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Iowa Girl Gets Tebow Jersey After Prom

Sports

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

KINGSLEY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa high school senior who took a cardboard cutout of Tim Tebow to her prom at Kingsley-Pierson High School has received a signed jersey from the NFL quarterback. Rachel Bird decided the Tebow cutout was a better date than no date for last month’s prom. FRS, an energy drink company Tebow endorses, heard about Bird’s “date.” Bird told The Sioux City Journal  that the company emailed her and said a signed Tebow jersey was on the way. It arrived on Friday. Bird says she was surprised by all the attention but is focusing on a more important task. She has a speech to deliver on Sunday as the valedictorian for her class of 28 students.

Cubs Place Marmol on DL with Injured Hamstring

Sports

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Chicago Cubs placed right-hander Carlos Marmol on the 15-day disabled list because of an injured hamstring. The Cubs made the move Saturday and called up righty Casey Coleman from Triple-A Iowa. Marmol was hurt Friday night while pitching during the seventh inning in a game against Milwaukee. He returned to Chicago to have an MRI, which revealed the injury. Marmol is 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA in 15 games this season. “He was really sore when he was walking out last night and it seemed to actually be getting worse,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. Coleman was 2-3 with a 3.48 ERA in seven appearances at Iowa, including six starts. He is expected in Milwaukee on Saturday, but not in time for the first pitch against the Brewers.

Don Nelson an Iowa Graduate 50 Years Later

Sports

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Hall of Fame basketball coach Don Nelson returned to the University of Iowa on Saturday to receive his bachelor’s degree in physical education, 50 years after leaving school for the NBA. Nelson left school in 1962 needing to finish eight hours of Spanish and a student-teaching requirement. Meanwhile, Nelson took classes as a player with the Celtics and coach in Golden State. This year, the university finally agreed to waive his student-teaching requirement because of Nelson’s three-plus decades coaching in the NBA. Nelson, the all-time winningest coach in NBA history with 1,355 wins, says it’s never too late to get a degree. He said he was inspired to get his degree by Shaquille O’Neal, who recently went back to LSU and got his degree.

Update on plane crash: Muscatine man dies on KS to Council Bluffs flight

News

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

(updated 5:44-p.m. Saturday) CHANUTE, Kan. (AP) — A small airplane that crashed in southeast Kansas on Friday was carrying five people with connections to Oral Roberts University to a Christian youth rally in Council Bluffs. The Kansas Highway Patrol reported four of the passengers died and one was badly injured. The fatalities are identified as pilot Luke Sheets, of Ephraim, Wis., Austin Anderson, of Ringwood, Okla., Garrett Coble, of Tulsa, Okla., and Stephen Luth, of Muscatine, Iowa.

Hanna Luce, of Garden Valley, Texas, was hospitalized in critical condition. The recent graduate is the daughter of Oral Roberts trustee Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania Ministries, which was sponsoring this weekend’s Acquire the Fire rally in Council Bluffs.

Oral Roberts President Mark Rutland is asking the university community to pray for Luce and remember those who were killed. He says Luth, Sheets and Anderson were recent graduates, and Coble was a former business instructor at the school.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the twin-engine Cessna 401 went down Friday afternoon northwest of Chanute, Kan., and caught fire. The NTSB says the plane lost contact with air traffic control after getting permission to descend to a lower altitude.

The Tulsa World reports a fifth person, also an Oral Roberts graduate, was badly injured when the twin-engine Cessna crashed about 4:30 p.m. Friday northwest of Chanute. The Kansas Highway Patrol identifies the victims as 23-year-old Luke Sheets of Ephraim, Wis., who was flying the plane; 27-year-old Austin Anderson of Ringwood, Okla.; 29-year-old Garrett Coble of Tulsa, Okla.; and 22-year-old Stephen Luth of Muscatine, Iowa. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson says the eight-seat plane departed left Tulsa headed to Council Bluffs, and lost contact with air traffic control shortly after getting permission to descend to a lower altitude.

Jill Biden says time for Iowans to elect woman

News

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The wife of Vice President Joe Biden says it past time for Iowans to elect a woman to a top post. Jill Biden says 14 Democratic women have run for governor or federal office but none has been elected. She’s says those positions could benefit from a woman’s perspective. Biden spoke Saturday at a private fundraiser in Des Moines for Christie Vilsack, the wife of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Mrs. Vilsack is challenging Republican incumbent Steve King for the re-organized and expanded 4th Congressional District in 2013. King has served five terms representing the current 5th Congressional District. The Des Moines Register reports that about 320 people attended the event, which also honored Iowa women in politics.

Highway guard cables help prevent crashes in Iowa

News

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) — Authorities say cable barriers on stretches of the interstates in Iowa are helping with highway safety. The barriers began going up about two years ago to stop vehicles from crossing the median into oncoming traffic. The Gazette in Cedar Rapids reports police and highway officials believe the cables are paying off. Cathy Culter, of the Iowa Department of Transportation, says the cables are designed to bring vehicles to a halt in the median. She says cable-barrier collisions tend to be less violent than those involving conventional solid-steel guard rails, with fewer injuries. The department’s five-year plan calls for cables along 210 miles of interstates 80 and 380 by 2015. The project will cost nearly $14 million, or $66,000 a mile.

17 Iowa schools take part in kids’ gardening pilot

Ag/Outdoor, News

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

Officials with what’s called the People’s Garden school pilot project toured 17 locations across Iowa this week, where schoolhouse gardens are being created as a way to improve nutrition and tackle childhood obesity. One stop was the garden at Sunset Heights Elementary School in Webster City. Janet Toering, with the Iowa State University Extension, complimented the students’ efforts and says there are multiple goals. Toering says, “We’re looking at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, more physical activities, getting kids outdoors, increasing their STEM skills — science, technology, engineering and math — in the classrooms with lessons, outdoors with gardening and healthy snacks.”

Students in three other states are taking part in the pilot project: Washington, New York and Arkansas. The eventual goal is to go nationwide with the program. Brad Gaolach is director of the Washington State University Extension Service, based in Tacoma. Gaolach says he likes what he’s seeing in Iowa. “We’ve got raised beds planted and stuff growing so it’s looking like a great start to this pilot project,” Gaolach says. “As I’ve seen in other schools, clearly it looks like the teachers and the principals and everybody’s very engaged in this program.” 

A total of three-thousand Iowa elementary students are participating in the school garden project. Several southwest Iowa area schools taking also taking part in the project, including the following rural districts: Lenox Community School District in Taylor County; the Afton/East Union District in Union County; Mt. Ayr Community Schools in Ringgold County. And, among the “urban” districts taking part in the program is: Walnut Grove (Council Bluffs), West Pottawattamie County; and Rue (Council Bluffs), in t Pottawattamie County.

Learn more at: “www.extension.iastate.edu/growinginthegarden

(Radio Iowa/Matt Kelley)

8-A.M. Local/State News (podcast), 5-12-2012

News, Podcasts

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

More local, and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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Saturday Sports Podcast, May 12th 2012

Podcasts, Sports

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

National and Local Sports News, with KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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7-a.m. Local News (podcast), Saturday May 12 2012

News, Podcasts

May 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

The latest area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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