State regulators selected a company Thursday to begin the process of cutting the number of greyhound tracks in half. State lawmakers create a deal that was signed into law by the governor that shuts down the Council Bluffs track and shifts the management of dog racing in Dubuque to the Iowa Greyhound Association. The deal also requires to the casinos that are now running the tracks to pay into a retirement fund to get out of the dog-racing business. Iowa Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says Spectrum Gaming of New Jersey will handle the issue.

“What this vendor will do is go through a public process and make a recommendation to the commission promulgating rules for this distribution,” Ohorilko says. The company will use the next several months to come up with a plan. “The process for them to receive public input will go on throughout the winter. The report will be expected in late February with a public presentation at the March meeting.” Ohorilko says. The deal reached in the legislation has the Council Bluffs casino paying 65 million dollars over the next seven years, and the Dubuque casino will pay one million dollars each year into the fund. Half of the fund goes to retiring greyhound breeders and the other half goes to those still in the industry. Ohorilko says the paperwork is also in the works to shut down the two current dog tracks.

He says both tracks have given the commission notice that they intend to terminate live greyhound racing. Ohorilko says December 31st is the last day the Mystic track can hold the racetrack license in Dubuque. The track is running simulcast races right now. The other track has a little more time before it stops running the dogs. “Horseshoe over in Council Bluffs, the statute requires them to run through the 2015 racing season. They run year-round, so there will be one more year there,” according to Ohorilko. The Iowa Greyhound Association filed an application October 1st for a license to run greyhounds.

“The commission is currently reviewing that application, the D-C-I is performing background checks on board members and key employees,” Ohorilko say. “A decision will need to be made by December 1st as to whether to grant that license. Should that license be awarded, they will be able to open on January 1st.” He says the track would begin with simulcast racing in January if it is approved for the license. He says they plan to have public input before the final decision on the license.

He says they will hold a special meeting later this month or early November to allow the Iowa Greyhound Association to present their application and to get public input from those who support or are against the new license before the final decision. The Racing and Gaming Commission made the decisions on the greyhound issue at their meeting Thursday in Clinton.

(Radio Iowa)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals are sticking with the same rotation that clicked in the first round of the postseason and ace Adam Wainwright is set to pitch Game 1 of the National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants.

Manager Mike Matheny announced his starters on Thursday, two days ahead of the series opener. Lance Lynn will work Game 2, followed by John Lackey and Shelby Miller. Michael Wacha, who didn’t pitch in the division series, will remain in the bullpen available for long relief.

With Jim Field.

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Game times for the entire 2014 League Championship Series have been set, Major League Baseball announced today.

As previously announced, Game One of the 2014 American League Championship Series on TBS between the host Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals has been scheduled for an 8:07 p.m. (ET) first pitch on Friday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Saturday’s ALCS Game Two is set for a 4:07 p.m. (ET) start at Camden Yards. The National League Championship Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants will open on FOX on Saturday, when Game One will be slated for an 8:07 p.m. (ET)/7:07 p.m. (CT) start.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

ALCS Games on TBS * NLCS Games on FOX Sports 1 or FOX (all times Central)
Fri., Oct. 10th

• ALCS Game 1 KC @ BAL – 7:07 p.m.  TBS

Sat., Oct. 11th

• ALCS Game 2 KC @ BAL – 3:07 p.m.  TBS
• NLCS Game 1 SF @ STL – 7:07 p.m. FOX

Sun. Oct. 12th

• NLCS Game 2 SF @ STL – 7:07 p.m. FOX Sports 1

Mon. Oct. 13th

• ALCS Game 3, BAL @ KC – 7:07 p.m. TBS

Tues. Oct. 14th

• NLCS Game 3, STL @ SF – 3:07 p.m. FOX Sports 1
• ALCS Game 4, BAL @ KC – 7:07 p.m. TBS

Wed. Oct. 15th

• ALCS Game 5, BAL @ KC (if nec.) – 3:07 p.m. TBS
• NLCS Game 4, STL @ SF – 7:07 p.m. FOX Sports 1

Thurs. Oct. 16th

• NLCS Game 5 (if nec.), STL @ SF – 7:07 p.m. FOX Sports 1

Fri. Oct. 17th

• ALCS Game 6, KC @ BAL (if nec.) – 7:07 p.m. TBS

Sat. Oct. 18th

• NLCS Game 6 (if nec.), SF @ STL – 3:07 p.m. FOX
• ALCS Game 7, KC @ BAL (if nec.) – 7:07 p.m. TBS

Sun. Oct. 19th

• NLCS Game 7 (if nec.), SF @ STL – 6:37 p.m. FOX Sports 1

The Atlantic Cross Country invitational will be held today at the Atlantic Golf & Country Club.  The meet will feature nearly 1000 runners from 30 schools.

The boys meet will feature ranked teams including Sioux City North, Dallas Center-Grimes, Harlan, Shenandoah-Essex and Tri-Center.  Among the ranked runners are Cooper McDermott of Creston, Eldon Warner of Thomas Jefferson, Jay Wolfe of Creston and Tim Brink of Riverside.

The girls meet will include ranked teams from  Winterset, Harlan, Dallas Center-Grimes and Griswold.  One of Iowa’s all-time best girls distance runners, Class 1-A top-ranked Rebekah Topham of Griswold heads the field.  Other ranked runners include Alissa Pomrenke of Lewis Central, Tjffany Williams of Atlantic, Alexis Cook of Missouri Valley, Lexie Smith of Dallas Center-Grimes, Maria Mostek of Creston and Laken Gurwell of Winterset.

The meet will begin at 4:00 pm with the middle school girls race, followed by the middle school boys, the JV boys, the varsity girls, varsity boys and the JV girls.

With Jim Field.

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Hawkeye 10:

• (3-0) Denison 25-25-25, Atlantic 22-9-13
• (3-0) Creston 25-25-25, Shenandoah 17-16-23
• (3-0) Harlan 25-25-25, Glenwood 8-12-12
• (3-0) Harlan 25-25-25, St. Albert 17-13-14
• (3-0) St. Albert 25-25-25, Glenwood 18-17-15
• (3-1) Lewis Central 25-21-27-28, Kuemper Catholic 23-25-25-26
• (3-0) Red Oak 25-25-25, Clarinda 12-9-11

Western Iowa:

• (3-0) Griswold 25-25-25, Logan-Magnolia 19-14-19
• (3-0) Missouri Valley 25-25-25, A-H-S-T-W 9-14-7
• (3-1) Treynor 12-25-25-25, Tri-Center 25-17-22-20

Rolling Valley:

• (3-0) Adair-Casey 25-25-25, Paton-Churdan 20-9-9
• (3-0) Coon Rapids-Bayard 25-25-25, West Harrison 14-11-13
• (3-0) Exira/EHK 25-25-25, Charter Oak-Ute 10-17-19

Others:

• (3-1) Bedford 25-25-20-25, Southwest Valley 19-18-25-17
• (3-1) Fremont-Mills 20-25-25-25, Sidney 25-20-17-18
• (3-1) Guthrie Center 27-25-16-25, Earlham 25-21-25-19
• (3-1) Mount Ayr 22-25-25-25, East Union 25-14-10-17
• (3-1) Nodaway Valley 24-25-25-25, Lenox 26-22-19-9
• (3-2) Stanton 25-25-22-27-15, East Mills 16-15-25-29-12
• (3-0) Woodward-Granger 25-25-25, Panorama 14-10-12

UNI coach Mark Farley says the Panthers need to do a better job of finishing drives and that was a factor in their loss at Indiana State in their Missouri Valley Football Conference opener. The Panthers dropped their conference opener a year ago and that began a five game losing skid. Farley does not think Saturday’s loss will linger. Farley says the Panthers need to be more consistent in the games. They fell behind 14-0 in the opening quarter at Indiana State.

UNI visits South Dakota on Saturday and the Coyotes are expected to regain the services of junior quarterback Kevin Earl. He passed for 370 yards in South Dakota’s overtime win in Cedar Falls last year. South Dakota coach Joe Glenn expects the game to go down to the wire.

The last two years have feature close games, including a South Dakota overtime victory in 2013. Like UNI, the Coyotes are 2-3 overall. South Dakota lost at Southern Illinois 41-10 last week.

(Learfield Sports)

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says everyone will find out together how effective the Hawkeyes’ two quarterback system will be and how long it lasts. Iowa hosts Indiana on Saturday and Jake Rudock will get the start after missing the Big Ten opener at Purdue. C.J. Beathard is also expected to play after leading the Hawks to a pair of road victories. Ferentz says there is no set plan right now on how much each quarterback will play.

He’s not concerned that the system will damage the confidence of both players. Indiana is 3-2 and Ferentz says the Hoosiers are starting to turn the corner under Kevin Wilson. In a year with few impressive non conference wins for Big Ten teams the Hoosiers may have posted the most impressive one with an upset victory at Missouri.

It is important to keep a defense fresh against Indiana’s up tempo offense and Ferentz hopes the Hawkeyes depth on the offensive line is an advantage.

(Learfield Sports)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals tagged Clayton Kershaw in the seventh inning for the second straight time, riding Matt Adams’ go-ahead, three-run homer to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday and a fourth straight trip to the NL Championship Series.

Following their 3-1 win in the best-of-five series, the Cardinals await San Francisco or Washington with their rotation well-rested for the NLCS, which starts Saturday. They would open at home against the Giants or at the Nationals.

Trevor Rosenthal allowed two runners in the ninth before getting Carl Crawford on a game-ending groundout for his third save of the series. Kershaw allowed one homer to left-handed hitters while going 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA in the regular season. He gave up two to the Cardinals, with Matt Carpenter connecting in the opener. The left-handed ace is 0-3 with a 9.72 ERA in his last three postseason appearances, including St. Louis’ clinching Game 6 victory in the NLCS last year.