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UNI expects a tough opener against ISU

August 31, 2011 By

U.N.I. coach Mark Farley has high hopes for this season but says the Panthers have a tough opener on Saturday night when they visit the Iowa State Cyclones. He says they have a big and talented offensive line, an experienced secondary and a great bunch of receivers. Farley says this is a better team than they had last year.

The Panthers lost to the Cyclones 27-0 last season. The Panthers will try to find a way to slow down a Cyclone offense that will be led by new starter at quarterback Steele Jantz. Farley says Jantz fits what they do and is a big strong player and he says deciding early on him allowed Jantz to prepare and get all the reps in practice.

Farley still needs to settle on a kicker. Sophomore Tyler Sievertson and freshman Michael Schmadeke are battling for the job. He says they will compete this week and look at how they do in practice. Farley says they may make a final decision on Saturday as he says one could kick well in the UNI-Dome, while another does better on grass.

Farley says FCS teams can compete with teams from the FBS if they have a large number of experienced players. He says those teams have bigger budgets and recruit nationally and he says you have to be very particular in who you recruit and then do a great job of developing the players over five-year time period.

By Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Fort Dodge woman dies in accident

August 31, 2011 By

A Fort Dodge woman was killed in a two-car crash near Vincent in central Iowa’s Webster County on Tuesday. The victim is identified as 57-year-old Nancy House.

The report stated that a southbound 2002 Oldsmobile van driven by 34-year-old Christopher Nelmes of Fort Dodge struck an eastbound 2005 Ford driven by House. House was attempting to make a left turn but failed to yield to the Nelmes van. House was pronounced dead on arrival at Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge.

Two passengers in the Nelmes vehicle, 28-year-old Nicole Nelmes and 5-year-old Dylan Nelmes were taken to the same hospital for treatment of their injuries. The accident remains under investigation.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

E-85 sales set record in second quarter

August 31, 2011 By

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says Iowans used more gas blended with 85% corn-based ethanol in the second quarter of this year than ever before. Association executive director, Monte Shaw, says the sales from April to June were encouraging.

Shaw says Iowans pumped nearly 3.7-million gallons of E-85 into their gas tanks, which was an all-time high for the state. Shaw says the price of the highest blend of ethanol available is the reason for the increase.

Shaw says there were large spreads between the price of E-85 and gas with less or no ethanol and people saw a way to save some money. He says the price spread between the fuels has narrowed, but he says it is still a good bargain, it helps Iowan farmers and cuts our dependence on foreign oil.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business Tagged With: ,

Cedar Rapids breaks ground for new convention complex

August 31, 2011 By

Drawing of new Cedar Rapids convetion complex.

Officials in Cedar Rapids broke ground Tuesday on one of the city’s biggest post-flood projects: building the state’s second largest convention center.

The Convention Complex is a $75 million undertaking, with $50 million coming from state and federal grants. Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett says the complex will be an economic “shot in the arm” for downtown.

“There’s going to be a 35 million dollar impact on Cedar Rapids on an annual basis as over 375 thousand visitors are coming to Cedar Rapids for various concerts, events and conventions,” Corbett said.

The complex won’t be completed for another year and a half, but it already has at least one tenant on board. The city’s first arena football team, the Cedar Rapids Titans, will play their inaugural season this spring at a local ice arena before moving into the new complex in 2013. And that’s not all, according to Corbett.

“We’ve already booked conventions and events here at the facility before it’s even opened. So there’s just a tremendous interest in Cedar Rapids and this facility. Things that we would maybe have never been able to give to this city, like an indoor football league, now we have a shot at,” Corbett said.

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment

“The Republicans are radical!” says Wisconsin state senator (audio)

August 30, 2011 By

Lena Taylor

A state senator from Wisconsin is urging Iowa Democrats to “get off the couch” and prepare to fight union-busting legislation similar to what is now law in her home state.

State Senator Lena Taylor, a Democrat from Milwaukee, was among the Wisconsin lawmakers who retreated to Illinois to try to block that from becoming law. 

“The reason that I’ve come is to really say to you, like Paul Revere kind of, you know, said, ‘The British are coming!’ I’m saying, ‘The Republicans are radical! The Republicans are radical!” Taylor said this afternoon in Des Moines. 

 ”And they’re coming to a place and a town near you.”

Taylor spoke at statehouse news conference organized by central Iowa Democrats. State Representative Bruce Hunter, a Democrat from Des Moines, used the word “inspirational” to describe the Wisconsin Democrats’ fight — and their flight to Illinois.

“We would have invited them over to Iowa, but they never asked,” Hunter joked.

Iowa’s Republican governor and the Republican-led Iowa House tried to pass changes in Iowa’s collective bargaining law this spring, but Democrats hold 26 of the 50 seats in the Iowa Senate and with that majority in the state senate, Democrats blocked the bill. Taylor, the Democrat from Milwaukee, suggests the story “is pretty much the same” in a host of other states.\

“And so I’m coming to Iowa today to say, ‘Listen, if we want our children and your grandchildren and their grandchildren to have access to the American dream that I stand on, then we’re going to need to stand up and fight back and say that enough is enough,’” Taylor said.

Taylor was the main draw for an evening fundraiser for Polk County Democrats, part of what she describes as a nationwide speaking tour.

“I have to tell you as a mother, a single parent at that, of an 11-year-old, it’s a lot,” Taylor said, with a laugh. “It’s a lot going on, but this is our moment and there is no question that we have to seize this moment and we have to engage people now.”

Taylor, who is a lawyer, was first elected to Wisconsin’s legislature in 2003. In 2008, she won her second term in the Wisconsin State Senate. 

Listen to the statehouse news conference

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

Council Bluffs ends top flood alert status

August 30, 2011 By

The Missouri River floodwaters have dropped enough for the City of Council Bluffs to drop some of its flood related emergency measures. Council Bluffs public information officer Don Gross and says the city is no longer at “Alert One” status.

“River levels dropped below 32 feet and we expect them to be at 31 feet in a couple of days and then in the 30s,” Gross said. Flood stage in Council bluffs is 29 feet. The Alert One status had been place for more than two months.

The Iowa National Guard has ended its patrols of the city’s levees as the danger from a breach has greatly diminished. A lot of hard work went into three months of effort to keep the levees maintained,” Gross said. “The Corps will cease their presence here starting this evening and will be transported back to their regular bases tomorrow and Thursday.”

A flood related call center in Council Bluffs is also closing today. Though the Alert One status is over, Gross says there is still much to do. There is a flood cleanup meeting tonight to inform residents the best way to clean up flood damaged homes. There is more good news.

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge connecting Council Bluffs and Omaha will reopen on the Iowa side Saturday morning at 7:00. The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant is no longer under a flood emergency just across the Missouri River in Nebraska. Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hanson says the river level has dropped enough to allow them to lift the “Notification of Unusual Event.”

The emergency classification was in place for 85 days. The entire plant was surrounded by flood water in June. The plant was shut down for refueling before the flooding began. Hanson says crews will inspect the plant inside and out and make all necessary repairs before the plant is allowed back on line.

“We are not going to start the plant for production until we are absolutely certain there is no damage done to the plant by all the water that had been on the site,” Hanson said. Workers at the plant have already started the process of removing flood barriers around buildings and disassembling the elevated catwalks that workers used to cross the flooded parking lot.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Iowa Red Cross workers helping with hurricane recovery

August 30, 2011 By

Red Cross workers from chapters across Iowa are stationed along the East Coast, helping residents recover from the weekend hit by Hurricane Irene. Danelle Schlegelmilch, with the Heartland Chapter in Omaha/Council Bluffs, is deployed in Washington D.C. where thousands of residents have been overnighting in Red Cross shelters. She says the damage ranges from North Carolina to Maine.

“It is kind of mind-boggling to think about the number of people who were impacted,” Schlegelmilch says. “I heard a statistic there are close to 50 or 60-million people, and that would be about 15 to 18-percent of our population in the United States, all lived in that affected area.” Schlegelmilch says most people have no choice but to head to a shelter for the basics of life.

She says, “Here on the East Coast, there is literally nowhere else for people to go when things like this happen so they really depend on the Red Cross and our partner agencies to be there to be able to provide the essentials of comfort, care, food.” Schlegelmilch was sent to Washington D.C. last week to prepare for Hurricane Irene but she got a bonus, of sorts.

“Actually, I was deployed for the hurricane but ended up in an earthquake by accident,” she says. “It’s been one of those summers I couldn’t have ever predicted. I’ve worked three tornadoes, a flood, a hurricane and was in an earthquake, so it’s one for the books for sure.”

Many people remain stranded at airports with hundreds of fights canceled. It could be weeks before electricity is restored in some areas as four-million homes lost power in the storm. At least 40 people died in Irene in 14 states and territories. Flooding is now a big problem in Vermont, New York and elsewhere.

Schlegelmilch expects the Red Cross shelters will be open for some time as the region recovers. Damage may reach seven-billion dollars.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:
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