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Iowa regents head blasts U. Iowa for ‘breakdowns’

News, Sports

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Board of Regents President Craig Lang says the University of Iowa is not doing enough to protect students and employees from sexual misconduct in light of the resignation of a former athletics department counselor. Lang said Wednesday during a board meeting that the regents overhauled campus policies after a high-profile assault case involving Iowa football players in 2007.

Lang said one change required employees to participate in sexual misconduct training, and Iowa’s handling of the Peter Gray case shows the school “is not doing a good enough job in this area.” Lang says he expects the university will address “the obvious breakdowns” the case exposed. Gray resigned last month after he was accused of improperly touching athletes for years, conduct that allegedly dated back to the 1990s.

Posted in News, Sports |

Iowa early News Headlines: Thu., Dec. 6th 2012

News

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say hunters have found bodies believed to be two young Iowa cousins who disappeared while riding their bikes in July. Black Hawk County sheriff’s Captain Rick Abben said during a news conference yesterday that the bodies were found Wednesday afternoon, though he wouldn’t say where. Eleven-year-old Lyric Cook and 9-year-old Elizabeth Collins vanished July 13th near Meyers Lake in Evansdale, about 110 miles northeast of Des Moines. About 70 people gathered at the lake last night to mourn the girls.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Democratic Party’s top two leaders are stepping down. Sue Dvorsky and Norm Sterzenbach will leave their positions soon to pursue other interests. Dvorsky has been party chairwoman since June 2010 and Sterzenbach has been executive director since December 2006. The Democratic state central committee will choose replacements in January.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Cedar Rapids has removed a key post in its recovery efforts from the city’s historic 2008 flood. The Gazette reports the City Council decided Tuesday to eliminate its flood recovery director post. The position was first filled just over a year after the city’s historic flood in June 2008. The title had expanded to include reinvestment duties.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have identified a man who was fatally struck by a train in downtown Waterloo. Eli Ostby of Cedar Falls died instantly from the accident yesterday afternoon. Police say Ostby walked into the moving train at a crossing on Lafayette Street.

Posted in News |

U-of-I researchers making “surprising” cancer discovery

News

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

A team of University of Iowa researchers has made a “surprising” discovery about cancer cells: they are likely to be tougher than the other cells moving through the blood stream. Michael Henry, a professor in the university’s College of Medicine, is the lead author of the study.  “For many years people have more or less assumed that these (cancer) cells would be very fragile and not able to withstand very high levels of fluid shear stress,” Henry says. “We found that, in fact, although normal cells are fragile and susceptible, the cancer cells exhibit a resistance.” Just like “wind shear” on a plane or a vehicle speeding down the highway, cells in the human body are exposed to “fluid shear” in the blood stream.

Henry says exposure to that kind of “shear stress” seemed to induce a “hardiness” in cancer cells. “What we’ve done so far is work with laboratory-based models. We still need to move our discovery into the clinic and look at real, circulating cancer cells in patients to see if our findings hold,” Henry says. “But what we’ve found so far would suggest that is going to be the case.” This discovery eventually could lead to a blood test that would measure dangerous the cancer might be. “In addition to knowing whether the cancer is going to be dangerous or not, we might be able to take cells out of a patient and very rapidly measure whether they are sensitive or resistant to potential drug therapies without having to look at all of the genes in the cancer,” Henry says.

The research findings were just published in a medical journal and Henry has applied for another grant, specifically to measure cancer cells in melanoma patients.

(Radio Iowa)

Posted in News |

BERNADINE BOWER, 86, of rural Bridgewater (Svcs. 12/12/12)

Obituaries

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

BERNADINE BOWER, 86, of rural Bridgewater, died Wed., Dec. 5th, at her daughters home.  Funeral services for BERNADINE BOWER will be held 10-a.m. Wed., Dec. 12th, at the Cumberland Community Center. Steen Funeral Home in Massena has the arrangements.

Visitation will be held from 2-until 8-p.m. Tue., Dec. 11th at the funeral home, where the family will greet friends from 6- to 8-p.m. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.steenfunerals.com.

Memorials may be made to the Bernadine Bower memorial fund to be established by the family.

Burial is in the Massena Center Cemetery, north of Massena.

BERNADINE BOWER is survived by:

Her husband – Byron Bower.

Her children – Dwight Bower and wife Joyce of Massena; Lisa Karas and husband Galen of Fontanelle; Lynnette Hamedi and husband Reza of Auburn, Washington and Dallas Bower and wife Cheri of Sedro-Wooley, Washington.

Her sister – Mavis Klepfer of Council Bluffs.

Her brothers – Daniel Darrow and wife Nancy of Council Bluffs, and Bill Darrow and wife Nancy of Summerfield, FL.

12 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends.

Posted in Obituaries |

Chiefs players head to Belcher memorial service

Sports

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Several players for the Kansas City Chiefs attended a memorial service for teammate Jovan Belcher, who killed his girlfriend and then fatally shot himself in the head. Belcher killed 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins on Saturday at the home they shared in Kansas City with their 3-month-old daughter. He then drove to the Chiefs practice facility at Arrowhead Stadium, where he killed himself in front of team officials, who pleaded with him to put down his gun.

Retired Chiefs Hall of Famer Bobby Bell said after the private hour-long service that general manager Scott Pioli, who witnessed Belcher’s suicide, spoke during the service. Bell said an uncle of Belcher also spoke. The service was held at a church that Belcher and Perkins attended. Several other Chiefs players declined comment after the service.

Posted in Sports |

Daughter of Chiefs player to receive windfall

Sports

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The estate or guardian of the infant of the Chiefs player who killed her mother before turning a gun on himself will receive more than $1 million under terms of the NFL’s collective-bargaining agreement. Jovan Belcher’s 3-month-old daughter, Zoey, stands to receive $108,000 annually over the next four years, $48,000 in the fifth year and then $52,000 each year until age 18. She’ll continue to receive that amount until age 23 if she attends college.

The beneficiary of Belcher, who was in his fourth season, also will receive $600,000 in life insurance, plus $200,000 for each credited season. There is also $100,000 in a retirement account that will go to his beneficiary or estate. Players’ beneficiaries are kept confidential. The current collective bargaining agreement was ratified in August 2011.

Posted in Sports |

Northern Iowa rolls past Northern Colorado 76-59

Sports

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Jake Koch scored 17 points, Seth Tuttle added 14 and Northern Iowa never trailed Wednesday in a 76-59 victory over Northern Colorado. Koch added seven rebounds and was 6 of 8 from the field. Marc Sonnen chipped in 12 points for the Panthers (5-3), who improved to 5-0 at home. Nate Buss, who scored a career-high 17 points against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday, had just five in this one. Tevin Svihovec had 16 points and Paul Garnica scored 15 off the bench for the Bears (1-5), who lost their fifth straight.

A 16-0 first-half run put Northern Iowa ahead 27-6 halfway through the period. Buss made a 3-pointer before Nate Bohannon hit two from long range, and Koch capped the run with a three-point play. The Panthers led 40-29 at halftime and increased that advantage to as many as 25 in the second half. UNI shot 52 percent from the field.

Posted in Sports |

St. Mary’s (Cal) beats Drake 88-73

Sports

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Matthew Dellavedova scored 31 points, leading five players in double-figures, to give Saint Mary’s (Cal) to a 88-73 win over Drake on Wednesday night. Dellavedova was 10 of 14 from the field, including four 3-pointers, and 7 of 8 at the free throw line. He also had seven assists for the Gaels (6-2). James Walker III scored 14 points and had nine rebounds and five steals. Beau Levesque scored 14 points. Brad Waldow had 12 points and eight rebounds. Page added 10.

The Gaels shot 30 of 54 (55.6 percent) from the field for the game. They were 85 percent at the free throw line. St. Mary’s led 47-33 at halftime. The Bulldogs shot 21 of 51 (41 percent) from the field for the game. Jeremy Jeffers scored a career-high 16 points for Drake (3-4). Seth VanDeest added 15 and Ben Simons had 11. Jordan Clarke had five rebounds.

Posted in Sports |

Residents hold vigil to recall missing Iowa girls

News

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Dozens of people gathered for a candlelight vigil for two Iowa cousins who disappeared in July, just hours after investigators announced that hunters had found two bodies in a wooded area. The vigil was held Wednesday night at a lake in Evansdale where investigators had found the bicycles belonging to 9-year-old Elizabeth Collins and 11-year-old Lyric Cook.

Some of the roughly 70 people attending the prayer vigil were holding out hope that the bodies weren’t those of the cousins. Others seemed resigned to the tragic news. Barb Collins, of nearby Waterloo, says the community is grieving. Black Hawk County sheriff’s Capt. Rick Abben says the girls’ families were told about the two bodies and are asking for privacy. The bodies will be identified by the state medical examiner’s office.

Posted in News |

Glenwood man arrested on burglary charge

News

December 5th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

Sheriff’s Officials in Mills County said Wednesday that a Glenwood man was arrested Tuesday morning on a burglary charge. 33-year old Dean Stephen Kinart was arrested on a warrant for Burglary in the 3rd degree. He was taken into custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail just before 9-a.m., and was being held on $10,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s office reports also, no one was injured during a rollover accident early Sunday morning, about 3.5-miles northwest of Glenwood. Authorities say 21-year old Mitchell Moore, of Glenwood, was driving a 2004 Chevy on Elrod Road at around 1:40-a.m., when dense fog obscured his vision and deer on the roadway. When Moore swerved to miss the animals, his vehicle entered a ditch and rolled onto its side before landing on its wheels. Moore was able to drive the vehicle from the scene. The Sheriff’s Office was notified by Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs the driver of the the vehicle (Moore) and a passenger (Dalton Sacca) came to the facility a little over 7 hours later in private vehicles. Moore reported the accident to the Mills County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, at around 2:15-p.m. Moore was subsequently cited for Failure to Maintain Control.

And, last Saturday, 26-year old Kyle O’Banion, of Glenwood, escaped injury after the 2011 Dodge he was driving went out of control on a curve and entered a ditch before continuing up a hill through the ditch and rolling once. The accident happened at around 2:15-a.m., about 9-miles southeast of Glenwood, on Pease Road, just south of Levi Road.

 

Posted in News |