January 27, 2012

Couple arrested in case of abandoned, malnourished dogs

A central Iowa couple was arrested Monday in connection with the discovery of two abandoned, malnourished dogs two weeks ago.

The boxer dogs, one male and one female, were found with their cages in a ditch near Maxwell on May 9. They weighed just 20 pounds – when they should’ve tipped the scales at 55 to 75 pounds. [Read more...]

Mary Pawlenty backs hubby’s bid with “my heart & my head”

The wives of presidential candidates often take to the campaign trail. but today’s brief speech by the wife of former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty helped the Pawlentys illustrate their unity just hours after another politician’s wife seems to have vetoed her husband’s bid for the White House.  

From Laura Bush and Elizabeth Dole to Tipper Gore and Teresa Heinz-Kerry, Iowans have often seen the wives of presidential candidates serve as a primary spokesperson here while their husbands were tending to political business elsewhere. Today, during a speech in Iowa, Mary Pawlenty — the wife of Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty — made clear she is on board with her husband’s campaign.

“It’s tempting, I presume, to assume that his spouse of so many years would stand here and be supportive simply from the heart and, of course, I am supportive from the heart,” Pawlenty said. “But all that I know and all that I have witnessed about my husband has me supporting him in equal measure with my heart and my head.” 

The scrutiny surrounding a campaign for the presidency, and another wife’s relutance to expose her family to that intense spotlight, prompted Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels to announce this past weekend he will not run for president.  Within hours of that news, the Pawlentys were in Des Moines, presenting a unified front.

“After serving eight years as Minnesota’s governor I was very much looking forward to life with Mary and our two daughters in the Midwestern home that we love,” Pawlenty said to begin his speech. “But with Mary’s encouragement and wise counsel, we came to a different conclusion and that’s what brings me here today with this announcement: I’m Tim Pawlenty and I’m running for president of the United States.”

Mary Pawlenty, a lawyer and former judge, praised what she called the “internal compass” her husband has used to set his course in politics and in life.

“In the fall of 1983, I met Tim Pawlenty,” she told a crowd gathered on the terrace of the State Historical Building in Des Moines. “And I knew at that time that I had met someone extraordinary.” 

A reluctant spouse was temporarily at center stage in Iowa’s political scene in late 2009, as Terry Branstad’s primary hurdle to launching his bid for a fifth term as governor was getting his wife’s blessing. Chris Branstad does not give public speeches, and she does not introduce her husband at events. Mary Pawlenty does.

“I am completely certain that he is the best person for the job,” she said today.

Mary Pawlenty works as a mediator and arbitrator for a Minnesota-based company that specialized in resolving legal disputes. The Pawlentys have two teenaged daughters and make their home in Eagan, Minnesota.

School bus hits parked cars in Davenport

The driver of a Davenport school bus was ticketed following a crash this morning. The bus was headed to an elementary school when the driver hit half a dozen cars parked along a street.

Fifteen elementary school students were on the bus at the time. Police say there were no serious injuries although one student, an 11-year-old girl, was treated for a minor injury and released. Another bus took the other kids to school.

Police say when the bus driver lost control, she couldn’t stop and started hitting the cars, which were pushed down the block and into yards. One car rolled around a corner and hit another parked car.

Police cited the bus driver for failure to maintain control.

by Phil Roberts, Davenport

ATV crash claims life of western Iowa man

One person was killed and another injured in an all-terrain vehicle crash Sunday evening in western Iowa’s Pottawattamie County.

Police in Council Bluffs say Phillip Bigham, 24, of Carter Lake died at the scene of the crash which occurred at around 5:20 p.m. Sunday, near the intersection of East Manawa Drive and Navajo Street, on the southeast side of Lake Manawa.

A second, unidentified person on the machine was injured and transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. A report on his condition is not available.

An investigation revealed Bigham was operating the 4-wheel ATV when the machine went out of control. The accident remains under investigation.

by Ric Hanson, KJAN

Pawlenty’s hard-truth: time to phase out ethanol subsidies (audio)

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty promises to make truth-telling the hallmark of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, including some hard truths audiences may not want to hear. 

Pawlenty formally kicked off his campaign Sunday with a video posted on the Internet, then followed that with a speech today on a rooftop terrace in downtown Des Moines.  

“I want to thank you all for coming. I was going to apologize for the sun beating down, but frankly after being in Minnesota all spring with a lot of wet weather and cool weather, it feels good to me. I hope it feels good to you,” Pawlenty said. “I’m excited about this race. We are going to win it and It’s going to start right here in Iowa.”

Pawlenty called for “big time” cuts in federal spending, including an end to federal subsidies for corn-based ethanol fuel.

“The hard truth is there are no longer any sacred programs,” Pawlenty said. “The truth about federal energy subsidies — including federal subsidies for ethanol — is that they need to be phased out. We need to do it gradually. We need to do it fairly, but we need to do it.”

awlenty, as governor of Minnesota, reduced state subsidies for ethanol. According to Pawlenty, it’s time to do the same on the national level “on a much, much larger scale.”

“It can’t be done overnight. The industry has made large investments and it wouldn’t be fair to pull the rug out from under them immediately, but we must face the truth that if we want to invite more competition, more investment and more innovation in the industry, need to get the government out,” Pawlenty said, to applause.

Iowa produces nearly a third of the ethanol in the U.S. converting over a billion bushels of corn into more than 3.6 billion gallons of ethanol each year. Pawlenty presented his proposal to end ethanol subsidies as an example of his commitment to avoid making “fluffy promises of hope and change” and his pledge to outline a “new approach” to governing.

“Now some people are going to be upset about what I’m saying. Conventional wisdom says you can’t talk about ethanol in Iowa or Social Security in Florida or financial reform on Wall Street, but someone has to say it. Someone has to finally stand up and level with the American people,” Pawlenty said. “Someone has to lead. I will.” 

Pawlenty is a Minnesota native who served two terms as that state’s governor, yet he chose Iowa as the site of his presidential campaign kick-off. Graham Gillette, a one-time GOP operative and former Des Moines school board member, considers that a wise move.

“It’s smart for him to do this and I also think it’s smart for him to run what he laid out here in his travel schedule over the next few days, that he’s going to be around in different states,” Gillette says. “He needs to do that, maybe more than everybody else, as a governor without the national profile that some of the others have.” 

Many in the crowd were evaluating Pawlenty as a candidate they might support. Susan Foster of Des Moines says Pawlenty is the first candidate she’s seen and heard in person.

“I was impressed with what I heard today, especially his stands on education and especially on Israel,” Foster says. “…I just think our country is in crisis and he seems like the right man, at this point…to lead us out of that crisis.”

Foster’s mother, Sharyl Foster, plans to go to the Iowa Republican Party’s Straw Poll in August and cast her vote for Pawlenty.

“He has kind of a quiet strength,” Foster says. “I like that about him…I think he’s very trustworthy.” 

The president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association issued a statement, a couple of hours after Pawlenty’s call for phasing out federal subsidies for ethanol. Walt Wendland said the ethanol industry welcomes “reform” of what he called the “current ethanol incentive,” but Wendland stressed that the “massive amount of federally-funded petroleum incentives” must be targeted as well.  He went on to challenge Pawlenty to go to Houston, Texas — the heart of oil-producing country — and deliver a speech outlining his plans to “phase out petroleum subsidies.”

Listen to Pawlenty’s speech: PawlentyMay23 (mp3 runs 20 minutes).

Course aims to mold young women into top candidates

Young women who are college students in or from Iowa are taking a weeklong course that started today at the University of Iowa which aims to inspire and prepare them to run for office. Laurie Haag, with the U-of-I’s Women’s Resource and Action Center, says this is the fourth annual Iowa National Education for Women’s Leadership Institute.

“The program was started because there’s a real discrepency in female leadership, particularly in electoral politics,” Haag says. “The state of Iowa has never had a female governor or sent a woman to Washington as a congressperson or senator.” She says this year’s theme is “Women Building Sustainable Communities” and the workshops will run through Friday in Iowa City.

“This is a little bit of a Head Start program for women interested in public leadership,” Haag says. “The primary goals of it are to get them excited about leadership and to provide them with the skills that will help them get started in it.” [Read more...]

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll

Class 4A
1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy
2. Mason City
3. Dowling Catholic
4. Iowa City West
5. Davenport Central
6. Fort Dodge
7. Ankeny
8. Dubuque Hempstead
9. S.E. Polk
10.WDM Valley

Class 3A
1. Glenwood
2. Solon
3. Sergeant Bluff-Luton
4. Davenport Assumption
5. Dallas Center-Grimes
6. Dubuque Wahlert
7. Adel ADM
8. Norwalk
9. Harlan
10.Knoxville

Class 2A
1. Davis County
2. Fort Dodge St. Edmond
3. Logan-Magnolia
4. Van Buren Keosauqua
5. Lake Mills
6. Dyersville Beckman
7. Gilbert
8. Carroll Kuemper
9. North Fayette
10.Iowa City Regina

Class 1A
1. Martensdale-St. Marys
2. Mason City Newman
3. Don Bosco
4. Lansing Kee
5. Cedar Falls NU High
6. North Sentral Kossuth
7. North Tama
8. Treynor
9. Remsen St. Marys
10.Coon Rapids-Bayard