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No resolution over paying state’s legal bills

March 31, 2011 By

Republicans in the Iowa House have voted to give Governor Branstad the authority to shift money around in the state budget to pay the state’s overdue legal bills, but Branstad doesn’t want that authority to transfer money from one state program to another.

“This is something that’s been abused,” Branstad says.  “We need to be very, very careful. It only should be used in the event of a real emergency.”

The state hasn’t paid nearly $3 million in legal bills submitted by lawyers who’ve representing clients who cannot afford an attorney. Legislators of both political parties have engaged in finger-pointing over the past few weeks, with both the Republican-led House and the Democratically-led Senate voting on separate bills that would have provided enough money for the state’s indigent defense program.

The money also is included in another piece of legislation that has stalled as the parties feud over creation of a new taxpayer relief fund that Republicans want and Democrats have opposed. Representative Kurt Swaim, a Democrat from Bloomfield, urged House Republicans to just vote to provide the money.

“Our constituents expect us to come up here and govern and it’s not just a matter of getting elected, it’s a matter of governing once we’re here,” Swaim said this afternoon. “And this is not governing if we’re not paying our bills.”

But Republicans in the House rejected that, deciding instead to give Branstad the power to shift money into the indigent defense program and away from other programs.  Representative Steven Lukan, a Republican from New Vienna. says passions in both parties have flared during this impasse.

“What we have before us today is a way to solve this problem in a way that does not spend any more money,” Lukan said. 

The state’s indigent defense program is estimated to be more than $18 million short of what it needs to make it through the end of the state budgeting year on June 30, 2011.

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

House votes to ban abortions after 20th week of pregnancy

March 31, 2011 By

After long and often emotional debate, the Iowa House approved a bill to ban abortions in Iowa after the 20th week of pregnancy.

Representative  Mary Ann Hanusa, a Republican from Council Bluffs, said the bill’s a priority, as a Nebraska doctor has said he plans to open a clinic in Council Bluffs where he would perform so-called “late term” abortions.

“There is a substantial and growing body of medical and scientific evidence that unborn babies at 20 weeks can feel intense pain when they are aborted,” Hanusa said during debate. “At 20 weeks, unborn children have pain receptors throughout their body and nerves link these to the brain.”

[Read more...]

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

Iowa opens Big Ten baseball race this weekend

March 31, 2011 By

The Iowa baseball team opens the Big Ten race this weekend at home against Michigan State. The Hawkeyes are 9-13 on the season after dropping two home games to South Dakota State, including a 10-5 loss on Wednesday night in which the Hawkeyes committed four errors and gave up 16 hits.

Iowa coach Jack Dahm says they don’t need to make significant changes, they need to get back to playing aggressively and make plays defensively. Michigan State enters the league race with a 15-5 record. The series begins with a single game on Friday night.

Dahm says they need to work on getting off their heels on defense and to stick to the game plan on offense.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Iowa Conference softball season set to get underway

March 31, 2011 By

The Iowa Conference softball race begins this weekend and three league teams are ranked in the latest division three coaches poll. Luther is ranked fourth. Coach Renae Hartl’s team won nine of ten games on a recent trip to Florida. She says they had to work some things out, but overall she’s happy with the way the defense played.

On the mound Lexy Determan and Becca Girvan have combined for an earned run average of under one. Determan was named the national player of the week. Hartl says it’s working well as a one-two punch. Junior Kelsey Kittelson is off to a fast start. The Saint Ansgar native is batting .458 and leads the team with 17 RBI.

Luther opens the league race at home on Saturday against 16th ranked Coe.

Central is ranked ninth. Coach George Wares’ has an experienced team that has won 14 straight games. He says after the 0-2 start they had a lot of eyes opened and they realized they still have to go out and be ready every game.

Central has a pitching staff that features depth and experience. Wares says the Iowa Conference race will be as tough as it always is from the top to the bottom. He says the middle and bottom teams are very good and it’s not an upset if one of those teams beats one of the leaders.

Central opens the Iowa Conference race at home on Saturday against Wartburg. It will also be the home opener for the Dutch.

Darin Svenson KDEC Decorah contributed to this story.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

U.S.D.A. report shows small increase in projected corn acres

March 31, 2011 By

The U.S.D.A.’s perspective plantings report released today shows farmers in Iowa intend to plant 13.9 million acres of corn this year – up from 13.4 million last year. Nationwide, the anticipated corn acreage is 92.2 million, which would be the second highest planted corn acreage in history.

Dick Gallagher is chair of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and a corn grower from southeast Iowa (Washington). He says the May planting report will provide a better picture of what acres farmers are planting. “This survey was probably taken at the end of February or first part of March,” Gallagher said. “There’s still a chance, depending on the weather, there could be more or less corn acres. Farmers have the opportunity to change depending on what the market is telling them.”

Ethanol and livestock producers and food manufacturers are hoping for increased yields because corn stocks are down 15% compared to last year. The 2010 average yield was 153 bushels per acre.

“I’d like to think that last year was an abnormality and we’ll be back on trend-line yields this year,” Gallagher said. “Trend-line yields are certainly going up strong…we should have stocks rebuilt.”

Iowa is the top corn producing state. There are 41 ethanol plants in Iowa which use about 60-percent of the state’s corn crop. The U.S.D.A. survey shows farmers across the country expect to plant 76.6 million acres of soybeans, that’s down slightly from last year.

Filed Under: Agriculture Tagged With:

Two, two-way races for congress; one three-way race in Iowa House

March 31, 2011 By

Iowa’s congressmen are taking a “wait-and-see” attitude as state legislators ponder the proposed maps for realigning legislative districts as well as reducing the number of Iowa congressional districts from five to four.

Under Iowa’s process for redrawing district lines, state lawmakers must either accept or reject the maps which were drawn by staff in the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency. The proposed maps, unveiled this morning, would throw Republican Congressmen Tom Latham and Steve King on one district and Democratic Congressmen Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack in another.  King says he’s going to seek reelection in 2012, regardless of what congressional map is approved.

“It’s not drawn by me, obviously, so it managed to pit two Republicans against each other and two Democrats against each other,” King says. “You know, that’s an unusual coincidence, but we will see what happens.”

Congressman Leonard Boswell’s Des Moines home sits in a newly-redrawn third district. The map does have a new second district that would cover the southeastern quadrant of the state where none of the five members of congress currently live.  Congressman Loebsack says he’s been “honored to represent southeast Iowa” for the past four years, but he’s not yet talking about moving.

“This is the first map of potentially two or three and that determination is going to be made by the state legislature and the governor,” Loebsack says. “And, really, members of congress have virtually no say in the process.”

Despite the drama of the envisioned congressional races, the configuration of the districts for seats in the Iowa House and Senate are likely uppermost in the minds of state legislators.  However, House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, a Republican from Hiawatha, suggests legislators aren’t making a snap judgment about the plan.

“We’re still digesting it.  We’ll work through it and I don’t feel any pressure to make that decision today or even this weekend for that matter,” Paulsen says. “We have a public comment period.  Let’s continue to make the process run.”

House Republican Leader Linda Upmeyer of rural Garner resides in a district where two other lawmakers now live. 

“I don’t think is a time to make decisions about what anybody is going to do,” Upmeyer says. “These are maps. We’re going to look at them, figure out what everybody’s goals and desires are.” 

Former Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson, who’s also a former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, is now a member of the Iowa House, and he would be forced to run against Upmeyer in 2012 if this plan is approved.  However, there’s an open senate seat he could choose to run for instead.

“I have made no decisions yet,” Iverson says, “haven’t even thought about it that much.”

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs says if lawmakers reject this plan, there’s no guarantee the next will be better for either party.

“We have three different entities that get a say…Any one of the three can say, ‘No deal.’ The governor can say ‘No deal.’ The House can say, ‘No deal.’ The Senate can say, ‘No deal,’” Gronstal says. “…Map 1 may have some concerns, but it behooves everybody to take a cold, hard look and maybe a hard swallow and go, ‘But overall, it’s fair and the second map might not be as fair.’” 

House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines says there are political winners and losers on both sides.

“I’ve noticed a couple of things that look kind of good and a couple of things that look pretty bad (for Democrats),” McCarthy says. “And so far, it looks to be kind of a wash as best I can tell.” 

Fourteen state senators and 27 state representatives are drawn into districts with another incumbent.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Supreme Court makes interim chief justice permanent

March 31, 2011 By

The members of the Iowa Supreme Court have voted to give the interim chief justice the position on a permanent basis. Justice Mark Cady took over the job on an interim basis in December to replace former Chief Justice Marsha Ternus.

Ternus was one of three justices voted off the court in the November retention election following the ruling that threw out Iowa’s law banning gay marriage. Three new justices recently joined the court and all seven have now voted to make Cady the permanent chief justice.

Cady is the most senior member of the court, serving for 13 years. He issued a statement saying he is honored by his colleagues confidence in him and says “I pledge to do everything in my power to ensure the Iowans continue to have a high-caliber court system that provides fair and impartial justice according to the law and equally to all.”

Cady has publicly said he has no regrets about the gay marriage ruling and said the public uproar will not cause the court to shy away from controversial cases. Cady and the four other members of the court that were a part of the gay marriage decision are being targeted for removal by those opposed to the ruling. Cady will be up for a retention vote in 2016.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With:
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