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Iowa State Head Soccer Coach Matt Fannon announces staff update

Sports

July 17th, 2023 by Asa Lucas

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State head soccer coach Matt Fannon has announced the addition of Olivia Seddon as the new Soccer Development Coordinator and Jermima Job as the program’s new Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach.

Seddon comes to Ames after spending one year as the Volunteer Assistant Coach with the Kansas State Wildcats, while Job spent the past two seasons as a Sports Performance Graduate Assistant with SEMO.

For the Cyclones, Seddon will cover individual student-athlete development plans and statistical analysis while also helping out with film and recruiting. At Kansas State, Seddon was responsible for both video analysis/scouting and on-field instruction.

“She is passionate and really eager to learn and grow,” says Fannon. “She also brings an infectious personality that will connect with our women immediately and give her the opportunity to affect their development right away. Her experience working in the Big 12 will give us a boost and give her the platform to become really successful here.”

Before she arrived in Manhattan, Seddon was a five-year letter winner on the Northern Colorado soccer team. A midfielder from Chino Hills, California, Seddon was a 2021 United Soccer Coaches All-Region Third Team selection and a 2021 All-Big Sky First Team honoree. In 2020, Seddon collected All-Big Sky Second Team honors and was a 2019 All-Big Sky Second Team honoree.

During her time in Greeley, Seddon received her bachelor’s degree in sports and exercise science with an emphasis in sports coaching in 2020 and completed her graduate degree with a Master of Arts in sports coaching in 2022. For her work in the classroom, Seddon is a two-time United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-West Region selection and a three-time Academic All-Big Sky honoree.

At Iowa State, Job will handle strength and conditioning training responsibilities with both the soccer and tennis programs for the 2023-24 calendar season.

“We are excited to add Jermima to the Olympic Strength and Conditioning staff to plan, design, and implement the training plans for our soccer and tennis programs, says Director of Olympic Sports Strength & Conditioning Tim Dombroski. “Jermima comes with a wealth of knowledge both as a soccer player and a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at Southeast Missouri State University. She received high recommendations from members of the SEMO athletic department on her ability to relate to the needs of the individual by creating a positive training environment and building relationships with the student-athletes.”

Job is a former collegiate midfielder, having competed in her final two seasons at SEMO. Job’s collegiate playing career began at Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio. In her rookie campaign, Job netted 18 goals with five assists as she tallied a trio of hat tricks.

After a breakout freshman year, Job took her talents to Darton State, where she helped guide the school to a 16-2 regular season record and a berth in the NJCAA national tournament. Job scored 14 goals in her sophomore season. After a year at Darton, Job found a home with the Redhawks in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

After graduating from SEMO in 2020, Job had internships with both Lindenwood and SIUE before arriving back at SEMO to complete her graduate assistantship.

“Jermima is a really exciting young coach who is already making her mark with our team,” says Coach Fannon. “To have a soccer-specific strength & conditioning coach is a real luxury, and her intimate knowledge of what it takes to perform on the field will be a huge benefit to our women.”

The Iowa State soccer program will kick off regular season action in a month, with opening day arriving on August 17 in a matchup with Arizona. The 2023 regular season opener will be at the Cyclones Soccer Complex and is set to begin at 6 p.m. Admission to the Cyclone Soccer Complex is free.

Posted in Sports |

Nunn proposes new disclosure of “ESG” investing

News

July 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn is sponsoring a bill that would require new public disclosures from two companies that have an outsized role in the investing world. Nunn’s legislation targets two firms that control shareholder votes and guide public firms’ investments that promote environmental, social and governmental or E-S-G priorities. “Under current law, investment managers may actually decide to invest based on a company’s policies or even their political views rather than focus on maximizing return for investors,” Nunn says.

Some states have passed laws that forbid state contracts with companies that follow what’s called E-S-G investing. Iowa legislators considered a ban on companies, including banks, that do not invest in the gun industry, agriculture or the petroleum industry. Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, says his bill does not call for that, but would require disclosure when those kind of policies are pursued for investments.

“If you were a family who had a very strong moral or even a political belief, you may not know that you’re actually funding something on the complete on the other side of the aisle,” Nunn says. “Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, we’ve got to have some transparency in here and, most importantly, I don’t want two companies making these decisions and then everybody else basically carbon copying their recommendations because they’re not doing the due diligence to really realize where those portfolios are going.”

Nunn is a member of the House Financial Services Committee. Firms that handled shareholders’ proxy voting were initially seen as a way for investment advisors to avoid conflicts of interest. The two firms involved have argued new regulations, in general, add an unnecessary speed bump to the process of shareholder votes.

Posted in News |

Smoky haze from Canadian wildfires is leaving the state

News, Weather

July 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Smoke from the Canadian wildfires is being swept out of the state. John Gering of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has looked at the latest map. “It does appear to be a north to south clearing,” he says. This latest round of smoke had settled at the surface level. That’s why alerts indicated air quality has been unhealthy for sensitive groups. “If it stays up high in the atmosphere, it’s not going to affect people and it’s not going to register on our monitors,” Gering says, “so it’s that combination of emissions, horizontal winds and vertical mixing.” The Iowa D-N-R’s STATEWIDE air quality alert ends at noon today (Monday). The alert has recommended that people reduce long or intense outdoor activities due to the fine particulates in the air.

“They’re about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair,” Gering says, “so they get in your lungs and your lungs have a hard time expelling the small particles.” The fires carry chemicals which in the presence of sunlight form ozone, an odorless gas. Over the past five years, there have been an average of three to four air quality warnings related to high ozone concentrations in Iowa at ground level. By June 12th, there had been 124 — so that does not include this weekend’s conditions.

“Likewise we’ve had 22 exceedences of the fine particulate matter standard reported through July 12,” Gering says, “and there’s going to be some additional exceedences of that standard coming in, rolling in over the next few weeks.” Staff collect filters at monitors throughout the state and take them to the University of Iowa where they are manually weighed. Gering says that process takes a while, so the in-depth analysis of this weekend’s air quality won’t be completed for a couple of weeks.

Posted in News, Weather |

Single Game Tickets on This Week

Sports

July 17th, 2023 by Asa Lucas

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Individual game tickets for seven University of Iowa 2023 home football games go on sale this week.

Also, “Kids’ Day at Kinnick” is set for Saturday, Aug. 12. The start time and information for the free-admission event will be announced in the coming weeks.

Single game tickets will be available for donors beginning Monday, July 17 and to the general public on Thursday, July 20. Fans can purchase tickets at hawkeyesports.com/footballtickets or by calling the UI Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-IA-HAWKS between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Prices listed below include a $2 per ticket fee.

  • Utah State (Sept. 2, 11 a.m.) and Western Michigan (Sept. 16, 2:30 p.m.) ticket prices range from $47-$67 for adults and $27-$37 for youths.
  • Michigan State (Sept. 30) and Minnesota (Oct. 22) ticket prices range from $79-$112 for adults and youths.
  • Purdue (Homecoming; Oct. 7) and Illinois (home finale; Nov. 18) range from $72-$97 for adults and $35-$67 for youths.

UI student football season tickets are sold out. Individual game tickets located in the public (non-student section) areas of the stadium will be offered for select games at a student rate (limit one student rate ticket per student).

Fans are encouraged to bookmark and visit hawkeyesports.com/footballgameday for all information surrounding traveling to Iowa City and attending games at Kinnick Stadium this fall.

Iowa posted an 8-5 overall record, winning four of its final five games, including the Music City Bowl a year ago. Kirk Ferentz enters his 25th season as Iowa’s Moon Family head football coach.

Posted in Sports |

Storms pummel parts of Iowa & Nebraska with large hail Monday morning

News, Weather

July 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Western Iowa News) – Weather radios blared a severe thunderstorm warning at 1:09-a.m., Monday, for a storm cell approaching northern Cass, Adair, Audubon and part of Guthrie County. That was just the start of what would turn out to be a busy morning for severe weather in western and southwest Iowa. Storms fired-up a couple of hours later in the western counties of the KJAN listening area, and made their way into southern/west central parts of the state, essentially along and just north of Interstate 80, and south of the Interstate.

The National Weather Service in Valley, NE (Omaha) and Johnston, IA (Des Moines), were fielding storm reports all morning , Monday. Those reports came in from trained storm spotters, county Emergency Management officials, and the general public. You can view the latest reports from the Des Moines Weather Service Office HERE, or the Omaha Office HERE.

We’ve compiled a list of storm reports for western/southwest Iowa on the kjan.com weather page. Here’s a synopsis of those reports from the latest to the earliest….

8:40-a.m., 1.25″ hail (Half-dollar size) in Malvern (reported by a storm spotter)

8:38-a.m., 1 inch (Quarter-size) diameter hail reported in Malvern (Mills County), by a trained storm spotter.

8:35-a.m., The public reported Ping-pong ball size (1.5″) hail in Malvern.

6:44-a.m., 1 inch diameter hail reported in Mount Ayr (Ringgold County), by Emergency Mgmt.

5:59-a.m., Nickel-size hail (.88′) 3 miles w/sw of Fontanelle (Adair County); Highway 92 from Gibbon Ave to Delta Ave. completely covered with up to nickel sized hail.

5:27-a.m., 1″ diameter hail reported in Woodbine (Harrison County)

5:10-a.m., Penny-size hail (.75″) 5 miles east of Irwin (Shelby County)

5:08-a.m., Nickel-size hail lasted for 10-minutes in Audubon. (Audubon County)

1:18-a.m., .75″  hail (penny-size) 1 mile w/sw of Stuart (Adair County)

Posted in News, Weather |

No. 4 Lynnville-Sully takes on No. 10 LeMars Gehlen in 1A state baseball

Sports

July 17th, 2023 by Asa Lucas

Fourth ranked Lynnville-Sully battles number-10 LeMars Gehlen in a 1A quarterfinal. Lynville-Sully senior Caleb Rae says he is ready.

Rae says the Hawks will need a spirited effort

Gehlen is in the tournament for the first time in nine years.

That’s Gehlen coach Loi Kraft who says the key will be limiting mistakes.

Kraft says it is about playing well and not what an opponent does.

 

Posted in Sports |

Pottawattamie County Fair primed to begin Wednesday

Ag/Outdoor, News

July 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Avoca, Iowa) – The 127th Annual Pottawattamie County Fair is gearing up for a six-day run, in Avoca. The Fair runs from Wednesday, July 19th through Monday, July 24th. Some, pre-fair events took place late last month and early this month. On Sunday, the 4-H/FFA Shooting Sports Competition took place. On Tuesday (7/18), there’s a 4-H/FFA Pie & Pizza contest at 8-a.m., at Riverside High School. Wednesday (7/19), features 4-H Static Judging at 8-a.m., and Working Exhibits at 2:30-p.m.

This Thursday’s Schedule (7/20) includes the following:

  • 8:00-a.m. until 4:00-p.m., Open Class Entries drop-off
  • 9:00-a.m., 4-H/FFA Poultry Show
  • 10:00-a.m., 4-H/FFA Livestock Judging Contest
  • 4:00-p.m., Open Class Judging
  • 5:00-to 8:00-p.m., Vendor Food Truck night
  • 6:00-p.m., Pre-Fair Awards & Queen Competition
  • 7:00-p.m., Free Grandstand Area – DJ/Karaoke.

Check out the complete Pottawattamie County Fair Schedule on Facebook, HERE.

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

No. 1 Williamsburg set for 3A quarterfinals at state softball

Sports

July 17th, 2023 by Asa Lucas

Top ranked Williamsburg opens the 3A state softball quarterfinals on Monday night against Albia. Williamsburg is 30-9 and making its fourth straight appearance at the tournament. Senior first baseman Elle Ridgeway.

Ridgeway says several young players have stepped up to provide depth.

Ridgeway says the Raiders are confident heading into the tournament.

Posted in Sports |

As the jackpot nears the billion-dollar mark, Powerball sales are swift

News

July 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Lottery officials are expecting brisk ticket sales again today as there were no jackpot winners over the weekend in either of the big, multistate games, Powerball and Mega Millions. The Lottery’s Mary Neubauer says both games’ jackpots have been growing for a few months now and they’ve reached “eye-popping” levels. “The Powerball jackpot for tonight’s drawing is an estimated $900 million annuity. It’s $465.1 million if you take the lump sum option. That’s the third largest prize in the history of that game,” Neubauer says. “And then I’ve been saying, ‘Hey, not to be left out,’ the Mega Millions jackpot also is way up there.”

The next Mega Millions drawing is tomorrow night and it’s worth $640-million with the annuity option, with a lump sum of $328-million. If you’re eager to get a Powerball ticket before tonight’s drawing, Neubauer says it’s likely the earlier you head for the retailer, the better. “The busiest day for lottery sales here in Iowa and across the country is always the day of the drawing,” Neubauer says, “and here in Iowa specifically, the busiest time period has been when lots of folks are getting off work and making the commute home, so somewhere between 4 and 7 PM.”

Clerks are typically well trained in performing the transaction and it often takes a matter of just a few seconds to issue a ticket, so if there are a few people ahead of you, they won’t be there for long. “We don’t see the huge lines that form in other parts of the country here in Iowa, just because I think our sales are a little more spread out than maybe they are in other parts of the country,” Neubauer says, “but this has become the thing that everybody is talking about. At some point, the jackpots do reach what I call that ‘watercooler moment’ where it just gets everybody buzzing.”

While nobody won either of the weekend jackpots, Neubauer says Iowa Lottery players did win a total of 45-thousand-558 prizes in the weekend drawings. If there’s not a jackpot winner in tonight’s Powerball drawing, Neubauer expects another big jump before Wednesday, which could put the grand prize at more than one-billion dollars.

Posted in News |

Pilot program targets Iowans with high blood pressure

News

July 17th, 2023 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa chapter of the American Heart Association is launching a pilot program that aims to help a growing number of Iowans overcome the risks of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, which afflicts almost half of us. Wesley Franklin, the agency’s community impact director, says “Check. Change. Control.” will initially focus on 250 central Iowans to better manage their high blood pressure before the program eventually goes statewide. “The ‘Check. Change. Control.’ program is really geared towards empowering patients to take charge of their cardiovascular health,” Franklin says, “with some self-monitoring tips at home around blood pressure, and just providing them some knowledge, some awareness, to better understand their heart numbers going forward.”

The pilot program will run four months and be operated out of hospitals and community care centers in Des Moines, West Des Moines and Stuart.  “The first month will focus on controlling your blood pressure,” Franklin says. “The second month is learning about eating smart and reducing sodium throughout your day. The third month is more of that physical activity component, and the final month is kind of tying it all together and doing more of a mental health and well-being approach.”

The goal is to help Iowans help themselves to tackle what’s known as “the silent killer,” as high blood pressure is hard to spot and if left untreated, can lead to a heart attack, stroke and other serious health conditions. Franklin says the situation in Iowa is worsening. “Within the last ten years, normally, we’re about a third of our population has hypertension but now we shift to about 50-percent,” Franklin says, “so this program is aimed at tackling those numbers to provide some education awareness around hypertension control.”

He notes, many of the 103-million people in the U-S who have high blood pressure are unaware. Central Iowans who are interested in participating in the program can contact Franklin at wesley.franklin@heart.org.

Posted in News |