One of NASA’s best-known astronauts from the moon mission era was in Omaha/Council Bluffs last (Tuesday) night. Jim Lovell was commander of the doomed Apollo 13 flight, which had an oxygen tank explode two days into a trip to the moon, crippling the spacecraft far from home and threatening the lives of the three-man crew. “The odds were against us in the beginning because we didn’t know really what was wrong or what was happening,” Lovell says. “Consequently, we were concerned until we tried to figure out what the story was. There wasn’t an immediate explosion that violated the integrity of the spacecraft so we still had some time to think about it.”

Engineers on the ground were able to instruct the astronauts in how to bring the badly-damaged ship home. The dramatic mission in April of 1970 was the subject of the 1995 film, “Apollo 13,” which starred Tom Hanks as Lovell. The events depicted in the Oscar-winning movie were very accurate, Lovell says, and he was an advisor for the film. Lovell remains a huge supporter of the space program and hopes the U-S will once again be a world leader in space exploration. 

“I think it was one of the greatest inspirations for improving technology in this country and the STEM (science, technology, education, math) education of our young people,” Lovell says. “We won’t be a leader but I have to tell you, there will be other leaders, either Russia or China or even India.”

Lovell was in Omaha to speak at an event sponsored by the Immanuel Foundation. His talk was called, “Apollo 13; A Successful Failure.” At age 85, Lovell still pilots his own airplane but his wife made him promise to get a co-pilot this year — or sell the plane.

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Montgomery County arrested a Pottawattamie County man Tuesday evening, after he was caught speeding 120-miles per hour in a 55-mph zone. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 25-year Skyler Lee Baker, of Council Bluffs, also faces OWI/1st offense, and open container charges, in addition to being cited for having no proof of insurance. Baker was taken into custody following a traffic stop at the intersection of E Avenue and Highway 34, west of Red Oak.

The Montgomery County K-9 unit and Red Oak Police assisted during the incident.

The Iowa Utilities Board begins hosting eight public meetings Thursday on the proposed electric rate increase requested by MidAmerican Energy. I-U-B spokesman, Rob Hillesland, says the first meeting is in Iowa City at the public library. “MidAmerican filed a petition to increase its permanent base rates to generate approximately 135-point-six million dollars additional revenue annually. And they are proposing that that be phased in over three years, and so the board has 10 months — or until March 17th of 2014 I believe — to make a decision that permanent rate proposal,” Hilllesland says. The process allows MidAmerican to start collection a temporary rate pending the approval of the board.

“Temporary rates are approved and then if the final rate decision is a lower amount, customers could be refunded temporary rates plus interest,” Hillesland says. He says the board has three months to make a decision on approving the temporary rate — which would be August 15th of this year. The request for the permanent rate increase is NOT connected to MidAmerican’s decision to refund money to customers that was not used in its study of the feasibility of building a new nuclear power plant. Hillesland says it is also not related to MidAmerican’s announcement that it will lower rates as the company builds new wind power turbines. The upcoming meetings are for comment on this proposed rate increase.

“And customers are also welcome to talk generally about the quality of service that they feel the utility provides to them, or to other customers, or to their business or whatever,” Hillesland says. If you can’t make one of the public meetings, you can provide written comments.You can e-mail comments to customer@iub.iowa.gov or you can leave comments on the I-U-B’s website comment form at:www.iub.iowa.gov. Or you can send regular mail with comments to : Iowa Utilities Board,, Docket No. R-P-U-2013-0004, 1375 E. Court Avenue, Room 69, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0069. All of the public meetings begin at 5:30.

Here are the schedules for some of the other meetings:
Council Bluffs: Monday, June 24, 2013, Council Bluffs Public Library, Room B, 400 Willow Avenue.
Sioux City: Tuesday, June 25, 2013, Briar Cliff University, Stark Student Center, Clare Room, 3303 Rebecca Street.

(Radio Iowa)