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Caves at Maquoketa Caves State Park to remain closed to protect bats

March 30, 2011 By

A popular attraction at a state park in northeast Iowa will remain closed this summer because of concerns about the spread of a fungus fatal to bats. White-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed about one million bats across the eastern United States since 2006.

 The caves at Maquoketa Caves State Park in Jackson County were first closed to the public last spring. John Maehl, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says WNS has yet to be detected in Iowa, but closing the caves diminishes the risk.

“It’s just such a serious issue to have all of those bats to contract this and the fatality rate is so high…it’s worth erring on the safe side on this particular decision,” Maehl said. WNS is known to spread bat to bat, but officials believe it might inadvertently be spread from footwear and clothing worn by cave explorers. Maehl says other states allow guided tours or limited access to caves, but he doesn’t believe that’s an option for the Maquoketa Caves.

“There’s really no structure in place to control the activities there. You don’t go through a gate house where you check in and you pay a little bit to use the park and you don’t go through a visitor’s center before you have access to the caves,” Maehl explained. “We don’t have guided cave tours like most every other publicly controlled cave system.”

Staffing shortages also restrict that option, according to Maehl. Prior to last spring, the Maquoketa Caves State Park drew an estimated 200,000 visitors per year. Maehl says it was common for all of the park’s campsites to be reserved every weekend of the summer. That changed with the closing of the caves.

“Last year, it was dramatic what we saw. You could come through on a weekend and there might be three or four cars there and half the campsites are available,” Maehl said. He says it’s unclear when the caves might be reopened to public access, but other features – such as the trails, campgrounds, shelter and playground at Maquoketa Caves – remain open.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

Report ranks health of Iowa counties

March 30, 2011 By

A new report ranks Iowa and all other states county-by-county in terms of the health and longevity of its residents. Julie Willems Van Dijk, a scientist and community health expert at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, explains the goals of the rankings.

“We do this so people can see about the health of their own community,” Willems Van Dijk says. “Just like every year, you go to the doctor’s office and get an annual checkup, much of what influences your health is really where you live, where you work, where you go to school. This report provides your listeners with an opportunity to see how healthy is my community?”

She says the criteria that go into compiling the rankings range from air quality measurements to the number of smokers in any given county. “We look at the many different factors that influence how long we live and how well we live,” Willems Van Dijk says. “We look at measures like the obesity rate, educational rates in the community, access to healthy foods. We look at lots of different things that will determine how long you live in your community.”

The report is available online and she says the hope is that people will access it, learn about their communities weaknesses in obesity, for example, then strive to do something about turning it around. “How could we make our community more friendly for walking and biking and physical activity?” Willems Van Dijk says. “Really simple things people can do is get together with other neighbors and have a walking club. Or, talk with your school district about how can we get our gyms open to use in off-school hours.”

She says Iowa’s best- and poorest-ranking counties are widely scattered. “In terms of the health outcomes, Delaware County is the highest ranked and Sioux County is second,” Willems Van Dijk says. “If we go to the bottom of the list, Appanoose and Van Buren are the two lowest.”

The report, “2011 County Health Rankings,” was produced by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. See the full report on the state’s 99 counties, and those in any state, by visiting “www.countyhealthrankings.org“.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Boy nearly drowns in Council Bluffs hotel pool

March 30, 2011 By

A ten-year old boy nearly drowned in a Council Bluffs hotel pool last night. Rick Benson, EMS/Division Chief Operations officer for the Council Bluffs Fire Department, says the boy, who is from New Mexico, had been in the water anywhere from 20 seconds to as long as one minute.

The youth was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha after he was found in a pool at the Quality Inn & Suites, at 35th Street and West Broadway, at around 6:40 p.m. No other details have been released.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Vilsack: biofuels make U.S. more “self-reliant”; tax breaks phased out “over time”

March 30, 2011 By

Tom Vilsack (file photo)

President Obama is delivering a speech this morning outlining his administration’s domestic energy goals and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack — a former Iowa governor — says the president is pushing for increased production and use of plant-based biofuels so the U.S. can be more “self-reliant.”

“That’s a value system that folks in rural Iowa and rural America understand very well,” Vilsack says.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Environment & Conservation, Politics & Government, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Former Alabama judge pondering presidential run (audio)

March 30, 2011 By

A former Alabama Supreme Court Justice who was the keynote speaker at a Des Moines rally earlier this month says he may run for president.

In 2001 Roy Moore drew national attention for installing a monument to the Ten Commandments in Alabama’s courthouse. A federal court ordered that monument removed. After Moore refused to do so, Alabama’s judicial ethics panel booted Moore from that state’s high court in 2003. Moore was in Iowa last summer, campaigning to unseat Iowa Supreme Court justices who had joined in the Iowa court’s ruling on gay marriage. Moore was back in Des Moines on March 15th for a rally organized by backers of an amendment to Iowa’s constitution which would ban gay marriage.  (AUDIO: listen to mp3 of Moore speech; runs 19 minutes.)

Moore, sounding like a presidential candidate, began his speech with praise of Iowa and its citizens. 

“How great it is to be back in Iowa…Each time I think it’s prettier than the last time. When I came last summer and saw the beautiful farms and the rich soil and the waving green stalks of corn in the summer breeze, I just thought that there could be no finer place than Iowa,” Moore said. “…But you know what I like most about Iowa, what I admire most about Iowa?  It’s the people…who are honest and hard-working, who are strong-willed and a little bit opinionated.”

Moore, a West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, recited the Cadet Prayer. He said it’s references to courage, nobility and scorn of compromise reminded him of Iowans.

“It’s no accident that Iowans have long had a pivotal voice in American politics…America looks to you for leadership in this critical season because what happens in Iowa affects the rest of the nation,” Moore said. “It’s not like Vegas. You’ve heard about Vegas — ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’. That’s not Iowa. What happens in Iowa the rest of the nation watches.”

Moore, who has called homosexuality “evil” and a crime against nature, warned rally-goers that “petty partisan politics” could endanger their desire to ban gay marriage.

“We’ve got a moral crisis in America,” Moore said.  “We see the things that are happening in Japan…but right here we’ve got a moral melt-down.”

Moore called marriage between one man and one woman the “foundation of our country” and a blessing that is “ordained” from God.

“No society is prepared to deal with the problems arising out of same-sex marriages: child abuse, adoption, divorce, foster care, alimony and the list could go on and on,” Moore said. “And what stops these judges from next saying that three could be similarly situated as two?”

People in the crowded murmered “Amen” and “that’s right” in response. Danny Carroll, a lobbyist for The Family Leader, praised Moore as he introduced Moore to the crowd.

“Many people believe that Judge Moore was removed for displaying the Ten Commandments. He was not removed for that reason,” Carroll said. “He was removed because he dared to acknowledge God.”

Moore, who is 64 years old, ran for governor of Alabama twice and lost. He lost by a two-to-one margin in a G.O.P. Primary in 2006 and in 2010 he got about 19 percent of the vote in Alabama’s gubernatorial primary, finishing in fourth place. Moore is reportedly going to make a decision about running for president in April.

Photo courtesy of Dave Davidson, www.hereiniowa.com.

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

Atheists use billboards to create interest in their convention

March 30, 2011 By

New billboard ads are turning some heads in Des Moines this week. The ads were paid for by the American Atheists and read: “You know there is no God…we know you’re right.” The American Atheists National Convention is scheduled for April 21-24 in Des Moines.

Randy Henderson, president of Iowa Atheists and Free Thinkers, says the five billboards are designed to create “buzz” about the convention and generate discussion. “We recognize there will be people who will disagree, they have a right to disagree, who will look at the sign and maybe see it as a bit presumptuous,” Henderson said.

“There are even atheists, agnostics and others who say, ‘wait a minute, that’s a little further than we want to go or the way we express things.’ We recognize that as well.”

A spokesperson for the American Atheists says the group wanted a “straight forward” ad to show people who don’t believe in God – they aren’t alone in their beliefs. But, Henderson says atheism isn’t “all about God.”

“We don’t just believe against something, we believe for something – humans, humanism, secularism, separation of church and state,” Henderson said. Next month’s convention is expected to draw up to 700 people to Iowa’s capital city.

“We get together to support each other, help each other…and promote the idea of a society that needs to have a rebirth of the separation of church and state – which is in dangerous positions here in Iowa,” Henderson said. Henderson says the American Atheists chose Des Moines as the site of their annual convention because of an” increase in secular and atheist activism” in Iowa.

Filed Under: Religion

Someone may be unaware that they’re a millionaire

March 30, 2011 By

Someone is either frantically searching for ,  or totally unaware, that they have a Hot Lotto ticket worth $16.5 million. Iowa Lottery C.E.O., Terry Rich, says the confirmed winner was sold three months ago. Rich says it may’ve been someone passing through Iowa.

Rich says it was sold on northeast 14th street near Interstate 80, so they don’t know where the person was headed. He says it was sold right during the holidays, so they are encouraging anyone who had relatives come through the area to check to see if they have the ticket. It is possible that someone has the ticket and is making some plans before turning it in, but Rich says that seems less likely than other scenarios.

He says it’s not unusual for people to wait a little while to cash in a big winner as they check with their accountant and lawyer first, but he says this time period is longer than normal. Rich says a review of Iowa Lottery records indicates it’s probably a better bet that the person who bought the ticket doesn’t know it’s a winner.

Rich says no one has checked the ticket at a lottery terminal to see if it is a winner, so he says it may be sitting on a car dash somewhere or in a pile of tickets in a drawer. There is still a lot of time before the ticket expires, but Rich says they want to make sure it doesn’t get overlooked.

The person with the winning ticket has 365 days from the time of the drawing to turn it in, so we are about one quarter of the way through. Rich says the longer the ticket goes unclaimed, the more they’re worried the ticket might have been misplaced.

The ticket for the December 29th winning Hot Lotto ticket has the numbers: 3-12–16-26-33 and Hot Ball 11.

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:
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