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Des Moines officer continues making progress

September 29, 2011 By

Officer Tran

The Des Moines Police officer who was hit by a pickup while directing traffic outside the Iowa State Fair is making progress in his recovery from serious head and internal injuries.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Chris Scott says Officer Phoukham  Tran was recently moved from University Hospitals in Iowa City to a physical therapy facility in Chicago.

“He suffered a lot of internal damage and has to learn how to do things that all of us probably take for granted every day,” Scott said. “We’re just glad to say he is making some steps forward.” Tran was hit by the pickup on the night of August 19. A police report indicates

Tran was thrown 47 feet before he came to rest on the pavement. Investigators said the pickup truck’s driver, Keith Terry of North Carolina, ran a red light and had a blood alcohol level of .264 – more than three times the legal limit. Terry remains in the Polk County Jail.

He’s charged with OWI, serious injury by vehicle and possession of marijuana. It’s unclear how long Tran will remain in Chicago. Sergeant Scott says he’s hoping Tran can get back to Des Moines before the upcoming holidays. The 52-year-old Tran is a 29-year veteran of the Des Moines Police Department.

“I don’t know what the long term prognosis is, I’m just glad to say he’s making steps forward,” Scott told Radio Iowa. “Will he return as a police officer someday? We don’t know.” Tran was on a feeding tube and clinging to life six weeks ago. Scott has fielded several requests from the media for interviews with Tran.

“I think there will be a day when he would probably (speak with the media),” Scott said. “I’m not sure how far down the road…I would hope once he gets back to Des Moines, maybe he would make time for the media because I think the public is really interested in knowing how he’s doing and what’s happened.”

A fundraiser for Tran’s family is scheduled for this weekend. The all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday (October 1) at AMVETS Post #2, located at 2818 Fifth Avenue in Des Moines. Cost is $7 for adults and $3.50 for kids younger than 12. Members of Tran’s family are expected to speak at the event.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Health & Medicine

Scratch tickets continue selling well for Iowa Lottery

September 29, 2011 By

Iowa Lottery sales have remained strong and Lottery C.E.O. Terry Rich says scratch tickets are a big reason for that. He says scratch ticket sales were “phenomenal.” Rich says the scratch tickets remain popular because they are easily available and a low-cost item.

Scratch tickets generated just over $13-million in July, the first month of the new fiscal year, which was over one million dollars more than the same month last year. The lottery is projecting a nine-percent increase in overall sales for this fiscal year. The Lottery Board approved the next year’s budget at its meeting today, and Rich says they are projecting a smaller increase.

Rich says they are projecting a three-percent increase in the 2013 fiscal year as there are some new products coming out. He says the proposals include a two-dollar Powerball ticket, and there’s been discussion on a national game that could be a scratch or lotto ticket.

Rich also presented the Lottery Board with a five-year plan that was requested by the governor. Part of the plan includes looking for new outlets to sell tickets. Rich says they are looking to continue diversifying the outlets where they sell tickets, and that includes looking at “Big Box” stores such as WalMart or the Dollar Store.

He says they have a lot of retailers they have never reached out to to sell lottery tickets. Seventy-five-percent of lottery sales currently come from convenience stores and gas stations. Rich says on-line lottery sales are something he believes could be in the future as they look to find new games and options.

Rich says they have a lot of different options to look at. He says the hardest part for him is finding the balance between making a lot more money against the social implications that they don’t overpromote and overpromise so people are spending money that isn’t discretionary on the lottery.

Rich says they anticipate that phone and internet gambling will become available in many states and they want to be able to be ready if that is an option for Iowa.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

Gingrich: Obama’s putting U.S. troops in Iraq at risk

September 29, 2011 By

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich today said it is “profoundly wrong” for the Obama Administration to keep a “small group” of U.S. troops in Iraq.   

“This proposal that we keep 3000 troops in Iraq is, I think, very frightening. Three-thousand troops is too small to defend itself and should be thought of as a target,” Gingrich said during a speech in Des Moines. “This administration is making political decisions that risk the lives of young men and women in uniform and it is profoundly wrong…to put Americans at risk for political reasons.”

Gingrich said Iran is going on offense inside Iraq and U.S. troops who remain in Iraq are “on defense.” According to Gingrich, “it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

“We either ought to leave enough troops to defend themselves or get ‘em all out,” Gingrich said. “But you leave a small group of troops in a dangerous neighborhood and somebody’s going to try and come to kill ‘em.”

According to Gingrich, the U.S. should consider abandoning the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

“The embassy is way too big, way too indefensible, way too expensive. It was designed for a different world,” Gingrich said. “In the world that Obama wants, it makes no sense to have the current American Embassy in Iraq. It’s much too big.”

The “scale of the conflict” in the Middle East is a “deeper question” for U.S. policymakers to ponder, Gingrich said, citing comments from a top U.S. military official who has said Pakistan’s spy agency supported recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan.

Gingrich made his comments earlier today during a speech in Des Moines to Principal Financial employees.

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

Gingrich unveils “adult document for adults” (audio)

September 29, 2011 By

Newt Gingrich

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich unveiled a new “21st Century Contract with America” today during a speech in Des Moines.

“It’s an effort to lay out for people what we need to do in a way that we can all understand as citizens,” Gingrich said, “and we can put it together.” 

AUDIO: Gingrich speech, Q&A with Principal Employees

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Missouri River open for traffic for first time since flooding

September 29, 2011 By

After months of flooding, the Missouri River is again open for business, and recreational boating. The Coast Guard has given the all-clear for all stretches of the waterway and traffic is moving for the first time since June.

John LaRandeau, a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says the Missouri River remains high and is still a challenge to navigate. “There’s a reach down there at river mile 217 that a towboat was making like one mile an hour in about a ten-mile reach because of the high current,” LaRandeau says.

The Coast Guard had been giving waivers to tow operators, but now has opened the river to recreational boat traffic as well. Boat traffic was halted on the Missouri when the flooding first began back in the spring, but LaRandeau says it’s almost back to the way it was before the flood.

“The river, in reality, is in real good shape,” he says. “It has sufficient depth for draft for the barges, but there are certain sections of the river that had some damage to structures and chute areas that were damaged, so there’s some high currents in a few locations. There’ll be some challenges in a few reaches.” LaRandeau says scores of recreational boaters all along the shoreline in Iowa and Nebraska have been anxious to get back onto the waterway.

“A lot of folks were waiting to get on the river to get back and fish, and in some cases, to use their boats to get access to various locations to retrieve boats and all kinds of things,” he says. The last remaining section of the river that was closed has been reopened, from just north of South Sioux City all the way past Hamburg, Iowa, and on south to Rulo, Nebraska.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Auger accident claims the life of Dubuque County farmer

September 29, 2011 By

One person was killed in a farm accident last night in northeast Iowa. The 41-year-old Dubuque County farmer died after getting caught in an auger.

Dubuque County Sheriff’s deputies and other emergency personnel responded to a call of a person caught in an auger at the farm shortly before 7 p.m. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim’s name is being withheld until family members have been notified.

By Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester

Filed Under: Agriculture, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Copper thief causes gas leak in Council Bluffs

September 29, 2011 By

A natural gas leak in western Iowa is blamed on a copper thief. Police evacuated a neighborhood on the west side of Council Bluffs, a few blocks east of Interstate 29, just before dawn as officials searched for the source of a gas leak.

It was determined the leak was coming from a vacant home where someone had been trying to steal copper pipe. Police arrested a teenage suspect a short time later and recovered the stolen copper.

Residents were allowed to return to their homes around 6:30 a.m. About a dozen homes were evacuated.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Fires/Accidents/Disasters
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