January 27, 2012

You are here: Home / 2011 / Archives for April 2011

Boswell says voters in new third district “know what they get” with him

April 29, 2011 By

Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell says he’ll be able to catch up with Republican Congressman Tom Latham in the money race for 2012. 

“It’s 20 months away, so there’s lots of time,” Boswell says. “We’ve faced this before.”

Boswell, an eight-term incumbent, lives in the new third congressional district and Latham, who has won nine terms in congress, announced last week that he will move into that southwest Iowa district rather than run against Congressman Steve King, a fellow Republican. Latham has over $900,000 in his campaign war chest, while Boswell has nearly $174,000. 

“A little short, but nevertheless, yeah, we went through the last campaign without any debt,” Boswell says. “We’ve always had a challenge here.”

Boswell, who is 77 years old, says he never considered retiring.

“It’s a historical moment and, you know, there’s a lot going on in not just our country but around the world…and I don’t know when I’ve been better prepared to do what I do,” Boswell says.  “I’ve got the energy for it. I’ve got the desire to make things better.”

Earlier this week Latham called the 16-county district that includes both Des Moines and Council Bluffs a “good fit” for him.

“It’s a pretty good district for me, too, and so I’ll just concentrate on that. We’ve served 70 percent of it. Over nine of the counties of the 16 we’ve been in before for either as a state senator or a congress member and, you know, I fit with a lot of the people out there,” Boswell says. “I know them well. They know me and they kind of know what they get.” 

Boswell made his comments during taping of the Iowa Public Television program “Iowa Press” which airs tonight at 7:30.

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

Outflows cut at Saylorville, Red Rock to help with Mississippi flooding

April 29, 2011 By

The water levels at Saylorville Lake and Lake Red Rock are being held higher by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to help ease the flooding on the lower Mississippi. Corps spokesman, Ron Fournier, says it’s part of a region wide effort at flood control.

Fournier says the flood crest has already come through on the upper Mississippi, but to the south the major tributaries like the Des Moines River, Iowa River and Ohio River are flowing into the Mississippi. He says the flows are creating the potential for record flooding in the south on the lower Mississippi with the potential for levies breaking and levies overtopping.

Fournier says the outflow at Lake Red Rock has been cut back to 10,000 cubic feet per second, compared to the normal flow of 25,000 cubic feet per second. He says they’ve already had calls from the public asking why they aren’t putting out more water to keep the pool low.

Fournier says the cutbacks in outflow will help with the flooding in the south and he says when Red Rock is cut back, Saylorville also has to be cut back as the two reservoirs work in tandem. A spokesman at Saylorville Lake says the cutback in flow there has raised the lake level about 15 feet and that has forced the closure of a couple of boat ramps.

Saylorville is forecast to rise another three feet. Fournier says they are concerned about keeping Saylorville and Red Rock to full so that there might be local flooding if there is a lot of rain in the watershed.

“We want to make sure we keep those pools as low as possible, but those reservoirs are constructed for flood protection and that’s what they are being put to use for,” Fournier says. He says the weather service’s forecast for the next week doesn’t look bad for a lot of local rainfall.

The flooding is expected to start cresting on the lower Mississippi next week, and last for 10 to 14 days.

You can find information about Lake Red Rock and Saylorville Lake levels, inflows and outflows at the Corps’ website at:www.rivergages.com.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather

Group argues against cutting commerical property taxes

April 29, 2011 By

A group known as the “Coalition for a Better Iowa” is arguing against competing plans at the statehouse to lower commercial property taxes.

Both Democrats and Republicans say property taxes for business and industry are disproportionately high compared to those on farms and homes. But the coalition’s Victor Elias urges the House Ways and Means committee to consider the total tax burden on Iowa businesses, not just their property taxes.

“A lot of talk has been on the need to address commercial property taxes, which are viewed as being too high in comparison to other states,” Elias says, “I think if you’re looking at commercial property taxes because of its effect on economic development and business location decisions, you need to look at the total tax responsibility that businesses face.“

Elias on the coalition have been the lone voice questioning the need to lower commercial property taxes. “When you look at total effective taxes paid by businesses, Iowa ranks in the middle or the lower half of states. Not looking at our high nominal rates, but when you factor in what they actually pay, we are not a high tax state for business,” Elias says.

The Coalition includes non-profit, labor, and human service organizations.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , , ,

Actor returns to Iowa for “Young Frankenstein”

April 29, 2011 By

Preston Boyd, Christopher Ryan.

One star of the touring Broadway production of “Young Frankenstein” opening in central Iowa next week is coming home, sort of. The actor who plays Dr. Frankenstein lived in Des Moines in the mid-1990s when he was a member of Ballet Iowa.

Christopher Ryan says this will be his first time back in the Hawkeye State in about 15 years and he’s looking forward to seeing how Iowa’s capitol city has changed and grown. New York is home now, but he’s been on this nationwide tour for 17 months. Ryan is still enthusiastic, though he’s sung the same songs under the spotlight almost daily for the past 500-some days.

The musical-comedy about a man-made monster, set in Transylvania, is based on the Mel Brooks movie from nearly four decades ago. “It’s a great time to get away from the everyday, to go and sit down and enjoy and laugh for a couple of hours,” Ryan says. “That’s what this show really is about. It’s just a lot of fun.” He says Brooks and the other creators of the musical have taken the familiar lines from the original movie and put new spins on them.

“They have put together this musical theatre extravaganza,” Ryan says. “It’s just crazy. It goes from taking these moments in the film and taking it a step further, so it goes beyond what people expect when they walk in — if they have familiarity with the film — and if they don’t, it’s a great exposure to musical theatre.” Ryan, an Atlanta native, was born in 1974 — coincidentally, the same year “Young Frankenstein” was released in theatres. He says he saw the black-and-white cult classic for the first time when he was 12 or 13 years old.

Ryan says, “It wasn’t until probably half way through the film that I realized what comic genius it really was and wanted to watch it again and again.” Des Moines is the touring show’s next-to-last stop. Ryan says after the long adventure is over, he’ll take a much-needed vacation and then — start looking for his next job.

The show runs Tuesday through next Sunday at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines.

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment

ISU grad student headed south to study tornado outbreak

April 29, 2011 By

An Iowa State University professor who studies tornadoes says he’s “amazed and shocked” by the destruction and loss of life from the tornadoes that tore across the south on Wednesday night.

“I ended up telling my students a week beforehand that the weather maps looked very much like the super outbreak from 1974,” says Bill Gallus, a professor of geological and atmospheric sciences at I.S.U. “I was stressing how serious the outlook for severe weather was.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather Tagged With: ,

New rules for bats change college baseball

April 29, 2011 By

New rules regarding the performance of composite-barrel bats are cutting down the number of home runs and putting pitching and defense back into college baseball. With a little more than a week to go in the regular season the nine Iowa Conference baseball teams have combineds to hit 68 home runs. A year ago, there were 213 home runs league-wide.

Buena Vista coach Steve Eddie says the true power guys are still hitting home runs, but the smaller guys are no longer hitting them. He says the game is truer now and hitters get what they deserve, and that’s all that anybody asks for. Eddie says the games are going quicker, they’re more competitive and the better team usually wins.

As a league, the earned run average is down about two points from last year and Coe’s ERA of 2.88 in league play is the lowest in 15 years according to coach Steve Cook. Cook says the game will shift from an offensive game where good pitchers had a 4-run ERA, where that lowers and the pitching stats get better.

Cook also likes the changes and feels college baseball is a better game this season. He says defense and making plays has become more of a premium. There are more bunt and hit and run plays, and he says it spreads things out so there is pressure on all aspects of the game and makes it more well rounded.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

Former UNI athlete wins Drake decathalon

April 29, 2011 By

Former U.N.I. standout Mat Clark won his second Drake Relays Decathalon title. Clark won the final event, the 15 hundred meter run to finish with 7,500 points. Clark said he knew the time he needed to make the points to qualify for the U.S. championships and was pleased to be able to get it.

Clark won his first Relays title in 2009, and says “it doesn’t get any better than this.” He says it feels like his hometown to come back to Drake.

Clark was second after the first day of competition, and says it is his first meet all year, and he felt rusty to start.

Dakotah Goodell from Williamsburg won the girls high school discus with a throw of 140 feet. Goodell says she worked hard to accomplish it as it was her biggest dream.

Goodell’s winning throw was a personal record. She says it felt good the whole way and she knew it would be a good throw when she released it.

By John Martenson KGRN Grinnell

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts