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Governor defends bus tour after democrats criticize

August 30, 2011 By

Governor Branstad is defending the bus tour President Obama took through the Midwest earlier this month and the 14-city tour Branstad himself took last week through northwest Iowa.

“I’m not one to criticize the president of the United States for getting out and seeing the people,” Branstad says. “There was some other criticism that was made by other people and people have a right to express their opinion on those things.”

The head of the Iowa G.O.P. criticized Obama for making taxpayers foot the bill for the president’s trip, suggesting Obama’s campaign should have picked up the tab. And the head of the Iowa Democratic Party has questioned why Iowa taxpayers should foot the bill for Branstad’s recent tour, since Branstad’s campaign sent out the tour schedule and invited Iowans to attend.

“We were meeting with the public and communities all across the state…The office sent out a release and the campaign sent out a release,” Branstad says. “We tried to do everything we could to maximize public awareness of where we were going.”

The Iowa Democratic Party has asked Branstad’s office to reveal how much his 43-city tour of Iowa in June cost the state treasury. Branstad says that information will be released as soon as it can be compiled.

“I can tell you we do things in a very economical way,” Branstad said. “The lieutenant governor and I actually traveled together in one van and we stayed at Super 8 Motels…so I think people will be surprised at how little it cost.”

Republicans complained about the armored bus the president rode on during his mid-August bus tour, which stopped in Decorah and Peosta. Iowa G.O.P. chairman Matt Strawn said Obama’s tour had “everything to do with politics and nothing to do with policy.”

As for Branstad’s tour of the state, Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Sue Dvorsky used similar language, saying it was part of Branstad’s desire to run a “continual campaign.”

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

New dove hunting season opens Thursday

August 30, 2011 By

Iowa's first dove hunting season opens September 1st. (D.N.R. photo)

Iowa’s newest hunting season opens later this week following months of heated debate about the use of lead shot and the killing of mourning doves. Iowa’s new dove hunting season will run from September 1 through November 9.

Experienced dove hunters, like Scott Gritters of Guttenberg, are excited they won’t have to travel out of state to test their skills. Gritters, a D.N.R. fisheries biologist, says dove hunting is a relaxing, yet challenging sport.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

Weather causes problems in produce supply for farmers markets

August 30, 2011 By

Farmers who grow the state’s two major crops of soybeans and corn have faced a slow start to planting with a cool spring, flooding, wind storms, and dry spells. Those same conditions have also impacted smaller-scale farmers who supply the state’s farmers markets.

Joe Bohr of the Cedar Falls Farmers Market says the conditions have not been good for growing vegetables. He says some areas of southeast Iowa have gotten practically no rain and the crops have burned up.

“Here, quantity is down a little bit,” Bohr says, “items like tomatoes, have all ripened at once.” Vendor Greg Hoffman of Waterloo says he considers himself lucky with what he’s heard from other areas of the state.

Hoffman says people in Black Hawk County have been pretty fortunate. He says he talked to someone who had been in the Muscatine area who was looking for muskmelons, but they just weren’t available a this time. In Benton County, Jim Osborne saw thunderstorms cause problems for his vegetable fields.

“Yeah it ain’t a very good year..we had hail earlier, it hailed for over an hour, about the size of golf balls, it stripped the tomatoes and peppers off,” Osborne says. He didn’t think the peppers and tomatoes would come back, but they have, and they’ve finally started picking them.

If the hail damage wasn’t enough to endure, the lack of rain this month left his greenbeans a shell of what they should have been.

He says the greenbeans look good and they’d probably be 200 bushel an acre if they were good.”But they’re hollow, you could sell them once, and you’d probably never sell anymore,” he said and laughed.

Osborne says every week he discs up a half acre of the useless beans. Cool, wet weather in the northern part of the state near the Minnesota border delayed crop growth. Karl Milliron of Albert Lea, Minnesota says while the produce was delayed in maturing the demand didn’t ease.

Milliron says they was higher sales in the North Iowa Farmers Market in all categories, with some vendors reporting sales increases of 25 to 35% higher than last year at this time. The demand shows how the “buy local” trend has picked up steam.

The U.S.D.A. says over one thousand new farmers markets were started nationwide this year.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Weather

Rhoads says Cyclones know U.N.I. will be a challenge

August 29, 2011 By

Game week is underway at Iowa State where Paul Rhoads will open his third season as head coach on Saturday night when the Cyclones host Northern Iowa. “Nobody has to tell our football team the challenge that they will be faced with this Saturday night,” Rhoads says, “U.N.I. is a football team and a program that certainly understands how to win.”

He says the Panthers have been picked to win their league, are ranked highly and probably have better team speed than his team. Rhoads says the Panthers have track speed and will give the Cyclones trouble.

Rhoads says the Cyclones are ready for a game as they’re tired of practicing and are ready to be completely committed to game preparation.

This game will match Iowa State out of the Football Bowl Subdivision against a U.N.I. team that competes in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Rhoads says none of that matters when the game begins as he says after the first contact, you are going to get a 60 minute physical battle and you worry about doing your job and winning the game.

The game will mark the debut of new Iowa State quarterback Steele Jantz. Rhoads believes the junior college transfer is up to the challenge. Rhoads says there is an unknown as the level of play increases for Jantz, but he says he has shown he has the personality to handle it.

Rhoads expects to see a much different Tirrell Rennie at quarterback for U.N.I. A year ago, Rennie threw two interceptions and was sacked three times in a 27-0 Cyclone victory, but Rhoads says you could seem him develop as the season went on.

Iowa State linebacker Jake Knott says the week before the season opener always seems long. Knott says you think about the game all offseason and right up to the start of the game and everyone is excited to get to play again.

Knott says the Cyclones know they have a tough challenge in front of them, and says the Panthers might as well be a Big 12 team.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , ,

Bats are starting to look at your home for a winter hideaway

August 29, 2011 By

It’s a sign summer is coming to an end when Iowa’s outdoor wildlife tries to get indoors. Mark Langan, a spokesman for the Humane Society, says this is the time of year when unwelcome visitors make their way into our homes.

“When it starts cooling off at night, we notice a big increase in bats finding their way into houses, especially in older neighborhoods,” Langan says. “We’re seeing a big increase in calls to the Humane Society about bats in houses.” Langan says if a bat gets into your home, do not try to capture it yourself.

“If you see a bat in the house, separate yourself from the bat,” he says. “Try to confine it to the room that it’s in. Put towels under the door so the bat can’t get out and give us a call.” Langan says bats can be helpful but harmful at the same time.

“Bats really do serve a purpose; they get rid of a lot of insects however they do pose a danger because they are rabies carriers,” he says.

“We really ask that if you see a bat in your house, get away from it right away. Confine it. Give us a call.” He says they’ve already gotten more than a hundred calls in recent days in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area for bats in homes.

Of all the bats captured of late, only two have tested positive for rabies.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation

Program gives website help to small businesses

August 29, 2011 By

Iowa is participating in a nationwide program started by Google which partners with several business groups to offer free web development along with related tools and training to small businesses.

The director of the small business development center at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Sue Pitts, says many small companies need some help setting up effective websites. Pitts says when they do have websites, they may not be using them.

“You can have your brother’s sister’s brother put up a page that you never ever look at,” Pitts says,”so I think some people think they have a website but they might not. Or if a business is in existence, they may have had a website six years ago that they haven’t really looked at.”

Pitts says more people are using the web to search for what they need, and then doing business on-line. Pitt says “if you’re not found online you might not be found at all, you might be just passed over.”

She says she walks down the street in her neighborhood after the Yellow Pages are delivered they are in the recycle bins at almost every house. Pitts says many customers make up their minds about what to buy before ever stepping into a storefront. She says the good news for businesses is that it’s getting easier and less expensive to build an effective web presence.

The governor’s office says six out of 10 Iowa small businesses are without a website. Business owners can learn more about the Google program during workshops planned at several locations around the state next month.

Filed Under: Business, Technology

Radio Iowa High School Football Poll 8/29/11

August 29, 2011 By

 

Class 4A
1. Cedar Falls (1-0), LW #1 vs Waterloo East
2. Iowa City High (1-0), LW #1 @ Waterloo West
3. WDM Valley (2-0), LW #3 vs Indianola
4. S.E. Polk (1-0), LW #4 vs Waukee
5. Bettendorf (1-0), LW #5 vs Davenport North
6. Ankeny (2-0), LW #6 @ DSM North
7. Dowling Catholic (1-1), LW #7 vs DSM East
8. Linn-Mar (1-0), LW #8 vs CR Kennedy
9. Cedar Rapids Xavier (1-0), LW #9 vs CR Prairie
10.Cedar Rapids Washington (1-0), LW #10 vs CR Jefferson

 

Class 3A
1. Solon (1-0), LW #1 @ 2A-#1 Iowa City Regina
2. Sioux City Heelan (1-0), LW #2 vs Sioux City North
3. Clear Lake (1-0), LW #3 @ Forest City
4. West Delaware (1-0), LW #4 @ Western Dubuque
5. Union (LaPorte City) (1-0), LW #5 @ Independence
6. Webster City (1-0), LW #7 @ Iowa Falls-Alden
7. Carroll (1-0), LW (X) @ Dallas Center-Grimes
8. Newton (1-0), LW (X) vs Oskaloosa
9. Denison-Schleswig (2-0), LW #9 Idle
10.Marion (1-0), LW #10 vs Benton

 

Class 2A
1. Iowa City Regina (1-0), vs 3A-#1 Solon
2. North Fayette (1-0), LW #2 @ Oelwein
3. West Marshall (1-0), LW #3 @ 1A-#6 Aplington-Parkersburg
4. South Central Calhoun (1-0), LW #5 vs IKM-Manning
5. Central Lyon/GLR (2-0), LW #10 @ Boyden Hull-Rock Valley
6. PCM (Monroe) (1-0), LW #6 @ Madrid
7. Mediapolis (1-0), LW #7 vs Pekin
8. Sheldon (2-0), LW #8 @ MOC-Flod Valley
9. North Polk (1-0), LW #9 vs Eagle Grove
10.Spirit Lake (2-0), LW (X) @ Storm Lake

 

Class 1A
1. Emmetsburg (1-0), LW #1 @ Spencer
2. Council Bluffs St. Albert (1-0), LW #4 vs Glenwood
3. Woodward-Granger (1-0), LW #3 vs West Central Valley
4. Dike-New Hartford (1-0), LW #8 @ Hudson
5. West Lyon (0-1), LW #2 vs Western Christian
6. Aplington-Parkersburg (1-0), LW #5 vs 2A-#3 West Marshall
7. West Branch (1-0), LW #6 @ A-#8 Lisbon
8. DSM Christian (1-0), LW (X) @ EHK-Exira
9. Logan-Magnolia (1-0), LW #9 @ Clarinda
10.North Cedar (1-0), LW #10 vs Durant-Bennett

 

Class A
1. West Hancock (1-0), LW #1 @ Lake Mills
2. North Tama (1-0), LW #2 vs HLV
3. LeMars Gehlen (1-0), LW #3 @ Hinton
4. Mason City Newman (2-0), LW #5 @ Saint Ansgar
5. WACO (1-0), LW #6 vs North Mahaska
6. Postville (1-0), LW #7 @ MFL-MarMac
7. Bedford (2-0), LW (X) vs Mount Ayr
8. Lisbon (1-0), LW (X) vs 1A-#7 West Branch
9. B-G-M (Brooklyn) (0-1), LW #8 @ English Valleys
10.Lone Tree (1-0), LW (X) vs Belle Plaine

 

Eight-man
1. Armstrong-Ringsted (2-0), LW #1 vs Laurens-Marathon
2. Preston (2-0), LW #2 Idle
3. N.E. Hamilton (1-0), LW #3 vs North Sentral Kossuth
4. Fremont-Mills (1-0), LW #5 @ Adair-Casey
5. West Bend-Mallard (2-0), LW #6 @ CAL Latimer
6. Stanton (1-0), LW #9 vs CAM
7. Janesville (2-0), LW #10 Idle
8. East Mills (1-0), LW (X) vs Lenox
9. Glidden-Ralston (1-0), LW #8 @ Newell-Fonda
10.Remsen Union (1-0), LW (X) vs Charter Oak-Ute

Filed Under: Radio Iowa Poll, Sports
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