By Lisa Mascaro, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — House Republicans voted to keep tax rates at their current level through next year, using one of their last votes before recessing for…
Day: August 1, 2012
Employee conduct making TSA’s ‘shattered public image’ even worse
By Jamie Goldberg, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration suffers from an image problem, and recent criminal and negligent behavior by airport screeners has made matters worse. Rep….
Gender test is Olympic hurdle
By Jon Bardin, Los Angeles Times – Of all the obstacles athletes have had to overcome to compete in the Olympics, perhaps the most controversial has been the gender test. Originally designed…
White Sox beat Twins, 3-2
By Mark Gonzales, Chicago Tribune – MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox achieved a winning six-game trip Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins behind a strong Jake Peavy outing….
The first college football Saturday is one month from today. One month!
Mike Hlas, CR Gazette – OK, I didn’t really need that exclamation point in the headline. Because I can wait. Not that I don’t enjoy college football season. For an Iowa sportswriter,…
De’Andre Johnson Dismissed from Hawkeye Football Team
IOWA CITY, IOWA – – University of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz announced Wednesday that sophomore running back De’Andre Johnson has been dismissed from the program. “I am disappointed that things didn’t work…
Cyclones To Play In Junkanoo Jam
AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State women’s basketball will play in the Junkanoo Jam on Grand Bahama Island, Nov. 23-24. The Cyclones will play in the Freeport Division of the tournament. The…
Steve King: “I voted to prevent the largest tax increase in American history”
From Congressman Steve King: “Today, I voted to prevent the largest tax increase in American history, which is scheduled to occur beginning in 2013,” said King. “This tax increase will hit all…
BEWARE: Man may be taking pictures of children in Mason City
MASON CITY – NorthiowaToday.com is told by several readers today that “there is a man in his mid 30’s early 40’s that is posing himself as an insurance person, and taking pictures…
Iowa GOP Chairman Calls on Voters to Remove Supreme Court Justice
DES MOINES, Iowa– Today, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman A.J. Spiker issued the following statement on the upcoming retention vote of Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins. Justice Wiggins faces a vote in…
13 million Americans will receive more than $1 billion from insurance companies this summer
From the White House: Nancy-Ann DeParle, the Director of the Office of Health Reform at the White House, breaks down new rules will make our health care marketplace more transparent and ensure…
Akeel Lynch: Will he run to Iowa City?
Mike Hlas, CR Gazette – Unless all reports of Penn State freshman-to-be running back Akeel Lynch considering a transfer to Iowa are bogus, Iowa could be facing quite the delicate little situation…
Iowa City moving forward on urban chickens
Gregg Hennigan, CR Gazette – IOWA CITY – The City Council Tuesday night gave its approval for an ordinance allowing urban chickens to be drawn up. The council’s unanimous consent, at a…
Washington County, Iowa candidates face campaign violation charges
Vanessa Miller, CR Gazette – Three political candidates running for seats in Washington County, along with one local business, are being charged with campaign finance violations, marking the first alleged violations of…
Iowa sex offender allegedly abused 17-year-old boy
Vanessa Miller, CR Gazette – A registered sex offender in Iowa was arrested Tuesday in Oxford on new sexual abuse charges after authorities say he coerced a 17-year-old boy into removing his…
Volunteerism heats up… literally
MASON CITY – Apparently it takes fire to slow down Chris Watts and his volunteer efforts. Monday, Watts attended the Cerro Gordo County Supervisors meeting as he always does, then spent the…
Congress helps Camp Lejeune families hurt by tainted water
By Franco Ordonez, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — The day after Janey Ensminger would have celebrated her 36th birthday, the House of Representatives passed a historic bill in her honor that would…
House OKs bill to create Pinnacles National Park
By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — Pinnacles National Monument in central California would become the 59th U.S. national park under a bill that cleared the House on Tuesday with…
Justice Department officials dismiss GOP report on Fast and Furious operation
By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Top Department of Justice officials largely dismissed a new Republican congressional report on the ATF’s Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, saying Tuesday…
University professor plotted killings at son’s high school, DA says
By Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Orange County prosecutors are asking that a University of California, Irvine, professor accused of setting fires at his son’s high school be…
US ramping up pressure on Iran over nuclear program
By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and Congress each moved Tuesday to further pressure Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Scrambling on an issue that has…
Tentative deal reached to avert government shutdown
By Lisa Mascaro, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders reached a tentative budget deal with the White House on Tuesday that would avert a politically risky government shutdown right before…
Democrats choose Latino mayor as keynote speaker at convention
By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A 37-year-old Latino mayor and rising star in Texas politics will deliver the keynote speech on the opening night of the Democratic…
Miami-Dade investigators widen absentee ballot-fraud probe
By Scott Hiaasen and Patricia Mazzei, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — Investigators looking into possible vote fraud in Hialeah, Fla., are now examining at least 31 absentee ballots collected by a suspected…
Syria’s most populous city endures more shelling
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT—As explosions and gunfire sounded in the distance, the parishioners of St. Joseph’s Church in Aleppo, Syria, prayed for peace Tuesday evening. “People are…
Police still not sure of details in shooting of woman, 2 children in Missouri
By Christine Byers, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – GLENDALE, Mo. — Almost 30 hours after Mitchell Murch II told police his wife had fatally shot their two children and then herself, investigators said…
2 former councilmen in Lynwood, Calif., guilty of illegally boosting salaries
By Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Two former council members in the Los Angeles-area city of Lynwood accused of illegally boosting their salaries were convicted Tuesday in a…
House votes to fire tax-delinquent federal workers
By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — Attention, federal workers: Pay your taxes or lose your job. That was the message sent Tuesday by the House, which approved the Federal…
Arizona lawmaker’s bill to restrict abortions in Washington, D.C., fails in House
By Brandon Ross, Cronkite News Service – WASHINGTON — A bill by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., to ban abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy failed to get…
Developer’s plan to build new road into Yosemite National Park rebuffed by federal court
By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Southern California developer has lost a five-year-legal battle to build a new road into Yosemite National Park after a…
PG&E knew gas-line records posed a danger to public, engineer says in deposition
By Joshua Melvin, San Jose Mercury News – REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Pacific Gas & Electric knew its gas-line records were inaccurate and knew those errors could mean death or injury to…
Prop. 8 backers ask Supreme Court to hear gay marriage ban challenge
By Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — Proposition 8 backers on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a challenge to California’s voter-approved ban on…
Army to stop using forensic psychiatrists to evaluate soldiers diagnosed with PTSD
By Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times – SEATTLE—The Army will no longer use forensic psychiatrists to evaluate soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder who are under consideration for medical retirement, a change…
Zimmerman judge holds ‘stand your ground’ hearing in another murder case
By Rene Stutzman, The Orlando Sentinel – SANFORD, Fla. — The judge in the George Zimmerman case will hold a “stand your ground” hearing Wednesday in the case of an Oviedo, Fla.,…
x-leader of major California union faces theft, tax charges
by Paul Pringle and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Not long ago, Tyrone Freeman was a rising star in the national labor movement, already the head of California’s…
Shell scales back number of Arctic wells
By Laura Nelson, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Shell has reduced the number of exploratory offshore Arctic wells it plans to drill this year as construction delays continue on a…
New state report finds Medicaid expansion is good for ALL Iowans AND is affordable, sustainable
From State Senator Jack Hatch: (DES MOINES) A newly released report by the Iowa Department of Human Services found that an expansion of Medicaid would reduce costs to Iowa taxpayers and individual…
Black and Gold Blowout to Make Return… On a Friday Night
IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery will look back in UI basketball history to move the Hawkeyes forward this fall when the UI Athletics Department introduces…
Conservative advocacy group tries to squeak past disclosure window
By Matea Gold, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — A hard-hitting new TV spot by the conservative advocacy group Crossroads GPS is scheduled to air within 30 days before the Democratic National…
Op-ed: Blodgett boys are at it again (by Peter Children)
The Blodgett boys are at it again, both of these guys are wonderful fellas, but never forget that wonderful people can and do practice witchcraft. If they could put you in a…