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Waverly woman is Ms. Wheelchair Iowa

March 30, 2011 By

A Waverly woman is Iowa’s newest advocate for people in wheelchairs. Jennifer Wolff was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Iowa last weekend at a competition in Iowa City. Wolff, a 39-year-old occupational therapist, she’s learned first-hand how challenging it can be for people in wheelchairs to navigate in the world — and through bureaucracy.

“I was having difficulty getting a wheelchair due to red tape and got interested in doing advocacy work and am finding out more and more and more all the time about legislation,” Wolff says. “My platform is on advocating empowerment for wheelchair users.” About eight years ago, Wolff had to undergo surgery for a tumor on her spinal column which left her without the use of her legs. She quickly discovered it’s a very complicated process to get a wheelchair.

Wolff says, “Funding is really getting cut all around for the end user for the vender and supplier due to some of the policies that were put into place to help decrease fraud, so people aren’t getting the right equipment.” She says she’s already been speaking out on behalf of people who have disabilities, so winning the title of Ms. Wheelchair Iowa will enable her to reach an even wider audience.

“I’ve been working with Users First Alliance, a wheelchair advocacy group,” Wolff says. “It’s web-based and nationwide. We’re trying to help let people know about the process and that they do have a voice and to share their stories so we can let legislators have the face and the stories to go with.”

Wolff will represent Iowa at the national Ms. Wheelchair America competition in August in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

To learn more about the program, visit: www.wix.com/mswheelchairiowa1/home

Filed Under: Human Interest

A “big reveal” planned at the statehouse on Thursday

March 30, 2011 By

There’ll be a “big reveal” at the statehouse Thursday morning. Maps that outline new boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts will be released.  

Staff in the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency have taken  population data from the 2010 Census and redrawn the lines for the state’s congressional district and for state legislative districts. It means high drama when the maps are unveiled at the statehouse, as members of the Iowa House and Senate scramble to see whether they may be forced to run against another legislator. Brent Siegrist, a Republican from Council Bluffs, was in the legislature in both 2001 and in 1991 when previous redistricting plans were revealed.

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Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Tougher standard approved for judging drunken boaters

March 29, 2011 By

After years of trying, backers have finally won legislative approval of a bill that sets a new, tougher standard for judging drunken boaters. It means the legal blood alcohol limit for boaters will be lowered to .08, the same as for drivers on the roadways, if Governor Branstad signs the bill into law.

Earlier this year the Senate embraced the idea, but the House made changes in the legislation to ensured drunken boating charges can be levied only when the boat’s moving rather than when it’s anchored. Senator Dick Dearden, a Democrat from Des Moines, urged Senators to go along.

“For somebody to get a ticket, the officer has to see the person operating the boat with the motor running or a sailboat, the sail is hoisted,” Dearden said today in the Senate. “I really don’t think it does much, but it makes the House feel better.”

Senator Dennis Black, a Democrat from Grinnell, suggested people in a boat that’s not moving shouldn’t be drunk either.

“I think that our officers who are out there working hard have got to have an easier opportunity to deal with those people who are being on a body of water intoxicated,” Black said.

Yet Black joined 40 other senators to approve the bill.

Backers of the bill say there have been nearly two dozen tragic accidents on Iowa lakes over the past decade involving people driving a boat drunk. With power boats able to go up to 55 miles an hour on some of the state’s larger lakes, Dearden said it makes sense to ensure the same standards for drunk driving are in place in Iowa whether you’re driving a car on a highway or a boat on a lake.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Environment & Conservation, Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: , , , ,

More info released on high speed chase in Red Oak

March 29, 2011 By

Authorities have released more information about a high speed chase earlier this week through three western Iowa counties. It started around 2 a.m. Monday in Red Oak. Officers say they stopped 32-year-old Shaun Akers of Stanton for speeding.

Akers took off and led police on a chase that topped 100 miles per hour through Montgomery, Mills and Pottawattamie Counties. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says Akers is facing several charges, possibly including OWI, after he flipped his car on its top near Treynor.

“We did draw blood from Mr. Akers,” Danker said. “We suspect he may’ve been driving while intoxicated, but due to him being admitted to the hospital, we really couldn’t do any tests.” Akers suffered only minor injuries in the crash. Deputies threw out Stop Sticks – hoping to end the chase – about two miles before Akers crashed.

Danker says Akers drove around the sticks and the deputies were nearly hit by his car. “When the vehicle tries to avoid (the Stop Sticks), sometimes the officer can be seriously injured or killed,” Danker said. At one point during the chase, Akers allegedly slammed on his brakes, forcing a police cruiser to crash into his bumper. Danker says it’s always difficult for officers and supervisors to know when to call off a chase.

“We really want to get them stopped because it’s obvious, whoever you’re pursuing, they have not regard for traffic laws and other people’s safety,” Danker said. “We’d like to them stopped and arrested, but there are times when you just have to back off, let the pursuit go and try and catch them another time.”

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Two named SBA Persons of the Year

March 29, 2011 By

Gina Blean and Kelly Heysinger

Two women who founded an outpatient children’s clinic in northeast Iowa are being named Iowa’s Small Business Persons of the Year by the Iowa office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Kelly Heysinger and Gina Blean run Unified Therapy Services in Dubuque, which offers physical, occupational and speech therapy services for children. Blean says they filled a big need in the community.

Blean says, “Being pediatric focused, our therapists’ continuing education is really geared towards that population and therefore, you know more of the trends out there, the new things, the new studies and we bring all of that to the table.” The two opened the office in 2006 between just themselves and a third therapist.

Now, they have 18 full-time and five part-time staff members. The office space has more than doubled in size. Blean says the biggest challenge has been keeping up with the continued growing staffing needs. She says they’ve pushed a true team atmosphere and it’s paying off.

“We really try to communicate with the physicians, with the therapists in the schools, the caregivers, Lutheran Social Services, anybody that’s involved in that child’s care,” Blean says. “We try to communicate with them and educate them and work together as a team to help that individual, that family, get from Point A to Point Z and they’re going to get there that much quicker if we’re all working together.”

Blean says she was stunned to be named with her business partner as this year’s statewide winner of the title, but she notes, they methodically built the business and started with a solid plan. “We didn’t just dive into the deep end,” Blean says. “Kelly and I started talking about it and met and planned for over a year before we opened our doors. We did a lot of legwork in the forefront, going and meeting with pediatricians, with services that we would plan to partner with or that we knew our business would help support and that we could help each other. We did a lot of that before we even opened our doors.”

Blean and Heysinger will represent Iowa at National Small Business Week ceremonies in Washington, D.C., in May where they will compete for the national version of the Iowa Small Business Persons of the Year award.

Filed Under: Business

Taxpayers to be charged interest on unpaid state bills

March 29, 2011 By

Iowa taxpayers will have to pay mounting interest charges on unpaid legal bills due to a statehouse stand-off over legislation that includes stop-gap state spending and a new tax-related proposal. For weeks the State of Iowa hasn’t been paying lawyers who’re representing indigent clients in court. If legislators don’t come to some agreement soon, Mark Smith at the state Public Defender’s office says Iowa taxpayers will be charged interest.

“If something happens on this bill this week and we’re able to start paying bills, we have about $40,000 in claims that may be entitled to some interest,” Smith says. “If it were to go to the end of next week, there is about $400,000 worth of claims that we may owe interest on.”

The interest rate on those unpaid bills is one percent and the interest that would be charged this Friday amounts to about $4000.

Lawyers have been calling and emailing legislators, complaining about the situation. Representative Kurt Swain, a Democrat from Bloomfield, says small law offices across the state are being unfairly pinched.

“One call I had from a lawyer that he was just getting ready to have a conference with his secretary to send her home because he couldn’t afford to pay her any longer,” Swain says. “He felt an obligation to pay his bills, but the State of Iowa had not felt the obligation to send him the check for the $8000 that the state owed him.”

It’s bipartisan anger from both Republicans and Democrats who are attorneys — and who are being unpaid. They’re venting that anger at legislators like Representative Steve Lukan, a Republican from New Vienna. 

“There’s absolutely reason for concern if you’re working in this field,” Lukan says. “I certainly feel their frustration.” 

Lukan says he hopes the situation can be resolved yet this week. The hold-up has been over a bill that includes $18 million for the state’s indigent defense program as well as a new “taxpayers relief fund” that Republicans have proposed. Democrats in the Senate have passed another bill which would provide all the payments to the lawyers, but Republicans in the House have refused to consider it. Republicans, in turn, blame Democrats for the situation, saying Democrats who crafted last year’s state budget intentionally failed to set aside enough money for the state’s indigent defense program.

Governor Branstad, a Republican, said last week he wanted legislators to resolve their dispute quickly and get the legal bills paid.

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

Judge denies motion to combine trials in convenience store killings

March 29, 2011 By

District Judge David Lester has denied a motion by lawyer for Michael Swanson to combine his murder trials in the shooting deaths of two convenience store clerks. An opinion was issued by judge Lester to County Attornies Todd Holmes of Kossuth County and Jennifer Benson of Humboldt County.

That means, that barring a request for a change of venue, Swanson`s trial in Humboldt County would begin Monday June 20th and on Wednesday July 27th in Kossuth County.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
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