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Raising charge for duplicate licenses from $3 to $10

News

March 15th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

A bill that passed the Senate this week more than triples the charge for getting a duplicate Iowa driver’s license. It now costs just three-dollars to replace a lost or destroyed Iowa driver’s license. Senator Rich Taylor, a Democrat from Mount Pleasant, says the bill would raise the fee to 10-dollars. “The purpose is to recover actual state costs to produce the I.D.,” Taylor says. Senator Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa, voted against the bill.

“I do not wish to stick it to the people of Iowa,” Chelgren said. “…We should not be putting additional fees, financial burdens on the hard-working people of Iowa.” Senator Taylor responded. “This bill does not raise the fee of obtaining your license,” Taylor said. “It raises the fee on replacing your license.”The bill passed the Senate by a 37 to 11 vote.

The proposal now goes to the House for consideration.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in News |

Iowa tops Northwestern 73-59 in B10 tournament

Sports

March 15th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

CHICAGO (AP) — Devyn Marble scored 19 points to help Iowa hold on for an important 73-59 victory over Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday night. Mike Gesell added 11 points, including a clinching three-point play with 1:41 left as the Hawkeyes (21-11) continued their late-season push for a spot in the NCAA tournament with their eighth victory in 10 games.

Reggie Hearn powered a late Northwestern’s rally after an awful start, scoring 14 of his 19 points in the second half. He drove inside to trim Iowa’s lead to 50-43 with 8:27 left, but Marble and Gesell each hit a big 3-pointer to help the Hawkeyes hold on for their third consecutive victory.

Melsahn Basabe had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Iowa, which shot just 37.1 percent but enjoyed a 48-31 advantage on the boards. Alex Olah scored 12 points for Northwestern (13-19) and Tre Demps finished with 11.

Posted in Sports |

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press: Fri., March 15th 2013

News

March 15th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Census Bureau estimates Iowa gained about 10,000 residents between 2011 and 2012 but most counties lost population. Sixty-five of the state’s 99 counties lost residents and 55 counties counted more deaths than births. The biggest population gains were reported in Polk, Johnson, Dallas, Scott and Linn counties.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Senate Democrats are proposing a Medicaid expansion with an opt-out provision in case federal funding levels change. They say it would address the governor’s concerns that the federal government can’t keep its funding promises. Democrats argue that expanding Medicaid would provide better coverage to more low-income residents,

HAMILTON, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say a body pulled from the Mississippi River is that of a Mount Pleasant woman who has been missing for a month. Teresa Bruegge’s body was found about 50 miles south of Mount Pleasant. She vanished on Valentine’s Day.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad says Iowa is fortunate to have strong ties to the new president of China, which could create business opportunities. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds congratulated Xi Jinping on assuming the presidency of the world’s most populous country.

Posted in News |

Chiefs agree to terms with CB Sean Smith

Sports

March 15th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs have agreed to terms with cornerback Sean Smith on a three-year deal to help shore up the secondary. Smith has spent the past four seasons with the Miami Dolphins, starting every game each of the past two years. He has 177 tackles and five interceptions in his career.

The Chiefs have been bold players in free agency under new general manager John Dorsey and coach Andy Reid, revamping their offense by trading for quarterback Alex Smith and signing wide receiver Donnie Avery, tight end Anthony Fasano and backup quarterback Alex Smith.

They’ve also signed defensive tackle Mike DeVito and veteran cornerback Dunta Robinson, who is expected to provide depth. But the addition of Smith solidifies the cornerback spot opposite Brandon Flowers.

Posted in Sports |

Joe Kelly pitched 4 solid innings for Cardinals

Sports

March 15th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Joe Kelly allowed three hits and one run in four solid innings Thursday to strengthen his claim on the fifth spot in the St. Louis Cardinals’ rotation in a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves. Matt Adams broke a 4-all tie with a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kelly has had an impressive spring training. He has allowed just five hits and two earned runs in eight innings over three starts. Shelby Miller, his main competition for the last rotation spot, allowed six hits and three earned runs in 2 2-3 innings.

Mike Minor allowed six hits and four runs in five innings for the Braves. He retired 12 of the first 14 hitters he faced and allowed just one hit prior to the fifth — the Cardinals batted around and scored four runs on five hits off the lefty in his final inning.

Posted in Sports |

Former Thurman resident pleads guilty to fraud charges

News

March 14th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

A former southwest Iowa man has agreed to plead guilty to three fraud-related charges. 54-year old Robert W. Duncan, who lived in Thurman, entered his pleas to charges he defrauded the Social Security Administration, filed a false income tax return and made a false statement to a financial institution, on Tuesday. Duncan, the former owner and auctioneer for Bob Duncan and Associates, admitted during the plea proceeding that he had defrauded the Social Security  Administration of between $200,000 and $400,000 by receiving benefits he was not entitled to between 1993 and 2011.
Duncan also admitted that he had caused to be filed a false 1040 tax form for tax year 2008 by under-reporting his income, and that he had provided false financial documents to Treynor State Bank to obtain a $225,000 loan in 2005. Duncan faces a potential sentence of up to thirty years in prison, $1,000,000 in fines, and five years of supervised release. Sentencing is currently set for June 11, 2013, in Council Bluffs.
The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, the Social Security Administration – Office, of the Inspector General, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Posted in News |

Student group offers ideas for Iowa education

News

March 14th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A group of students in high school and college want education officials in Iowa to recruit qualified teachers and improve testing standards. The Iowa Learning Council presented those recommendations and others during a meeting Thursday with state leaders. Other ideas included a push for schools to encourage careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The state Department of Education leads the council of young people, which formed last year to draft an agenda of education reforms. Other recommendations included raising teacher salaries and creating a diploma seal that signifies a student is college and career ready. Branstad supports such measures under his education reform plan. Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass says the agency plans to keep the council in the future.

Posted in News |

Semi’s collide in Cass County – No injuries

News

March 14th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following a collision between two semi’s Wednesday evening. The accident happened on Highway 92 at the intersection with Highway 71, at around 5:10-p.m. Officials say a 2006 Freightliner driven by 33-year old Brandon Jay Frank, of Griswold, was eastbound on Highway 92 when it struck a 2005 Freightliner driven by 24-year old Stefan Dimoski, of Woodridge, IL, as Dimoski was traveling northbound on Highway 71.

Damage to the semi’s totaled $50,000. The Sheriff’s Departmetn says Frank was cited for Failure to Obey Stop Sign and Failure to Yield Right of Way.

Posted in News |

Drake fires coach Mark Phelps

Sports

March 14th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drake has not retained basketball coach Mark Phelps after five seasons. Athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb announced the move Thursday, a week after the Bulldogs were knocked out of the Missouri Valley tournament. Phelps was hired to replace Keno Davis, who led the Bulldogs to the Valley title in 2008. But Phelps couldn’t keep Drake near the top of the league standings.

Bulldogs star Rayvonte Rice transferred to Illinois before the season, and Drake stumbled to a 15-17 finish. Phelps leaves Drake with a record of 77-86. The Bulldogs never posted 20 wins under Phelps and only twice finished above .500 overall.

Drake has always been one of the tougher jobs in the country, combining high academic standards with a spotty history in basketball. Phelps is just the latest in a long line of Drake coaches who failed to overcome those challenges. Phelps, who spent 12 seasons as an assistant under Herb Sendek at N.C. State and Arizona State, was hired to replace Davis in the spring of 2008 after the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance in 37 years.

Davis, now the coach at Central Michigan, parlayed a spectacular one-year run that included The Associated Press Coach of the Year award into the job at Providence. Many believed Davis’s heroics in squeezing 28 wins out of the Bulldogs would prove to be fleeting. Those critics proved to be right. Phelps’s teams finished 7-11 in the Valley four times, save for a 9-9 record in 2011-12 behind Rice.

Drake showed flashes of improvement this season, beating league champion Creighton at home and winning at Indiana State. But the Bulldogs were very inconsistent as well, losing by 30 on the road at Northern Iowa and against the Bluejays.

Posted in Sports |

NWS changes severe weather warnings

News, Weather

March 14th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

The way severe weather warnings are issued in Iowa will be changing a bit this spring. Jeff Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in metro Des Moines, says watches and warnings will be accompanied by what he calls a tag, or a more descriptive statement. “The tornado tag will have an option between ‘radar indicated’ and actually a ‘tornado observed’ tag,” Johnson says. “With the damage threat tags, we’ll be able to say in terms of a large catastrophic tornado moving toward a metropolitan area, we’ll put that into the warning itself, that way decision makers can make quicker responses.”

The changes come, in part, following the fact 2011 was a historic year in terms of tornado deaths nationwide. Recent studies found some people don’t always understand what severe weather warnings mean, so the tags aim to make it more clear what’s coming down the road. “Nothing’s changing with our watches and warnings, all the coding will be the same, what a Tornado Warning means will be the same, and a watch,” Johnson says. “It will add a little more information on the bottom of the warning so if you just picked it up and saw the warning, you can quickly ascertain what the overall threat of that warning is.”

The changes in the warnings may seem minor, but Johnson says it’s hoped the slight differences may provide vital information that could ultimately save lives. “You might hear a sense of urgency in the announcer’s voice if it’s a ‘catastrophic’ tag, because it’s going to give that person knowledge that this is a significant, major tornado event and to go all out on the dissemination,” Johnson says. “Each tag has a corresponding call to action statement which will be placed in the warning for weather radio listeners.”

The new series of “impact-based” warnings were tested last year in Missouri and Kansas. Now, starting April 1st, they’ll be rolled out in Iowa and ten other states across the Midwest, encompassing 38 National Weather Service offices. Learn more at www.weather.gov.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in News, Weather |