so far and that is definitely good news,” Robinson says. “The only bad news would be it’s up over a very bad comparison…Receipts were very down last year.” 

Sales and use taxes paid to the state increased by 1.7 percent in July and August.  “Again, not a particularly high percentage growth, historically, but very good compared to the last 18 months,” Robinson says. 

Robinson estimates there’s been a net increase in overall state tax receipts of 1.8 percent during the first two months of the state fiscal year, which began July 1, 2010.

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

Thousands can pay just half their court fines under “amnesty” program

September 1, 2010 By

Nearly a quarter of a million people who have failed to pay Iowa court fines and fees can pay half of what they owe — and the rest will be forgiven, but it’s a limited time offer.

The State of Iowa is sending notices through the mail to about 217,000 people who owe court fines and fees that are more than four years past-due. The letter outlines that debtors can pay half of the overdue fines and fees in one lump sump and the other half of the debt will be erased. It’s part of a new amnesty program that starts today, September 1 and ends November 30, 2010.

Roger Stirler of the Iowa Department of Revenue says state officials don’t quite know what to expect.  “We’ve never done a court fine amnesty before,” Stirler says. “The ones we’ve done before have always been income tax (amnesty), so this is kind of new territory for us.” 

About $300 million worth of Iowa court fines and fees dating back to December 1, 2006 and before that are past due, and eligible for the “amnesty” program.  ”To our knowledge, no other state has done a court debt amnesty,” Stirler says. “A lot of them have done like we have, on the income tax, but not on the court debt.”

Stirler says most long-over-due court fines, penalties, fees and other court costs can be paid under the program.  “But some of those things that aren’t eligible are things like victim restitution. It does not include fines that are payable to cities or counties. Civil penalties and reinstatement fees that are assessed by the Department of Transportation are not eligible,” he says. “It also does not include child support or alimony and if a person has jail fees that they’re required to reimburse the state for, those are not eligible for the program either.”

People who are on probation or parole are not allowed to take advantage of the amnesty program, nor can those who are currently in jail or prison.

The state is mailing notices to the 217,000 people who are eligible to take advantage of the amnesty program, but those letters may not reach all of them. ”We are attempting to contact all of the eligible people by mail, so they should be getting a letter,” Stirler says. “But if they don’t get a letter and think they should have, they need to contact us because we obviously have addresses that are very old and we aren’t going to be able to reach everyone on this.” 

State officials have posted more information about the amnesty program online at www.PayTheFineIowa.gov.

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

Waterloo Tyson plant temporarily stops production over animal concerns

September 1, 2010 By

Concerns over livestock herding have resulted in slaughtering operation disruptions at a Waterloo meat-packing plant. Production in the slaughter area of Tyson Fresh Meats was temporarily halted Tuesday afternoon after a U.S.D.A. inspector raised some concerns about the way hogs were being handled at the plant.

According to Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson, about 250 workers were affected by the temporary disruption in operations. He says the concerns were addressed immediately and full operations resumed later Tuesday afternoon once the concerns were resolved. Tuesday’s temporary disruption effected pork processing operations at the plant this morning.

Mickelson says first-shift pork processing workers had the day off because there weren’t enough carcasses to process. Full operations are expected to back to normal this afternoon.

By Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Oelwein

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business
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