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Ex-N. Iowa ticket office manager accused of theft

News, Sports

December 28th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former University of Northern Iowa ticket office manager is charged with theft after a state audit found more than $16,000 in transactions was diverted to his personal accounts. Former ticket office assistant director John Gogola of Cedar Falls was arrested Wednesday after the auditor released a review of ticket office records from August 2008 through August 2010. The review found more than $18,800 in improper transactions. More than $16,000 was diverted to Gogola’s personal credit and debit cards. The audit said Gogola had been authorized to record or reverse transactions in the school’s ticketing system. He resigned last year. The 44-year-old is being held on $50,000 bond. Jail officials and court records have no information about a defense attorney. A home telephone listing for Gogola is disconnected.

Corning woman arrested on drug and weapons charge

News

December 28th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a a Corning woman was arrested this (Wednesday) morning on a trio of charges. 33-year old Tamara McCoy was taken into custody at around 10:30-a.m., after authorities executed a search warrant at her home. McCoy was charged with being a Felon in Possession of a firearm. She also faces charges which include Possession of Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. McCoy was being held in the Adams County Jail pending a court appearance.

ESPN.com: Big 10, Pac 12 Plan Scheduling Partnership

Sports

December 28th, 2011 by Jim Field

The Pac-12 and Big Ten have agreed to a long-term interconference scheduling “collaboration” that, if successful, could have far-reaching ramifications for both of their memberships.

Likely beginning as early as next year, the Pac-12 and Big Ten are going to significantly reconfigure their future football, basketball and Olympic sports schedules to feature games between their combined 24 member schools.

The conferences will announce their plans later Wednesday.

The cleverly constructed “collaborative effort” provides the Pac-12 and the Big Ten with some of the benefits of expansion without the messiness of exit fees, litigation and the loss of historical rivalries. And from a strategic standpoint, the arrangement could broaden the geographical, television and brand reach of both conferences.

“Rather than go down the road of just trying to add members, we thought this was a way to keep who we were and an increase value for everybody,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told ESPN.com’s Gene Wojciechowski. “It doesn’t mean you can’t expand one day. It seems to us this is an intelligent way to get stronger and do so with zero collateral damage.”

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told ESPN.com that “it’s a flexible approach to achieving some of the benefits of expansion without dealing with some of the other structural issues.”

Details remain fluid, but the probable first phase of the partnership would include increased Pac-12 vs. Big Ten games in men’s and women’s basketball, as well as in Olympic sports. Those changes will begin in the 2012-2013 academic year.

“Part of building our brand is getting our brand around to different places in the country,” Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said Wednesday. “The fact that this is an agreement that will connect a number of different sports, not just football, not just men’s basketball, but many, many of our other Olympic sports and team sports, it’s a great opportunity for us to travel and us to take our teams and our coaches and our brand to other parts of the country (where) ordinarily we wouldn’t be appearing a lot. So I think that’s significant.”

The scheduling transition in football will be slower because of existing non-conference contract commitments. But by the 2017 season, the two conferences are expected to have a full, 12-game Pac-12/Big Ten schedule in place, meaning each Pac-12 team will play a separate Big Ten program on an annual basis.

“We’ve obviously explored the possibility of going beyond 12 (teams),” Scott said. “I’ve been a believer, philosophically, of that if it made sense. Now I don’t see us expanding anytime in the foreseeable future. A lot of what we can do through collaborating with the Big Ten will help us accomplish some of the same things.”

JIM F. RUSH, 65, of Atlantic (12-31-11)

Obituaries

December 28th, 2011 by Jim Field

JIM F. RUSH, 65, of Atlantic died Tuesday, December 27 at his home.  Funeral services for Jim F. Rush will be held on Saturday, December 31 at 10:30 am in the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Atlantic.  Hockenberry Family Care in Atlantic has the arrangements.

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Visitation with the family will be Friday from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the funeral home

Burial will be in the Atlantic Cemetery

Jim Rush is survived by:

Wife: Violet

Son: Randy Rush of Knoxville, TN

2 Daughters: Tammy (Shane) DeBord of Atlantic, Cindy (Jason) Hackwell of Omaha

2 Brothers: Harold (Shirley) Rush of Randolph, Wayne (Barb) Rush of Walnut

3 Sisters: Nancy (Roger) Davis of Atlantic, Elizabeth (Chuck) Goodwater of El Dorado, MO, Marlene (Preston) Duke of Minot, ND

5 Grandchildren

VERA OPAL NIELSEN, 98, of Elk Horn (12-31-11)

Obituaries

December 28th, 2011 by Jim Field

VERA OPAL NIELSEN, 98, of Elk Horn died Wednesday, December 28 at the Salem Lutheran Home in Elk Horn.  Funeral Services for Vera Opal Nielsen will be held on Saturday, December 31 at 11:00 am in the First Baptist Church in Harlan.  Pauley-Jones Funeral Home in Harlan has the arrangements.

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Visitation will be held on Friday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm at the funeral home with the family present from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Burial in the Merrill’s Grove Cemetery in Jacksonville

Vera Opal Nielsen is survived by:

Son: Norlan (Juanita) Nielsen of Chariton

Daughter: Nadine (Richard) Mortensen of Audubon

7 Grandchildren

14 Great-Grandchildren

Cass County Salvation Army donations nearly double those in 2010

News

December 28th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Officials with the Cass County Salvation Army’s Bell ringing campaign report Red Kettle donations this year were nearly double those received last year. Bell ringing campaign Co-Chair Teresa Kanning says donations this year amounted to $11,176. Last year’s campaign brought in $5,827.

The campaign began in mid-November, and wrapped-up the day before Christmas. All proceeds from the donations stay in Cass County, for various Salvation Army-related programs.

State audit finds theft in UNI ticket office

Sports

December 28th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

A special investigation by State Auditor Dave Vaudt (Vowdt) found several improper transactions by the former assistant director of the University of Northern Iowa’s “UNItix” ticket office. University officials contacted the auditor after someone called and said they had not received the athletic tickets they purchased. Vaudt says the audit by his office found that John Gogola was taking money that was meant for things like theater and football tickets. “He did it primarily by issuing refunds to his own personal credit card, almost 17-thousand dollars was issued to his personal credit card to take money from other accounts,” Vaudt explained. Gogola left the Cedar Falls School in August of 2010 before the problem was discovered. Vaudt says there could be more improper transactions, but it was hard to sort through all the information.

“He went through a very complicated scheme where actually we found almost 300 improper transactions that he posted, he kept switching from one account to another account,” Vaudt says. He says there were a few people who lost about 13-hundred dollars of their money from the transactions. The audit covered August 2008 through August 2010. Vaudt says Gogola did bring in a personal check for nearly one-thousand dollars after he had left U-N-I and other employees called him and questioned about one of the transactions. Vaudt made some suggestions to U-N-I to improve their system to avoid future problems.

Those suggestions included segregating the duties in the ticket office to ensure oversight, and he suggested the university look at its system to ensure that ticket pricing is entered correctly and that voided and returned tickets are handled appropriately. U-N-I issued a statement saying the school is contacting anyone who may’ve lost money and will mail them checks to cover the stolen funds. The university statement also said it will seek restitution from Gogola, and has already instituted most of the recommendations made by the auditor. The results of the audit have been turned over to the University’s Department of Public Safety, the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Black Hawk County Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office. 

(Radio Iowa)

Backyard and Beyond 12-28-2011

Backyard and Beyond, Podcasts

December 28th, 2011 by admin

Lavon Eblen talks about will power.

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CO man arrested on drug charges after traffic stop on I-80 in Cass Co.

News

December 28th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

A traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Cass County Tuesday afternoon resulted in the recovery of marijuana, a weapon, and the arrest of a man from Colorado. Sgt. Marty McCreedy with Iowa State Patrol in Council Bluffs told KJAN News Trooper Wayne Brosam stopped a 1992 Lincoln Towncar for speeding on I-80 eastbound near the Anita exit, just before 4-p.m., Tuesday.

MCreedy says the Trooper saw indicators of illegal activity and searched the vehicle after receiving permission from the driver. During the search, Brosam discovered nearly 3 pounds of marijuana and a 45-caliber revolver. The driver of the car, 32-year old Keogh Rash, of Edgewater, CO, was taken into custody on charges of Possession with the Intent to Deliver, Prohibited Acts, and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp.

Rash was brought to the Cass County Jail and later released on $5,000 bond.

8AM Sportscast 12-28-2011

Podcasts, Sports

December 28th, 2011 by admin

w/ Jim Field

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