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Iowans urged to donate cash, not goods, to storm victims

May 26, 2011 By

Thousands of Americans – from Joplin, Missouri to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee - are trying to piece their lives back together after losing homes and other possessions in natural disasters.

Iowans are quick to offer help, but Arvid Huisman with the Salvation Army in Des Moines says unsolicited donated goods like clothing, furniture and food only create problems. “Most agencies, including the Salvation Army, are simply not set up to store, transport and distribute those items on the other end,” Huisman explained. And he says few agencies that help disaster victims have the needed warehouse space to store donated goods.

Huisman suggests donating cash instead. “It allows us to be totally flexible to meet immediate needs the victims have,” Huisman said. Donated goods, which may not even meet the needs of disaster survivors, also require agencies to redirect personnel to sort through those items rather than providing services to victims.

“When people donate goods, if they’re accepted, it drives up costs because we then need to store them and transport them,” Huisman said. “Cash donations are still the most effective way to help the storm victims.” Donations may be made by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY or online at www.salvationarmyusa.org.

Huisman says the Salvation Army’s thrift store in Joplin was destroyed by Sunday’s tornado as well as a truck used by the store. An extensive renovation of the thrift store was recently completed. The death toll from tornado in Joplin has climbed to 125, while tornadoes in nearby states have claim more than a dozen lives.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather

Feds issue new guidelines for cooking pork

May 26, 2011 By

Just in time for Memorial Day weekend cook-outs, the USDA is making a change in the recommended cooking temperature for pork. Joyce Hoppes, spokeswoman for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, says the new information is important.

“Now, we can now cook pork to the internal temperature of 145 degrees, followed by a three-minute rest time,” Hoppes says. “This new temperature will help insure a juicy and flavorful product.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agriculture, Health & Medicine, Recreation & Entertainment

Just how courageous was Pawlenty’s stand on ethanol?

May 25, 2011 By

Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has been praised for his “courage” in using part of a speech in Iowa to call for an end to ethanol subsidies. 

Pawlenty didn’t call for an abrupt end to the per gallon tax credit for ethanol. Instead, Pawlenty called for phasing it out — a concept the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association had already embraced.  Today, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, a Republican who is an investor in one of Iowa’s ethanol plants, said phasing out those ethanol-production incentives “makes sense.”

“We recognize the federal government has a huge budget problem to deal with and we’ve got to be part of the solution,” Branstad told reporters at the Iowa Energy Forum. “We can’t just say no.”

Bill Couser, a farmer who serves on the board of directors for the “Lincolnway Energy” ethanol plant near Nevada, Iowa, suggested Iowa farmers and the state’s ethanol industry are realists when it comes to the subsidy. 

“Can we stand on our own two feet someday? You bet,” Couser said during a question-and-answer session at the Iowa Energy Forum. “I think we’re going to have to because I think that’s what’s coming down the pike.”

Couser is a past president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, too. The industry group’s current president issued a statement after Pawlenty’s speech in Des Moines, suggesting Pawlenty should consider going to Houston, Texas, to outline how he would phase out “the massive amount of federally-funded petroleum incentives.”

According to Jerry Behn, a farmer from Boone who is also a state senator, Iowa farmers believe all subsidies should be subject to the same scrutiny, not just the one for ethanol. 

“I think farmers would be really frustrated, as a block, if that subsidy went away and all the other subsidies stayed in place,” said Behn, who was in the audience at today’s Iowa Energy Forum. “I think that’s really what everybody’s looking at.”

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey, a Republican and a row-crop farmer from northwest Iowa, said most farmers believe it’s “logical” that the ethanol subsidy will be reduced, if not eliminated.

“It would seem like it’s very logical for all the supports for the fuels to be on the table, including the oil subsidies,” Northey said during an interview with Radio Iowa. 

But John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institutes, balks at the phrase “oil subsidies”.

“We get tax treatment that is similar to every other industry, but it’s being spun in Washington as being something special to the oil industry,” Felmy said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “when in fact it’s tax treatment that every business gets, but we’ve just been singled out because they want to raise taxes on the industry, but they know that doesn’t work in Washington, so they’ve got to call it subsidies.”

Felmy was among the panel of speakers at the Iowa Energy Forum in Des Moines, staged just four blocks away from the spot where Pawlenty on Monday had called for phasing out “subsidies across all sources or energy and all industries.”

“It’s political spin in Washington calling it subsidies, o.kay? And I’m not commenting on the governor’s individual statement, but in Washington that’s what’s going on,” Felmy said. “They’re basically tax treatment that affects all industries and so why should we be singled out?”

Iowa’s secretary of agriculture suggests otherwise. ”To see some of the folks that have been so adamant in opposition to any kind of support for ethanol to defend subsidies for petroleum products, for imported oil, seems like an odd thing,” Northey said.

On Monday, Pawlenty said with “big time” cuts to make, the “hard truth” is there are no more “sacred programs” in the federal budget. And there wasn’t a single boo when Pawlenty told the crowd of about 250 Iowans it was time to phase out ethanol subsidies.

Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who touts his status as the only working farmer in the U.S. Senate, has introduced legislation to significantly reduce the tax credit for ethanol over the next two years. The two Democratic senators from Pawlenty’s home state of Minnesota joined Grassley in that effort — about two weeks before Pawlenty’s big speech about ethanol subsidies in Des Moines.

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has called Pawlenty “gutsy” for his comments on ethanol. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board praised Pawlenty for taking on “King Corn” in Iowa.

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

Governor, MidAmerican president press for action on nuclear bill

May 25, 2011 By

Governor Branstad says it would unwise for legislators to table a bill that would outline the initial financing guidelines for a new nuclear power plant in Iowa. 

“It’s a big project and it’s a long-range project so it would be preferable — I think the House has passed it — it would be preferable if the Senate would take action on it before they leave so we can move forward,” Branstad told reporters early this afternoon.

MidAmerican Energy has been lobbying legislators to pass the bill this year. Key lawmakers who’ve been working on the bill were at the Iowa Energy Forum today  in Des Moines. Both Branstad and MidAmerican Energy president Bill Fehrman were featured speakers at the event. According to Fehrman, as the country shifts away from coal-powered power plants, wind and solar power cannot provide the around-the-clock electricity that natural gas-fired plants and nuclear power can provide. 

“There’s no perfect way to generate electricity. All ways of generating electricity have their pros and their cons,” Fehrman said. “But the fact of the matter is if you look back in history, having a very diverse mix of fuel, keeping ahead of the curve, really has resulted in the best outcome.” 

Fehrman characterized the proposed nuclear power plant as “planning ahead” to ensure Iowa electric customers don’t wind up with the kind of rates residents on the east and west coast pay today. Critics of the bill pending in the Iowa Senate say MidAmerican customers would bear too much of the risk of building the new plant. Others question the safety of nuclear power.

“The plants that are operating today were designed back 40 years ago, 50 years ago — in many cases, perhaps, with slide rules — and today’s plants take all of those lessons learned and have put in place extreme safety measures to ensure that these plants are operable. They’re nearly walk-away safe and I’m very comfortable with them,” Fehrman said this afternoon while answering a question from the audience. “I’ve spent a lot of my career in nuclear power. I’m very confident that it’s a energy resources that needs to be continued into the future and it needs to be an option.”

One of the ironies of the Iowa Energy Forum was the Des Moines hotel which hosted the event was without power this morning. Electricity was restored less than two hours before the event began, prompting organizers to drop plans to serve a hot lunch to the audience.  Sandwiches and chips were served instead.

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation, Health & Medicine, Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

State audit: Ottumwa Transit Authority overstated passenger counts

May 25, 2011 By

A state audit, requested through a petition from residents of Ottumwa, shows the Ottumwa Transit Authority overstated its passenger counts. Susan Battani, with the state auditor’s office, says the OTA’s executive director – Pam Ward – told staffers to inflate the numbers.

Ridership counts, according to the audit, were increased by 50 percent during the last fiscal year. “Passenger count is used by the Department of Transportation to determine the funding that the OTA will receive,” Battani said. “So, inflating those counts has a significant impact on OTA’s funding.” OTA bus drivers told state officials the practice of bumping ridership numbers had been in place for several years.

The state auditor’s report also raises concerns about the OTA’s destruction of ridership records for previous years. Battani says federal regulations require those records be kept on file for at least three years.

The report also documents “questionable expenditures,” including Ward’s decision to hire her husband to do construction work for the OTA. “There’s a specific statutory requirement that requires (construction work) to be bid and that process wasn’t followed,” Battani said. “Also of concern is the fact the OTA board did not approve that hiring, at least it wasn’t documented in the board minutes.”

The report also shows transit authority management and staffers used OTA facilities for oil changes, car washing, maintenance and detailing personal vehicles. The auditor’s report has been turned over to the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Wapello County Attorney’s office.

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Iowa hand surgeon teaches DC docs new techniques for treating war wounds

May 25, 2011 By

Dr. Timothy Loth

An eastern Iowa doctor is in Washington D.C. this week, sharing his expertice so surgeons there can learn to better treat soldiers who are critically wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Dr. Timothy Loth is the senior hand surgeon at Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa in Cedar Rapids. In addition to serving 11 years in the Army Medical Corps, Dr. Loth worked at a hospital in St. Louis from 1988 to ’92 during the height of that city’s gang violence.

“We had tremendous activity,” Loth says. “The Crips and the Bloods were having various drug wars going on and during that time period, I treated a tremendous amount of urban trauma.”

Dr. Loth will present a series of lectures through Saturday serving as a consultant to the Complex Wound and Limb Salvage Center at Walter Reed Hospital. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Military

Jail inmates reward for good behavior: work in garden

May 25, 2011 By

A county sheriff in northwest Iowa is offering a unique reward for good behavior by jail inmates. Plymouth County Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo is allowing inmates to work in a garden. “It’s just a small garden to start with. I wanted to see how this was going to work. It’s something I’ve always thought about doing,” Van Otterloo said.

A 20 by 25 foot area was recently tilled for a vegetable garden outside the jail in Le Mars. “We’re going to have onions, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, green beans, those kinds of things and the inmates are going to keep (the garden) clean and watered,” Van Otterloo said.

Some of the produce might be sold to the company that provides meals at the jail. But Van Otterloo doesn’t expect the county will turn much of a profit. “I’m not looking at making thousands of dollars on this garden, but the concept is that it is a bit of an incentive for a few of the inmates to do well and give them the opportunity to get out and get some fresh air,” Van Otterloo said.

Only a few of the 54 inmates are eligible to work in the garden on the grounds where they’re behind bars.

by Joanne Glamm, KLEM

Filed Under: Human Interest
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