United Group Insurance

Reward for return of missing Iowa student continues to grow

News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The reward fund offered for the safe return of a missing University of Iowa student has grown to more than $332,000. Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa in a news release Thursday that 210 individual donors have contributed to the fund and that Crime Stoppers has passed on more than 935 tips to authorities investigating the disappearance of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts.

Tibbetts was last seen jogging in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18. Her family reported her missing the next day when she didn’t show up for work.

Television station KCCI reports that the Tibbetts’ family and her boyfriend were at the state fairgrounds Friday handing out flyers bearing the picture of and information on Tibbetts.

Posted in News |

Iowa Supreme Court halts absentee issues in voter ID law

News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa election officials were told Friday by the state Supreme Court they cannot implement several absentee voting requirements in a new voter ID law until a challenge to the law can be heard at a trial. A court order signed by Chief Justice Mark Cady upheld a judge’s temporary injunction halting enforcement of several sections of the 2017 law pertaining to absentee ballots. The order said the state cannot throw out an absentee ballot based on a judgment by local election officials that the voter’s signature doesn’t match one on file.

It also said Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate cannot require absentee ballots to include a voter verification number and he must make it clear in materials sent to voters that an ID isn’t required to vote until next year.

In elections this year, voters without IDs have been allowed to sign an “Oath of Identification” attesting that they are who they say they are. The oath option will remain available for the November election, which features competitive races for governor and at least two Republican-held U.S. House seats.

Next year, however, when there will be local races, the option of signing an oath will go away and voters must have acceptable identification or they will have to cast a provisional ballot, then return to show ID within a few days for their ballot to count.
Friday’s court order does allow the state to narrow the timeframe for casting absentee ballots to 29 days from 40 days, a change that will be effective for the general election in November.

The League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa and Iowa State University student Taylor Blair sued the state in May, arguing that changes in the voter ID law would disenfranchise voters, especially Latinos who vote absentee in large numbers.
They asked the court to issue an injunction halting enforcement of the absentee ballot provisions and a judge did so in July. The state appealed.

Guy Cecil, chairman of the Priorities USA Foundation, a voting rights advocacy organization that is helping to fund the lawsuit. Cecil said the court’s decision means voters in the fall elections “will no longer be forced to produce an obscure voter ID number in order to cast an absentee ballot, nor will they be in danger of having their ballot thrown out due to inaccurate signature matching.”

Pate said in a statement that he is disappointed the court set aside only part of the injunction but he looks forward to a full hearing in court. “Voters benefit from having clarity in how the election laws will be applied for the November general election,” he said.

The issue is a key topic for Pate’s re-election race this year. His opponent, Democrat Deidre DeJear, has been a critic of the law passed by a Republican-led legislature with Pate’s support.

Posted in News |

Iowa’s young tackles seek to overcome offseason struggles

Sports

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sophomores Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs each possess the potential to finish their Iowa careers ranked among the best tackles the lineman-rich Hawkeyes have ever produced. They’ve just got to stay out of trouble.

Jackson, who was suspended for last season’s Pinstripe Bowl for breaking team rules, will miss his second straight game on Sept. 1 against Northern Illinois for what coach Kirk Ferentz said was a violation of team policy. Wirfs won’t play against the Huskies either after being charged with drunk driving on July 29.

Defensive tackles Brady Reiff (public intoxication) and Cedrick Lattimore (team rules) will also be suspended for the opener. But Ferentz said Friday at the team’s annual media day that he’s optimistic that each of those four incidents will wind up being “a blip on the radar” as far as those player’s careers are concerned.

Every team in America says it prides itself on being physical up front. But it’s a special emphasis at Iowa, which has sent scores of linemen to the NFL under Ferentz, a longtime line coach with Cleveland and Baltimore. The Hawkeyes will likely struggle unless Jackson and Wirfs — who got unexpectedly early playing time in 2017 after injuries to since-departed seniors Boone Myers and Ike Boettger — stay healthy and in the coaching staff’s good graces.

Jackson, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 320 pounds, was the only Iowa lineman to start all 12 regular season games at the same spot, left tackle, a year ago. Jackson is considered raw but with plenty of potential, and the fact that Ferentz felt comfortable enough to put him in charge of protecting quarterback Nate Stanley’s blind side in his first season spoke volumes of how much the staff thinks of his potential.

Ferentz said in announcing Jackson’s suspension that his issue, which isn’t a legal matter, popped up in the spring. Ferentz added that Jackson and Lattimore were given guidelines to meet and that their responses have been “excellent.” “It’s like any player on our football team. Everybody has got a resume that they’re building, and they’re either adding to it or taking away from it,” Ferentz said. “I think Alaric is a tremendous young man, and I’m very hopeful that he’s going to have a great career here,” Ferentz said.

Wirfs is perhaps the most promising lineman the Hawkeyes have landed from their own state in quite some time. The 6-foot-5, 320-pound Wirfs did it all for nearby Mount Vernon High, winning state titles in wrestling, shot put and the discus in addition to leading the football team to the state championship game. Last season Wirfs became the first true freshman to ever start at tackle for Ferentz, and he was one of just two newcomers to land on the team’s vaunted leadership group.

“It’s frustrating. It’s embarrassing. I feel like I let a lot of people down,” Wirfs said in his first public comments since his arrest. “You just want to put it behind you and…move past it. My mom says that there’s greener grass ahead. Just keep moving forward.”

Posted in Sports |

Tournament of Champions – Round 1 Results

Sports

August 10th, 2018 by Jim Field

Championship Division:

  • Matt Haley (Indianola CC)  32 – 34 = 66 (-3)
  • Matt Gearhart (Atlantic G&CC)  32 – 35  = 67 (-2)
  • Jeremy Johnson (Indianola CC)  34 – 33 = 67 (-2)
  • Mike Davie (Logan-MoValley CC)  32 -35 = 67 (-2)
  • Derek Jacobsen (Top 25)  33 – 35 = 68 (-1)
  • Barry Smith (Pine Knolls GC)  34 – 34 = 68 (-1)
  • Matt Weresh (Past Champion)  31 – 37 = 68 (-1)
  • Zach Christianson (Atlantic G&CC)  37 – 32 = 69 (E)
  • Hank Weresh (Des Moines G&CC)  34 – 35 = 69 (E)
  • Tim Murphy (Dunlap GC)  31 – 38 = 69 (E)
  • Andrew Martin (Past Champion)  33 – 37 = 70 (+1)
  • Sam Pieczynski (Waveland CC)  34 – 36 = 70 (+1)
  • Aaron King (Sac CC)  34 – 36 = 70 (+1)
  • Bill Matzdorff (Briarwood GC)  33 – 37 = 70 (+1)
  • Nathan Zimmerman (Treynor Rec Area)  35 – 35 = 70 (+1)
  • Austin Reitz (Onawa CC)  35 – 35 = 70 (+1)
  • James Reynolds (Griswold G&CC)  34 –  37 – 71 (+2)
  • Chris Nelson (Past Champion)  34 – 37 = 71 (+2)
  • Jaxson Armstrong (Crestwood Hills GC)  36 – 35 = 71 (+2)
  • Jeff Gude (Atlantic G&CC)  36 – 36 = 72 (+3)
  • Evan Baldwin (Villisca CC)  35 – 37 = 72 (+3)
  • Joe Schafer (Waveland CC)  36 – 36 = 72 (+3)
  • Jason Reynolds (Past Champion)  34 – 38 = 72 (+3)
  • Jared Koch (Majestic Hills GC)  33 – 39 = 72 (+3)
  • Tim Redding (Hillcrest CC)  35 – 37 = 72 (+3)
  • Evan Schuler (Past Champion)  36 – 37 = 73 (+4)
  • Darby McLaren (Atlantic G&CC)  35 – 38 = 73 (+4)
  • Ryan Clark (Briarwood GC)  36 – 37 = 73 (+4)
  • Eric Brown (Mt Ayr G&CC)  37 – 37 = 74 (+5)
  • Jake Olsen (Atlantic G&CC)  38 – 36 = 74 (+5)
  • Ryan Grove (Happy Hollow CC)  37 – 38 = 75 (+6)
  • Dave Kaili (HH Blank GC)  37 – 38 = 75 (+6)
  • Brett McDannald (Osceola CC)  36 – 39 = 75 (+6)
  • Jeff Johnson (Greenfield G&CC)  37 – 38 = 75 (+6)
  • Troy Finestead (Woodward GC)  38 – 37 = 75 (+6)
  • Cyle Renaud (Nishna Hills GC)  37 – 39 = 76 (+7)
  • Kyle Pieper (Jester Park GC)  37 – 40 = 77 (+8)
  • Mike Bauer (Audubon G&CC)  36 – 41 = 77 (+8)
  • Max Langenfeld (Harlan G&CC)  34 –  44 = 78 (+9)
  • Nick Weihs (Audubon G&CC)  39 – 39 = 78 (+9)
  • Steve Davie (Majestic Hills GC)  41 – 37 = 78 (+9)
  • Ron Eads (Waveland CC)  38 – 40 = 78 (+9)
  • Ben Renaud (Nishna Hills GC)  40 – 38 = 78 (+9)
  • Jake Reynolds (Griswold G&CC)  40 – 39 = 79 (+10)
  • Matt Gross (Nishna Hills GC)  37 – 42 = 79 (+10)
  • Jason Vanderkooi (Hinton GC)  37 – 42 = 79 (+10)
  • Drew Thompson (Lenox GC)  39 – 40 = 79 (+10)
  • Nathan Ross (Atlantic G&CC)  40 – 40 = 80 (+11)
  • JJ Petersen (Quail Run GC)  40 – 41 = 81 (+12)
  • Don Newbury (Lakeview CC)  42 – 39 = 81 (+12)
  • Steve Christman (Crestwood Hills GC)  39 – 43 = 82 (+13)
  • Cruz Reed (Lenox GC)  42 – 41 = 83 (+14)
  • Jake Daeges (Rosman-Glendale GC)  44 – 44 = 88 (+19)

Senior Division:

  • Daryl Armstrong (Crestwood Hills GC)  34 – 37 = 71 (+2)
  • Jim Wood (Red Oak CC)  38 – 34 = 72 (+3)
  • Tad Olsen (Atlantic G&CC)  34 – 38 = 72 (+3)
  • Kim Peters (Crestwood HIlls GC)  35 – 38 = 73 (+4)
  • Mike Martin (Nishna Hills GC)  35 – 38 = 73 (+4)
  • Darron Baker (Past Champion)  38 – 35 = 73 (+4)
  • Del Miller (Past Champion)  35 – 39 = 74 (+5)
  • Bobby Rist (Lake City CC)  37 – 37 = 74 (+5)
  • Jeff Morenz (Atlantic G&CC)  36 – 41 = 77 (+8)
  • Rick Thompson (Past Champion)  37 – 41 = 78 (+9)
  • Rick Carter (Past Champion)  38 – 41 = 79 (+10)
  • Jeff Heckroth (Woodward GC)  39 – 40 = 79 (+10)
  • Blair Hoegh (Ankeny G&CC)  39 – 40 = 79 (+10)
  • John O’Hair (Indianola CC)  39 – 41 = 80 (+11)
  • Lyle Wittrock (5 X 80 GC)  41 – 39 = 80 (+11)
  • Ken Portsche (Past Champion)  36 –  45 = 81 (+12)
  • Chuck Smith (Nishna Hills GC)  36 – 45 = 81 (+12)
  • Ryan Phifer (Gateway Rec Area)  39 – 42 = 81 (+12)
  • Tim Dooley (Eagle Grove (GC)  44 – 42 = 86 (+17)
  • Frank Moran (Woodward GC)  42 – 45 = 87 (+18)
  • Roger Fisher (North Kossuth GC)  47 – 47 = 94 (+25)

Super Senior Division:

  • John Willmore (Past Champion)  35 – 33 = 68 (-1)
  • Arnie Leistad (Past Champion)  36 – 35 = 71 (+2)
  • Allan Hjelle (Atlantic G&CC)  36 – 37 = 73 (+4)
  • Terry Richardson (Oakland GC)  39 –  36 = 75 (+6)
  • Jim Mullenix (Atlantic G&CC)  38 – 38 = 76 (+7)
  • Jim Redemske (Clarmond CC)  38 – 42 = 80 (+11)
  • Ron Brooks (HH Blank GC)  41 – 40 = 81 (+12)
  • Roger Herring (Nishna Hills GC)  40 – 41 = 81 (+12)
  • Rod Toftey (Clarmond CC)  40 – 43 = 83 (+14)
  • Gaylord Schelling (Atlantic G&CC)  42 – 43 = 85 (+16)
  • Ed Collins (Audubon G&CC)  43 – 42 = 85 (+16)
  • Perry Paulsen (Atlantic G&CC)  43 – 45 = 88 (+19)
  • Bruce Henderson (Top 25)  45 – 45 = 90 (+21)
  • Ed Troll (Avoca GC)  41 – 53 = 94 (+25)
  • John McDermott (Nishna Hills GC)  47 – 51 = 98 (+29)

Posted in Sports |

Legal counsel for Iowa Pork Producers Assoc. discusses North Carolina ag nuisance rulings

Ag/Outdoor, News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Recent ag nuisance rulings against hog operations in North Carolina have resulted in large financial awards to the plaintiffs. But the legal counsel for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Eldon McAfee, doesn’t believe those rulings will have much impact on livestock producers in the Midwest. McAfee says the North Carolina cases are focused on the manure handling practices of the farms, which differ from those used by most Midwestern farmers. “The use of lagoons and spray irrigation – which is what we call it here in Iowa – that’s regulated, as to how you can use spray irrigation. You can’t use it with undiluted manure,” McAfee says.

According to McAfee, although each case is different, several recent Midwestern nuisance rulings have been in favor of the farmers. “Nuisance cases are very fact-specific, both from the neighbors’ standpoint and from the producers’ standpoint, at least at the trial level,” McAfee says. “You can’t take a lot of precedential effect from one case to another. It depends on the facts of each case.”

McAfee works for the Brick Gentry law firm in West Des Moines.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Spacecraft bound for the sun was designed, in part, at the U of Iowa

News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa)  — You think it’s hot on the Midway at the Iowa State Fair? A NASA space probe, designed in part at the University of Iowa, will be launched tomorrow (Saturday) morning on a mission to the sun. U-I physicist Jasper Halekas, a co-investigator on the Parker Solar Probe, says his main experiment is focused on what’s known as the solar wind. “It’s ionized hydrogen and helium and electrons,” Halekas says. “Those compose what we call the solar wind which is this stream of hot plasma that flows out from the sun constantly at around a million miles an hour.” Halekas’ helped to design SWEAP, which stands for Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons. It’s housed in three clusters of instruments onboard the spacecraft. With a reflective heat shield comprised mostly of carbon foam, the compact car-sized probe is built to withstand the incredibly scorching heat of the sun.

“We’ll get to about 25 times closer to the sun than the Earth is, which is about seven times closer than any human-made object has ever been before,” Halekas says. “In actual terms, that’s about four million miles.” By comparison, the closest planet to the sun, Mercury is about 36 million miles from the sun, so he says this probe will get “right in there.” The spacecraft will do a fly-by of our solar system’s second planet, Venus, in order to use its gravitational pull to “slingshot” the probe closer to the sun.

“About two months into the mission, we do our first fly-by of Venus and about a month after that, only three months after launch, we do our first close pass of the sun,” Halekas says. “Then, over the course of seven more years, we do six more fly-bys of Venus and nudge ourselves closer and closer and closer into the sun.” The front of the heat shield will have to withstand temperatures of around 25-hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The cooling system is so amazingly efficient that the back of the spacecraft, in the shadow of the heat shield, will be below room temperature. Launch of the solar probe is scheduled for about 2:30 AM/Central on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a Delta IV (four) Heavy rocket.

Posted in News |

Grassley says five-year Farm Bill’s passage would provide continuity

Ag/Outdoor, News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) — Senator Chuck Grassley says the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee has assured him the 2018 Farm Bill will become law before year’s end. “And I sure hope so, because I don’t want to do what we had to in 2013 — extend the Farm Bill for one year,” Grassley says, “because farmers need that continuity you get from a five-year Farm Bill and farmers also would (get) a bit of good news if they had a five-year Farm Bill, considering the anxiety they have about the tariffs.”

Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Joni Ernst, is serving on the conference committee of House and Senate members that are trying to craft a final version of the bill that could pass both. Grassley toured the Iowa State Fairgrounds Friday morning, visiting with fairgoers.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Woman arrested on Adams County warrant and drug charges

News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County report a woman was arrested Tuesday afternoon on a warrant and drug charges. Authorities say 24-year old Anastasia Imsland was arrested in Taylor County on an Adams County warrant, plus charges that include Felony Gathering where a Controlled Substance is unlawfully used, Possession of Controlled Substances (Meth and Marijuana), and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Her arrest followed a call to authorities at around 4-p.m. Tuesday, about an unlicensed driver traveling south from Nodaway towards J-20/130th Street, in Taylor County.

The caller described the vehicle, which was located by Adams County Deputies at 130th and Highway 148, in Taylor County. Imsland was taken into custody and transported to the Adams County Jail.

(12-p.m. News)

Posted in News |

Christensen joins ISU Extension service

Ag/Outdoor, News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

The Shelby County Extension Service in Harlan announced Friday (Today), Tim Christensen has joined Iowa State University Extension and Outreach as a farm management specialist. Christensen, who has worked at Iowa State as an agricultural specialist since 2015, will cover the counties of Ida, Sac, Calhoun, Monona, Crawford, Carroll, Greene, Harrison, Shelby, Audubon and Guthrie for ISU Extension and Outreach. Christensen joins a team of eight farm management specialists located throughout Iowa who deliver the latest in research-based information on farm financial and risk management, instructions on government programs such as the farm bill and crop insurance, guidance on strategic and business planning and information on agricultural marketing tools and supply chains to farm owners and operators.

Prior to joining ISU Extension and Outreach Christensen was as an agriculture specialist for Iowa State University, working to monitor the health and wellbeing of Iowa State’s animals, maintaining detailed herd health records and training students and staff on animal welfare protocols. Christensen also has experience as a location manager for Farmers Cooperative and as a group leader of vet services at Boehringer Ingelheim in Fort Dodge. He holds a degree in animal science with a minor in commercial agriculture from Northwest Missouri State University.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

Railroad acknowledges Iowa derailment was flood related

News

August 10th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DOON, Iowa (AP) — BNSF Railway has acknowledged flooding played a role in a derailment that loosed thousands of gallons of oil into northwest Iowa floodwaters. BNSF spokesman Andy Williams said Friday that the derailment was “flood related” but declined to say whether the train engineer knew or should have known about washed-out tracks mentioned in a preliminary federal report released Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board report cited heavy rainfall in the area 48 hours before the June 22 derailment just south of Doon, Iowa. The report says the rain and runoff washed out track and flooded a tributary of the nearby Little Rock River. The report stopped short of saying the flooding caused the 32-car derailment.

The federal report also says the train was moving at 48 mph  — just below the authorized speed for that stretch.

Posted in News |