January 27, 2012

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Perry: “God was working on my heart” (audio)

December 27, 2011 By

Four Republican presidential hopefuls participated tonight in a radio forum organized by PersonhoodUSA, a group pushing congress to pass a bill declaring that life begins at conception and one candidate revealed his views on the issue have changed.

Rick Perry, who has opposed nearly all abortions, said he no longer favors exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Perry recently met with a woman who was conceived in a rape.

“Looking in her eyes, I couldn’t come up with an answer to defend the exceptions for rape and incest,” Perry said.

Perry met the woman earlier this month when he attended the premiere of a documentary called “The Gift of Life”.

“She made a statement to me that was really profound and pierced my heart,” Perry said.

Perry has touted what he calls his “pro-life credentials” on the campaign trail, acting to “defund” Planned Parenthood in Texas, where he is governor, and requiring parental consent there before a minor can obtain an abortion. But Perry has supported abortion exceptions in cases of rape and incest, or when the mother’s life is endangered by the pregnancy. But he unveiled during tonight’s telephone town hall meeting with abortion foes that he had undergone a transformation this Christmas season.

“All I can tell you is God was working on my heart,” Perry said.  (Audio of Perry’s remarks posted here.)

Organizers said nearly 26,000 people listened to the event by telephone. It was broadcast nationally on The Steve Deace Show and another radio network.

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

Caucus campaign days dwindle

December 27, 2011 By

After a brief break for the holiday, the final week of Caucus campaigning has kicked off as five GOP presidential candidates will hold 22 events in Iowa today alone. Mitt Romney told a group of Iowans listening to a telephone conference call last night that he’ll be in Iowa on New Year’s Eve, which is just three days before the Iowa Caucus voting. 

“I look forward to seeing you on the trail. I’d love to have your help in the Caucus,” Romney said at the close of the call. “I really do want you guys to get out to the Caucus and participate.”

Romney is due to speak in Davenport early this evening. Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann have been holding a series of events in western Iowa today.  Newt Gingrich kicked off a bus tour of the state that’s half as ambitious as originally planned.  Instead of 44 cities — to match Perry’s bus tour in December — Gingrich will visit 22 cities in this week leading up to Caucus Night.

Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House, stressed an economic message during a midday appearance before the Dubuque Rotary Club, suggesting any uptick in the U.S. economy before November, 2012 would be linked to President Obama’s chances for a second term. 

“The minute people begin to believe Obama’s going to lose,  you will see the economy start to move,” Gingrich said. “And on Election Night, if it is clear that a team committed to cutting taxes, cutting regulations, creating American energy and rebuilding respect for people willing to create jobs is winning, I think you’ll be surprised by the next morning how much new investment, how many new opportunities, how much new energy there is in the American system.” 

Texas Governor Rick Perry met with voters in Council Bluffs this morning. Perry told the standing room-only crowd at a downtown restaurant that he’s the only “authentic” conservative in the presidential race.

“Why should you have to settle for anything less than the real deal to go to Washington D.C. and to represent your values and work for you in Washington? I mean, look, I got all the respect in the world for the front-runners in this race, but ask yourself, if we replace a Democratic insider with a Republican insider, you think we’re really going to change Washington D.C.?,” Perry said, as people in the audience began responding, “No.”  Perry amplified his point: “No way.”

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann also started her campaign day in Council Bluffs, with the goal of stopping in 10 counties before day’s end.  Bachmann, Perry, Gingrich and Rick Santorum will participate in a Presidential Pro-Life Forum radio broadcast later this evening.  Santorum’s campaign day started in Fort Dodge and he’ll speak at a rally in Waterloo at six o’clock.  The radio forum is scheduled to start at eight o’clock.

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

Parker faces tough test in final game as Hawkeye coach

December 27, 2011 By

Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker during 2011 media day.

Norm Parker has a big challenge in his final game as a member of the Iowa coaching staff. The retiring defensive coordinator must find a way to slow down an Oklahoma offense that averages more than 40 points and 532 yards per game.

Parker says the Hawkeyes need to be ready for the speed at which the Sooners play. “Not only the speed that they execute the play, but the time there is in-between plays, it’s almost like the line up and run a play just as fast as you can get lined up,” Parker says. He says they can run several plays without a gain and then all of a sudden they are ripping off big yardage and score.

Parker says the Sooners will try to snap the ball as many times as possible. “You can see they teams out on the field and they get you tired,” Parker says. He says there is no time between plays to get in rested players.

Parker says it will take an outstanding effort from the Hawks to slow them down. “I think a lot of positions have to play very well for us, I think the free safety is going to be very intricate part of what we’re doing,” Parker says.

The Sooners lost their top rusher and top receiver due to injury this season but Parker says they still have plenty of weapons. “They just reload, they just reload, I mean they take this guy out and put that guy in,” Parker said. He says they have a great football team that is as talented as anybody.

The Hawkeyes and Sooners matchup in Friday night’s Insight Bowl

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: ,

Economic development leader says DNR doing good job of helping employers

December 27, 2011 By

The state’s top job recruiter is praising the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for doing a better job clearing the way for new employers in the state. The agency issues permits for manufacturing plants and other industries.

Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress, says the permitting process is working better lately.

“The D.N.R. is really saying to industry, ‘if you want to have your permits done in this certain period of time, you need to provide us with this information in a certain period of time.’ That way, everybody understands what each others’ expectations are,” Durham said.

Valent Biosciences will break ground on a new manufacturer plant next month in northern Iowa. Durham said officials with the Japan-based chemical manufacturer were pleased with their interactions with the Iowa D.N.R. “The Valent folks just sent us a letter saying how pleasantly surprised they were that the permitting was done in such an expeditious way,” Durham said.

That kind of compliment, Durham said, doesn’t come every day. The $150 million dollar Valent Biosciences facility will be located in Osage. It’s expected to create up to 90 jobs.

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation, News Tagged With:

Coupons okay if you use them properly

December 27, 2011 By

If the holiday gift-buying season left you strapped for cash, some Iowans may benefit from a familiar money-saving tactic — clipping coupons. Financial planner Robert Weagley says coupons can help you stretch your paycheck farther, but only if you use them wisely.

“By using coupons, you can expand your budget constraint, or the money you’ve got available to spend, and you can get more for it if you use your coupons in a judicious way,” Weagley says. “Make sure you’re buying the things that you would have bought anyway, even if you didn’t have the coupons.”

He says to resist the urge to use a coupon if it’s for something you wouldn’t ordinarily purchase. During the economic downturn of the past few years, Weagley says couponing has ballooned. “There has been a growth in coupon use by people over the last couple of years although it’s still not up to the point that it was back in 1999, the highest year ever in terms of the number of coupons used,” Weagley says.

“Back in ’99, there were 4.6-billion coupons used and in 2008, it was 2.6-billion.” There are some misconceptions about who uses coupons, he says, as it’s not just low-income people. “Most of the heavy users are people that come from better-educated families,” he says. “They tend to be older. Families tend to be larger. Females certainly do it more than males and people in suburbs tend to do more couponing than people that live within the cities.”

It’s unclear why coupon use fell off so dramatically after the year 2000. Weagley says it’s possible some people decided after the Nine Eleven attacks that time was more precious and that they needed to spend it with family, not clipping coupons.

Filed Under: Business, News

School district enrollment drops for 14th straight year

December 27, 2011 By

The state Department of Education released enrollment figures today that show the overall number of students dropped for the 14th consecutive year. The numbers released by the department from their October survey of schools confirm that statewide enrollment dropped 280 students, to 473,213.

The report says 218 of 251 school districts reported a drop in enrollment. The head of the Department of Education, Jason Glass, said during a recent budget hearing that enrollment would be dropping slightly, despite early projections that it would increase slightly.

Council Bluffs lost the most students in the last year, 92, followed by Glenwood with 87, and Fort Dodge with 82. Over the last five years the Cedar Rapids School District has lost the most students, dropping 968.

Fort Dodge, Keokuk, Newton and Council Bluffs were the others near the top in lost students in the last five years. The Des Moines, Iowa City and Waukee school districts reported the largest increase in number of students in the last year.

Waukee also saw the largest increase in enrollment over the last five years, upping the district head count by 1,623.

See the full enrollment report here: Enrollment 2010-2011 PDF

Filed Under: Education, News, Uncategorized

Class 4A: Adam Woodbury, Sioux City East

December 27, 2011 By

The senior averaged 18 and a half points and eight and a half rebounds in two wins. Woodbury scored 22 points, including nine of ten from the field, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists in a victory over Storm Lake. Woodbury connected on 15 of 18 shots in the two games.

Filed Under: INS Player of the Week, Sports
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