The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson
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The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.5MB)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The world’s oldest and most experienced spacewoman has just set another record, this time for spacewalking. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson floated out on the eighth spacewalk of her career Thursday morning, 250 miles up at the International Space Station. That’s the most spacewalks ever performed by a woman. Whitson is a southwest Iowa native. She hails from Beaconsfield, in Ringgold County.
Whitson and her spacewalking partner, Shane Kimbrough, need to complete prep work on a docking port. Kimbrough disconnected the port during a spacewalk last Friday. Flight controllers in Houston moved it to a new location Sunday. It will serve as a parking spot for future commercial crew capsules.
Midway through Thursday’s spacewalk, Whitson will surpass the current record for women of 50 hours and 40 minutes of total accumulated spacewalking time.
The 57-year-old Whitson has been in orbit since November.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Polk County Jail inmates are exploring the internet, watching movies and contacting loved ones through a pilot project that gives them access to tablet computers. The Des Moines Register reports that Telmate, a Fruitland, Idaho-based company, is providing 97 tablets free to the jail. The company owns them and collects from three to five cents a minute directly from the inmates’ jail commissary accounts.
The inmates have spent about 30,000 minutes a day since the tablets were distributed to jail cellblocks March 9. The company says studies show the more inmates stay connected, the less likely they are to reoffend. The assistant jail administrator, Cory Williams, says the inmates must follow jail rules if they want to maintain access to the tablets.
Iowa State defensive end J.D. Waggoner says what the Cyclone defense lacks in experience it makes up for in talent a depth. Eight players with starting experience are gone from last year’s defense, including three on the defensive line.
Waggoner started the first seven games before suffering a season ending shoulder injury against Baylor. He has returned to practice but will not be involved in full contact this spring.
Waggoner says an influx of talented, young players will create more competition for playing time.
Iowa State’s spring game is April 8.
(Learfield Sports)
Developing talent on the defensive line has never been a problem for the Iowa football program but developing depth has been. The Hawkeyes must replace defensive tackles Jaleel Johnson and Faith Ekakite off last year’s team that finished 8-5.
That’s Iowa defensive line coach Reese Morgan who says while Iowa won’t change its 4-3 alignment on defense that may have to get more creative with their calls.
Morgan says a veteran offensive line will help the defensive front make progress during spring drills.
One option is moving defensive end Matt Nelson to tackle. The Cedar Rapids native was working at both spots before suffering a foot injury. Morgan feels he will be effective inside despite his six foot-eight inch frame.
Iowa’s spring game is April 21st.
(Learfield Sports)
Today: Cloudy w/a chance of light rain or drizzle, mainly this morning. High 48. N @ 10-20.
Tonight: Partly to Mostly Cloudy. Low 36. N @ 5-10.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy to Cldy. High 53. NE @ 10.
Saturday: Mo. Cloudy w/a 50% chance of rain during the afternoon. High 57.
Sunday: Mo. Cldy w/rain ending. High 52.
Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 46. Our Low this morning was 41. We received nearly .7 of an inch of rain from 7-a.m. Wed. thru 7-a.m today [.68”]. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 73 and the low was 44. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 87 in 1968. The Record Low was 8 in 1964.
JOHN “JACK” GEOPFERT, 80, of Panora, died Tue., March 28th, at home. Cremation has taken place, and private family graveside service for JOHN “Jack” Geopfert will be held in the Iowa Veterans Cemetery near Van Meter, at a later date. Twigg Funeral Home in Panora is in charge of the arrangements.
There is no visitation.
JOHN “Jack” GEOPFERT is survived by:
His Wife – Sherry Geopfert, of Panora.
His children – Gary (Lynda) Geopfert, of Panora; Brad (Sandy) Geopfert, of Lawton, OK., and Kelli Geopfert, of Oklahoma City, OK.
His step-children: Jodi (Jerry) Landry, of Panora; Carin (Andy) Bassett, of West Des Moines, and Jay (Veronica) Landals, of Des Moines.
His sister – Pat Ibison, of Greenwood, AR.
His brother – Bill Geopfert, of Ft. Smith, AR.
23 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a Pottawattamie County man was arrested Wednesday night in Red Oak, on a valid Pott. County warrant for Probation Violation. 42-year old Justin Wade Woods, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody at around 7:15-p.m., in the 1500 block of N. Broadway, in Red Oak. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
The Iowa House and Senate have approved a bill that could make it easier for an All-terrain vehicle to get from point A to point B when there’s a public highway in between. A-T-Vs will not be able to join the cars, pick-ups and semis that drive DOWN any “primary” highway in the state if the bill becomes law, but the legislation would let many all-terrain vehicles drive ACROSS a highway. Under current law, city and county officials may get a permit from the state Department of Transportation to establish A-T-V crossings at specific points along a primary highway. This bill does away with that process. Senator Dan Zumbach of Ryan says A-T-V drivers will be able to cross any primary highway in the state under certain circumstances.
“The crossing has to be made at 90 degrees. 2. The ATV is brought to a complete stop before it crosses. 3. The driver yields to all oncoming traffic. 4. The crossing is made at an intersection of the highway and another street or highway and 5. the crossing is made at a street designed for an ATV trail,” Zumbach says. Zumbach says the bill could provide an economic boost to the state.
“This is bringing together many of the ATV trails that have tried to survive and move forward in the state of Iowa,” Zumbach says. “And it’s just one step to make that economy spin even larger.” Representative Scott Ourth, a Democrat from Ackworth, says it could reduce travel time for some farmers, too.
“I know those who haul feed back and forth and now will be able to simply cross the road rather than go some long, circuitous route to get to their feedlot across some road somewhere,” Ourth says. The proposal has cleared the House and the Senate unanimously this month. It’s now up the governor to decide if the bill becomes law.
(Radio Iowa)
Republicans on a House committee have tabled a proposal to ban abortions at about the sixth week of a pregnancy, after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. Instead, Republicans in the Iowa House are pursuing a ban on abortions after the 20th week of a pregnancy, unless the mother’s life or health are endangered. Representative Joel Fry of Osceola, the Republican who leads the House Human Resources Committee: “‘This is the piece of legislation we have consensus on.” The bill cleared the committee last night with the support of 11 of the 12 Republicans present. Representative Tom Moore of Griswold was the only Republican to vote no.
All eight Democrats in the committee room opposed the bill.Representative Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta, calls the 20-week ban an “incremental” approach. “This gives us a way to dial back some of the concerns that we have and start saving lives immediately,” Lundgren says. “…We’re still moving pro-life legislation…I think that’s important to remember.”
The committee took an abortion ban that cleared the Senate in mid-March, keeping the 20-week threshold, but removing an exception that would have allowed abortions after 20 weeks if the fetus had a fatal condition. Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, a Democrat from Ames, says there was just too much “push back” against the more restrictive abortion ban, plus under that OTHER bill, parents could have sued their adult daughters for getting an abortion.
“What century do we live in?” Wessel-Kroeschell asked, with a laugh. “So I think the message got out.” The House Human Resources Committee met last (Wednesday) night to debate the proposal. Wessel-Kroeschell led the Democratic opposition. “Although the bill is improved, it is in no way accepted to Iowa, Iowans and Iowa women,” she said. Tom Chapman of the Iowa Catholic Conference says the church had concerns about the now-tabled abortion ban based on when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
“We’re interested in passing a bill that will be effective and has the best chance of standing up in court,” Chapman says. “A 20-week bill has been passed in many different states…and I think that’s a good place for Iowa to start.” Iowans for Life executive director Maggie DeWitte would like to see legislators declare that life begins at conception and that could be basis for a legal challenge of the Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion.
“However, we don’t have any opposition to incremental change and hope to see something go forward,” DeWitte says. Erin Davison-Rippey of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland says the bill Republicans have now crafted still could endanger in vitro fertilization and outlaw some forms of contraception. “Iowans do not support these extreme measures,” Davison-Rippey says. It’s unclear when this issue may be debated in the full, 100-member House.
(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)
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