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Obama to have “backyard conversation” in Des Moines

September 28, 2010 By

President Obama will meet with a small group of Iowans Wednesday morning for a backyard conversation about the economy. The invitation-only event will be held at a home on the northwest side of Des Moines.

According to White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, the hosts of the event — Jeff and Sandy Hatfield Clubb of Des Moines — were asked to invite a few of their neighbors. “It’s people from the community.  It’s not a screened crowd.  It’s not a hand-picked crowd,” Pfeiffer says. “You get a wide array of questions on a wide array of issues and that’s what the president enjoys.”

Pfeiffer says the president does plan to spend some time talking about the upcoming election and the “Pledge to America” Republicans in the U.S. House unveiled last week. ”This would be a disturbing return to the set of rules that helped create the financial crisis we’re in,” Pfeiffer says. 

Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat who’s facing a tough reelection battle, was among a small group who met Obama at the airport earlier tonight and Culver plans to be with Obama at tomorrow’s event. “I think it’s important that voters know that we’ve governed effectively,” Culver says. “We’ve gotten things done during some very challenging times.”

RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

The chairman of the Republican National Committee brought his national bus tour to Des Moines a few hours before Obama arrived last night.

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele stood outside his big red bus to speak with reporters and he criticized the format of Obama’s event in the Des Moines neighborhood of Beaverdale. 

“I mean, you’ve got — basically — a sort of fixed audience. It’s not opening up to the people of Iowa to come and ask questions, so it’s not a traditional town hall meeting,” Steele said. “And the press is there and that’s nice but, you know, the issues right now don’t rest with the press. It rests with the people and the people are the ones with the questions.” 

Steele suggests not much will come from today’s event. ”These things kind of fall…on deaf ears and they fall flat and a lot of people don’t understand why after almost two years you haven’t understood what they’ve been saying to create jobs.  We’ll see what he says,” Steele told reporters, laughing as he added: “Welcome to Iowa.”

Republican Terry Branstad, the former Iowa governor who is seeking a fifth term this November, is urging Iowa Republicans to send Obama a message this November. “This is the year, 2010, when Republicans can stage a great comeback all across America, but it starts right here in the first caucus state in America where we started it and we need to end it,” Branstad said Tuesday afternoon, a reference to Obama’s 2008 Iowa Caucus victory that helped propel him to the White House. 

The Republican bus.

Branstad and the Republican National Committee chairman spoke late Tuesday afternoon to about 100 Republicans who gathered in the party’s central Iowa “victory center” for a pep rally. ”You’re going to go out there and just churn it up.  Churn it up!” Steele said.  “I’m so excited, I wish we could just go out there and vote now, you know?” 

People in the crowd started yelling: “You can.”  Iowans started voting via absentee ballots last week.

Steele spoke for over 15 minutes, at one point telling the crowd there was hard work ahead. ”Get out there. Get busy. Don’t screw it up,” Steele said and the crowd laughed. 

Listen to the half-hour-long pep rally: SteeleRally

Steele has come under fire for taking his bus tour to all 48 contiguous states rather than focusing the national party’s resources on key races, but Steele told Iowa reporters the bus tour is his way of igniting the party’s “grassroots” rather than paying attention to the “GOP establishment in Washington.”

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

Iowa coach expects the same close Penn State game

September 28, 2010 By

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says there are the same concerns just a different season as the Hawkeyes open the Big 10 race at home on Saturday night against Penn State. He says they have excellent players, good coaching and are the most stable program in the country.

Ferentz says they have had 51 wins in the last five years, including a couple of BCS Bowls and a Big Ten Championship. Iowa is 7-2 against the Nittany Lions under Ferentz but he says all the wins have been close. He says they don’t give up points, and the biggest margin of victory in the series has been 12 points. Ferentz says they have either had a close victory or gotten nailed pretty good by Penn State.

The Nittany Lions feature a true freshman at quarterback. Rob Bolden is connecting on 60 percent of his passes. Ferentz says he’s an excellent player who doesn’t look like he’s in awe of anything. Ferentz says while it is only the first game of the league race it is important to get off to a good start. He says the conference appears to be very strong and balanced and you can’t afford to wait around for Ohio State to lose a couple of games. He says to be at the top of the league you have to play your best every week.

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi is ranked fifth in the country in pass efficiency and has thrown nine touchdown passes against just one interception. He says Stanzi is off to a good start and has been leading the team well. Ferentz says he is like the rest of the team and the next eight weeks will define them.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

Mount Ayr football team turns pink in cancer fundraiser

September 28, 2010 By

The town of Mount Ayr will be turning pink for Friday night’s homecoming football game against West Central Valley. It has been designated as the “Tackle Cancer” game and as part of it the Raiders will be wearing custom-made pink jerseys.

Mount Ayr co-coach Delwyn Showalter says they have pink mouthpieces, pink socks, the helmet decals will be pink, they have pink paint for the field and they have sold over 500 t-shirts. Showalter says planning for the game began a year ago. He says they searched for pink jerseys and finally were able to get some custom jersey’s made through a Carroll company.

Showalter says are businesses and individuals from across the state have donated money to “sponsor” the event. He says well over 120 have become pink sponsors to play for the pink uniforms and other items. Showalter hopes they have just as big a response for their jersey auction.

Each year the football program holds a jersey auction on the Thursday night of homecoming week. Fans bid for the right to wear a players jersey on the day of the game. This year, the fans will be bidding to become the owner of the jersey. The jersey auction is the main fundraiser for the football program.

This year all the proceeds will be donated toward the fight against cancer. He says they committed to give all the money up as cancer has touched everyone’s life in some way. Showalter says they asked the kids to think about those who have been affected by cancer.

Showalter feels homecoming is the perfect week top host this event. He says the excitement of homecoming and the atmosphere around it is important for what they’re trying to accomplish. But he says they wanted the players to understand in the midst of the happy time of homecoming, other people are suffering.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

Texas Tech coach says controlling emotion key on the road

September 28, 2010 By

Texas Tech coach Tommy Tubberville says they are not basing their preparations for Saturday’s game with Iowa State on who may be the Cyclones’ starting quarterback. Jerome Tiller went nearly the entire way in I.S.U.’s victory over U.N.I. after Austen Arnaud went out after the opening series. Arnaud had injured his non-throwing shoulder the week before.

Tubberville says both have their strengths and weaknesses, but it’s still the same offense overall. Tubberville says the Cyclones are not fancy, but are solid and try to make first downs and control the ball. This will be Tech’s first conference road game. They opened league play with a loss at home to Texas.

Tubberville says they have to keep their emotions intact and go out and play the best they can. He says this will be the second road trip and the team seemed to handle it well. Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads served as Tubberville’s defensive coordinator at Auburn two years ago. He says Rhoads is a very solid coach and a good motivator who has done a good job as the head coach.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Group tries to get men to help prevent domestic violence

September 28, 2010 By

The Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence hopes a new website will improve its efforts to get men involved in preventing domestic violence. Coalition prevention coordinator, Tess Cody, says they’ve been working to get men more involved through their participation in the Iowa Men’s Action Network’s or I-MAN.

Cody says some of the men are service providers, some are educators, some are attorneys, as there is a wide variety of men in the group who’re focused on ending violence against women. She says the get together via the telephone every month and quarterly in person to discuss what’s happening in Iowa and to bounce ideas off each other.

Cody says they’ve won a grant from the Verizon Foundation to create a website for the effort. Cody says the website will be a place where they can put their “founding documents” and share information on the group. Cody says domestic violence prevention groups have traditionally not done a good job of getting men involved, and this effort seeks to do that in a wider approach to the problem.

She says they can’t just look at the victims they serve, they have to look at the whole system. Cody says some men are victims, but a lot more are friends, sons or co-workers of women who have been battered and violence against women is something they can relate to. Cody says it’s especially important to get everyone involved as the economy has help push and increase in domestic violence calls, while the money to help has decreased.

Cody says the resources to respond to domestic violence have been going down “so all of a sudden that need to prevent violence just seems all the more pressing, and so engaging men and just engaging whole communities in violence prevention becomes so so important.” You can find out more about the I-MAN by e-mailing Cody at Tessp.icadv.org, by calling 515-244-8028 or via their website at:www.icadv.org.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Human Interest

Dyersville child rescued from grain wagon identified

September 28, 2010 By

Dubuque County officials have identified the Dyersville child who is in the hospital after being rescued from a grain wagon Monday. The Dubuque County Sheriff’s Department says 10-year old John Kramer was found trapped inside a grain wagon on the family farm.

Kramer was pulled out of the wagon by family members. He was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to the University Hospitals in Iowa and is believed to be in critical condition. Officials are still investigating to try and determine how he got trapped in the wagon.

John Kramer is the son of Neil and Ellen Kramer.

By Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester

Filed Under: Agriculture, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Volunteers try to lure Des Moines drop outs back to class

September 28, 2010 By

Volunteers fanned out in Iowa’s largest city over the weekend in an effort to find high school dropouts and lure them back to class. Shirley Burgess, with the United Way of Central Iowa, helped coordinate dozens of community volunteers and school leaders for the program called “Reach Out to Dropouts.”

Burgess says she sent 230 people out into Des Moines neighborhoods on Saturday with names and addresses of recent dropouts. Burgess says, “Those volunteers made visits and knocked on the doors of 480 students and of those 480, we had 14 that actually returned to school and 31 requested follow-up information, so they very well may put their foot back in the door.”

All city high schools were open that day to begin the re-entry process for students. She says the volunteers also found out that 43 of the former dropouts had gone on to get their GED or general equivalency degree. Most of the dropouts were 16 and 17-years-old and Burgess says a majority of them who were contacted were touched by the gesture.

“What you find is that the families and the students are surprised and pleased to think that individuals in the community would care enough about what’s going on in their lives to take some time to come and talk with them about how they get in school,” Burgess said. The United Way has set a goal for 2020 to reduce by half the number of students who don’t graduate on time. She says many former students are finding work for their experience level is tough to come by, doesn’t pay much and has little future.

“The economy is a huge driver in helping us deal with the dropout rate,” Burgess says. “Sometimes it’s not even enough to have a high school diploma. Two-thirds of the jobs that are out there now require some post-secondary education. The students have recognized now also that it’s simply imperative they at least have a high school diploma.” It’s the second year for the Reach Out to Dropouts program in Des Moines.

Last year, volunteers called on 382 youth who had not returned to school. Of those, 23 re-enrolled that day and another 58 made appointments with school staff to re-enroll.

Filed Under: Education
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