Iowa's Radio News Network
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has agreed to keynote an upcoming “Tea Party” event in Iowa on Labor Day weekend.
Palin’s appearance in Waukee at the “Tea Party of America” event on September 3 is fueling speculation about her presidential ambitions, and whether she might choose to announce her candidacy at that event.
During an appearance on the FOX News Channel in mid-July, Palin said the time for making a final decision about a presidential race is “coming rapidly.”
The Iowa Court of Appeals has granted a Burlington man a new trial in the strangling death of his ex-wife. Prosecutors said Dennis Richards killed his ex-wife Cyd Richards in January of 2009, and then set her house on fire to destroy the evidence.
An autopsy determined that Cyd Richards had been strangled to death before the fire. Dennis was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree arson. The district court judge had ruled a physical-therapist who Richards said would provide expert testimony that he was physically incapable of strangling Cyd could not testify because the notice of the expert witness came one day after the required deadline.
Prosecutors said they did not have time to question the expert and doing so would have delayed a speedy trial. Richards appealed his conviction — saying the notification of the expert witness was only one day late, and there had been several delays in his case in part due to his lawyer’s illness.
He said not allowing the expert witness prejudiced his case. The Iowa Court of Appeals agreed and ruled the trial judge abused her discretion in not allowing the expert witness. The court reversed Richards’ convictions and sent the case back to district court for a new trial.
See the complete ruling here: Richards case PDF
Governor Terry Branstad has asked the president to declare a major disaster declaration for Benton, Marshall, Story and Tama counties for the windstorm damage on July 10th. The windstorms caused widespread damage to trees and power lines and resulted in large amounts of debris in the four counties.
The governor’s request included this statement:
“The damage caused by this windstorm has been extensive in the four impacted counties. “While Iowans in these areas have been working hard to recover, the damage incurred to public infrastructure has been overwhelming. We need the assistance of the federal government to aid in the recovery. This is why I have requested that the President sign a Major Disaster Declaration for Iowa.”
If it’s granted, the disaster declaration would make the counties eligible for federal recovery programs. Public assistance funds may be used for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities and may include debris removal, emergency protective measures, repair of damaged public property, loans needed by communities for essential government functions and grants for public schools.
Des Moines police have filed charges against a homeless woman after another woman claimed she was hit with a bratwurst. A police report shows 31-year-old Tajuana Banks is accused of throwing the brat at 63-year-old Connie Jones Tuesday afternoon at Jones’ home on Des Moines’ east side.
Officers took Banks into custody and charged her with simple assault after finding a grease stain on Jones’ shirt. Jones told investigators Banks regularly comes to her home and tries to start an argument.
On Tuesday, police say Jones refused to fight Banks, so Banks picked up the bratwurst and launched it at Jones. Jail records indicate Banks has been arrested 11 times on various charges over the past four years.
Between 3,500 and 4,000 head of cattle have died in Iowa during the recent heat wave. That’s according to a poll of Iowa Cattlemen’s Association members. Dal Grooms, spokesperson for the association, says farmers are doing all they can to protect their animals but cattle are especially vulnerable as they don’t sweat and rely only on respiration.
“I’ve talked to producers who’ve been out there just constantly looking for things to do to protect those cattle,” Grooms said. “When it gets to be hot and humid like this, it is just very difficult to stop all losses.” Some parts of the state last week had six or seven consecutive days with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s and heat indexes as high as 110 degrees.
A heat advisory is back in place for much of southern Iowa today. Grooms says farmers have set up mist systems, industrial sizes fans and additional shelter in an attempt to cool off their cattle. She says the problems could persist into the fall. This is breeding time for cattle and the heat causes lower fertility for bulls and difficulty in the early stages of pregnancy for cows and heifers.
“Just because it finally cools off, those stressors don’t go away,” Grooms said. “So (producers) will be watching those animals for quite a few weeks now to make sure they can get them back to health.” Grooms says most of the cattle deaths were reported in eastern Iowa, which did not receive as much rain as other parts of the state last week.
http://iacattlemen.org/
For travelers in western Iowa tired of taking a flood detour, the Iowa Department of Transportation is planning for the re-opening of Interstate 29. But the D.O.T. maintenance director, Bob Younie, is honest in giving a timeline for the reopening..
“We don’t know, the easy answer is we don’t know,” Younie says, “but we are working on a plan for what we can see that’s damaged, and we will explore what we can’t see that’s covered with water as soon as we can.” Younie expects to re-open I-29 near Hamburg first, which would trigger a re-opening in Missouri which has closed the interstate at Rock Port, because of the flooding in southern Iowa.
He says the water will eventually go down and then they will clear the debris, repair the roadways, and investigate to find any damage. Younie says they’ve already put together a comprehensive list of the areas that could have been damaged by the flood. Younie says there are some areas where it is certain they will have work to do.
Younie says they are positive they have pavement damage on the 680 bridge from water flowing over the road and it will take awhile to get that repaired. He says they are working with Nebraska for the 175 bridge at Decatur to determine what they have to do to ensure public safety. Younie says he cannot give an exact timeline for re-opening the interstate.
“At this point I think I’m just talking what I wish would happen, I can’t say anything definitive,” Younie says. He says they will know more once they get the Corps of Engineers water release schedule. Younie says he is positive that they will get I-29 open before the end of the year.
The interstate was closed in early June after the Missouri River floodwaters rose.
By Brent Martin
Governor Terry Branstad says he wants to see the US. Postal Service rethink its plan to close post offices in the state. Branstad says he like to see a moratorium put in place and a comprehensive review of the financial problems and what they can do about them instead of closing some 178 post offices.
Branstad knows first-hand the importance of post offices, as he and his wife own around one-dozen post office buildings in Iowa. “People in small communities, this is their lifeline, they rely on the post office,” Branstad said.
He says some two to 300 people turned out in a driving rain storm in Lohrville for a hearing on the closing of that post office. “I just think its not well thought out, it’s not being explained right, I think there was a lot more common sense in the room from the citizens in Lohrville than I’ve seen from the post office,” Branstad said.
Branstad says he has always had a good relationship with the postal service, but says part of the problem here is that they can’t even identify who is making the decisions on the closings. He says it appears they are closing post offices that don’t have a postmaster, and keeping open some offices that still have a postmaster, but don’t have as many residents of businesses.
Branstad says if the problem is that it costs too much to have a postmaster, then they could have one postmaster who serves several post offices. He says there’s some post offices they are closing down where the lease for the building isn’t even up.
Branstad says the Lohrville post office building is owned by his wife and believes it is the only one that they own that is scheduled to close. Some 3,700 post offices nationwide could be closed.
O.KayHenderson.com