(Radio Iowa) – State regulators have approved a contract that may soon allow Iowans to place online bets on races at most horse tracks in the United States. A handful of companies are already licensed in Iowa to accept online bets on horse races outside the state. Prairie Meadows, the only parimutual horse track in Iowa, is working with Churchill Downs Technology to license the company’s TwinSpires smart phone app and website for use in Iowa. Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission administrator Brian Ohorilko says TwinSpires not only offers betting on the Kentucky Derby that’s run at Churchill Downs, but on races at nearly every one of the country’s horse tracks.

“That would be another parimutual online company that could be operating in the state soon and it’s something that I think a number of the horse players will be excited about,” Ohorilko says. Iowa law requires revenue sharing at Prairie Meadows, so the owners and trainers of horses that race at the Altoona track get a percentage of gambling proceeds. Ohorilko says before now, that had been a stumbling block in negotiations between Prairie Meadows and TwinSpires.

“So there is, also, a little bit of excitement from the horse industry in that it could generate additional dollars for their stakeholders in the form of purse money,” Ohorilko says. A 300-thousand dollar purse will be paid out to the top finishers in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap on July 9th. The live horse racing season at the track began in May and ends in early October. TwinSpires recently launched an online casino and an app to take bets on college and professional sports. TwinSpires draws its name from the two steeples that top the grandstand at Churchill Downs.

The Big 12 Conference has approved a two-year extension to the multi-year agreement for Kansas City to serve as host site for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. The extension keeps the tournaments in KC through 2027.

It’s also been reported that starting in 2024 the women’s tournament will move from Municipal Auditorium to the T-Mobile Center and play the week before the men’s tournament. Both tournaments were held the same week at the two different facilities last year.

The women’s tournament had it’s highest number of attendees since 2013 last season and the men’s tourney has averaged more than 18,000 fans over the last two years at T-Mobile Arena.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans can try their hand at fishing this weekend without having to buy a license. Joe Larscheid, the Iowa D-N-R fisheries bureau chief, says it’s a free fishing weekend, so folks can grab their best fishing pole and head for their favorite fishing hole. “There’s a lot of fish close to shore right now. Bluegills and crappies are easy to catch. Large mouth bass are cruising the shoreline,” Larscheid says. “This is a free fishing weekend so any Iowa residents can fish for free and try out fishing and hopefully make it a lifetime pursuit.”

Larscheid says this event, held the first weekend of June, is always popular with those who enjoy spending time along the state’s rivers and lakes.  “It was kind of a cold, wet spring so there’s a lot of pent up desire to get out and go fishing,” Larscheid says. “If you don’t have your license yet, this is a good excuse to go out and try fishing again and hopefully buy a license after that.” In addition to free fishing, Larscheid says the weekend will feature fishing clinics and a chance for law enforcement officers to go fishing with kids as part of “Cops and Bobbers.”

“We have a lot of different local organizations that support free fishing clinics. You go to our website, www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing, and just look, there’s a calendar of events,” Larscheid says. “Normally, the rods and reels and baits are provided and there’s a lot of volunteers that help anglers that are not sure how to fish and get started fishing to be successful.”

The free fishing runs today (Friday) through Sunday at hundreds of Iowa lakes and thousands of miles of rivers. You may purchase a fishing license at the county recorder’s office, a sporting goods store or through the DNR.

SOFTBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Exira-EHK 4, Atlantic 3 (8 innings) (A: Zoey Kirchhoff 10 K’s. Madison Huddleson double and four stolen bases)
Creston 9, Glenwood 2
Harlan 1, Denison-Schleswig 0
Ridge View 7, Kuemper Catholic 0
Shenandoah 13, Red Oak 3

Western Iowa Conference

Audubon 13, Coon Rapids-Bayard 3
IKM-Manning 6, Riverside 1
Logan-Magnolia 3, Missouri Valley 2 (9 innings)
Treynor 4, Tri-Center 3
Underwood 7, AHSTW 2

Rolling Valley Conference

CAM 11, Stanton 1
MVAOCOU 11, Glidden-Ralston 1
West Monona 19, West Harrison 0

Corner Conference

Fremont-Mills 5, Sidney 4

Pride of Iowa Conference

Martensdale-St. Marys 6, Central Decatur 4
Mount Ayr 15, Southwest Valley 1
Nodaway Valley 12, Bedford 1
Southeast Warren 14, Lenox 2
Wayne 11, East Union 1

Other Scores

Bishop Heelan 11, CB Thomas Jefferson 1
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 5, CB Abraham Lincoln 3
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 13, CB Abraham Lincoln 1

BASEBAL

Hawkeye Ten Conference

St. Albert 24, Atlantic 1
Creston 10, Glenwood 9
Harlan 5, Denison-Schleswig 1
Kuemper Catholic 6, Ridge View 4
Red Oak 6, Shenandoah 5

Western Iowa Conference

IKM-Manning 13, Riverside 2
Missouri Valley 12, Logan-Magnolia 4
Tri-Center 12, Treynor 6
Underwood 13, AHSTW 2

Rolling Valley Conference

CAM 10, Stanton 0 (C: Cade Ticknor 9 Strikeouts. Colby Rich 2 hits)
Coon Rapids-Bayard 10, Audubon 7 (CRB: Tanner Oswald 2 singles and a HR)
Exira-EHK 2, Ar-We-Va 0

Corner Conference

Fremont-Mills 12, Sidney 2

Pride of Iowa Conference

Central Decatur 6, Martensdale-St. Marys 3
Mount Ayr 16, Southwest Valley 6
Nodaway Valley at Bedford (Suspended Bedford up 2-0 after 3 inn.)
Southeast Warren 5, Lenox 0
Wayne 8, East Union 2

Other Scores

Bishop Heelan 15, CB Thomas Jefferson 0 (Game 1)
Bishop Heelan 13, CB Thomas Jefferson 2 (Game 2)
CB Abraham Lincoln 13, Sergeant Bluff-Luton 7 (Game 1)
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 17, CB Abraham Lincoln 2 (Game 2)

Class 1A

#1 Western Christian (16-1) vs. #4 West Liberty (14-3) 12:00 p.m.
#6 Assumption (14-5) vs. #2 Beckman Catholic (16-3) 12:10 p.m.

Class 2A

#1 Pella (18-2) vs. #5 Gilbert (17-2) 2:30 p.m.
# 3 Lewis Central (16-3) vs. #7 Newton (14-6) 2:40 p.m.

Class 3A

#8 Waukee Northwest (9-10) vs. #5 Ankeny Centennial (16-3) 5:00 p.m.
#6 Pleasant Valley (17-1) vs. #7 Prairie (17-3) 5:10 p.m.

Seven current and two incoming Iowa wrestlers will compete in the under-23 and under-20 US Team Trials in Cleveland. All of competitors are out to earn a spot on the US team that will compete at the World Championships.

That’s Iowa coach Tom Brands who says the trials offer outstanding competition.

Brands says several wrestlers who hope to be in the Hawkeye lineup next season will be taking part.

Iowa forward Kris Murray says he is happy with his decision to return for his junior season. Murray tested the NBA Draft process after a sophomore season in which he averaged nearly 10 points and more than four rebounds per game.

Murray says he learned a lot about the areas in which needs to improve.

Murray says the NBA workouts have helped him improve his game.

Murray says an area he has worked on is decision making.

(Radio Iowa) – The raffle of an A-R-15 style rifle that had been scheduled this weekend at the Sioux City Bandits indoor football game has been indefinitely postponed. Brett Funke, the team’s marketing and sales director, says plans for the fundraiser began a year ago, after a similar gun raffle on “military night.”

“The rifle that was set to be given away is a fully custom rifle from our partners which is a veterans-owned organization and the company that helped make the rifle is also a veterans-owned organization,” he says. “Our whole intent there was supporting these two partners, but after internal conversations, we decided it would be best to postpone.” Funke says he’s not sure when the riffle raffle will be rescheduled, but now is not the time for it after A-R-15s have been used at recent mass shootings in Buffalo, Texas and Oklahoma.

A Sioux City businessman had threatened to withdraw his sponsorship of the Bandits after comments the team’s owner made to the Sioux City Journal — that complaints about the give-away were from mainly from East Coast residents who drive electric cars and have an overblown obsession with a piece of metal. Funke admits that spurred a social media firestorm. “I would say this gained traction online from people who have no connection to Siouxland or the Bandits organization,” Funke says. Funke says there were no complaints about last year’s fundraiser.

“We were able to give away the rifle last year,” Funke says. “Anybody that would enter had to be of legal age. When the winner was picked they had to go to our partner’s location, which is a licensed firearms dealer, undergo the background check.” The Bandits will still honor veterans at their game Saturday and collect donations for veterans’ causes. Veterans also will be invited to walk around the field at halftime, so the crowd can recognize and applaud the group.

Class 1A

#1 Assumption 2, #5 Nevada 1
#2 Des Moines Christian 2, #6 Underwood 0

Class 2A

#1 Dallas Center-Grimes 3, #5 Xavier 1
#3 Waverly-Shell Rock 1, #3 Norwalk 0

Class 3A

#5 Ankeny Centennial 2, #1 Valley 1 (Shootout, AC 3-1)
#2 CB Abraham Lincoln 1, #3 Ankeny 0 (OT)

The Atlantic softball team will be welcoming two new members to the Trojans Softball Hall of Fame on Friday night. Program pioneer Mel Allen and former original team member Karen Hoffmann-Oller are being inducted in a pregame ceremony.

Mel Allen was the man who got the Atlantic girls softball town team started and then later pushed to get the sport sanctioned as a high school sport. Allen started and coached the town team in 1968, 70, and 71 seasons. As other Hawkeye Eight schools began to adopt high school teams Mel then pushed for Atlantic to do the same. His initial proposal was thwarted in 1969 but he stuck with the effort to get the sport adopted and it was on November 13, 1971. The first Atlantic High School team would begin play in the spring of 1972.

Karen Hoffmann was part of the town team under Coach Allen and was then a member of the first high school team in her senior year. She scored 28 runs, stole 16 bases, and compiled a top ten all-time batting average of .480. She would later go on to play softball, basketball, and volleyball at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS. She helped lead Benedictine to the Kansas State Softball Championship in the first year of their program her junior year. Karen moved on to a long career as a physical education and health teacher; as well as a successful coaching career for basketball, volleyball, and track and field in both Hays and Harper, KS.

The Trojan Softball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place during Atlantic’s home triangular with Kuemper Catholic and Estherville-Lincoln Central on Friday. The Ceremony will be held before the final game of the day Atlantic vs. Estherville-Lincoln Central at around 7:00 p.m. Co-Captain of the original 1972 team Deb (Wheatley) Field is set to throw out the first pitch for the evening game.

We’ll have coverage of the ceremony and game on KJAN and KJANTV.