The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hosting public meetings over the Iowa Communications Network on February 26^th, from 6 to 9 p.m., to listen to the public’s thoughts on the hunting and trapping regulations for this fall. The nearest meeting locally will be held at the Creston High School. Another meeting will be held in Council Bluffs, but the location has yet to be determined. The meetings are part of the process for making rules in state government.

Dr. Dale Garner, chief of the wildlife bureau says “Any rule changes must be discussed with Iowa’s citizens who might be impacted by the changes before the rule changes are proposed. The process helps ensure that rule changes serve the public’s wishes and do not impact Iowa’s economy.”

At each meeting DNR staff will facilitate a discussion about what went well last fall, what didn’t, and what changes hunters and trappers would like to see for this fall. The discussions along with the data that the wildlife bureau collects on harvest and population numbers will be used to develop recommendations for any rule changes this fall. Any changes must be approved by the Natural Resource Commission and then go back to the public for further comment before taking effect next fall.

A complete list of the ICN meeting locations are available online at www.iowadnr.gov/hunting

The UNI basketball team will try to snap a three game losing skid tonight when the Panthers host Loyola. UNI lost to the Ramblers in overtime during their first meeting of the season, and Panther coach Ben Jacobson says he expects Loyola to be play very similarly to that first matchup. Jacobson says there’s a good chance that UNI forward Nate Buss could be back on the floor after missing the last three games with a knee injury.

Tonight’s game at the McLeod Center tips off at 7:00.

Hawkeye 10:

• Atlantic 63, Clarinda 35
• Glenwood 76, Shenandoah 55
• Harlan 60, St. Albert 55
• Kuemper Catholic 54, Denison-Schleswig 52
• Abraham Lincoln 63, Lewis Central 45

Western Iowa:

• Treynor 54, Missouri Valley 43
• Thomas Jefferson 31, Tri-Center 28
• IKM-Manning 72, A-H-S-T 44

Rolling Valley:

• Ar-We-Va 70, West Harrison 48
• Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 64, Boyer Valley 33

Others:

• Carroll 74, Boone 44
• Earlham 69, West Central Valley 47
• East Union 63, Southwest Valley 43
• Lenox 45, Mount Ayr 33
• Nishnabotna 52, Essex 39
• Nodaway Valley 60, Bedford 40
• Stanton 69, South Page 33
• Fremont-Mills 68, Clarinda Academy 60
• Heartland Christian 60, East Mills 59

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State senior forward Melvin Ejim has been announced as the USBWA’s Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for his performances against Oklahoma State and TCU. He is the third Cyclone to earn the honor this season, joining Dustin Hogue and DeAndre Kane.

Ejim averaged 35.0 points last week, including a Big 12 record 48 points against TCU. He also had a career-high 18 boards against the Horned Frogs. Overall, Ejim’s performance set or tied 10 Big 12 single-game records in the contest, including the most combined points and rebounds in one game (64).

Earlier in the week, he scored 22 points and grabbed 13 boards as ISU won in Stillwater for the first time since 1988.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Radio host and former Cardinals player Jack Clark has retracted comments he made implying that Albert Pujols used performance enhancing drugs. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Clark, who played for the Cardinals from 1985-87, issued a public retraction Monday night for his comments made about Pujols, a nine-time All-Star who played for the Cardinals from 2001-11 before signing a 10-year, $240 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

Pujols, who has vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs, sued Clark for defamation after Clark said on his show in August that Pujols used banned performance-enhancing drug. Clark apologized in a statement and said he has “no knowledge whatsoever” that Pujols ever used used illegal or banned drugs.  Pujols says he’s accepted Clark’s retraction and apology and would resolve the lawsuit.

Jim Field and Chris Parks have the call of the games played at Adair-Casey High School.

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A bill to clarify that “fantasy” sports leagues are legal in Iowa has cleared the Senate State Government Committee. Senator Rick Bertrand of Sioux City steered the bill through committee. “Right now in Iowa gaming is defined as a game of chance,” Bertrand says. “And what this bill does is it classifies fantasy sports as a game of skill, not chance so it does not need any type of licensing as long the prizes are established and made known in advance.”

In “fantasy sports” leagues, participants pretend to be the owner of a team made up of real players. These “fantasy” franchises get points based on the statistics the real players rack up, like the number of touchdowns a quarterback throws during a game. The fantasy sports industry is seeking to legalize the games in Iowa this year, as state law prevents players from winning cash or prizes above the value of what they paid to participate in a fantasy sports league.

“This is not an expansion of gaming of any sort,” Bertrand says. “This basically provides clarity.” The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates 33-and-a-half million people in the U.S. and Canada played fantasy sports in 2013. During Monday afternoon’s committee meeting Senator Tod Bowman of Maquoketa — a former high school wrestling coach — asked Bertrand if some of these fantasy teams involve amateur athletes.

“If Senator Feenstra and I wanted to be involved in an NCAA wrestling fantasy league, that would be legal under this?” Bowman asked. Bertrand interjected: “You may be the only two, but I’m not sure.” That prompted laughter in the committee room. “We’ll say it’s basketball. In all seriousness, would this be legal with the NCAA?” Bowman asked. Bertrand replied: “….It looks like professional sports is all I see.” However, some fantasy teams do involve college athletes.

There are a number of online sites that help players manage fantasy teams and fantasy sports have become big business for websites run by professional sports leagues as well as E-S-P-N and C-B-S Sports. No Iowan has been prosecuted for playing fantasy sports games despite existing state law. The industry estimates a quarter of a million Iowans play fantasy sports.

(Radio Iowa)

BOYS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye 10:

• Glenwood 72, Creston 60
• Red Oak 70, Southwest Valley 62
• Shenandoah 71, Fremont Mills 61

Western Iowa:

• A-H-S-T 53, Riverside 46
• IKM-Manning 78, Logan-Magnolia 47
• Tri-Center 56, Audubon 40
• Underwood 58, Griswold 53

Rolling Valley:

• Adair-Casey 53, Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 40
• Ar-We-Va 50, Glidden-Ralston 35
• Boyer Valley 75, Charter Oak-Ute 39
• Paton-Churdan 63, Woodbine 52
• West Harrison 72, CAM 53

Other:

• Diagonal 93, Essex 64
• Lenox 66, Stanton 64

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye 10:

• Lewis Central 59, Kuemper Catholic 51
• Red Oak 66, Southwest Valley 39
• Shenandoah 51, Fremont Mills 42

Western Iowa:

• IKM-Manning 73, Logan-Magnolia 28
• Riverside 34, A-H-S-T 30
• Tri-Center 39, Audubon 38
• Underwood 51, Griswold 29

Rolling Valley:

• Adair-Casey 36, Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 33
• Ar-We-Va 70, Glidden-Ralston 25
• West Harrison 52, CAM 44
• Paton-Churdan 59, Woodbine 52

Other:

• Sergeant Bluff-Luton 63, Thomas Jefferson 11
• Stanton 60, Lenox 35

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Lisa Bluder is now the school’s winningest coach. The Hawkeyes (19-6, 7-4 Big Ten) beat Northwestern 90-84 on Monday night to give Bluder her 270th victory at Iowa, surpassing the mark set by C. Vivian Stringer.

Bluder has a record of 270-163 in her 14 seasons with the Hawkeyes. She is one of just 13 active Division I coaches with more than 600 wins. Bluder graduated from Northern Iowa and previously coached at Drake and NAIA school St. Ambrose.