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Minor disruptions at Iowa airports from eastern U.S. winter storm

December 27, 2010 By

Iowa airports are not reporting any major travel problems because of winter storms in the eastern United States. Pam Hinman, a spokeswoman for the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, says only a few flights have been canceled or delayed. But Hinman says problems at airports in other parts of the country can affect travelers everywhere.

“When they get behind like that and they have to find spaces for people who’ve been on flights that were canceled, it’s a domino effect,” Hinman said. “So, we’ll probably see some issues everywhere throughout the week.”

Des Moines Airport officials are also reporting only a few travel delays. But Des Moines Airport Duty Manager Scott Williams says Iowans could still experience travel problems elsewhere. “There are small delays going to Chicago and there may be issues with connections farther to the east, but out of Des Moines at this time things are pretty normal,” Williams said.

Hinman and Williams are predicting fuller flights the next few days as airlines try to re-board passengers stranded by the storms.

Filed Under: Weather

Iowan preps for last leg of 10,000-mile adventure

December 27, 2010 By

Charlie Wittmack atop Mt. Everest in 2003

Iowa native, athlete and adventurer Charlie Wittmack is preparing to set off for the last portion of what he’s calling the World Triathlon. The 10,000-mile trek from England to the summit of Mount Everest involves swimming, cycling and biking through 12 countries.

Wittmack took a break from the trip to come home to Des Moines for the holidays. He says he’s ready to finish the journey in the New Year.

“I’ve got about 1,300 miles left on the bicycle which will take me to Calcutta, which is on the southern coast of India,” Wittmack says. “I’ll begin the run there and run this distance, roughly 1,200 miles up into the Himalayas, and then will take that expedition climbing up to the summit of Everest.”

Wittmack will resume his trip in late January. He’s using the event to raise awareness for humanitarian efforts aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Nepal. The expedition began this summer and has included a swim across the English Channel and a bike ride across a 12,000-foot-mountain range.

In 2003, Wittmack became the first Iowan to reach the summit of Mount Everest and he says he’s aware there is a significant risk involved in making the climb again.

“The statistic is that historically for every five people that reach the summit of Everest, there’s one person that dies trying,” Wittmack says. “So, it’s a very, very dangerous mountain, a serious undertaking and that will finish up this expedition.”

Wittmack, a lawyer from Des Moines, is one of only four people in the world who have both climbed Everest and swam the English Channel — and he’s the only American among the four.

He was a recent guest on the Iowa Public Radio program, “The Exchange.” Learn more at www.theworldtri.com.

Filed Under: Human Interest, Sports

New streets deter flooding in Charles City

December 27, 2010 By

The flood of 2008 and last spring’s heavy rains convinced leaders in the northeast Iowa town of Charles City to resurface a 16-block historic area near the downtown. The project, which is one of the largest of its kind in the country, was completed earlier this month.

City Administrator Tom Brownlow says they chose permeable or porous paving with holes that allow water to follow through them into an aquifer. “The water goes through openings in the pavement down into a rock layer underneath where it’s detained and then it slowly percolates into the ground,” Brownlow explained. “So, it acts more naturally. The water goes into an aquifer the way it would if this was an open field of undeveloped area.”

The roads resemble cobblestone and when it rains, the streets no longer flood like they did with the old storm water drainage system. “Any pollutants like antifreeze or oil drippings, instead of going into the river, they go into the soil where they are broken down by natural occurring organisms – so it’s much better for the environment in that way too,” Brownlow said. “They tell us that we can have up to a three inch rain and no water will go into the river.”

Federal stimulus money, an I-Jobs grant and local option sales tax revenue paid for the work.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Human Interest, Politics & Government, Weather

Radio Iowa boys high school basketball poll 12/27/10

December 27, 2010 By

Class 4A
1. Linn-Mar (6-0), LW #1 vs Waterloo West 1/4
2. Sioux City East (6-0), LW #2 vs 2A-#3 Western Christian 1/8
3. Ankeny (7-0), LW #3 @ WDM Valley 1/4
4. Cedar Falls (5-1), LW #5 vs CR xavier 1/4
5. DSM Hoover (6-1), LW #6 vs Dowling Catholic 1/4
6. Waukee (7-1), LW #7 vs DSM Lincoln 1/4
7. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (6-0), LW (X) at Dubuque Wahlert 1/4
8. Cedar Rapids Jefferson (5-1), LW #9 vs Dubuque Senior 1/4
9. North Scott (6-1), LW (X) @ 3A-#2 Davenport Assumption 1/4
10.Davenport Central (4-1), LW (X) @ Muscatine 1/4

Class 3A
1. Sioux City Heelan (5-1), LW #1 @ Unity Christian 1/4
2. Davenport Assumption (5-1), LW #2 vs 4A #9 North Scott 1/4
3. Solon (7-0), LW #3 @ Dyersville Beckman 1/4
4. Norwalk (4-0), LW #4 vs Newton 1/4
5. Waverly-Shell Rock (6-0), LW #5 at Independence 1/6
6. Carroll (6-0), LW #6 vs Ballard 1/4
7. Pella (4-1), LW #7 @ Oskaloosa 1/4
8. Mount Pleasant (7-2), LW #8 @ Washington 1/7
9. Dallas Center-Grimes (5-0), LW #9 @ Perry 1/4
10.Iowa Falls-Alden (8-0), LW #10 vs Hampton-Dumont 1/4

Class 2A
1. Monroe PCM (7-0), LW #1 vs Jefferson-Scranton 1/7
2. West Fork (7-0), LW #2 @ Nashua-Plainfield 1/7
3. Western Christian (Hull) (6-1), LW #3 @ Spirit Lake 1/4
4. Treynor (7-0), LW (7-0), LW #4 @ Nodaway Valley 1/3
5. North Cedar (6-0), LW #5 vs Mid-Prarie 1/4
6. Fort Dodge St. Edmond (7-1), LW #6 @ Clarion-Goldfield 1/4
7. West Branch (6-1), LW #7 vs Clear Creek-Amana 1/3
8. Emmetsburg (6-0), LW #8 vs Storm Lake 1/4
9. Monticello (7-0), LW #9 vs Springville 1/4
10.Carroll Kuemper (6-2), LW #10 @ Denison-Schleswig 1/4

Class 1A
1. Iowa Mennonite (7-0), LW #1 vs Highland (Riverside) 1/4
2. Danville (8-0), LW #4 vs West Burlington 1/4
3. Don Bosco (6-0), LW #3 @ Tripoli 1/4
4. Storm Lake St. Mary’s (8-0), LW #5 vs Westwood 1/7
5. Keota (7-0), LW #6 vs BGM 1/4
6. Cedar Falls NU High (7-1), LW #7 vs South Hardin 1/4
7. Lynnville-Sully (8-1), LW #8 @ Iowa Valley 1/7
8. North Tama (6-1), LW (X) vs Dunkerton 1/4
9. East Greene (8-0), LW #10 vs Exira-EHK 1/4
10.Northeast Hamilton (8-1), LW #2 @ Colo-Nesco 1/4

Filed Under: Sports

Iowa gets $6.8 million from feds for getting more kids covered by insurance

December 27, 2010 By

The federal government is forwarding a nearly $7 million bonus to Iowa for the state’s effort to get more kids covered by health insurance.

The Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa or HAWK-I program provides free or reduced-price insurance to about 30,000 children; another 240,000 Iowa kids are covered by Medicaid, which is government-paid health care coverage for the poor and disabled. Roger Munns of the Iowa Department of Human Services says Iowa and 14 other states are getting the bonuses for enrolling more low and moderate-income kids for health insurance.

“Iowa’s award — $6.8 million — is significant,” Munns says, “because it will more than cover the projected deficit in this year’s Medicaid program.” 

The “high performance bonus” is not only for enrolling more children, but for simplifying the process for parents to apply for health care coverage for their kids. ”For instance, there is only one form for applying for either Medicaid or — in Iowa’s case — the HAWK-I program which is Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa,” Munns says.  “Having one form for both makes it easy because a lot of the families that apply for HAWK-I actually don’t qualify. They don’t make enough money and it eliminates the shuffling of paperwork between one program and another.”

A recent survey indicated 95 percent of eligible kids in Iowa are covered by health insurance.

Iowa’s Medicaid budget for the current state fiscal year which ends June 30th has a projected $5 million deficit.  Legislators will be forced to plug that hole, and the $6.8 million award from the feds will more than cover that shortfall.

(This story was updated at 4:10 p.m., correcting the reference to the agency where Munns works.  It’s the Department of Human Services, not the Department of Public Health as previously reported.)

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

Elderly SW Iowa woman falls on porch, dies in cold

December 27, 2010 By

Authorities in southwest Iowa say an Avoca woman who fell on the ice outside of her home Sunday morning died from exposure to the elements.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sergeant Duane Richie says 90-year-old Alice Miller was found outside of her home by a neighbor.

Sergeant Richie says the woman went outside her home around 8 AM to retrieve her newspaper and she slipped on her icy porch. A neighbor told deputies they had seen her porch door open, went to investigate and that’s when they discovered her body around 10:30.

Richie says it’s not clear whether the woman hit her head when she fell and was knocked unconscious, or whether she suffered other injuries that may have made it difficult for her to call for help.

Weather records indicate it was about 10-degrees outside when Miller fell.

Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Two Iowa organ & tissue donors to be honored in Rose Parade

December 27, 2010 By

Two Iowans will be represented on a float in this year’s Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, that recognizes organ and tissue donors.

Iowa Donor Network spokesman Paul Sodders says the two will be depicted in a florograph – a photograph that is recreated using flowers and it will be on the float. The two men featured in the florograph are Brian Gleason who was from Dubuque and Jermiah Dosser of Osage.

Both were in their 20′s and died in car accidents and their families donated their organs after they died. Dosser was a tissue and eye donor, and Gleason was a tissue, organ and eye donor. Dosser was 24 when he died, and Gleason was 25. 

Sodders says the Rose Parade float highlights many people who have donated as it’s a great opportunity to have an international audience and spread the message about how easy it is to register to donate and the life they can give other people through their donations. 

Sodders encourages everyone to consider registering to donate their organs. You can go to www.iowadonarregistry.org, or put yes on your driver’s license and that will register you to donate.

Dosser was on his way to work on March 22, 2007 when he was hit and killed by a pick-up truck that ran a red light. His parents, Rick and Jody, pushed for a new law that created stiffer penalties for drivers who run red lights and unintentionally hurt or kill someone. Jody Dosser will ride on the “Donate Life 2011″ Rose Parade float that includes her son’s floragraph.

Gleason died following an accident on icy roads in 2008.  His parents will be in California to view the parade and float.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Human Interest, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:
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