An accident on Interstate 80 in Council Bluffs Wednesday afternoon resulted in three people being sent to the hospital. According to Omaha Television station KETV, a vehicle drifted off the interstate near the Lake Manawa exit before striking a guardrail head on. The unidentified female driver and her two passengers were seriously injured, and transported to Mercy Hospital. Authorities say all of the vehicles’ occupants were wearing their seat belts.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale says he’s unsure of first-round draft pick Royce White’s future with the team. White, a former Iowa State star, has been away from the team all season while sparring with the Rockets on how to treat his anxiety disorder. White has been vocal about the situation on Twitter, but has given no indication about when he will rejoin the team.
McHale was asked before the game against Minnesota on Wednesday when White would return to the team. He seemed genuinely puzzled, saying “that’s a good question. I don’t know.” McHale is still getting back up to speed following an extended absence to deal with the sudden death of his daughter.
He says “as crazy as it sounds, you’re just kind of going with the guys who are there.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – An illness running through the Kansas City Chiefs the past few weeks kept running back Jamaal Charles, linebacker Tamba Hali and left tackle Donald Stephenson out of practice Wednesday. Coach Romeo Crennel said that Hali and Stephenson were sent home soon after arriving at the team’s practice facility. Charles was sent home a short time later.
Last week, wide receivers Jon Baldwin and Josh Bellamy, defensive backs Brandon Flowers and Neiko Thorpe and defensive tackle Jerrell Powe missed time due to illness. Safety Eric Berry and guard Jeff Allen have also been sick recently. Defensive tackle Tyson Jackson, left tackle Branden Albert, center Ryan Lilja, wide receiver Terrance Copper and tight end Tony Moeaki missed practice due to injuries Wednesday.
The Chiefs (2-13) finish their season Sunday at Denver.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The joke running through Jacksonville these days carries the same punch line as the one in Kansas City: “Our team is so bad it can’t even stink in the right year.” The Chiefs and Jaguars will vie for the top pick in the NFL draft in separate games Sunday. But the value of “winning” the race to the NFL’s worst record is debatable in a year without a clear, franchise-changing prospect.
The Chiefs and Jaguars are both 2-13, but the Chiefs hold the tiebreaker for the No. 1 pick because of their weakness of schedule. The only way Jacksonville can take it is by losing to Tennessee and Kansas City beating Denver. That would give the Jaguars the worst overall record.
AREA COUNTIES: SAC AND CRAWFORD –
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO NOON CST FRIDAY…
LIGHT SNOW MOVE INTO WEST CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL IOWA BY LATE THIS MORNING…AND WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL PERSIST ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT…BEFORE TAPERING OFF LATE FRIDAY MORNING.
TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 4 INCHES BY LATE FRIDAY MORNING ARE EXPECTED…WITH SPOTTY 5 INCH AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. .EASTERLY WINDS OF 5 TO 15 MPH ARE EXPECTED. VISIBILITIES WILL BE REDUCED IN SNOW…BUT ARE GENERALLY EXPECTED TO REMAIN ABOVE A MILE.
SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS ARE NOT LIKELY…THOUGH ROADS WILL BECOME SLIPPERY WITH THE NEW SNOWFALL. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITY…AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
Here’s the (podcast) Freese-Notis forecast for Atlantic, and the KJAN listening area, and weather data for Atlantic….
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The Iowa basketball team is enjoying a break from games after going 11-2 to open the season. Coach Fran McCaffery says his team has stayed resilient in the face of a tough early schedule. “You know we had six games in nine days, a trip to Mexico and then we come back and we go right down to Virginia Tech…and then we had the in-state rivalry games. You know a lot of teams play rivalry games, and most of the time it’s one,” McCaffery says. He says multiple rivalry games take an emotional toll.
“That’s very difficult on a team, you get rev’d up to play Iowa State, we have an emotional win and then we have to turn right back around and do it again. I don’t know if anybody realizes how difficult that is, and what an incredible accomplishment that was” McCaffery says. He says he is pleased with their resiliency, their unselfishness, their depth and leadership.
Iowa returns to action New Year’s Eve to open the Big Ten season against Indiana.
(Radio Iowa Sports)
The Iowa State football team arrived in Memphis Wednesday in preparation for the Liberty Bowl on New Year’s Eve. The Cyclones also had their first practice at Rhodes College the same day. Cyclone Coach Paul Rhoads said there are various events scheduled for the team through the week along with the practices. “The schedule by the Liberty Bowl is very accommodating, there are certain things that we’re involved with, but we practice in the morning to try and avoid those,” Rhoads said.
Today (Thursday) there’s an event that has them switching around the schedule. “So we’ve got to practice in the afternoon and have meetings in the morning, so there’s that kind of adjusting that you have to do. But our maturity I think will be able to handle that,” Rhoads said.
One event will have some players visit the St. Judes Research Hospital, while Saturday night the players will attend an NBA game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Denver Nuggets. The teams will wrap up practices with a walk-through and photo session at the Liberty Bowl Stadium on Sunday. Then it’s the game against Tulsa on Monday at 2:30 Iowa time. The 6-6 Cyclones got one of their victories against Tulas in the season opener in Ames. Tulsa went on to win 10 games and had only two more losses.
(Radio Iowa Sports)
There are still several cars and trucks still stuck in the ditches along the interstate highways following the blizzard last week. Iowa D-O-T maintenance engineer, Bob Younie, says his department works with the state patrol to help get those vehicles pulled out. “When folks drive off the road and they need a wrecker to get their car out — and semis too for that matter — we understand the impatience of getting the vehicle back out and getting it fix or repaired or on the way, whatever has to be done,” Younie says. “But we also have to balance the safety concerns of the traffic backups that are associated with the towing vehicles pulling especially those big trucks out.”
Wednesday was a big travel day after the holiday. “There’s a lot of folks on the road maybe coming back from Christmas, so it’s a little harder to get a closure in place today that doesn’t have large backups than it will be later in time. So, it’s a balance of public mobility and public safety,” Younie says. He says traffic can back up for miles as the wreckers have to close off traffic to pull the bigger trucks out of the ditch. An 80-mile stretch of Interstate-35 was closed to traffic Thursday during the height of the storm as Younie says they tried to prevent more accidents and people sliding into the ditch.
He says I-35 has a set of gates near Ames for northbound traffic and just north of Highway 18 near Clear Lake and Mason City for southbound traffic that they used to close the road after several collisions. “And the system really works well from out standpoint to be able to effectively close off the interstate. And this again was a public safety issue. It wasn’t safe for people to drive out there,” Younie says. Younie says the state patrol monitors the situation determines when it is and isn’t safe to tow vehicles during severe weather.
(Radio Iowa)
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