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Ernst says public should be given chance to provide ‘feedback’ on health care bill

News

June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

Republican Senator Joni Ernst is urging G-O-P leaders in the Senate to embrace “transparency” and give the public a chance to review the Senate G-O-P’s alternative health care bill BEFORE the senate votes on the plan. “Hopefully, we will be able to have a time period where we do receive feedback after the language is released,” she says.

Ernst is among the Republicans in the U.S. Senate who’ve been meeting privately to come up with an alternative to the health care bill that passed the U.S. House in April. However, Ernst says there’s no document, yet, to release. “‘We don’t have language,” Ernst says. “And what I am hoping is that language that will be presented to us includes all of the items in discussions that we have had in our informal work group.”

Earlier this week, Ernst sat beside President Trump at a White House meeting to discuss the health care bill. President Trump reportedly called the bill that passed the HOUSE “mean.” Ernst isn’t joining Trump and offering a negative analysis of the House bill, but Ernst says Republican senators “will make the revisions necessary.”

“We really have been working on our own thoughts and ideas in the senate, in our informal work group,” Ernst says. “We are making sure that we are representing our constituents in our own home states and find a way that we can best serve those constituents.” Unlike the House bill, Ernst suggests Senate Republicans are going to try to find a way to make sure Americans don’t lose their insurance policies because of pre-existing conditions.

Ernst says Iowans tell her affordability is their number one concern when it comes to health insurance.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in News |

DHS Council rejects rules to implement new law for Medicaid Family Planning program

News

June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

Officials have hit a snag in implementing a new state law that is to forbid Medicaid patients from getting reproductive health exams and prescriptions for contraceptives at facilities where abortions are performed. The law goes into effect July 1st, but The Des Moines Register reports the Council on Human Services voted four-to-one to reject the rules written to implement the new law.

Republicans lawmakers who crafted the plan argue tax dollars that cover family planning services for low-income Iowans should not be spent at places like Planned Parenthood. The Register reports the Council on Human Services raised concerns Medicaid patients will be unable to find care because those patients won’t be able to use clinics associated with hospitals that provide abortion.

Plus, about three million dollars in a tight state budget will be shifted to cover the costs of reproductive care for Medicaid patients, since federal money now cannot be used. A spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services says the new law goes into effect, regardless of whether administrative rules are in place, but the Council on Human Services will reconvene Friday to reconsider its rejection of those rules.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in News |

Ex-‘Bachelor’ star waives right to speedy trial over crash

News

June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Former star of “The Bachelor” Chris Soules has waived his right to a speedy trial and has requested that his trial be postponed. Soules is charged with leaving the scene of a deadly crash and faces up to five years in prison if he’s convicted of causing the April 24 crash that killed 66-year-old farmer Kenneth Mosher.

The Des Moines Register reports that attorneys for Soules said Wednesday they need at least a 90-day extension to obtain items from prosecutors and schedule depositions. Soules’ trial is currently scheduled to start July 19.

Police say Soules rear-ended Mosher’s tractor and left the scene after calling 911 and seeking help for Mosher. He was arrested later at his home.

Posted in News |

Bankers don’t expect much economic growth in rural areas

News

June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers continue to expect little economic growth in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states because of weak commodity prices. The overall economic index for the region slipped to the neutral score of 50 in June from May’s 50.1.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says grain prices remain below the breakeven point for most farmers, but commodity prices have stabilized and improved a bit.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

Posted in News |

NE man arrested after traffic stop for speeding

News

June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says a Nebraska man was arrested Wednesday evening after the truck he was driving with no license plates, was pulled over just outside of Council Bluffs. A Deputy saw the vehicle speeding north on Eastern Hills Drive at around 5:10-p.m. As the truck passed him, the Deputy attempted to turn around on Eastern Hills Drive. The truck then began to speed up as it headed northbound. When the vehicle finally stopped, the driver, 26-year old Jerrad Oren Nelsen, of Craig, NE., was arrested for Eluding.

Posted in News |

Postseason baseball assignments announced for Classes 1A and 2A

Sports

June 15th, 2017 by admin

The Iowa High School Athletic Association announced district assignments for teams in Classes 1A and 2A on Thursday. Take a look at the full lists here:

Class 1A

Class 2A

Posted in Sports |

Vintage B-25N aircraft lands in Atlantic

News

June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

A restored, vintage World War II era North American B-25N aircraft flew into Atlantic this (Thursday) morning. The plane is part of a pristine collection of fully operational, active aircraft and vehicles from World War II, at the Fagan Fighters WWII Museum in Granite Falls, Minnesota (http://www.fagenfighterswwiimuseum.org) The collection is owned by ethanol plant builder Ron Fagan, who was in Atlantic for a business meeting at the Elite Octane Ethanol plant currently under construction.

Ric Hanson/photos

Keith Woods who works for Fagan, Incorporated, is also connected to the Museum. He talked about the history of the type of aircraft that rumbled over Atlantic on its way to the airport. Woods says most were used for low-level strafing, but the one that came to Atlantic would also have been used on bombing missions.

The “Paper Doll,” as she is known, did not see action in World War II. He said it was built in Jan. 1945 and was used as a trainer-bomber, hence the designation TB-25. She got the name “Paper Doll,” because the nose-art in the day was typically “risque,” and the family wanted something with “reasonable” nose art. The aircraft that arrived in Atlantic has more modest nose art, that shows a woman in a red, one-piece bathing suit with a see-thru cape. The actual “Paper Doll” flew 125 missions in Europe.

The plane that came here, was built to commemorate the original “Paper Doll” and her crew, who flew those missions. The crew compliment was five or six, depending on whether the mission was for strafing or bombing. If it was equipped with a bomb sight, there were six crew members on board. Woods said the plane would have carried six, 500-pound bombs or 12m 250-pound bombs. She’s also heavily armed with .50-caliber machine guns, one in the nose, one on each side aft (waist guns), one in the tail, 2 .50-cal’s in the rotatable turret topside, and 2 each, .70-mm “Blister guns” on the forward section, under where the cockpit crew sit, on the left and right sides

The plane has two large, prop-driven Wright Cyclone R-2600 cubic inch displacement engines, with 14 cylinders each making 1,750 horsepower, each. Woods says those engines are very loud, especially on take-off, when they consume the most fuel. It burns 420 gallons of fuel per hour at take off, and while cruising consumes 165-gallons per hour. It can fly about 1,000 miles before refueling.

Bomb bay with fake bombs.

It cruises at about 230-miles per hour. This “Paper Doll” was rebuilt by nearly a dozen people in Chino, CA, over a period of about three-years. The Fagan Fighters Museum currently has 14 vintage aircraft housed in its hangars.

Posted in News |

Cardinals complete first-year player draft with 38 players

Sports

June 15th, 2017 by admin

ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 14, 2017 – The St. Louis Cardinals concluded the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by selecting 38 players, 30 from the college ranks and eight from high school or prep academies.  The list included 22 pitchers (7 left-hander & 15 right-handers), four catchers, eight infielders and four outfielders.

Four of the players are still playing in the NCAA College World Series: outfielder Scott Hurst and infielder Taylor Bryant of Cal-State Fullerton, shortstop Kramer Robertson of LSU and pitcher Jim Voyles of Florida State.

The draftees came from hometowns covering 18 states and Puerto Rico.  The top producing state was California with nine players selected and Florida, Georgia and Texas were represented with three apiece.

Only one player drafted today by the Cardinals had been previously drafted, that being left-handed pitcher Andrew Summerville in the 34th round of the 2014 draft by the Seattle Mariners.

Four sets of college teammates were selected: Cal State-Fullerton had Scott Hurst (3rd round) and second baseman Taylor Bryant (33rd round); San Diego State had left-handed pitcher Brett Seeburger (10th round) and right-handed pitcher C.J. Saylor (28th round); Coastal Carolina had right-handed pitcher Will Latcham (17th round) and second baseman Wood Myers (29th round), although both transferred in and did not play for the 2016 National Championship squad; University of Arkansas-Little Rock had catcher Cameron Knight (32nd round) and right-handed pitcher Cory Malcom (34th round).

Players with athletic ties in their family included catcher Saul Garza (31st round) whose father Santana Garza played college baseball for University of Texas-Pan American; pitcher Jim Voyles (38th round) who has a twin brother Ed on the Florida State baseball team, and his father Ben and uncle Bill both played golf at Florida State.

Two-way players and players who switched positions include third baseman Drew Mendoza (11th round), who also pitched at North Carolina State, but was drafted as a third baseman, and C.J. Saylor (28th round), a converted catcher to relief pitcher, who nailed down 24 career saves for the Aztecs, tied for the second-most in the school’s history with current MLB pitcher Addison Reed.

Several of the team’s draftees came with exemplary athletic accolades.  Outfielder Brandon Benson (20th round) batted .395 with 22 home runs, 79 RBI and a .819 slugging percentage at Georgia College and State University, ranking among the NCAA Division II leaders in home runs (2nd), RBI (3rd) and slugging (4th).  Right-handed pitcher Jake Walsh (16th round) ranked 2nd in NCAA Division II with 12 wins while at Florida Southern College.  Jake Dahlberg (21st round), a left-handed pitcher out of the University of Illinois-Chicago, was the first pitcher to be named Horizon League Pitcher of the Year twice, accomplishing the feat in 2015 and 2017.  Thomas St. Clair (24th round), a right-handed pitcher out of Lenoir-Rhyne University, ranked 7th in NCAA Division II strikeouts with 116 including games with 17 and 16 strikeouts during the 2017 season.  Right-handed pitcher Cory Malcom (34th round) set the University of Arkansas-Little Rock single-season school record with 109 strikeouts this year.

See the following for a complete listing of the Cardinals 2017 draft.

2017 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT – RECAP
Rd., Player (overall pick)                Pos.        B-T     Ht.      Wt.     School                                                        Hometown

  •   3.  Scott Hurst (94)                       CF           L-R      5-10    175     Cal State University, Fullerton             Glendora, Calif.
  •   4.  Kramer Robertson (124)        SS            R-R     5-10    166     Louisiana State University                    McGregor, Texas
  •   5.  Zach Kirtley (154)                   2B           R-R     6-1      190     St. Mary’s (Calif.) College                      Highland, Calif.
  •   6.  Zach Jackson (184)                 C              L-R      6-3      215     Winter Haven (Fla.) HS                          Haines City, Fla.
  •   7.  Chase Pinder (214)                  CF           R-R     6-1      190     Clemson University                                Poquoson, Va.
  •   8.  Wilberto Rivera (244)            RHP        R-R     6-3      207     Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy       Naranjito, Puerto Rico
  •   9.  Evan Kruczynski (274)          LHP        L-L      6-5      215     East Carolina University                        Franklin, Wis.
  • 10.  Brett Seeburger (304)             LHP        L-L      6-2      225     San Diego State University                    Oceanside, Calif.

——————————————————–DAY THREE————————- ——————————

  • 11. Evan Mendoza (334)               3B           R-R     6-2      200     North Carolina State University           Sarasota, Fla.
  • 12. Andrew Summerville (364)   LHP        L-L      6-3      195     Stanford University                                 Seattle, Wash.
  • 13. Jacob Patterson (394)              LHP        R-L      6-2      190     Texas Tech University                            Garland, Texas
  • 14. Donivan Williams (424)        3B           R-R     6-0      190     Harold L. Richards HS                            Oak Lawn, Ill.
  • 15. Terriez “Terry” Fuller (454)  LF           L-R      6-4      240     Griffin HS                                                   Griffin, Ga.
  • 16. Jake Walsh (484)                      RHP        R-R     6-1      192     Florida Southern College                       Indialantic, Fla.
  • 17. Will Latcham (514)                 RHP        R-R     6-2      200     Coastal Carolina University                  Briarcliffe, Pa.
  • 18. Shane McCarthy(544)              RHP        R-R     6-2      190     Seton Hall University                              Fair Haven, N.J.
  • 19. Irving Lopez (574)                   2B           S-R      5-10    170     Florida International University          Yuma, Ariz.
  • 20. Brandon Benson (604)            OF           R-R     6-1      195     Georgia College & State University      Loganville, Ga.
  • 21. Jake Dahlberg (634)                 LHP        L-L      6-0      205     University of Illinois-Chicago              Vancouver, Wash.
  • 22. Kevin Hamann (664)               RHP        R-R     6-3      180     Lewis & Clark State (Idaho) College    Bend, Ore.
  • 23. Evan Guillory (694)                RHP        R-R     6-3      205     University of Louisiana-Lafayette       Jennings, La.
  • 24. Thomas St. Clair (724)            RHP        R-R     6-1      186     Lenoir-Rhyne University                       Winston-Salem, N.C.
  • 25. Patrick Dayton (754)               LHP        L-L      6-0      170     Kent State University                               La Jolla, Calif.
  • 26. Paul Balestrieri (784)              RHP        R-R     6-0      210     Cornell University                                   West Windsor, N.J.
  • 27. Kodi Whitley (814)                  RHP        R-R     6-3      215     University of Mount Olive (N.C.)        Clayton, N.C.
  • 28. Cameron “C.J.” Saylor (844)   RHP        R-R     5-10    185     San Diego State University                    West Covina, Calif.
  • 29.  Wood Myers (874)                 2B           L-R      5-8      180     Coastal Carolina University                  Chapel Hill, N.C.
  • 30. Alex Fagalde (904)                   RHP        R-R     6-3      225     University of California-Riverside      El Dorado Hills, Calif.
  • 31. Saul Garza (934)                       C              R-R     6-3      220     Edinburg North HS                                  Edinburg, Texas
  • 32. Cameron Knight (964)             C              R-R     6-0      205     University of Arkansas-Little Rock     Moore, Okla.
  • 33. Taylor Bryant (994)                2B           R-R     5-11    200     Cal State University, Fullerton             La Quinta, Calif.
  • 34. Cory Malcom (1,024)              RHP        R-R     6-0      190     University of Arkansas-Little Rock     Elkhart, Ind.
  • 35. Alex Gallegos(1,054)               RHP        R-R     6-3      175     Torrance HS                                              Torrance, Calif.
  • 36. Michael Brdar (1,084)             SS            R-R     5-10    180     University of Michigan                           Pleasanton, Calif.
  • 37. Adam Kerner (1,114)               C              R-R     5-11    175     Oaks Christian HS                                    Agoura Hills, Calif.
  • 38. Jim Voyles (1,144)                   RHP        R-R     6-7      205     Florida State University                          Atlanta, Ga.
  • 39. Chris Hunt (1,174)                   RHP        R-R     6-3      210     Henderson State (Ark.) University      Greenwood, Ark.
  • 40. Austin Pollock (1,204)            LHP        L-L      6-3      183     Lincoln HS                                                 Tallahassee, Fla.

 

Posted in Sports |

Backyard and Beyond 06/15/2017

Backyard and Beyond, Podcasts

June 15th, 2017 by admin

Lavon Eblen shares some fresh food tips.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.1MB)

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Posted in Backyard and Beyond, Podcasts |

THURSDAY, JUNE 15TH

Trading Post

June 15th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

FOR SALE: A box of 100 VHS tape movies. Various themes (Action/adventure, etc.). Asking $80 (which is only 80-cents per movie). Selling the whole box, not individual VHS tapes. Call 712-250-3432 (in Atlantic.)

FOR SALE: 22″ self propelled MTD mower, new front and back wheels, new self propelled v belt, new blade and air filter. $89 712-243-2860

FOR SALE: Samsung Note 5….white…..just like new​ it’s an unlocked verizon phone…….can be used with straighttalk or total wireless or even verizon.  new it was $450……would like $275.  Call 712-249-7484.

FOR SALE: Like new Galaxy Tab 4. 10.1″ screen. 16 gb with pink cancer awareness otter box case. Works great, like new, and has been upgraded. Comes with fast charge cord, has screen protector, no cracks or scratches. Bought it in March 2017 and don’t use get it and start playing game or surf the net asking $300 or best offer;  Gateway computer, HP scanner/printer, Orion 24 inch monitor, everything needed started surfing web. Windows 10 machine. Works great just needs a new home. Asking $325 for all. Email at Doubletap1107@yahoo.com

FOR SALE: porcelain dolls, 24 and all are in excellent condition, have pics I can send if interested, these dolls have been in a doll case and have not been handled, if interested in any or all plz call or text 865 963 7499 ( Anita area ) and make offer.

Posted in Trading Post |