The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.
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The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.0MB)
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(Radio Iowa) — The lawyers representing a group of players who sued the Multi-State Lottery Association say a settlement payment plan has been reached. The players had filed a class action lawsuit involving the scam by Eddie Tipton — the former I-T director for the Multi-State Lottery Association — who rigged lottery drawings in at least five states so Tipton and his associates could collect the winnings.
The settlement has a fund of four-point-three million dollars to reimburse the cost of losing tickets for a set of drawings between November of 2005 and November 2013. Those who have a claim can go to: LotteryGameSettlement.com. Tipton is serving a 25-year prison sentence for setting up the lottery scam.
(Radio Iowa) — A member of the city council in Keokuk was injured Sunday afternoon when his motorcycle crashed through the front of a Keokuk business. Keokuk Police said it happened at Mark’s Barber Shop on Main Street. Police Chief Dave Hinton said city council member Devon Dade lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into the front window of the building. The barber shop was closed at the time of the crash. Dade was taken to the hospital Keokuk for treatment for what the police chief called non-life threatening injuries.
The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:05-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.
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CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Organizers have announced the end of a memorial snowmobile race on Clear Lake in northern Iowa. The organizers of the Jack Helgren Memorial Race say the event has been discontinued after its 10-year run because members of the original organizational group have decided to retire.
The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that the race is named after Jack Helgren, an area businessman, former snowmobile dealer and avid racer who died in 2009. The two-event featured snowmobile races, a vintage snowmobile show and live music.
The event, historically scheduled in January, was postponed to February this year because of unseasonable temperatures and poor ice conditions. The race was held on the lake ice, and snowmobilers and spectators parked on the ice as well.
AMBER, Iowa (AP) — Liability concerns have been raised about the Hula Hoop Tree that sits alongside a county road in eastern Iowa. The Jones County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss the concerns at the board meeting Tuesday in Anamosa. The discussion could include proposals to move it, tear it down or find another tree or place for the hoops.
FILE – This Oct. 9, 2018 file photo shows hula hoops dangling off the limbs of a tree in Monticello, Iowa. Liability concerns have been raised about the Hula Hoop Tree that sits alongside a county road in eastern Iowa.
The Jones County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss the concerns at the board meeting Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 in Anamosa. The discussion could include proposals to move it, tear it down or find another tree or place for the hoops. (Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad City Times via AP)
Some local folks say the first hula hoop on the tree was blown there during a storm, but there are other, competing versions about what happened. Hundreds of colorful hoops now adorn the dead tree, which has become a quirky landmark that’s drawn visitors from around the Midwest and beyond.
Supervisor Lloyd Eaken worries that the tree is in such bad shape it won’t be able to hold up the weight of the hoops for much longer. County Sheriff Greg Graver says the tree’s location near Amber makes it an unsafe place for motorists to stop.
(Radio Iowa) — Iowa’s secretary of agriculture says the U-S-DA disaster relief package unveiled Monday includes money for southwest Iowa farmers who had stored grain destroyed by this spring’s flooding. According to state officials, farmers in Fremont, Mills and Pottawattamie Counties lost nearly 11 MILLION dollars worth of corn and soybeans when Missouri River floodwaters swamped their grain bins. In some cases, the submerged grain swelled as it spoiled and the walls of the bins ruptured.
Officials estimate more than 11-and-a-half MILLION dollars worth of damage was done to 418 Iowa grain bins this spring. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says Iowa farmers have sustained significant losses from spring weather events. He says the U-S-D-A payments for stored grain that was ruined are welcome relief. The U-S-D-A is also preparing bonus payments for some farmers who could not get their flooded fields planted this spring.
A USDA news release indicates stored-grain payments will be based on 75 percent of the crop’s 2018 value, on the assumption that the grain was harvested last year release. Farmers can begin signing up for the federal disaster aid this Wednesday, September 11, 2019. A news release from Naig’s office included these additional details about a separate batch of USDA payments: “Producers who filed flooding or excess moisture-related prevented planting insurance claims in the calendar year 2019 will receive a supplemental disaster “bonus” payment equal to 10 percent of their prevented planting indemnity. An additional 5 percent prevent plant supplemental disaster bonus payment will be provided to those who purchased harvest price option coverage.”
(Radio Iowa) — The placement of wind turbines has become a hot topic in some areas of the state. There will be a public hearing in Winterset today (Tuesday) on a proposed moratorium banning construction of wind turbines in Madison County for the next 27 months. Last Thursday, Kossuth County’s Board of Supervisors held a public hearing about a proposed wind farm in southeastern Kossuth County. Several people in the crowd asked whether the turbines interfere with television, radio or emergency signals. Tony Wellman, the site manager of an Alliant Energy wind farm in Franklin County, says the company has technicians who can be dispatched to investigate. “To upgrade antennas, different things like that,” Wellman says, “…different processes for different scenarios, whatever that scenario may be, to help eliminate that TV interference.”
Others in the crowd asked Wellman if wind turbines interfere with G-P-S signals used to guide machinery through farm fields. “The Franklin County Wind Farm is 181 turbines…All of those locations are right out in agricultural fields, so they’re planting soybeans, corn, so on under the turbines,” Wellman says. “We have not had one GPS interference on a tractor for those 181 turbines.”
The city council in Wesley passed a resolution last month, asking the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors to change the county’s wind energy ordinance and prevent wind turbines from being placed within two miles of a city.
(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa State University professor of Food Sciences says you should be looking at the food ingredient labels on the food you eat and not just accept what the front of the package says. Ruth Litchfield says there are often a lot of words on the front of the package designed to catch your attention. “Whether they put front and center that it’s a non-G-M-O project certified food item. Or it says it antibiotics free. Or you’ve got that organic symbol on there. A lot of consumers perceive that labeling that those are products that are going to be healthier — and that may or may not be the case,” Litchfield says.
She says you should look for other information on the product. “What you really want to do is turn the product to the side where you have nutrition facts. And if you’re making your choices of what you are purchasing at the grocery store based on health — you want to look at the nutrition facts side. Also looking at the list of ingredients,” Litchfield says. Litchfield says some labeling words carry more weight than they should. “There’s kind of a halo effect when you put organic, or you put non-G-M-O project, or you use the term natural. There’s kind of this halo that this is a healthier food item. And that is not always the case,” according to Litchfield. “You need to be logical and look at those nutrition facts and look at that list of ingredients.”
She points to poultry products as an example when companies say their poultry contains no antibiotics — when in fact no poultry products contain antibiotics because it is against the law to do so. There has been talk of adding country of original labeling to all foods. Litchfield says that could make it more difficult for consumers to sort through. “There’s a lot of information there already that’s a challenge for a lot of consumers,” Litchfield says. “So, we want to keep it simple, but we need to keep it truthful so that they can make the best decision for them.”
Litchfield also works for the I-S-U Extension Office and says they are trying to educate people more on where food comes from. She says the only thing many people know about food is they get it at the grocery store.