February 8, 2012

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Iowa DOT conducts 72-hour “Roadcheck”

June 7, 2011 By

Enforcement officers with the Iowa Department of Transportation will be busy over the next three days checking out semis and other large vehicles. The department is taking part in a 72-hour continuous enforcement effort that’s happening across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Major Ned Lewis, with the DOT, says 60 officers will be inspecting all vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds that are on Iowa’s roadways. “We will have motor vehicle enforcement officers located througout the state at our interstate scale sites at Avoca, Dallas County, Jasper County and Brandon,” Lewis said.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Roadcheck runs today through Thursday. During last year’s event, officers conducted more than 65,000 inspections across the U.S. “The most important part of this is finding vehicles or drivers who are not in compliance with the rules and regulations,” Lewis said. “Those drivers and/or vehicles can be placed out of service for serious safety violations.”

Most vehicles or drivers are placed out of service because of issues with their brakes or discrepancies with the driver’s logbook. The 2010 Roadcheck found vehicle compliance rates of 80%, while drivers had a 95.6% pass rate. “Most of the vehicles and drivers do a great job. We do put a fair amount of vehicles out of service for severe safety violations,” Lewis said.

Busses are not required to stop at the scale locations in Iowa.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

New York City billboard disses Des Moines

May 31, 2011 By

A giant billboard in New York City is poking fun at Iowa. The sign states “Nobody becomes famous in Des Moines.” You might assume it’s an ad for Broadway or even New York City’s chamber of commerce. It’s not.

The ads were placed by Manhattan Mini-Storage, which uses the slogan “we help New Yorkers live big lives in little places.” The billboards are designed to extol the benefits of living in New York despite the lack of closet space.

Lauren Burt is the director of media and marketing at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. “I think they’re trying to promote that they’re greatest…but I have to say that I don’t think that Des Moines belongs on that sign,” Burt said.

Although it may be warranted, Burt says Iowa’s capital city is not planning any retaliatory billboards. “You know I think we could have a lot of fun with that,” Burt said with a laugh. “But, I’m a firm believer in positive marketing. There’s too much negativity out there anyway. So we have great things to promote.”

Calls placed to Manhattan Mini-Storage went unreturned. Burt says she’s stumped why they chose to dump on Des Moines. “We’re number one in so many different national rankings for business and careers…and that’s really the truth, not billboards for storage space,” Burt said.

Filed Under: Human Interest, Miscellaneous

Man with “secrets to long life” to speak in Cedar Rapids

May 30, 2011 By

A man who’s traveled around the world for National Geographic will be visiting Iowa next month to share “the secrets to a long and happy life.” Dan Buettner’s presentation includes photos of what he calls “Blue Zones” – or the locations around the globe where he’s found humans are “healthiest and happiest.”

Buettner says he recently tested some of his methods for adding “quantity and quality” to people’s lives in Albert Lea, Minnesota. “We raised (Albert Lea residents’) life expectancy by about three years, we lowered their health care costs by 40 percent and everybody lost weight,” Buettner said. “I’m going to talk a little bit about this vitality project in Albert Lea and I think the people in Iowa will see very clearly, ‘we can do that here.’”

Buettner says Iowa already has a high concentration of elderly residents, but that’s due in part to a population shift.”Part of it is the good, clean living of our grandparents. Our grandparents really have something to teach us about living longer,” Buettner said. “But, part of it is that younger people tend to leave rural cities and leave a higher concentration of the very old.”

Running marathons and taking vitamins aren’t necessarily the key to healthy living, according Buettner. He says studies have shown people who eat just two ounces of nuts four times a week live up to three years longer than those who don’t eat nuts. And people who claim to wake up in the morning with “a sense of purpose” tend to live seven years longer.

“So, a lot of the things we think make us live longer – like supplements or weight watcher programs – really don’t have any effect at all and there are a lot of small things that really add up to helping us a lot,” Buettner said.

Buetter, who appeared as a regular guest on the Oprah Winfrey show, is scheduled to speak in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, June 16 from 7 to 8 p.m. The event is free at the Cedar Rapids Marriott (1200 Collins Road NE).

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Miscellaneous

Gambling treatment official not taking stance on internet gambling bill

March 5, 2011 By

The manager of the Iowa Gambling Treatment and Prevention Program isn’t taking a stand on the bill that would allow internet gambling in Iowa. Mark Vander Linden was asked about the proposal during a presentation at the Racing and Gaming Commission meeting.

Vander Linden says internet gambling will increase the number of people who gamble, but he says his hope is that there will be enough safe guards to keep underage people from gambling. And he says those safe guards will hopefully limit the harm that could be done to problem gamblers.

Vander Linden says he doesn’t have an opinion on the long-term impact if Iowa became the first state to legalize internet gambling. He says you generally see a spike in interest when a new gambling options is introduced, because it is new and interesting and people want to try it out, and then interest levels off.

Vander Linden says he doesn’t really have a position on the bill. Vander Linden says internet gambling is not a major source of problems in Iowa right now. Vander Linden says their tracking shows internet gambling was identified by only one-and-a-half percent of the people who came in to get treatment last year for problem gambling as their primary form of gambling. He says the most prominent form of legalized gambling in the state is the one that is credited with causing the most problems.

He says 61% of the people who came in for treatment identified slot machines as the reason for their problem. The internet gambling bill was passed this week by a senate committee. New Jersey’s governor vetoed a bill that would have made his state the first to allow internet gambling.

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

Iowans urged to remember home security over the holidays

December 22, 2010 By

Iowa law enforcement agencies often see an uptick in home burglary cases this time of year. Many of the break-ins could be avoided with some common sense home security measures.

Iowa Department of Public Safety spokesperson Jessica Lown suggests placing a hold on mail and newspaper deliveries. “Or just ask somebody who’s going to be in town, someone you trust, and give them your key to stop by and bring your mail in or shovel your drive,” Lown said. “They can do those things that would indicate that someone is still at the house.”

Thieves can also be thwarted by the use of lamps plugged into automatic timers. “So, it looks like someone in your house is flipping the lights on and off a few times, even though you’re not home,” Lown said. It’s also a good idea to close curtains or drapes, so a burglar can’t see inside the home.

Another no-no is posting vacation plans to Facebook. “Not everything is kept within your circle of friends on these social media sites,” Lown said. “So, doing a status update that says, ‘woo-hoo, on my way to Hawaii for Christmas and no one will be checking my home for two weeks’…maybe not such a good idea.”

Lown says it’s also a bad idea to post your vacation location on Facebook. “Would-be thieves…they see somebody check into a location, and then they check into your home,” Lown said. Many police departments, particularly in small towns, allow residents to sign up for home checks. Officers will walk around the home to check for signs of a burglary or anything suspicious.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Miscellaneous

Slipknot members remember Gray as “essence of the band”

May 25, 2010 By
Joey Jordison (drummer), Tony Gray, Corey Taylor, Shawn Crahan, Sid Wilson (DJ)

Joey Jordison, Tony Gray, Corey Taylor, Shawn Crahan, Sid Wilson

Members of the Des Moines based metal band Slipknot are remembering their bass player, Paul Gray, as a compassionate friend who served as the peacekeeper of the group.

Gray was found dead Monday morning in an Urbandale hotel room. He was 38. Slipknot singer Corey Taylor and other members of the band spoke at a press conference tonight at Wells Fargo Arena, where Slipknot played a concert last year. “We lost a brother,” Taylor said, “and the world seems a little smaller because of it.”

An autopsy performed Tuesday did not yield any clues about how Gray died, but investigators say it confirmed no foul play was involved. Toxicology tests are being performed. Those results are not expected for up to six weeks.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Human Interest, Miscellaneous, Recreation & Entertainment

Group claims animal cruelty at Spencer hatchery

September 1, 2009 By

An animal rights group released video today it says was shot during an undercover investigation of the Hy-Line chicken hatchery in Spencer. Mercy For Animals of Chicago Executive Director Nathan Runkle says the investigator used a hidden camera after gaining employment at the factory for two weeks in May and June. Runkle says the video “documented a list of horrific animal cruelty.”

Runkle says that cruelty included “workers violently throwing birds, birds being snapped by their fragile necks and being mutilated without painkillers, industrial equipment injuring and killing birds, chicks going through scolding wash cycles while they are still alive, and all of the male chicks being ground up while they are still alive.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous
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