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Iowa coach says Cyclones have made great strides under new coach

September 7, 2010 By

Bragging rights will be on the line in Iowa City on Saturday when Iowa hosts Iowa State in the 58th meeting in the series. Both teams opened with convincing wins. The Hawkeyes rolled past Eastern Illinois 37-7 while the Cyclones downed Northern Illinois 27-10.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says the series has been full of tough and competitive games and he expects this week to be the same. He says this is a much different Iowa State team than the one the Hawkeyes beat in Ames last season 35-3. Ferentz says the Cyclones have made great strides as they went on from last year to win a bowl game, and now are in the second year under coach Paul Rhoads.

In fact, Ferentz says the Cyclones are ahead of schedule under Rhoads. He says to win at Nebraska is an example, as he says a big victory like that did not happen to him in his first year. Ferentz says it took him three years to win a bowl game. Ferentz says the Iowa defense has a big challenge this week.

Jewell Hampton talks to Radio Iowa during media day.

A year ago, I.S.U. rushed for 190 yards against the Hawks. He says they have some big guys on the line and they do a good job, and they have a good running back. Ferentz says six Iowa State turnovers in last year’s game made the final score deceiving. He says any time you have turnovers, it skews things, but he says giving up that many yards is not a “good way to be living.”

Saturday’s game will mark the return of sophomore running back Jewell Hampton. The Indiana native missed the entire 2009 season with a knee injury. Ferentz says he’s pleased that Hampton has been able to work hard and come back and hopes he is able to move forward. Hampton will share time with fellow sophomore Adam Robinson though Ferentz says there is no set rotation.

He says they are both good, physical players who don’t mind blocking. While he says they aren’t the same, they are comparable in a lot of ways, as they are both one year players they expect to improve.

Ferentz says he was impressed by Iowa State’s defense, and probably the biggest change is at linebacker, where they lost some very good players. He says they have a lot of players who have assumed the leadership role, and looked good in the opening game.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Iowa State faces tough test against Hawkeye defensive line

September 7, 2010 By

Iowa State on offense against Northern Illinois.

The challenge for the Iowa State offensive line is a much tougher one this weekend when the Cyclones visit Iowa for the 58th meeting in the series. The Cyclones rushed for 138 yards in a season opening win over Northern Illinois and now must face an Iowa defensive front that is considered one of the best in the country.

Senior center Ben Lamaak says it’s a credit to Iowa, as they always have “great” players, especially the defensive line. Lamaak says the Cyclones have “great” players too and while it will be a challenge, they will come out ready.

Even in last year’s 35-3 loss to the Hawkeyes I.S.U. moved the football on the ground and finished with 190 yards of rushing.

Lamaak says that was last year and this team is different, and better than last year’s. Lamaak says a key matchup will be left tackle Kelechi Osemele against Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn. Lamaak says Osemele is ready for the challenge, as he is aggressive, smart and always ready to play.

Lamaak says the Iowa defense is not fancy but it is effective. He says they are basic and great at what they do.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Quasqueton man charged with killing cat during argument

September 7, 2010 By

A young man from northeast Iowa is facing charges for killing a family cat. The incident occurred August 29th at a residence near Westgate.

Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher says Duane Fowlkes of Quasqueton is accused of throwing the cat on a driveway after an argument with family members.

“What the people at the scene said was he basically picked up the cat and slammed it to the concrete,” Fisher said. An arrest warrant was issued several days later when family members reported the incident. Fowlkes was arrested last Friday and jailed on a charge of animal abuse.

Fisher says the charge is an aggravated misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to two years in prison. Fowlkes posted a $2,500 bond and was released.

Photo courtesy of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

School districts in northern Iowa look at sharing students

September 7, 2010 By

School boards in north Iowa’s Forest City and Woden-Crystal Lake districts are holding public hearings this week on a plan to move their students into shared classrooms. One week later voters in southwest Iowa’s Cass County will be deciding on merging the C-A-M and Anita school districts. Woden-Crystal Lake had been sharing students with Titonka, but superintendent Dwight Widen says the numbers have fallen below state standards.

Widen says their last year of certified enrollment was 126 students and when they combined with Titonka, they still had less than 300 students, and the state says you can’t reorganize if you have less than 300. Financially students equal dollars. The state pays each school more than six-thousand dollars a year for each student enrolled. That’s why when Woden-Crystal Lake’s school board went visiting neighboring school districts shopping for classrooms to educate their students next year, school boards envisioning additional student dollars discretely rolled out the red carpet.

“The red carpets that were established, were there before, maybe they got vacumed up and shampooed up a little bit, but it was never done in a sales pitch way,” Widen says. After visiting and evaluating neighboring districts Titonka’s school board opted to send their students to Algona next year.

Woden-Crystal Lake’s public hearing is on choosing Forest City where superintendent Darwin Lehman is also managing declining enrollment. Lehman says gaining Woden-Crystal Lake’s fifth through 12th graders next year helps Forest City’s budget. Lehman says they won’t have to hire any new staff and costs won’t increase, so adding the students will improve their bottom line. In southwest Iowa’s Cass County, the Cumberland-Macina and Anita school districts superintendent Steve Pelzer says his districts are still large enough and to be able to vote on consolidating.

Pelzer says they’ve worked for seven years to align their curriculum and teacher contracts and board policy, but says that has been difficult to do under two administrations and school boards. Pelzer is the shared superintendent for the southwest Iowa schools which have also been whole grade sharing students such as Woden-Crystal Lake is now contemplating with Forest City.

As some rural schools combine classrooms and others consolidate into a single, larger geographic district, students spend more time on buses to get from home to class. In Woden, grandmother Jackie Eden worries about that. Eden accepts the new school arrangements as inevitable and necessary for high quality education, but laments rural Iowa’s changing profile from her high school graduation 51 years ago.

“I hate to see these little schools go away, because the way of life is going away with it too, that we’ll never get back,” Eden says,”but realistically there’s really not much of a choice. The kids aren’t there, so we can’t do any different. But it’s going to be too bad, because a way of life will be gone.” Seventy of Iowa’s 361 school districts are involved in whole grade sharing, and 31 don’t have a high school.

Filed Under: Education

Candidates for governor spar over state debt load

September 7, 2010 By

A new ad in the campaign for governor uses a well-known country song to skewer current Governor Culver Culver who, in turn, accuses rival Terry Branstad of distortion.  

The Branstad ad is a parody of the 1961 Jimmy Dean classic, “Big Bad John.”  A narrator with a deep voice says in Iowa, “we call our governor Chet” and what we’ve got is it “big debt.” 

That “big debt” mantra is a hit at Culver’s I-JOBS program.  Culver is hitting back.

[Read more...]

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

Iowa businesses honored for support of the National Guard

September 7, 2010 By

Governor Chet Culver, along with Lynne Spangler of Bandag and Chief Petty Officer Michael Bewley, a business analyst for Bandag.

Three Iowa businesses and Iowa State University have been honored for their support of National Guard and Reserve members. Rob Kelly, vice chairman of the Iowa Committee of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, was master of ceremonies for an awards presentation today at the statehouse.

“Our great state of Iowa is experiencing one of the largest mobilizations of National Guard and Reserve members in its history,” Kelly says. “With almost 50 percent of America’s active military comprised of Guard and Reserve members, it’s more important than ever that our Iowa employers and employees have a strong, positive relationship.”

The 2010 “Iowa Freedom Award” was presented to two large employers. Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions in Muscatine continues to provide benefits to employees in the Guard and Reserve who are called to active duty. “They also went above and beyond in supporting family members,” Kelly says, “and sending care packages from fellow employees.” The John Deere Des Moines Works in Ankeny was the other large employer honored.

“This employer has been recognized numerous times for going above and beyond what is required by the law,” Kelly says. “…Additionally John Deere conducts send-off and welcome home events for its employees and sends care packages during deployments.” Salzman International in Davenport is the small employer recognized with a 2010 Iowa Freedom Award.

Awards given for support of the Iowa National Guard.

Awards given for support of the Iowa National Guard.

“This employer continues to pay and provide benefits to its military members during deployment. Salzman also sends care packages to its employees while deployed,” Kelly says. “Additionally, the CEO is an active volunteer for (Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve), serving as area chairman and providing on-going support to Iowa employers and military service members.”

Iowa State University was recognized as a public sector employer that has gone “above and beyond” in support of workers who’ve been called to active duty. Governor Culver signed a proclamation today, declaring September 19 through the 25th as Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week in Iowa.

“Support from family and community is critically important,” Culver says. “But another partner in service too often overlooked is their employer who allows time off and holds a job open for a service member.” Iowa State University, along with the three Iowa companies, are being nominated for national awards as well as the state awards handed out this morning.

Governor Chet Culver, along with Lynne Spangler of Bandag and Chief Petty Officer Michael Bewley, a business analyst for Bandag.

Filed Under: Military, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Culver: end state film tax credit program

September 7, 2010 By

Governor Chet Culver says once the existing state commitments are met, the state tax credit program for film and TV productions in Iowa should be shut down.

“We’re not going to be taken for suckers,” Culver told reporters late this morning during a statehouse news conference. “People, unfortunately, exploited that program.”

Culver ordered the program suspended nearly a year ago when problems were publicly disclosed. Last week, the Iowa Department of Economic Development issued state tax credits to two Iowa-based productions that had received initial approval from state officials before Culver suspended the program in mid-September of 2009. 

A handful of state officials connected to the film office have been fired or have resigned and charges have been filed against the former film office manager and against filmmakers who sought tax credits for questionable expenditures. The tax credits were created during former Governor Tom Vilsack’s tenure and this past spring the Iowa legislature voted to suspend the program until July 1st of 2013. Culver today suggested the jobs created by the film and TV productions weren’t the kind of “permanent” jobs Iowa needs.

“Unfortunately, with respect to the film program, people exploited it. They took advantage of it. I’ve had enough of that,” Culver said. “And we need to target our state resources in a way that helps create long-term jobs and we have all sorts of opportunities to do that in the biofuels industry, in the wind energy industry, solar. And that’s where I’m going to make sure we target those investments.” 

The  Iowa Motion Picture Association has said the state tax credits for movie and TV productions in Iowa had a “positive economic impact” on the state and the group has called for the program to continue.

Filed Under: Business, Crime & Courts, Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: , , , ,
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