The Griswold girls basketball team was awarded a $500 prize for the student government program as part of the Iowa Pride Challenge.  The “Hoops 4 Hounds: A Fight Against Type 1 Diabetes” program placed in the top five of the Iowa Pride Challenge, an effort to promote positive opportunities for Iowa students to have a positive impact in their communities.  The top prize of $1000 was given to Fort Madison.  Central Clinton, Mason City and Fairfield were awarded $500 prizes along with Griswold.  More than 90 schools statewide participated in the challenge.  Click the attachment below to see more details.

PrideChallenge_2014_15

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) – The St. Louis Cardinals say ace Adam Wainwright is to make his first spring training start on Saturday against Atlanta. Wainwright sustained a mild abdominal strain early in spring training. He has thrown a pair of bullpen sessions since the injury, including about 40 pitches in a simulated game Monday. Wainwright is to throw another bullpen session on Thursday, and manager Mike Matheny expects him to make 50-60 pitches Saturday.

Matheny said Tuesday that if all goes well, Wainwright would start every five days for the remainder of spring training, a timetable that may allow Wainwright to pitch the major league season opener at the Chicago Cubs on April 5. Wainwright was 20-9 with a 2.38 ERA last year, then underwent offseason elbow surgery to remove cartilage from his throwing elbow. He began the year 12-4 with a 1.83 ERA and started the All-Star Game for the NL, then went 8-5 with a 3.24 ERA.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) – A bankruptcy judge says an arm of casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. can tear up contracts with the Kansas City Chiefs, a Springhill Suites in Louisiana and audio company Monster Inc. that says it feuded with Planet Hollywood performer Britney Spears.

Judge Benjamin Goldgar in Chicago ruled last week Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. would have to try again if it wants to void agreements it has with the New York Mets, The Forum in Los Angeles and a motorcoach company because it didn’t give them enough notice last time. The company filed bankruptcy in January to shed some $10 billion in debt.

The suite for Chiefs games costs $12,000 a month. A sponsorship agreement with the Mets costs $203,000 a month and advertising at The Forum costs $60,000 a month.

Iowa is the third seed in the Oklahoma City Region and Iowa State in the tenth seed in the Albany Region.  The Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament field was announced Monday night.

The Hawkeyes will play 14th seed American University in a first round game Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  The 1:30 game will be broadcast on ESPN 2.  Iowa is 24-7 and American is 24-8.  This is the Hawkeyes 24th trip to the NCAA Tourney and the eighth in a row.

The Cyclones will face 7th seed Dayton in the first round on Friday at 11:00 am at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky in a game broadcast on ESPN 2.  Iowa State is 18-12 and the Flyers are 25-6.

With three Iowa teams in the N-C-A-A basketball tournament, it’s a good bet there are a lot more people interested in tournament pools this year. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals oversees the tourney pools and spokesman David Werning confirms they have been a hot topic since the selection show Sunday. “March is a very strenuous time for our staff because they are constantly answering phone calls from people who want to participate in office pools, who want to show their support for the teams — this year in particular — and also win a little cash on the side. So, it’s a heavy month for us,” Werning says. If you are wondering about your office pool or the tournament pool with your friends and neighbors — Werning says it’s okay.

“In general, Iowa law permits individuals to bet on the tournaments. This means office pools can be organized, other activities associated with the tournament, are all fine,” according to Werning. But, there is a limit on how much cash can be in the pool. “No one can win or lose more then 50 dollars in any 24-hour period. The individuals participating have to be individuals as such, no one can act as an agent for another person, so there is no bookmaking,” Wering says. “The game has to be conducted in a fair and honest manner. And finally — as far as the individual pool activity — anyone can participate, there’s no age limit.” Those rules change however if you want to get into a pool at your local watering hole.

“The establishment has to have a two-year social gambling license. The pool itself can only be conducted per game, so you can’t actually fill out brackets, it can only have a pool for each individual game, it has to be done in a grid format,” Werning explains. “The restrictions on the cost: no participant can wager more than five dollars and no individual can win more than 500 dollars on a single pool.” Unlike individual pools, you must be 21 or older to participate in a pool at a bar or other type of establishment. When it comes to individual pools, the enforcement of them is a little like fireworks — they aren’t going to come after you unless there is a complaint.

“This isn’t something that we really take a lot of interest in as far as doing investigations, recognizing that offices pools are pretty much a way of life during the month of March. If someone does call in and complain, that would be referred to the Division of Criminal Investigation for them to take a look at it. They are our investigatory arm in these cases,” Werning says. With the Panthers, Cyclones and Hawkeyes all in the tournment, Iowans are going to have to decide if they are really in it for the money, or if they are going to fill out those brackets based on their hearts and team loyalty.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa State women will make their ninth-straight N-C-A-A tournament appearance. The 10th-seeded Cyclones will face 7th seeded Dayton in the first round Friday at 11 am in Lexington, Kentucky. Cyclone Coach Bill Fennelly has led the Cyclones to each of their tournament appearances. “You know to get nine in a row in this environment, to be one of ten schools now that can say that….that says a lot about a lot of people, so we’re very proud of it,” Fennelly says.

He says it also says a lot about the university. Playing in Lexington means they will not be that far away from the mens’ team which plays in Louisville on Thursday. “The very first text message I got was from Fred (Hoiberg), who said ‘let’s go take over Kentucky,’ so it’ll be fun. Obviously there might be a few people who get to get over there from Louisville, so that’s exciting,” Fennelly says. He says he doesn’t remember the first selection show, but says each is different.

“You’re always excited, you are always humbled by it, you feel honored that you were selected, now you’ve got to go play,” Fennelly says. “There’s one thing to be in the N-C-Double-A Tournament, there’s another thing to play in the N-C-Double-A Tournament. So now you want to be a part of the greatest sporting event in our country in three weeks, so now let’s go play and see what happens.”

This will be the first meeting between the two schools. Fennelly says he doesn’t know much about Dayton, though he saw them once this year. He says they saw them when they played Iowa earlier in the year and says he doesn’t remember much about them because he was scouting Iowa at the time. He says it was a high-scoring game with the Hawkeyes and they will score a lot.

The winning team will advance to play the winner of the other game, second seeded Kentucky versus 15th seed Tennessee State on Sunday. The Cyclones are one of four teams nationally to make the N-C-A-A Tournament in both men’s and women’s basketball in each of the last four seasons.

(Radio Iowa)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Panthers have announced they’ve signed former Kansas City Chiefs safety Kurt Coleman to a two-year contract. Financial terms of the deal Monday were not released. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Coleman has started 32 games during his five-year NFL career, including three last season with the Chiefs registering 37 tackles and three interceptions. He was a regular starter for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 and 2012. He has 258 career tackles and 10 interceptions for his career.

The 26-year-old Coleman is expected to challenge veteran safety Roman Harper for a starting job. Coleman’s best statistical season came in 2011 with the Eagles when he had 78 tackles and a career-high five interceptions. Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman previously said upgrading the secondary was one of team’s priorities this offseason.

UNDATED (AP) – The Big 12 again has seven teams in the NCAA Tournament. Regular-season champion Kansas is a No. 2 seed, and the No. 3 seeds in three of the four regions are from the Big 12 – tournament champion Iowa State, Oklahoma and Baylor. The league also has the nation’s top cumulative RPI and five top-20 teams in this season’s final AP poll. “We’re arguably the best conference in the country,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said Monday. “Still, we need to validate that with some tournament wins and some teams advancing.”

This is the second year in a row with seven NCAA teams, making the Big 12 the only league that can boast 14 bids in that span. But only Baylor and Iowa State made it past the opening weekend of the tournament last March, then both lost in the Sweet 16.