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Midwest Sports Headlines: 10/25/2018

Sports

October 25th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

UNDATED (AP) — Guilty verdicts on fraud charges against three men should have an impact on future college corruption trials, possibly NCAA enforcement. The federal trial set a precedent that paying recruits defrauds federally-funded schools, making it a federal crime.

UNDATED (AP) — Northwestern’s improbable run to the top of the Big Ten West standings has been marked by come-from-behind wins over Nebraska and Rutgers the last two weeks. Now the Wildcats host No. 20 Wisconsin in a key division game. Penn State’s Miles Sanders and Trace McSorley face a big test against Iowa’s defense. Illinois has questions at quarterback as it goes to Maryland as an 18 ½-point underdog. Freshman sensation Rondale Moore looks to keep piling up yards in Purdue’s visit to Michigan State.

UNDATED (AP) — Texas Tech and Iowa State both have won their last two games, and both have true freshman starting quarterbacks. The Red Raiders and Cyclones play Saturday. Only league-leading Texas at six has a longer winning streak. Iowa State’s Brock Purdy hadn’t thrown a pass before starting the past two games. He threw seven TDs as the Cyclones won in consecutive weeks over Top 25 teams for the first time since 1973.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kareem Hunt never got down when the Chiefs spent the first few weeks winging the ball all over the field. Nor has he gotten too high now that he’s toting the ball every week. Rather the NFL’s reigning rushing champion is content simply because the Kansas City Chiefs are winning, a testament to his team-first attitude.

BOSTON (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina has won the Roberto Clemente Award, a fitting honor for the star who grew up on Puerto Rico and idolized the island’s late Hall of Famer. Major League Baseball presented the award before Game 2 of the World Series. It is given to the player who best represents Clemente’s humanitarian efforts. Molina has worked hard to help Puerto Rico recover from the effects of Hurricane Maria last year.

Iowa early News Headlines: Thursday, 10/25/2018

News

October 25th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Lottery officials say someone who bought a Mega Millions ticket in Davenport won a $1 million prize. The ticket was bought at a Hy-Vee gas outlet. It matched the first five numbers drawn Tuesday night but missed on the Mega Ball number. Another ticket bought in South Carolina matched all the numbers, winning the $1.537 billion jackpot.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Call it the world’s largest lottery prize that wasn’t. The Mega Millions jackpot that had been announced as the biggest ever at $1.6 billion ended up being the second-biggest at $1.537 billion. The difference likely means little to the suddenly rich person who bought the ticket in South Carolina and won Tuesday night’s drawing. But it raises questions about how lottery officials make estimates and whether they were influenced by a desire to claim the jackpot amount surpassed all others.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A financially troubled historic Sioux City building is set to be sold at auction next month to settle debts of the California development that owns it. The Sioux City Journal reports that the auction is set for Nov. 21 at the Woodbury County Courthouse. The 12-story Badgerow Building, built in 1933, went into foreclosure in January. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its art deco architecture style.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Finance Authority fired its lobbyist for retaliating against a woman who reported being sexually harassed by its director. The agency belatedly released to The Associated Press its Sept. 27 letter terminating government relations director Wes Peterson. An investigation found Peterson was aware of wrongdoing by former authority director Dave Jamison but failed to report it and later yelled at the victim.

Historic Sioux City building set to be sold at auction

News

October 24th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A financially troubled historic Sioux City building is set to be sold at auction next month to settle debts of the California development that owns it. The Sioux City Journal reports that the auction is set for Nov. 21 at the Woodbury County Courthouse.

The 12-story Badgerow Building, built in 1933, went into foreclosure in January. That’s when a judgment of more than $5.2 million was entered against the building’s owner, Mako One Corp., and against its managing partner, Bruce DeBolt, for the defaulted portion of a $6 million bond agreement that was secured to pay to renovate and redevelop the building.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its art deco architecture style.

Additional eastbound I-80 lanes open on Missouri River bridge this Friday

News

October 24th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Oct. 24, 2018 – On Friday, Oct. 26, weather permitting, additional lanes will open on eastbound Interstate 80 just west of the Missouri River Bridge, creating five total lanes for eastbound I-80 traffic. Lanes will gradually merge back into the existing conditions east of the 24th Street interchange.

“The Nebraska Department of Transportation is wrapping up their construction on I-80 near 13th Street,” said Scott Schram, Iowa DOT District 4 engineer. “We are excited to be able to add extra lanes on the bridge linking Nebraska and Iowa, which will help ease congestion for drivers as they travel east into Iowa.”

The Iowa DOT is in the process of reconstructing I-80, I-29 and I-480 in the Council Bluffs metropolitan area. This comprehensive interstate redesign will modernize the highway system and improve mobility and safety of approximately 18 miles of interstate. Motorists are encouraged to allow for extra travel time while this interstate improvement takes effect.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

Big 12, Big East forge alliance to help with scheduling

Sports

October 24th, 2018 by admin

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas State coach Bruce Weber not long ago bemoaned the fact that nobody wants to play the Wildcats, especially considering they return everyone from a team that reached the Elite Eight.
Well, the Big 12 is helping him out.

The league has added a challenge series with the Big East to its existing one with the SEC, helping to ease the burden on its coaches to schedule tough games. It had become a more prevalent problem the past few years, as larger leagues begin scheduling 20-game conference slates and with the Big 12’s success in the NCAA Tournament, to lure marquee opponents to Big 12 venues.

“We can’t expand. We already play everyone twice, which the other leagues don’t to, which makes it tough for us and we have to find a vehicle to get another tough game,” Weber said. “This will definitely help us get a positive home game into nonconference for our fans and for our team.”

The 10-team league already had four such games lined up for this season with top-ranked Kansas facing Villanova at Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas State heading to Marquette, Creighton visiting Oklahoma and Providence visiting Texas. The return games for those series will begin the challenge next season, while the remaining schools will match up so that the Big 12 and Big East each get five home games each year.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the leagues are working with their respective broadcast partners — ESPN for the Big 12 and Fox Sports for the Big East — on how to handle television rights.

“It ought to be a very good thing for both leagues,” Bowlsby said of the four-year agreement. “There again, like the Big 12-SEC Challenge, we see it as an ongoing activity. But time will tell.”

The Big 12 had seven teams reach the NCAA Tournament last year and the Big East had six, and Villanova won its second national title in the past three years by beating the Jayhawks along the way.

“The full-participation series assures our schools of premier nonconference competition that will only add to the strength of our conferences,” Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said. “We look forward to working with the

Big 12 to create an exciting new set of rivalries of our players, coaches and their supporters.”

Weber wasn’t the only Big 12 coach excited by the news.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins once coached in the Big East, before the Mountaineers departed for the Big 12 and conference realignment dramatically reshaped his former league. So while many of the teams now in the Big East are different, Huggins said he’s excited about the series for another reason: travel.

The Mountaineers often have to travel thousands of miles to play conference games in the Big 12.
“For us it’s good because that’s one less time change, one less trip,” Huggins explained. “We can fly to virtually anywhere in the Big East in an hour, so that helps us.”

Plus, the league gets more exposure by playing games in places such as Madison Square Garden.

“I like going to New York and playing and then leave and go home,” Huggins said. “Generally speaking, the crowd in the Garden is very knowledgeable. Very good basketball people. So I enjoy that a lot.”

Big 12 to keep men’s basketball conference tourney in Kansas City through 2024

Sports

October 24th, 2018 by admin

Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced that the league will continue to play its men’s basketball tournament at Sprint Center through 2024, extending the current deal by four years. The women’s tournament is also returning to Kansas City to run concurrently with the men’s event.

“We really don’t have much debate at this point about the site of our men’s tournament, Bowlsby said. “This is a wonderful venue to host it. The area around it has gotten better and better.”

Mills County Sheriff’s report (10/24)

News

October 24th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three arrests. Today (Wednesday), 46-year old Dustyn Russell Bond, of Malvern, was arrested at around 5:45-a.m. for Driving While Revoked. Bond was set at $1,000.

On Tuesday, 29-year old Christopher Lee McDaniel, of Pacific Junction, was arrested at around 7-p.m., for Domestic Abuse Assault, and Interference with Official Acts. He was being held in the Mills County Jail without bond.

And, 48-year old Thomas Shawn Johnson, of Stanton, was arrested at around 4:35-a.m. Tuesday, for Driving While Barred. His bond was set at $2,000.

Debating state employee pensions

News

October 24th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Democrats say there’s nothing Republican lawmakers can say to convince them changes in public employee PENSIONS aren’t just around the corner if Republicans retain control of the governor’s office and state legislature. Danny Homan is president of AFSCME Council 61 which represents the greatest share of state workers who are union members — workers who get a pension from the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System or IPERS.

“Anyone who thinks Republicans won’t touch IPERS, take it from me — in 2016, not a single Republican ran on destroying collective bargaining,” Homan said, “not one flyer, not one ad, not one mailer, not nothing.” Republican Governor Kim Reynolds says there have been in the past and will continue to be routine adjustments, to ensure the solvency of the pension system.

“When they increased benefits a couple of years ago, those are some of the things that take place,” Reynolds says. “It doesn’t mean that we’re going to take it away or repeal it.” Iowa Democratic Party chairman Troy Price says Reynolds has sent “mixed messages” by talking about “hybrid or different” pensions like a 401-K style option for future workers, then recently saying there will be no changes for current or future IPERS beneficiaries.

“We’ve heard from our governor on this issue and it further showcases her willingness to say or do anything to win this election, even if it means contradicting her previous statements,” Price said. Reynolds says Democrats are trying to scare people. “When you have no ideas and nothing to run on and you want to hide the fact that you want to raise taxes, that’s when you do the little deflection,” Reynolds says. “‘Look over here. Let’s talk about something that’s not true.'”

The top Republican in the Iowa House says there have been no charges to IPERS and Republicans in the HOUSE have “no secret plans to change IPERS for current employees or new hires.” A key Republican in the Iowa SENATE proposed switching state employees hired after July 1st of 2019 to a 401-K system, but his proposal went nowhere in the 2018 Iowa legislative session. One out of every 10 Iowans are current or retired public employees who are getting or will get an IPERS pension.

$1M Mega Millions lottery ticket sold in Davenport

News

October 24th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Lottery officials say someone who bought a Mega Millions ticket in Davenport won a $1 million prize. The ticket was bought at a Hy-Vee gas outlet. It matched the first five numbers drawn Tuesday night but missed on the Mega Ball number. Another ticket bought in South Carolina matched all the numbers, winning the $1.537 billion jackpot. The $1 million prize must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. The winner has yet to come forward.

ER docs say Iowa Medicaid change hurts patients, hospitals

News

October 24th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Emergency room physicians are protesting an Iowa Medicaid billing change that they say will harm low-income patients and hospitals. Starting Aug. 1, Iowa Medicaid no longer allowed emergency rooms to submit claims for treating some conditions that turn out to be non-emergent. For instance, if a patient shows up with a splitting headache, the claim will be covered if it’s related to an emergency such as a hemorrhage. But if the headache is just a migraine, patients will be charged co-pays of $3 or $8 and hospitals may be denied reimbursement.

The American College of Emergency Physicians says the change unfairly puts the burden of self-diagnosis on patients and may discourage them from seeking treatment. The group warns that some may be hit with surprise bills and hospitals won’t be reimbursed for necessary treatment. The Iowa Department of Human Services says hospitals cannot knowingly bill Medicaid patients for non-covered services. Hospitals may still seek reimbursement by submitting justification of why the patient believed an emergency existed.