May 25, 2013

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Gardners asked to take steps to protect honey bees

May 20, 2013 By

Iowa State University’s Extension entomologists are asking you to be careful about harming honeybees as you get out an about in the warm weather and tend to your plants. Entomologist, Laura Jesse, says insecticides were one of the things mentioned in a recent report on the decline of the honeybee population across the U.S.

Jesse says it’s not easy to protect bees while you are trying to rid your garden of pests. “Bees are insects, and yet we have insect pests, so insecticides in general will harm bees. One class of insecticides that we’re concerned about right now is a class called neonicotinoids,” Jesse says.

She says this class of insecticides is very toxic to bees. And she says the neonicotinoids are systemic. “With most of our spray insecticides where you’ve got caterpillars, aphids and things, you spray it on and it dries. As long as you aren’t treating the plant when it’s flowering you are very unlikely to harm pollinating insects,” Jesse explains.

“Whereas with the systemic insecticides you can be putting it on long before the plant flowers and the insecticide is in the pollen and nectar. And we don’t know how much is in the pollen and nectar and for how long.” Jesse says you should determine if the damage to your plant is merely cosmetic, or there is still a problem that needs to be treated.

“The first step is kind of look –there are still insects here it might be worth treating — and then consider other options. In the case of aphids, you can often blast a lot of them off with a hose and then come back with maybe a soap-based insecticide,” Jesse says.

She says always go through the other options before you move in with insecticides. Sometimes people miss the window to treat the insects that have done the damage, but spray anyway. “We call it a revenge spray, where you spray after the damage is done.”

Some people might be afraid of being stung and spray bees anytime they see them. Jesse says that’s not a good strategy.

She says honeybees and bumblebees are not that aggressive, while the yellow jackets are probably the most aggressive. But Jesse says yellow jackets eat a lot of insect pests and are very beneficial. Jesse says if you have questions you can call her or others at the Iowa State Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic at 515-294-0581.

Filed Under: Agriculture, News Tagged With:

Lottery fever ramps up again with latest big jackpot

May 18, 2013 By

Tonight’s Powerball jackpot is already projected to be the largest in the 21-year history of the game at 600-million-dollars. Iowa Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, says they urge you to play responsibly.

“We always remind people to play with your head, not over your head, We don’t want to see people playing beyond their means at a time like this or any time,” Neubauer says. “And the good news is that even when the Powerball jackpot was at its record amount back in November — it was 587-million dollars then — but event at that time, the average purchase that we saw being made here in Iowa was still just six dollars. That’s just three plays.”

That record jackpot was split between two tickets in Arizona an Missouri. Neubauer says take some precautions if you go in with someone else to buy tickets.

“When the jackpot reaches this amount, we see a lots of people starting to play in pools, whether it’s at the office or maybe a bunch of neighbors are getting together or maybe you and your family are all buying tickets together. On the lottery website at www.iowaottery.com, we keep some reminders on there as a permanent feature of the page of what to do when you are playing in a group,” Neubauer says.

She says taking the steps ahead of time could prevent legal hassles later. “Keep careful track of everyone who has put money into the pool. Maybe give copies of the pool tickets to everyone who is in the group beforehand. That way you just help eliminate questions later,” according to Neubauer.

The next Powerball drawing is at 9:59 tonight. In Iowa, you can buy a ticket for the drawing up until 8:59 p.m.

Filed Under: News, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Surprise reunion brings Wisconsin Marine back together with bomb detection dog

May 17, 2013 By
Sergeant Ross Gundlach was reunited with Casey in a surprise at the Iowa Capitol.

Sergeant Ross Gundlach was reunited with Casey in a surprise at the Iowa Capitol.

A Marine from Wisconsin was reunited with the bomb dog he served with in Afghanistan in a surprise ceremony today at the Iowa State Capitol.

Twenty-five-year-old Sergeant Ross Gundlach of Madison, Wisconsin thought he was visiting Des Moines to appear at a hearing where he would ask to be allowed to adopt Casey, a bomb detection dog who came to the Iowa Fire Marshal’s Office after serving in Afghanistan.

State officials asked Gundlach to attend what they said was a ceremony for Armed Forces Day in the capitol rotunda before his hearing.

The ceremony was a ruse, and State Fire Marshal Ray Reynolds called Gundlach forward and told the story of how he was trying to adopt Casey.

Reynolds then told Gundlach that they’d already taken care of the adoption and revealed another surprise — Marine Sergeant Kyle Williams — who served as Gundlach’s security officer.

“You know every time he and Casey were put in harm’s way, he could usually turn around and within 10 feet he’d see his sergeant, Sergeant Williams. So, what we’d like to do is maybe have Sergeant Williams reacquaint you with Casey,”Reynolds said. Williams brought Casey in and the dog and Gundlach spent several minutes together as the crowed looked on.

Gundlach talked about the surprise after the ceremony. “It was a total surprise, I came here planning to plead my case,” Gundlach says. He says Fire Marshal Reynolds kept saying it was an “if situation” you get your dog so he had no idea. And then Sergeant Williams came out. “It was pretty overwhelming, I don’t think I deserve all this attention,” Gundlach said.

Gundlach says it was very tough when Casey left. “It’s a little rough, it’s a little rough losing your dog a after spending 24-hours a day with her. But like I said, about midway through, I promised if we made it out alive I’d do what I could to find her,” Gundlach explained.

Gundlach-Casey-2And that’s why he tried to adopt the four-and-half year-old purebred lab as soon as he got back from active duty. He calls her a special dog. “Well as any bomb dog handler knows anywhere, combat or not in combat, all that matters is that you don’t miss anything,” Gundlach says. “And she didn’t. Out of all the hundreds of searches, she didn’t miss anything. So that is all that matters.”

Gundlach was emotional, but told reporters he would not cry while in uniform. The Iowa Elks Association donated money for the Fire Marshal’s Office to buy a replacement dog.

Casey was promoted to special agent in the Fire Marshal’s office, and then Iowa Governor Terry Branstad immediately issued a proclamation retiring her from duty.

Gundlach is bringing Casey back to Madison where he plans to go to school in June to become a physical therapist.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Human Interest, Military, News

April unemployment rate hits level not seen since December of 2008

May 17, 2013 By

Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped again in April. “We saw a two-tenths of a percent drop, taking us down to 4.7 percent in April,” according to Kerri Koonce of Iowa Workforce Development.

“Which is significantly below the 5.2 that we were at last year, and again still well below the national rate which was at 7.5 percent.” Koonce says the unemployment rate has not been this low since the recession began.

“It’s been since December of 2008 since we have been this low. So, it’s very good to see us at this level,” Koonce says. “We are also within 10,000 jobs of being back to where our high was prior to the recession as well. So, that’s very good for out state.” Manufacturing had the biggest job losses once the recession started, and while that area is coming back, Koonce says other sectors are leading the way.

“The larger portion of the job growth seems to be coming in some of the other industries. For example, financial activities this month is at an all-time high. It’s never been at 104,300 jobs, so it is significantly above where it was pre recession,” Koonce says. “Education and health services are approaching all-time highs…So, we’re seeing a lot of job growth in some of those sectors.”

Koonce says there looks to be more job expansion as the construction industry gets back into full action. “I know construction is a little low, but part of that is because we had such a rainy spring that made construction hard to get started,” Koonce says.

The estimate of unemployed persons dropped to 77,800 in April from 80,500 in March. The number of unemployed stood at 86,200 one year ago.

Filed Under: Business, News Tagged With:

Two big jackpots have Iowans looking at Powerball and Mega Millions tickets

May 17, 2013 By

The Powerball jackpot has pushed to an estimated $550-million after no winning tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing. Iowa Lottery spokesperson, Mary Neubauer, says a number that big grabs everyone’s attention.

“When the jackpot gets to this level, it just becomes that thing that everybody’s talking about. Everybody wants a shot at it, so now we see not only regular players buying tickets, but occasional players and first-time players jumping in,” Neubauer says.

A record Powerball jackpot of $587-million was won in November. Neubauer says the switch from a $1 to a $2 ticket for Powerball has helped create bigger jackpots more often. “It’s all designed to keep delivering those big jackpots, but also the chance to win other sizable prizes as well,” according to Neubauer.

“So, we’re always looking at ways to maybe tweak the game and change the game to make it better, because over time people don’t want the same old thing, they want the opportunity to try for something that is maybe a little different or new, so we’re always looking at that to see what we can do.”

Another thing that’s helped push the jackpots up is the addition of California — the country’s most populated state — to the game. Neubauer says there’s a mistaken view that a bigger state has better odds of having the winning numbers.

“I’ve heard some people saying ‘Oh well now that that California is in we don’t stand a chance, nobody else is ever going to win,’ but in fact the odds in Powerball haven’t change. The odds of winning the jackpot are still the same now that were before California is in,” Neubauer says.

“And it goes back to that concept of why Powerball started in the first place. With with more states playing the game, the jackpot grows more quickly, and gets bigger faster. And that’s ultimately what people want from Powerball.” Not only is the Powerball jackpot growing, the Mega Millions jackpot is an estimated $190-million dollars for tonight’s drawing a 10 o’clock.

Iowa is one of the state’s that sells both games and Neubauer says the results are showing they aren’t competing against each other.

She says the old saying that “a rising tide floats all boats” is what they are seeing with the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots.

If you beat all the odds and picked the winning numbers for both games, you’d win and estimated combined jackpot of just over $746-million. Neubauer cautions that you should be reasonable.

“It just takes one ticket to win, you don’t have to buy two, five, 10, you just have to buy one to get in on the fun. Don’t count on winning, just do it for fun,” she advises. Neubauer says the fun is dreaming what you might do with the money if you do win. The Mega Millions drawing is tonight.

The next Powerball drawing is 9:59 p.m. on Saturday. In Iowa, you can buy a ticket for Saturday’s drawing up until 8:59 p.m. Saturday.

Filed Under: News, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

ISU researchers test concrete for use in wind turbine towers

May 16, 2013 By
Grant Schmitz inspects concrete used for a wind turbine tower.

Grant Schmitz inspects concrete used for a wind turbine tower.

As more and more wind turbines pop up across the state and country, researchers at Iowa State University are studying a new way to build the towers that hold them up into the sky.

Grant Schmitz, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, says they’ve been testing the use of pre-cast hexagon-shaped concrete panels as the industry moves toward taller towers.

He says one of the first advantages is cutting the need to truck the giant steel columns now used for the towers along highways.

“They’re are very large and very long and going to a higher hub height, these sections would even need to be larger, which really is not permitted by transportation limitations ,”Schmitz says.

“The main advantage with the precast concrete tower design that we came up with was the transportation benefits. We can break this into smaller pieces that we can transport using standard flatbed shipping without the need for any permitting.”

Schmitz says the steel towers now come from all over the U.S. and some come from out of the country. The concrete towers could be built locally.

“I think you can basically find a pre-cast plant within 200 miles of anywhere in the U.S. So, any pre-cast plant could essentially create these components and be much closer to the wind farm sites than some of these steel manufacturers,” Schmitz says.

They are studying an increase in tower heights by 20-meters — or roughly 60 feet– to make a tower that is around 320-some feet tall. Schmitz says taller towers have a better chance of catching the prairie winds.

ISU researchers run tests on concrete used to build towers for wind turbines.

ISU researchers run tests on concrete used to build towers for wind turbines.

“Based on a number of studies, we’ve kind of come up a rough number of about 15-percent as a minimum for an increase in energy production,” Schmitz explains.

“And that basically comes from the higher wind speeds that you get at a higher elevations, and a more sustainable wind. So, you’re producing energy more consistently at those higher elevations.”

Schmitz and the others in the civil, construction and environmental engineering department have been testing the strength of the concrete panels. He believes the concrete would last longer than the steel towers.

“Right now steel towers are currently limited by the fatigue life of the tower to about 20 years. And concrete generally has a better fatigue performance,” Schmitz says.

“Based on the high-strength materials that we’re using, we actually need to do a little more analysis in terms of what kind of fatigue life we’re looking at for high-strength concrete. But our hope and our thoughts are the fatigue life would be longer than what you’d get out of a steel tower, so instead of a 20-year service life, we could be looking at 25 or 30-year service life.”

Schmitz says they also have to some more study on the cost to put up the concrete towers when compared with the steel. Schmitz worked with Sri Sritharan on the concrete tower design that has 6 hexagon panels connected to 6 columns. He says if all the additional testing pans out, they could be ready to start using the new towers in a couple of years.

The project has been supported, in part with a $109,000 grant from the state Grow Iowa Values Fund.

There are three industry supporters of the project: California-based Clipper Windpower, which has a turbine design and manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids; Lafarge North America Incorporated of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and Coreslab Structures Incorporated of Bellevue, Nebraska.

Photos courtesy of Iowa State University.

Filed Under: News, Technology Tagged With: ,

Braley says IRS scandal takes focus off legitimate investigation into rule breaking

May 16, 2013 By
Congressman Bruce Braley

Congressman Bruce Braley

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says the IRS scandal has taken the focus off of its legitimate duty to investigate non-profit groups that are breaking the rules.

“I have made it very clear that the Internal Revenue Service has no place for politics,” Braley says.

“The latest reports of what has been happening at the Internal Revenue Service undermines the public’s trust in government, it harms the IRS’s effort to enforce the laws that they’re charged with enforcing. And it hurts their efforts to enforce the laws that apply to 501C-4 non-profit organizations.”

The IRS admitted it targeted conservative groups when applications were put in to review them. Braley says the rules require the non-profit groups to have a 50-percent cap their political activity.

“I believe that there have been abuses of that 50-percent cap and that’s one of the enforcement responsibilities of the Internal Revenue Service. But when you have a cloud hanging over the agency because of the approval of the applications on the front end, it damages the credibility of the agency to conduct a nonpartisan investigation of groups to make sure that they are complying with the law,” Braley says.

He says the IRS problems have to be cleared up before anything can be done about possible violations of the rules by non-profit groups.

“Once those measures are resolved and addressed, then I think it is appropriate to look at whether or not the agency is doing what it needs to to make sure that tax-exempt organizations are not engaging in inappropriate activity within the meaning of the regulations that limit that activity,” according to Braley.

The IRS scandal comes on top of the revelation that the U.S. Justice Department pulled the phone records of the Association Press, and continued questions about how the administration handle the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi that led to the death of the ambassador there.

Braley, who is running for the Senate seat that comes open in 2014, was asked if it is a bad time for Democrats with all the controversies. “Well I think any time that you have a series of concerns raised like we’ve been seeing this week, that’s a bad week for whomever is the party at the White House that is in control of the executive branch,” Braley says.

He says it’s up to him and other members of Congress to keep maintaining their oversight of the issues to maintain the public’s trust in the government.

Photo courtesy of Congressman Braley’s office.

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