May 23, 2012

You are here: Home / Archives for Pat Curtis

Buffalo break away, roam around northwest Iowa

May 18, 2012 By

Authorities in northwest Iowa have been spending much of this week helping round up some large animals that escaped from a ranch. About 200 buffalo broke out of their pen at a ranch in Sibley on Sunday. Chief Deputy Kevin Wollmuth, with the Osceola County Sheriff’s office, says they’ve proven hard to catch.

“They’re a lot faster than many people think,” Wollmuth said. Ranch hands have trying to corral the herd on horses and ATVs.

“If neighbors happen to spot one, they just have to call the sheriff’s office and we’ll contact the owners to let them know where they’re at,” Wollmuth said.

Most of the herd has been corralled, but a few buffalo are still on the loose. It’s not exactly clear how the animals broke out of the pen, but Wollmuth does not believe it’s a case of vandalism.

“Nobody really knows for sure, but they think it was probably a gate problem,” Wollmuth said. “It’s still under investigation, but it’s definitely something that had to do with the gate.” The buffalo have been spotted in five counties — Lyon, Osceola, Sioux and O’Brien counties in Iowa and Nobles County in Minnesota.

There have been no injuries, but Wollmuth is warning motorists to be careful while driving in the area.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Featured Story, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Human Interest, News

Iowa orchards confirm heavy toll from frost damage

May 17, 2012 By

Apple orchard operators are beginning to get a better handle on the impact freezing temperature one month ago had on their crop. Maury Wills, with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, says apple orchards in roughly the middle third of Iowa were hit the hardest.

“Perhaps from about Highway 20 south to Highway 34,” Wills says. “And not 100-percent loss by any means, but orchards in that area had been pushed pretty far along by the warm temperatures in Iowa whereas orchards further north weren’t as far along and orchards further south didn’t have as chilling temperatures.”

Iowa produced 102,000 bushels or roughly 4.1 million pounds of apples last year. Wills says it’s highly unlikely that many apples will be available this year. He notes the damage is sporadic across the state and even within each individual orchard.

“When you get out and look at the apple trees, you’ll see trees at the bottom of a hillside that may not have any apples. But, if you go up to higher areas, you’ll see those trees do have some apples,” Wills says.

Apple trees in some sections of the state blossomed in March, about a month earlier than usual. Those blossoms did in early April when overnight temperatures dipped into the low 20s. Wills is hoping the decreased apple crop won’t stop Iowans from visiting apple orchards in the fall.

“The crop might be a little bit less and in some cases it might be significantly less, but there will still be a lot going on at the apple orchards. So, just call your local orchard and find out when they’re opening and give it shot,” Wills said.

Apple crops were likely hit the hardest, but the frost is also expected to hurt Iowa’s strawberry and grape production.

Filed Under: Agriculture, News, Weather

Algona, Janesville, Bettendorf win Vision Iowa grants

May 17, 2012 By

The Vision Iowa Board on Wednesday awarded grants totaling $443,000 to three communities. A $100,000 award will help finance the building of the Kossuth County Agriculture and Motorsports Museum in Algona. Ralph Savoy is a consultant who’s helped with the fundraising effort for the project.

He says the museum will also include a model train exhibit. “There’s probably going to be seven trains going around the track in a rather large facility,” Savoy said. “It’s going to be about 40 by 60 feet of train tracks. All three things will be interesting, but I think the trains will bring people back regularly.”

Organizers hope to open museum in time for the Kossuth County Fair in August. The building is located on the fairgrounds. Another Vision Iowa Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grant was awarded to the northeast Iowa town of Janesville. Vision Iowa spokesperson Jessica O’Riley says the $148,000 award will help with the building of a nearly 500 foot long bicycle and pedestrian bridge spanning the Cedar River.

“What I really love about this project is they’ve called every household (in Janesville), requesting donations, at least twice,” O’Riley said. “So, I think there’s broad community support and it’ll be a great asset to that community.”

The old Barrick Road Bridge in Janesville has been closed for decades after it was damaged in a traffic crash involving a drunk driver. The largest CAT grant awarded Wednesday, $195,000, is going to the Family Museum of Arts and Sciences in Bettendorf.

The money will be used to expand the museum’s exhibit space. The total cost of the Bettendorf project is around $1.25 million.

Filed Under: Human Interest, News

Teenage firefighter charged with arson in Tama County

May 16, 2012 By

A young volunteer firefighter is facing arson charges for multiple fires across Tama County. A series of grass fires and fires that damaged three vacant buildings had baffled investigators for months.

They suspected arson, but were no doubt surprised to discover the person suspected of starting the fires is a volunteer firefighter in Tama. Eighteen-year-old Justin Anderson, a high school senior, has been charged with seven counts of arson. He’s the son of the long-time Tama Fire Chief, Ron Anderson.

The Tama County Sheriff’s office reports, even though the homes set on fire were vacant, Justin Anderson placed the lives of others, including his fellow firefighters, in danger.

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

Union leaders attack Romney’s record in advance of his Iowa visit (audio)

May 15, 2012 By

Ken Sager speaks while fellow union members look on.

A coalition of groups blasted Mitt Romney’s business record in a press conference this morning in Des Moines.

Iowa AFL-CIO President Ken Sager said Romney, as an executive at Bain Capital, turned a hefty profit by raiding companies, laying off workers and forcing them into bankruptcy.

Sager said Bain purchased the clothing store chain Stage for $5 million, but made $100 million on the deal before Stage went bankrupt. Stage stores in 11 Iowa towns were closed.

“The bankruptcy occurred in 2000 and all these stores in Iowa were shut down in 2000 and 2002,” Sager said. “Those are not the kind of economic policies we want to see established here in Iowa or across the nation.”

Romney, the likely Republican nominee for president, is due to speak about the federal deficit this afternoon at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. Sager said Romney’s economic policies would hurt many Americans. “This election draws a clear contrast between Mitt’s vision for the economy, which is very familiar and troubling to us,” Sager said.

“It’s more budget busting tax cuts for the wealthy and fewer rules for Wall Street. This is the same formula that crushed our economy in ’08. It punished the middle class.” Sager said it’s “ironic” that Romney is worried about the national debt when he “loaded up companies with debt” while working for Bain Capital.

“Most American find something wrong with that, but Mitt seemed to be okay with that. As long as he got his paycheck, he didn’t seem to have a problem with hurting hard working, middle class Americans,” Sager said. There were several other speakers, in addition to Sager, at the press conference this morning.

Audio: AFL-CIO news conference 25:20.

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

Average price of homes sold in April up 8.2%

May 15, 2012 By

The number of homes sold in Iowa increased again in April. The Iowa Association of Realtors (IAR) reports 2,606 homes were sold last month. That’s just 22 more than in April of 2011, but association president Dale Gross says it marks the “eighth or ninth” consecutive month of increased sales.

“It’s not up much, but it continues in the same direction,” Gross said. He noted the first four months of 2012 marked the strongest first quarter in terms of homes sold in Iowa since 2007. The median sale price of a home in Iowa last month was $124,375. That’s an increase of 8.2% over the previous year.

“People are beginning to think that the dream of home ownership is affordable with our low interest rates, so they’re stepping up and buying a home,” Gross said. The April report from the IAR shows the average home stayed on the market for 112 days before being sold. That’s up just one day over last year.

The inventory of homes being sold, statewide, dropped from roughly 23,000 in April 2011 to just over 21,000 this year.

Filed Under: Business, Featured Story, News

Mitt Romney to deliver policy speech in Des Moines (Audio)

May 14, 2012 By

Mitt Romney (file photo)

The front runner for the Republican presidential nomination is due in Iowa Tuesday. Mitt Romney is set to deliver what his campaign is calling a “major policy speech” at Drake University in Des Moines.

The Republican Party organized a conference call this morning with a couple of prominent G.O.P. elected officials in the state to preview Romney’s visit. Iowa Congressman Steve King said when Barack Obama took office, the national debt was $10.626-trillion.

Today, it stands at $15.689 trillion.

“Our debt was 80% of the (Gross Domestic Product) when he was elected. The debt is 105-percent today,” King said. “To give you an example, Greece is at 152% now and if you project Barack Obama’s $1.33 trillion (added debt) per year…we’re going to be approaching the conditions in Greece if we have a second Obama term.”

King is running for reelection in Iowa’s fourth congressional district. State Auditor Dave Vaudt said for every dollar of state revenue spent, Iowa spends another dollar of federal revenue to provide general fund services.

“The sustainability of federal revenues coming to the states is a big problem and it has really grown over the past few years during the Obama administration. Eventually, the federal government will either choose to decrease its spending or, like Greece, it’s going to be forced to cut its spending. Either way, when that happens, Iowans will be directly impacted,” Vaudt said.

Details on the exact time and location of Romney’s speech in Des Moines tomorrow have not been released. It will be his first visit to Iowa since the G.O.P. caucuses.

Audio: King/Vaudt news conference 6:01

The Obama campaign released this response:
“Mitt Romney knows a lot about out-of-control spending and debt- it was his record in Massachusetts. During his four years as governor, state spending increased by 6.5% per year, government jobs grew six times as fast as private sector jobs, taxes and fees went up by $750 million each year, and debt increased by 16%. In fact, he left Massachusetts with the largest per-capita debt of any state in the country. Now, while President Obama has a plan to reduce the national debt by $4 trillion, Mitt Romney’s would give $5 trillion in tax breaks weighted to millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the middle class—without saying how he’d pay for it. Helping the wealthiest prosper by any means necessary, even if it means undermining workers and middle class families, was Mitt Romney’s record in the public and private sectors and it represents the values that he’d bring as President.” –Erin Seidler, campaign spokeswoman

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »