w/ Ric Hanson

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Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says the Postal Service’s decision to delay closing all offices until May of next year isn’t just a move that will delay the inevitable. Braley says Congress has been working on changing the way the Postal Service funds its retirement system to allow them to save BILLIONs of dollars, and that’s why he favors delaying the closings. 

“I think in this case the moratorium on making decisions will allow congress more time to try to address the problems facing the Postal Service in a meaningful way,” Braley says. The congressman has backed a bill by a colleague on revamping the postal retirement system and he says the U-S Senate is also considering action as well.

“I think that the impact of congressional action between now and the date when the Postal Service has decided to postpone its decision making will at least inform the decisions of the Postal Service on what type of action it needs to take,” Braley says. Braley says his questioning of the Postmaster General makes him confident the Postal Service is looking at several options to revamp its business once the pension issue is settled. “I think they have a lot of ideas that they are prepared to implement, some of which are good and some of which are not, but they haven’t just been sitting there idly, they are preparing to deal with the realities of their funding,” according to Braley. 

There are 178 post offices in Iowa that are on the current list for possible closure. Locally, that includes those facilities in: Brayton, Cumberland, Grant, Kimballton, and Lewis. Braley and the rest of the Iowa Congressional delegation all asked the Postal Service to delay the closings, as did Governor Terry Branstad. 

(Radio Iowa)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The founder of a Nebraska hedge fund and his wife are donating $5 million to the University of Iowa to benefit finance students and Hawkeye football players.The university announced Wednesday that Curtis and Carol Lane of Omaha made the gift, which UI President Sally Mason called a “creative, forward-looking act of generosity.” She said the Lanes have been some of the UI’s biggest fans and most effective champions.About $1 million of the money will endow an existing fund named in their honor that supports business faculty members who provide practical learning opportunities for UI finance students. Another $2 million will endow a scholarship fund for undergraduate finance majors, with preference given to military veterans.The final $2 million will endow a scholarship fund for Hawkeye football players.

Council Bluffs (AP) — Rick Perry is turning to his military service as a selling point to voters looking for a veteran in the Republican presidential campaign. The Texas governor is looking for a second wind, with mere weeks until Iowa starts the nominating process with its January 3rd caucuses. Perry is lagging in the polls, and is working hard to recapture the fervor of his August entry into the race.

Heading into today’s (Thursday’s) debate in Sioux City, Perry is expected to highlight his service. He is looking to use his record to tap into veterans, older voters who helped Sen. John McCain win the nomination in 2008. The only other military veteran in the GOP race is Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber says while an investigation is still underway in connection with a single-vehicle accident that claimed the life of a Shelby Firefighter on I-80 in September, it does not appear the driver of the vehicle will face any charges. The Iowa State Patrol is beginning to wrap up its investigation into the crash, during which firefighter Michael Collins died, as he was directing traffic around an accident on Interstate 80, near Shelby. Wilber told the Omaha World-Herald, that unless the report on the investigation shows that the driver of the car, 43-year old David L. Thies, of Ames, Iowa, did something reckless, which authorities do not expect, the only thing he’ll likely get, is a traffic ticket.

The 41-year old Collins, was killed September 18th, as he was standing in the left lane of I-80 directing traffic. The Iowa State Patrol says a Honda Accord driven by Thies, went around slowed traffic and struck Collins. Matt Wilber said he is awaiting the results of the State Patrol’s more detailed technical investigation, to be completed in the next few weeks, before determining if any charges will be filed.

Collins’ family hopes something turns up. They think something needs to be done. One of his brothers, 36-year old Al Fenderson, told the paper “To me, that’s just not something you just write somebody a ticket for, especially when you take somebody’s life. There needs to be some sort of punishment besides the ticket.”

But according to Pott County Attorney Matt Wilber, an overtly reckless act — such as drunken driving or drag racing — is necessary in order to file a charge like motor vehicle homicide. Neither of those instances can be proven in this case, he says. The accident that claimed Collins’ life marked the second time Thies had been involved in a fatal crash.

In 1988, he was riding a motorcycle near Axtell, Neb., when it crashed in an incident authorities said involved alcohol. Thies’ passenger, 20-year old Gina Pearson, of Kearney, was killed. Thies served 17 months for motor vehicle homicide, according to Nebraska Department of Correctional Services records.

Wilber said he was aware of the incident but said it has no bearing on the Collins investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The value of Iowa farmland is up 32.5 percent from last year to a record of over $6,700 an acre. An annual survey by Iowa State University also shows the percentage increase breaks a 38-year-old record of 31 percent set in 1973. The survey released today (Wednesday) shows the average price rose from $5,064 an acre to $6,708 an acre from November 2010 to last month. Before this year the previous high average, adjusted for inflation, had been $5,770 per acre in 1979,

ISU economist Mike Duffy, who conducts the survey, says farmland values have surged along with the surge in commodity prices and farm incomes. O’Brien County in northwest Iowa has the highest average value at $9,513 an acre, up 33 percent.

An Atlantic organization dedicated to supporting the Atlantic Animal Shelter has announced it is disbanding, and will no longer accept funding. Former members of “The Friends of the Atlantic Animal Shelter” say they will no longer exist as an auxiliary to the shelter. The group thanks its past supporters and suggests persons donate funds for the shelter to the City of Atlantic.

The funds should be earmarked for use at the Animal Shelter only. Any donations received by the Friends staff will be forwarded to the City fund.

In an update to a story we reported on Wednesday, the Iowa State Patrol says a Nevada woman suffered burns to her hands when the vehicle she was driving caught fire as it was traveling east on Interstate 80 in Cass County. Sgt. Martin McCreedy with the State Patrol’s District 3 office in Council Bluffs, told KJAN News the driver of a 2001 Subaru 4-door wagon, Lori Barrington was transporting several animals in her vehicle, when the flames broke out at around 11:40-a.m., Wednesday.

The Cass County Communications Center received calls about the vehicle being on-fire, with the driver apparrently unaware of what was happening. Barrington did eventually notice the flames. She pulled-over near the Wiota exit (64-mile marker), and was trying to get the animals out, when she was burned. Sgt. McCreedy says some of the animals also suffered burns. The animals were transported to the Audubon-Manning Veterinary Clinic Audubon.

Dr. Kate Hoffman, DVM at the Vet Center, says two cats and a bird died in the fire. A second cat suffered suffered some burns but was in stable condition. Another cat, and a dog were in shock, but reported to be in good condition. Barrington was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic. A report on her condition is not available.

When authorities arrived on the scene, the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames, and was a total loss. The Iowa DOT said eastbound I-80 was blocked while the vehicle was on-fire, while the left-hand lane of I-80 westbound was blocked by emergency equipment. The road was re-opened to traffic about an hour after emergency personnel arrived on the scene.

A political figure from Nebraska suggests teaming up with Iowa and other states in the Missouri River basin to create a new panel that would control the waterway. Record flooding of the river this summer caused tens of millions of dollars damage, much of it in western Iowa. Former Governor and Senator Bob Kerrey suggests the states take back the power from the federal government, but it would likely take an act of Congress. “We need a federal law that gives those basin states authority over quality and quantity of that stream flow and have to debate it,” Kerrey says. “The representatives of the commission would have to debate what they’re going to do.”

Kerrey says another Nebraska U-S Senator, Hugh Butler, proposed creating a commission of the ten Missouri River basin states back in the 1950s. “It doesn’t produce an environment where there aren’t conflicts but it allows them to be resolved,” he says. According to Kerrey, the panel proposal would give the states the opportunity to protect residents while fully developing the river’s economic potential. Kerrey says this year re-emphasized that too often we take the Missouri River too lightly and we can’t — or shouldn’t — try to tame it.  “This is the longest river in America and it’s impossible, and I’d go further, it’s not desirable to me,” Kerrey says. “If you say to me, ‘I could engineer out all the variability of this river,’ that is not desirable to me. If you engineer all the variability out and it basically becomes an engineering project, not a river.” 

Kerrey sees protecting wildlife habitats along the Missouri River not just as an environmental issue, but an economic one. Discussion about restoring habitat along the Missouri often centers on only protecting endangered species, but he insists protecting habitat could be a financial benefit. “I’m 100% confident what would add economic value is a consequence of increased hunting, increased fishing, increased recreational efforts,” Kerrey says. “It’s also a great educational opportunity. The more modern and more developed we get, the more cut off we get from species other than our own and domesticated animals.” Kerrey won the Medal of Honor for his actions while serving with the Navy SEALS in Vietnam. He was governor of Nebraska in the mid-1980s and a U-S senator for that state from 1989 to 2001. He also ran for president as a Democrat in 1992. 

(Radio Iowa)

In an effort this morning to persuade the Cass County Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustees to hold on to the Behavioral Health Unit (BHU), a suggestion was made by CADCO spokesman Hal Gronewold, to have the hospital apply to the Department of Human Services, to become one of a handful of regional mental health centers in the State. Gronewold said Atlantic has a lot to offer, as far as infrastructure, local and in-patient/outpatient services. By applying to the DHS, he says it’s possible the center could be located in Atlantic. Dr. John Bigelow, with the Southwest Iowa Mental Health System, clarified, by saying any regional center would primarily be for outpatient services, which is different than what the BHU currently offers. 

The new way of delivering mental health and disability services across Iowa has been studied for months, and the five-year plan will come before the legislature for review in the upcoming session. It calls for spending 47-million dollars for a complete system redesign. The idea is to move from separate systems in each of Iowa’s 99 counties to a regional system. Rik Shannon, with the Iowa Development Disabilities Council, says the idea has some people with disabilities concerned about convenience, in terms of accessing the services they need.  He says “Without having a clear idea what that regional system may look like, many people with disabilities worry about losing, for instance, the local points of access that currently exist.”

Supporters of a regional system say it would be more efficient in delivering services and more cost-effective. And Shannon points out that now, not all types of services are available in each county. He says “If we have crisis intervention services that are currently unavailable in a lot of areas of the state, then if we can get that early intervention to people, we could avoid more costly interventions that might occur later.

Under the current county system, he adds, there is a wide variance in quality and availability of services, because funding comes from local property taxes. If a redesigned system is passed by the Legislature, it would take about five years to put into place.

(Shannon’s comments are courtesy the Iowa News Service)