COUNCIL BLUFFS – D’Jay Baxter Betts, convicted of Theft 1st Degree and Robbery 2nd Degree in Pottawattamie County, failed to report back to the Council Bluffs Residential Correctional Facility as required the afternoon of July 31, 2023.
Betts is a 29-year-old black male, height 6’1″, and weighs 222 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on July 18, 2023.
Persons with information on Betts’ whereabouts should contact local police.
D’Jay Baxter Betts
IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior quarterback Cade McNamara has been named to the 2023 Maxwell Award Watch List, announced by the Maxwell Football Club on Monday.
The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football.
McNamara (6-foot-1, 205-pounds), a Reno, Nevada, native, will be in his first season with the Hawkeyes after transferring from the University of Michigan. McNamara was a third-team All-Big Ten selection in 2021, starting all 14 games under center, in leading the Wolverines to a Big Ten Championship. McNamara completed 210-of-327 passes for 2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, McNamara appeared in four games as a sophomore in 2020, completing 43-of-71 pass attempts for 425 yards with five touchdowns and zero interceptions.,
The Maxwell Award has been awarded to College Football’s Player of the Year since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert Maxwell for his contributions to the game as a player, sportswriter and official.
The award, in conjunction with the NCFAA, will announce semifinalists on Nov. 13, while finalists for the distinction will be revealed Nov. 28. The winner will be announced Dec. 7, as part of ESPN’s College Football Awards Show.
McNamara and the Hawkeyes open their season against Sept. 2 against Utah State. The sold-out game is set for an 11 a.m. (CT) kickoff.
“Since becoming aware of potential NCAA eligibility issues related to sports wagering by several of our student-athletes in May, Iowa State University has been actively working to address these issues with the involved student-athletes. This process is ongoing and will take time before being completely resolved.
Iowa State cannot comment on any student-athletes’ circumstance or eligibility status. We will, however, continue to support our student-athletes as our compliance staff works with the NCAA to sort out questions surrounding their future eligibility for intercollegiate athletics competition.
“Iowa State Athletics educates its student-athletes, coaches and staff on NCAA rules and State of Iowa law surrounding sports wagering and will continue to emphasize the importance of understanding and adhering to these regulations moving forward.”
The Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association (IHSBCA)’s released a survey that results regarding the status of high school baseball in Iowa. The survey gathers additional information in response to the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s survey conducted earlier this year. 76 percent of IHSBCA members, which include high school baseball coaches and umpires, support high school programs being able to schedule 40 regular season games. In addition, 83 percent support continuing Iowa’s Summer baseball tradition by having the season played from mid-May through late-July. The IHSBCA expects to continue work with its members, member schools, and the Iowa High School Athletic Association to continue to enhance the game of high school baseball for Iowa’s student-athletes.
(Radio Iowa) – The head of the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges has resigned after a little less than a year as chancellor.
Sonya Williams started as chancellor of the Clinton, Muscatine and Scott Community Colleges on August 8th of last year. The board of trustees for the colleges accepted her resignation yesterday (Tuesday) and announced she was leaving for personal reasons.
Williams, an Air Force veteran, was an administrator at the College of Lake County in Illinois and chief academic officer for that school’s 15-thousand students when she was hired for the job in eastern Iowa. The president of Muscatine Community College has been appointed as temporary acting chancellor of the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges system.
It has satellite sites in Maquoketa, Wilton and in Davenport as well as the main campuses in Muscatine, Clinton and Davenport. The Eastern Iowa Community Colleges system was formed nearly 60 years ago when junior colleges and vocational schools were merged and the state’s 15 area community colleges were created.
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation confirms seven athletes from the University of Iowa and Iowa State University are facing sports gambling charges. The D-C-I says three current and one former Cyclone are charged — with the most prominent being starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers. Three from the U-I are charged, including former baseball player Gehrig Christansen, backup kicker Aaron Blom, and former basketball player Ahron Uhlis.
All seven are charged with tampering with records related to the investigation, as the D-C-I alleges that each tried to hide they were using a sports betting account by claiming the account belonged to someone else. The D-C-I says more charges may be filed as the investigation continues.
ATLANTIC — Heavy precipitation is causing a bypass of untreated wastewater from the City of Fontanelle. It is flowing from Washington and Main Street in town to an unnamed tributary which runs over a mile before reaching the Middle Nodaway River. The bypassing began at 2:51 a.m. The amount of the discharge is unknown at this time.
DNR is monitoring the situation and seeking more information about the extent of the discharge. It is recommended to stay away from this area until the bypass has stopped.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Three University of Iowa track and field athletes will represent the United States at the Pan American U20 Championships in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, August 4-6. The freshmen trio of Will Ryan (5,000-meters), Mike Stein (javelin) and Wisdom Williams (shot put) qualified for the Pan American Championships at the USATF U20 National Championships in Eugene, Oregon, last month.
“We are extremely excited for Will, Wisdom, and Mike competing to represent the University of Iowa and the United States at the Pan Am U20 Championships,” Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said. “It’s a very proud honor to represent your country on the world stage, and each of these athletes earned that opportunity this season! They have all been training very hard this summer, and I believe all three have a great shot to medal. It’s going to be a great experience for them this week and I can’t wait to watch them compete!”
Ryan, a Waukee, Iowa, native, finished third with a time of 14:57.87 in the 5,000-meter race to cement his spot in the Pan Am Championships. Stein, the javelin specialist from Milford, Iowa, qualified with a second-place finish in the event in Eugene, throwing 65.81 meters (215’ 11”). Williams, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, tossed the shot put 15.39 meters (50’ 6”) to earn her spot on the national team.
“I’m extremely proud of Mike and Wisdom,” Iowa throws and assistant coach Ray Robinson said. “The goal coming into the year was making the U20 team. We talked about it, visualized it, and are now realizing it. The goal now is to come home with a couple medals. The plan we have set forth is open big, make the final, and finish in medal position,” Robinson added. “It’s an honor to represent the United States in a major championship and it’s a privilege to do so representing the University of Iowa. We look forward to bringing hardware back to Iowa City.”
(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office today (Wednesday) released a report on five arrests conducted from Monday through today. There were two arrests Monday, in Mills County:
Early Tuesday morning, deputies in Mills County arrested 27-year-old Brittany Marier Barrett, of Omaha, NE, for Possession of Controlled Substance and Driving Under Suspension. She was arrested on I-29 at mile marker 36, at around 2:14-a.m. Bond was set at $2,000; 25-year-old David Glen Combs, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Tuesday night at the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, on a Mills County warrant for Failure To Appear on an original, Violation of Probation, charge. His bond was set at $1,000.
And, at around 1:23-a.m. today (Wednesday), 27-year-old Nicolas Preston Ramirez, of Omaha, NE, was arrested at Highway 34 and I-29 in Mills County, for OWI/1st offense. Bond was set at $1,000.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior punter Tory Taylor has been named to the 2023 Ray Guy Award Watch List, while sophomore place kicker Drew Stevens has been named to the Lou Groza Award Watch List. The announcements were made Wednesday by the Augusta Sports Council and Palm Beach County Sports Commission.
The Ray Guy Award is presented to the nation’s top collegiate punter, while the Lou Groza Award goes to the country’s best place kicker.
RAY GUY AWARD
Taylor, who was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist in 2020 and 2021, was also named a preseason first-team All-American by Athlon Sports in May. The Australia native garnered first-team All-America honors by FWW, Phil Steele and Pro Football Focus and was a second-team selection by the Associated Press in 2022.
Taylor (6-foot-4, 232 pounds) averaged 45.4 yards on 82 punts a season ago. He set the Iowa single season record for punting yards with 3,688 yards (80 punts, 46.1 average) in 2021 and increased that record to 3,725 yards in 2022. Taylor placed 39 and 38 punts inside the 20 in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He averaged a career-best 51.8 yards on eight punts at Purdue in 2022.
Established in 2000, the Ray Guy Award is named after College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray Guy. Former Hawkeye Ryan Donahue was a finalist for the award in 2010.
The Ray Guy Award committee will select ten semifinalists on Nov. 10. A national body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, media representatives and previous Ray Guy Award winners will then vote for the top three finalists to be announced on Nov. 22. After the finalists are named, the voting body will cast ballots again to select the nation’s top punter.
LOU GROZA AWARD
A 2022 Groza semifinalist, Stevens (6-foot, 199 pounds) was one of only two freshmen to be so honored last season. Among the 13 returning FBS kickers who made multiple long distance field goals last year, his 88.9 percent accuracy ranked third. He scored the opening and game-winning points in a 13-10 win over Minnesota.
Stevens was also named a preseason first-team All-Big Ten by Athlon Sports and Phil Steele in May. The Augusta, South Carolina, native set a freshman program record with 16 field goals in 2022 en route to freshman All-America honors. He made 16-of-18 field goal attempts, including 6-for-8 from 40+.
The Lou Groza Award, established in 1992, is named for National Football League Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954.
Stevens became the sixth Hawkeye kicker to be named a semifinalist for the Groza Award in 2022. Nate Kaeding won the award in 2002 and was a finalist in 2003. Keith Duncan (2019) joined Kaeding as a previous finalist. Other semifinalists include Kyle Schlicher (2005), Meyer (2011 and 2012) and Caleb Shudak (2021).
The Lou Groza Award will announce its 20 semifinalists on Nov. 9. From this list, a panel of more than 100 FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, former Groza finalists, and current NFL kickers selects the top three finalists for the award, announced on Nov. 28.
The winners of both awards will be announced Dec. 7 as part of ESPN’s College Football Awards Show.
The Hawkeyes open their season against Sept. 2 against Utah State. The sold-out game is set for an 11 a.m. (CT) kickoff.
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