The Honor Flight from central Iowa earlier this month made national news as aging World War Two veterans bypassed barricades and visited Washington D-C monuments that were “closed” by the federal government shutdown. Even if the shutdown continues, another round of charter flights will be flown later this month, focusing on Korean War veterans. Bill Williams is helping organize two flights for more than 230 veterans from Iowa and Nebraska out of the Omaha airport.

“We are going no matter what,” Williams says. “We have a Silver Star (recipient), several hand-to-hand combat (veterans), a guy who had his legs blown off in Korea, the park police are no match for this crew, trust me.” He says the veterans on these charter trips will see what they want to see, and he jokes they’ll be prepared to cut through any chain link fences that may block their way.

“They’ve closed the restrooms at the World War II Memorial so that is an issue and the Lincoln Memorial is closed, you can’t go see it, that’s a shame,” Williams says. “It doesn’t matter, we’re going, wire cutters in hand.” Williams saw the media coverage of the other veterans groups last week as they made their way into the memorials that were dedicated in their honor, even though the areas were supposed to be closed to the public.

“That’s so ridiculous anyway because they’re open air memorials,” Williams says. “They’re just trying to inflict as much pain on people to put pressure on, that’s all it’s about.” Previous Honor Flights from Omaha have focused more on the older veterans. “We did seven World War II flights in 2008 and 2009 and 1,500 World War II vets had the opportunity to see the World War II Memorial,” Williams says. “This is the first attempt to do something for the Korea veterans. The ones who received the invitation are so excited and it’s just a wonderful opportunity for them in their twilight years to have an experience like this.”

The flights are scheduled for October 29th for about 140 Nebraska Korean War veterans and on October 30th for about 100 Iowans who served in Korea. Williams says both flights will follow the same schedule out of Omaha. “We’ll depart at 6 AM, arrive at Dulles airport at 9:30, we’ll bus to the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Wall and the Lincoln Memorial,” he says. “Then, we’ll stop at the World War II Memorial and Arlington for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, drive around and see the White House and a few other buildings. The final stop will be the Marine Corps Memorial.”

The flights should get the veterans back to Omaha around midnight. Williams hopes these are the first of many Honor Flights for our states’ Korean War heroes.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — More than 15,000 people turned out for Sunday’s race to raise money to fight breast cancer at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. More than $370,000 from race registrations go to the “Especially for You” fund, which provides mammography and other breast-care services for area individuals who cannot otherwise afford them. Last year the fund helped 773 people receive more than 1,000 services in Linn County.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa-born opera singer Simon Estes has spent a career traveling the world singing and now is lending his voice to help end child deaths caused by malaria in Africa. The Des Moines Register reports Centerville native Estes is inviting every student in Iowa from kindergarten to 12th grade to sell at least three copies of his latest CD, “Save the Children, Save Their Lives.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque junior hockey league player has been released from the hospital after he struck his head on the ice during a game between the Dubuque Fighting Saints and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. KGAN-TV reports 18-year-old Dylan Chanter is home after Saturday night’s injury.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A police officer for the city of Sloan has been hospitalized after his car hit a light pole and flipped over as he was responding to a drunken driver call. Sioux City police tell KTIV-TV that 45-year-old Brent Vanderweil lost control of his patrol car just before 3 a.m. Saturday in Sioux City.

Republican Congressman Steve King is striking back at Democratic Senator Tom Harkin for suggesting King is wrong to suggest the October 17th “debt limit” date is a fiction. “I hope Tom Harkin understands when we reach the debt limit that doesn’t mean default,” King says. “Default on our debt would be if we failed to service our debt which requires that we pay the interest and then, at a minimum, roll over the principle of our debt which means we could borrow money from the Saudis to pay off Chinese bonds or vice versa or we could borrow money from the American people to pay off bonds from Saudi Arabia or China.”

Harkin said last Thursday it is “bizarre” for King to suggest the president has the authority to reorder federal spending plans, pay the interest on the national debt, and put off repayment of the bonds. That would be like telling creditors to “take a hike,” according to Harkin. King accuses Harkin of “injecting a fear factor” into the debate and King argues Americans are paying enough taxes to the federal government to cover the interest on the debt. “We’re spending about eight percent of our cash flow, of our revenue stream, on interest. That’s roughly $18 billion a month. We’ve got some $240 billion or so a month coming in,” King says.

“We’re a long ways from defaulting on our debt.” King, though, says congress cannot go “indefinitely” without voting to raise the so-called “debt ceiling” unless there are significant cuts to the federal budge “But reaching the date of October 17 is not a drop dead date. It is not a default date,” King says. “It’s just a date that the government, the Obama Administration has said they think they run out of borrowing capacity.” King cites last week’s analysis from Moody’s — a credit-rating agency — that concludes the U.S. government “would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt” even if congress fails to raise the debt limit. King says the debt limit is an “effective check and balance” congress can use to influence the president to make concessions.

(Radio Iowa)

One person died Sunday afternoon during a rollover accident on Interstate 29  in Pottawattamie County. The Iowa State Patrol says 33-year old Miki Lynn Bailey, of Council Bluffs, was trapped in her SUV and had to be extricated by fire and rescue personnel. Officials say Bailey’s 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling north on I-29 at around 2:10-p.m. near the 43.85 mile marker, or about two-miles south of Council Bluffs,  when a non-contact vehicle slowed for a slow moving vehicle in the right hand lane.

When Bailey swerved to avoid a collision, the Jeep went out of control and entered the median, before rolling over. Bailey, who was not wearing a seat belt, was flown from the scene by LifeNet helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she died from her injuries. The accident remains under investigation.