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Southwest Iowa farmer dies in grain bin

September 29, 2010 By

A southwest Iowa farmer died inside a grain bin Tuesday night. Fire and rescue crews were called at about 6:15 last night to a report of a man trapped in a grain bin on a farm outside Oakland.

Authorities said 69-year-old Donald Hering of Oakland had been outside when those around couldn’t find him. The crews worked on cutting holes and pulling panels from the side of the bin to get to Hering. The emergency crew found the man inside and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

By Joel McCall, KNOD, Harlan

Filed Under: Agriculture, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Suspected drunk driver dies in crash during police chase

September 29, 2010 By

A suspected drunk driver was killed last night during a police chase in northeast Iowa. The incident began at about 6 Tuesday evening, when the Vinton Police Department received a report of a possibly intoxicated motorist in Vinton.

The man was pulled over, however, while an officer was talking to the driver, he sped off, leading police on a chase from Vinton onto Highway 150, running stop signs and traffic lights in the process. The driver lost control about 2 miles north of town, drove into a ditch, where his car struck some trees.

The car came to a stop on its top. The driver, whose name is still being withheld, was pronounced dead at the scene.

By Roger King, KOEL, Oelwein

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

West conditions in western Iowa cause problems for I-29 work

September 29, 2010 By

Wet conditions in western Iowa have been causing problems for the expansion of Interstate 29 near Sioux City. D-O-T engineer Dean Herbst says they were digging along the Big Sioux River to put in a retaining wall for the new southbound lane of I-29, but the river rose above the retaining wall and washed away material.

Herbst says they are putting in a “wing dike” to divert the river away from the area, and will “de-water” the area and then will continue with the construction of the wall. Herbst says the flooding is a minor delay in the overall project.

Herbst says the problem is not impacting traffic and they are still on schedule to do the paving and move the project forward.

It’s not known how much extra time and money was lost by the wash out.

By Josie Cooper, KSCJ, Sioux City

Filed Under: Weather Tagged With: ,

Debut Iowa author promotes book of farm life stories

September 29, 2010 By

After devoting much of his life to reading and selling other people’s books, a central Iowa man is launching a book tour promoting his own first venture as an author. Harley McIlrath, of Grinnell, says his book “Possum Trot” is a collection of stories he’s published over the past three decades, reflecting on Iowa’s agricultural heritage and now-vanishing lifestyle.

“The stories aren’t so much about Iowa as they are about people who live in Iowa and their experiences,” McIlrath says. “Mixed with those are some short non-fiction pieces that I’ve written. The short pieces tend to express a feeling of loss for the changing way of life and the family farm having gone away.” He says it’s not sentimental, but an honest look back at the culture that once dominated Iowa’s landscape and has all but disappeared.

“It’s not nostalgic or saccharin,” McIlrath says. “There’s some life lessons learned and the stories can be unfortunate and dark but taken together it combines the feeling of loss with a celebration of what was.” McIlrath earned a B.A. and an M.A. in English from the University of Northern Iowa. For ten years, he ran his own bookstore in Cedar Falls and he’s now assistant manager and book buyer for the Grinnell College Bookstore and the Pioneer Bookshop in Grinnell. He grew up on a central Iowa farm near Newburg, not far from the Jasper/Poweshiek County line.

“I know about getting my hand pecked from trying to get the egg from under the chicken and what an unpleasant feeling it is to stick your hand in a dark coop and hope you come up with an egg and not something else,” McIlrath says. “We also had cattle and I always felt like cattle were the life of the farm so I’m sorry to see the countryside pretty much devoid of cattle anymore.”

 McIlrath starts his book tour this weekend with appearances scheduled across the region in the coming weeks, including in: Grinnell, Iowa City, Cedar Falls, Knoxville, Fairfield and Oskaloosa. For details, find “Possum Trot” on Facebook or visit the publisher’s website, www.icecubepress.com.

Filed Under: Human Interest

Over 70 gather in Des Moines backyard for conversation with the president

September 29, 2010 By

A crowd of about 70 people gathered in the shaded backyard of a Des Moines home this morning, waiting for President Obama to appear.

Katie McKenzie lives a couple of blocks away and is among the invited crowd. “What I love is that it’s a neighborhood event. It is just, you know, your average Joe and Jane from the neighborhood coming in, getting to hear, getting to speak,” she says.  “It’s not a political event.  It’s just a conversation and so I think that’s an incredible opportunity.” 

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Census shows more Iowans living in poverty

September 29, 2010 By

More Iowa families are living in poverty according to 2009 Census data released Tuesday. The new numbers show 1 in 9 Iowans were living in poverty last year as the median income level dropped by almost $900 from 2007. Andrew Cannon is a research associate for the Iowa Policy Project.

“We’re doing a bit better than a lot of our neighbor states with respect to our poverty rate and the number of Iowans who are uninsured, but our poverty rate is up significantly from 2007 levels,” Cannon said. The Census data shows Iowa has the 36th highest poverty rate in the country.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Human Interest

Business, labor, environmental groups push for more rail shipping

September 29, 2010 By

An unlikely coalition of Iowa labor, business, and environmental leaders is pushing congress to adopt a tax credit for the railroad industry. They argue building new freight rail lines will create jobs and reduce air pollution. Jerry Neff, the chair of the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club points to a new report on fuel savings by the freight rail industry.

“Over the past few decades freight rail industry has nearly doubled the amount of goods shipped without increasing their fuel consumption. I think that is a huge accomplishment,” Neff says. The report says the rail industry increased its fuel economy by 38-percent since 1990 — compared to an eleven percent increase in fuel economy for the trucking industry.

“We’re really concerned about the pollution all those trucks on the highway have in comparison to what one train can carry,” Neff says. The executive director of Eastern Polk Regional Development in Altoona, Dan Coates, says that’s why they’ve been actively recruiting rail based businesses for the area.

“We started calculating cost to ship freight out of here particularly to the west coast and realized what a substantial savings it would be shipping by rail versus over the road trucking. Along with that it’s also becoming evident from an environmental standpoint it’s also a plus for us,” Coates says.

The two groups are lobbying congress to adopt a 25 percent tax credit on new freight rail infrastructure. Meanwhile, labor leaders estimate 7,800 jobs are created for every one billion dollars invested in rail line expansion.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:
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