Heat in the headlines, Cease the Cease Fire, and Mel Gibson's arrested

The heat will dominate a lot of the news we do and hopefully people are getting the message. This is serious. The Polk County Health Department opened those cooling centers overnight. Few people took advantage but I think that may change tonight. Meanwhile, the heat continues to grip much of the country with temperatures as hot, or hotter than it is here. Makes me wonder just how crazy I am to go out and play golf in the Arthritis Foundation's annual golf outing in Polk City today.

In Lebanon, we heard about a cease fire overnight. Israel still launched airstrikes overnight but they say the action was before the deadline for the 48-hour cease fire.

Mel Gibson is making news after being arrested for drunk driving. Mel made some anti-Semitic remarks tot he police officers who arrested him. His apology isn't resonating with Jewish groups around the country.

Speaking of verbal gaffes. Governor Mitt Romney (MA) apparently used the term "tar baby" to describe a sticky situation this weekend while campaigning in Ames. The governor was on a lot of people's favorite's list for the Iowa Caucuses in 08. Dave Price is on vacation this week. I am sure he'd have a lot more to say in his blog, The Price of Politics.

Forbes listed the top 100 places to get a job. Des Moines didn't make the list.

Stay cool out there.

PWD

Lance, Lance, and next year...Some more Lance

If you've been in a soundproof windowless room for the last week or two, you probably need to know...Lance Armstrong is riding in RAGBRAI. It's kind of cool actually to watch someone who looks like he's never been to Iowa become a convert to the state so quickly. Listening to him speak in Newton after the first leg of his three day ride, Lance looked like he was genuinely surprised at what he saw and experienced on the county roads and small towns of central Iowa. Nice to have someone that influential think your state is a cool place to be. Lance is on to Iowa City tomorrow where he'll testify in congressional hearings on Cancer research. The biggest headline he made this morning was Armstrong's promise to come back next year and do the entire ride. Don't be surprised if he does it. He's passionate about making the search for a cure to cancer a national priority, and Iowa is the place to be for that kind of thing a year before a presidential election.

Speaking of politics, former President Bill Clinton will be here in October. He's speaking at the Democrat's Jefferson/Jackson dinner. Republican or Democrat, if you haven't heard him speak...You really should go. I got the chance to see him in Iowa city a few years ago, and he was a very impressive speaker.

Lastly, the Today show followed up on a story we brought you last night. The US Conference of Mayors is meeting in Washington where they basically told everyone...We're not prepared for a terrorist attack or an outbreak of disease.

Last, but not least I wanted to say thank you to the Forum Breakfast Club in Des Moines for their kind invitation and attention Tuesday. I didn't blog that day because I met with the group just after seven when I am usually doing this. They were an engaging group with a lot of interesting questions. It helps that breakfast is the meal where I am usually the most alert.

Hope you all have a good day.
PWD

Stormy night in Waukee, and even stormier morning inside the WHO newsroom.

Don't get me wrong, we love overnight news, but give me a break!

We watched last night after 10 pm as storms rolled through. RAGBRAI riders scrambled from their tents and into shelter...any shelter. By early this morning, we had pictures of people sleeping in the hallways of the elementary school...even in the bathrooms of the football stadium(these RAGBRAI people are a hearty bunch). Anyway I talked to the lady organizing the stopover in Waukee and given the circumstances, everything went well. No one was arrested, no on was hurt and everyone seemed to shrug the weather off as just another tradition on RAGBRAI.

On RAGBRAI day four: It's LANCEWATCH. We're now hearing Lance may ride a little bit today as well. No one knows where he might pick up the route, but the rumors are running wild. There's even a good one going around that Lance is bringing Matthew McConaughey out to ride with him. At least we'll all know where our wives/girlfriends will be if the rumor proves true.

In Mitchelville we're watching how they're going to handle a pretty serious hiccup in the RAGBRAI plan. They've got no running water. This isn't going to do anything for the push to make Iowa look cosmopolitan. I guess a pipe burst. The serious side of this is that a lot of people put a lot of planning into feeding thousands of people in the town today. Too bad a freak accident like this is going to throw a wrench in the works.

Firefighters think the weather is the cause of an overnight fire in Waukee. We actually heard a few of these on police radio channels last night.

On a personal note, I should have drivan the Seadoo to work this morning. Ingersoll Avenue was terrible. I know it was a lot of rain in a short period of time, but seriously. Police all over the metro were closing off streets.

As for the drama in the newsroom last night. We lost power for the better part of two hours and apparently there was a serious thought about doing our 10PM newscast from the paring lot with our satellite truck. The power came back on but the weather knocked out one of our sky cameras, our receiver(the thing that lets us show you a reporter live), and the gremlins were apparently working on the computers. Trisha couldn't log on to her computer when she got in. We've only got two hours to prepare for the newscast and and as you've already read, there was a lot still happening at three this morning. My computer worked. The best part was watching a fellow self-admitted control freak like Trish try and control the urge to push me out of my chair and use my computer to prepare for the newscast. She got me back during the show however. My computer on the desk wasn't working...Hers was.

Anxious to see how the day turns out for RAGBRAI and the rest. We'll see you on the set tomorrow morning.

Rice in the Middle East, Ragbrai Day Two, and Americans Winning Abroad.

The US Secretary of State Rice arrived in Beirut this morning for a surprise visit with Lebanese officials. The goal of the trip is some kind of sustainable cease fire between Hezbollah and Israel. Don't count on it, but the visit will likely mean some progress. Articles I was reading this morning talked about Israel accepting a UN peacekeeping force. We're also getting our first perspective from Iowans who were caught in Lebanon while the first fighting was going on.

Firestone's contract with about 14-hundred union workers is up. The two sides are negotiating but they don't have an agreement.

I've been trying to find more information about the new version of the Farm Bill. If you're reading this from the inside of a cubicle in the middle of a city, you might ask how this affects you. In truth, Iowa will be one of the places most effected by any changes to the Farm bill in 2007, and whether you live in a rural farm community or not.... Senate hearings on the bill will be held in ANkeney today. You should be watching this one unfold.

Under the wrong place, wrong time file: An Iowa man was "grazed by a bullet" apparently fired by a sniper from the side of an Indiana Interstate. They're still looking for the sniper or snipers after two separate attacks in Indiana over the weekend.

Americans did pretty well overseas this weekend. First Floyd Landis won the Tour DeFrance. After a fall Friday everyone was saying this guy had just lost the race. Turns out Floyd had other ideas.

Meanwhile if you're a golf fan you've got to be talking about Tiger Woods' win at The British Open this weekend. It's his third British Open title and his eleventh Major. He's ahead of pace to pass Jack Nickalus for career major victories, and this weekend we saw some of the emotion everyone expected out of Tiger after the passing of his father Earl. Good for Tiger, good for golf.

What was not good for golf? The idiots on just about every tee snapping their cell phone cameras to get a shot of Tiger. Not only did it slow the round down to the point where Tiger almost got a one stroke penalty, it's just stupid. Did the techno-geniuses who figured out how to snap these little bits of history know there's a button to silence the camera sound effect on these things? At the very least turn the sound feature off. They shouldn't have the phones on them to begin with.
The only thing that makes the people with the cell phones look smarter are the PR geniuses at "Fathers for Justice". These wizards of media coverage decided that the best way to get their message out about the plight of fathers in custody battles was to interrupt one of the most popular sporting events in Great Britain. They threw purple eggs full of paint on to the 18th green.
Brits take their golf seriously. Fathers for Justice might as well have thrown paint on the Queen. The only thing they got out of it was an entire continent angry about the protest, and another continent across the ocean where they will be the punchline to every joke on sports talk radio today.
I'm sure the donations are pouring in to the Fathers for Justice offices as we speak. Why do people(even those who may have a serious gripe, or protest) do such stupid things to call attention to their cause? It made me long for the good ol' USA where the only thing we have to interrupt Tiger is that guy yelling "YOU DA MAAAAAN" or "GET IN THE HOLE!!!!!"

Brad says you might be able to try MLK again to get on the freeway tonight going west. They've made a second turn lane to go left on to the entrance ramp.

Have a good day.

Patrick Dix

CIETC calls it quits...Rain won't ruin your Friday and apparently Tiger is back.

The Board that controls the non-profit CIETC decided to dissolve the agency as of Sept 1st. This is probably overdue. Someone else will take over and keep giving services to the players in the this scandal that seem to have been forgotten...The people who actually need jobs or job training.

Iowans are among those looking for a way out of the middle east this morning. Another batch of Americans landed in Baltimore this morning but the task of getting all the foreign nationals out is overwhelming. The tenth day of fighting produced four more casualties for the Israeli army. A missile fired from Lebanon hit a UN monitoring station on the border. It's still a mess.

We know Iowa Guard troops are going to California. Rather than a nice vacation spot they'll get dropped right smack dab in the middle of the border debate.
This news comes as Rep. Steve King layed out his plans for a border fence. Whether you agree or disagree with Rep King and other supporters of the fence, the issue is being talked about. Maybe it's not so bad to have a representative in congress that whips up a good debate. That's almost always a good thing.

Today Taste of Des Moines starts. Remember it's down at Blank Park this year instead of downtown Des Moines.

For those of you who will be leaving downtown and heading west this afternoon, no need to tell you to avoid MLK. So what do you do? Ingersoll moved pretty well, Grand was backed up...It's not fun going home. We talked this morning and came up with a radical suggestion. Go south and get on the bypass. No one ever uses it. I think a lot of people just dismiss the idea because it is so far out of the way. Here's two reasons to use the bypass. One, you can stay moving, and I think that's half the battle. Second. My wife told me it took a half hour from downtown to the corner of MLK and Ingersoll yesterday. I can almost guarantee you can make it out to West Des Moines, Clive, Urbandale in a half hour.

Finally if I seemed distracted this morning it's because I was. Tiger Woods put together another amazing round of golf at the British Open. It's going to be a good weekend.

Confusing Commute, Back to the Heat, and Moments You Remember.

Ok...As I write this, we're watching the 7th street entrance on to 235. Yesterday's morning commute was a mess. People coming from the east side of the city ran into it. The traffic trying to get on to the freewayat 7th are trying to cross with people trying to get OFF at MLK or KEO. This is not helped by the fact that there are some of the worst mergers in the world living right here in Iowa. So, the DOT is apparently looking at closing the 7th St onramp on to 235 down for the AM commute. Shouldn't slow too many of you down but it might stop some of the near miss accidents we've been watching.

The heat and humidity are the other topic we're trying to drive home today. It's getting to the dangerous situation. Here's a little perspective. If you thought it was hot Monday. It's going to feel worse today. The bottom line is...If you have to be outside, drink more water than you think five camels can handle and take frequent breaks in the shade. Also, please please please take someone with you outside so if you have a problem...You have someone to help.

CIETC hearings continue at the capitol and if you were waiting for it...Here's the punchline. We may have to pay back the money mis-spent by CIETC. If the federal government decides CIETC acted improperly, taxpayers(who payed for this in the first place) are on the hook again. The humidity in the air may be caused by the collective steam coming out of the ears of infuriated central Iowans.

President Bush may use his veto power for the first time today. Stem Cell Research funding is the issue and as we've been reading this I've been thinking about the veto. Polls show Americans overwhelmingly support stem cell research. I think everyone recognizes this COULD be the thing the allows science to break through and cure diseases that have devastated people's lives for years. While you are considering this debate today, consider this too. President Bush says he's going to veto this because the federal government shouldn't fund something that many American's consider murder. Even if you disagree with that, even if you think the science is more important than the ethical concerns, should the minority opinion be protected here? Just asking.

A sidenote: today marks seventeen years since flight 232 crashed at the Sioux City Airport. I bet a lot of you remember right where you were when that happened. That fact sparked the discussion of "I remember right where I was when I heard..."
We came up with a few and you can add tot the list.
If you're in your 60's- VE-Day or VJ Day?
If you're in your fifties-There are almost too many to list.
Both Kennedy assassinations, MLK, Moon landing
If you are in your forties-Nixon Resigns, Vietnam ends Lenin
If you are in your thirties-John Lenin, the Pope, Space Shuttle first launch and Challenger
If you are in your twenties-Columbine, 9/11

I know there are a lot more...List em.

I'm going to cut this short today and that means no links as I first post this. I will add some later.

I am headed to a meeting at seven thirty where the Police Chief and the Fire Chief will give their year-end reports to the City council in Des Moines. We'll have more on that tonight. Have a good day.

The exodus Starts...Best Places to Live...and a Brief Break from the Heat

In the Middle East, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah isn't letting up after a week and thousands of people are deciding it's time to get out. A cruises ship is picking up more than seven hundred American citizens to get them out of Beirut today.

The stem cell debate greets President Bush as he comes back to Washington. The Senate is expected to pass some form of federal funding for new stem cell lines, The President promises a veto.

In Des Moines today, we're looking for another way to say it's hot. Today we get a little break from the heat but we're also finding out the heat we had yesterday was deadly. Des Moines is giving away fans and air conditioners to people who don't have them...They're also looking for donations of older fans and working air conditioners. In Ames they say they're going to break a record for 1 day power usage by the end of the week. Stay cool out there.

In Iowa some cities get the distinction of being on Money's list of Best Places to Live. I haven't been there for a while, but they must have done a lit to Naperville Illinois to make it #2 on the list. Trish grew up in Wheaton, IL (right next door)and says when she goes home she's really impressed with the nightlife in Naperville. Her husband told me it's where all the "hot" soccer moms get dollied up and go out for a night on the town.

Hawk fans, two issues of note. Do you think the Board of Regents really needs to offer inducements like a Country Club membership or a performance/longevity bonus to attract the best candidates for the next University President? That's what they're going to talk about. It's not as if Iowa would be a bad job. You're telling me we can't find someone who will lead the University forward without bribing them? How are they going to look a professor/researcher/student/parent in the face and tell them that University of Iowa is the best place to be if they had to have incentives to come here.
It's the question a lot of Iowans are asking right now. What makes our state the great place we know it to be? We like living here...love it in fact. But how do we explain it to someone who doesn't live here, and who's image of Iowa is corn and hogs. Back to the University; shouldn't the next president of the University of Iowa be a person who will stand up and say, "I want to be here, I couldn't wait to live here and I know you will feel the same way." Just a thought.

You Hawkeye fans can go over to Iowa city and give the administration your opinion on that topic in the fall. Single game tickets are on sale for the Montana, Northern Illinois, and Northwestern games. I'd get tickets to that Northwestern game. It seems the Wildcats are always giving the Hawks fits.

Have a good day and stay cool.

Patrick Dix

Troops to Beirut....Astronauts Coming Home, and Guess Who's Coming to Iowa?

In the Middle East this morning the world is scrambling to make sure the violence between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants doesn't get out of control. The plan is, apparently, to send UN troops into the middle of the situation to keep the peace. As world leaders are talking about it at the G8 summit today, Israeli Soldiers just started a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

The Space Shuttle Discovery comes home today. As I'm typing this, the shuttle is on an, "irreversible course" to come home. I think that means the captain has turned the seatbelt sign on. The Shuttle landed without incident this morning.


That gets us to another landing....The Vice President will be here today. He's coming to give some muscle to third congressional district candidate Jeff Lamberti. The fundraiser is over lunch and then the VP heads up to Johnston where he'll participate in a rally for the Iowa National Guard. I'm not sure Iowans know how big a deal these two hotly contested congressional races are on a national level. It should give you some idea that the VP will be here today for Lamberti. Republicans and Democrats are looking at the Third and First districts in Iowa as bellwether races for the fall.

Just as an aside, our coverage goes haywire on a day like today. We've got to be at the arrival, the events and the departure when someone like the Vice President comes to town. We may not believe that this is the most important story of the day for Central iowa. It's certianly news, and we would, of course cover it, but sometimes these trips don't produce much news of substance.....
The problem is, we've got to be there in case he does. You can look for some good stories on The Guard, and on fundraising tonight on the news.

Does anyone else think Sen. Evan Bayh has been here a lot lately? Maybe he wants to run for overnor of Iowa. No No...I think he's got something bigger in mind.

The changes along I-235 continue. Tonight look for a lot of people to try and get on to the freeway at second avenue going west. Problem is, that entrance ramp is closed now. You can get on again going west at seventh but second is closed until the fall.

Just one personal note. I had the chance to see Superman Returns this weekend. It was good. I thought Brandon Routh did a great job as "The Man of Steel". I'm not sure what I thought of the movie yet. Great action sequences make the two and a half hours entertaining. Not a lot of dialogue to write home about. The thing that bothered me most is the previews. There are a LOT of BAAAAD movies coming out soon.

Clean-up, Flare -Up, and Line-up

Central Iowa is cleaning up this morning from a round of storms that had a lot more bark than it did bite.
It was tame by Iowa standards, but 70 mile an hour winds tore down some significant tree branches. The good news is we got some rain. The bad news is, the rain is going to make it more humid.

Israel and Lebanon continued exchanges of rocket fire and bombs overnight. The Israel's say as long as it's citizens aren't safe, no one in Beirut will be either. The U-S vetoed a UN resolution calling for Israel to get out of the Gaza Strip. Now we're hearing President Bush called the Lebanese President to promise that he would, "put pressure on Israel to limit the damage to Lebanon as a result of the current military action, and to spare civilians and innocent people from harm".

That conflict in the Middle East again sent oil prices through the roof in trading overnight. We were looking at more than 78 dollars a barrel at about 5 am. The price backed off a bit but we should have a new record for the price of a barrel of oil by the end of the day.

That said, gas prices are coming down slightly again in Iowa. This led to an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who owns and operates gas stations in Missouri.
He was curious about how the price of gas fluctuated. He says he doesn't set the price for gas. The company he buys from sets the price. He gets some sort of email or alert when the price goes up or down. But, he was curious about tracking how oil prices flowed with gas prices. He tracked it and concluded the price of gas follows fluxuations in oil prices by about three weeks. So we're seeing record prices for oil today...We should see a jump at the pump in three weeks if he's right.

This study on "morning sickness" was interesting. It's out of the U-K but the theory in this study is that women's bodies basically reject things that might be high in bacteria so the mother and the baby won't get sick. Trish said she's not convinced.

Lastly, Michelle Wei is going to need a miracle to make the cut in the Quad Cities. After a lot of hype(and some good play in the last few months), experts thought this would be her best shot at making a cut in a men's event. She shot six over par. She's a better golfer than that, and the in my opinion, this only proves she's human. Look for her to hit it a little better today, and make a good showing. The Headline for Iowa is the Zach Johnson is burning up TPC Deere Run. The Drake University graduate has been on the verge of being one of the best in the world for a while now. This win could move him even closer to a A Ryder Cup berth and of course...He gets to go over to the British Open next week.

I'm goin home. It's been a long week and we're expecting guests from Missouri tonight.
I'm hoping they'll want to come back after spending two days in the heat and humidity. Stay cool out there and please be safe. We'll see you back here Monday.

Patrick Dix

How Bad is This Going to Get? Finding Help, and Chasing History

I asked, How bad is this going to get? When I listened to the reports of Israel bombing the Beirut airport, and the blockade of the port of Beirut this morning. This all started when an Israeli soldier was kidnapped more than two weeks ago, but it does not look like either side is backing down. Now the Interior Minister in Lebanon is calling the Israeli bombings an act of war.

The murder of a 23 year-old mother of two put the problem of domestic abuse into acute focus yesterday. We learned police had been called to the home of Tracy Davis and Troy Bresley at least three times in the past six months to resolve domestic complaints. This is a terribly tragic story but it also allows the media an opportunity. We can share resources with you so that people know there are ways out of an abusive situation. If you think this is not a problem in Iowa...Check out these statistics about domestic abuse in Iowa.

There's another meeting in Des Moines tonight to talk about the merits of starting High School later so student perform and attend at a higher rate.

Another story to watch today, We're hearing Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is NOT doing well. Initial reports about his recovery might have been prematurely optimistic. He's had three surgeries on that broken leg in the past week and now there's word he's got two types of infection.

On the lighter side of the news, there are a few fun sports stories. First, in eastern Iowa there's a billboard going up that's going to turn some heads. It simply states, "It's a Cyclone State". New Cyclone Athletic Director Jamie Pollard is really throwing down here. He's trying to make sure Cyclone fans stop thinking of themselves at the "red headed step-child" of sports in this state.
By the way, the billboard isn't just a boast. The Cy-Hawk trophy goes to ISU this year. The Cyclones won more head to head matchups when the two teams met this year. Before Hawk fans start to complain...Scoreboard.
This is a good thing for sports in Iowa.
I hope this state has two of the top college athletic programs in the country, an that the two continue a fierce, competitive, and friendly rivalry.


In the Quad Cities this weekend Michelle Wei chases history again. The 16 year-old will compete again the the John Deere Classic at The TPC Deere Run golf course. This is an exceptional golf course, and there is a good field of golfers. The pundits are already talking about how the top twenty golfers in the world aren't in the field this week, but if she makes the cut, no one should diminish the accomplishment of this extraordinary young woman. Don't be surprised if she changes the world of golf in the same way Tiger Woods did when he came on the scene.

And finally before I get a lot of comments on it....I did not intend to sound like I was putting down women's six on six basketball when I asked, "didn't we get rid of that?" on the air this morning.
If I sounded like I was making fun of the sport, that was not my intention. Apparently they're bringing it back at the Iowa Games this week. The question came into my head...I thought we didn't do that anymore?
I know there are a lot of people who really take pride in the fact that women's basketball in Iowa is a unique tradition that has produced some great players. I got an email about it after the show but was unable to respond to the woman who sent it because her email address isn't valid.

Anyway,. I hope you all have a good day.

Patrick Dix

Murder Investigation, Legal drugs from Canada, and The Man of...Butter?

Sorry this is so late again today. Sonya is off today so I was tapped to anchor the Noon news. That along with a very interesting story at Broadlawns Medical Center kept me busy this morning. I was blogging as quickly as I could. Thanks for your patience.


It's not every day you hear about someone walking into the police station and admitting they committed a crime...That's just what happened last night. We spent a lot of the overnight talking to police about the investigation. The most interesting part was talking to the sergeant who talked to this guy when he came in. She says she's never seen anything like it.

The Space Shuttle Discovery's crew will take it's last of three speechless today. I update you on that only because there's another space launch out of Russia that might interest you. The founder of the Budget Hotel chain is heading up an effort to launch an inflatable space station. Yes, that's right...I said it's inflatable. Read some of these articles before you laugh too hard.
abc news
LA Times
USA Today

Congress passed an amendment to a homeland security bill. The amendment allows pacifiers and your kids. Apparently they aren't as bad as people once thought they were.

Here's a more indepth look at the survey about lying. This survey generated more than 2000 news articles like this one from the Chicago Tribune. Basically, no one thinks it's ok to lie, but the definition of what's a lie is a little bit of a debate. Is a white lie, really a lie? If you exaggerate a story to make it sound better, is that a lie?

You want to know what the most popular websites are? Apparently the kids have made MySpace #1. It passes Google and Yahoo. So how do they calculate this? Here's a link to the site that keeps track of the most used websites. What about blogs? Here's a mist of the most used blogs. Happy hunting.

We got a comment yesterday asking why we recap a lot of the stories we already bring you on today in Iowa. I hope that what we're doing with this blog is linking you up with a little more than we can bring you in 20 second on the broadcast. If you want more about a study, a story or a clip we've shown you...I hope you'll find it here. It's also a place to raise questions about the stories we bring you on Today in Iowa. We don't get a chance to do that during the broadcast. In a word, more context is what we're after here.

Hope that answers the question. We're happy, as always to ask questions about the stories we've chosen, the broadcast, or just a random question.

Have a good Day.
Patrick Dix

SURPRISE VISIT, NO RESIGNATIONS, AND AN EARLY RELEASE

The Secretary of defense made a surprise visit to Afghanistan overnight. He wants to talk to the Afghan President about how the drug trade may be supporting the Taliban.

No resignations and no surprises at the Des Moines City Council meeting last night. Now it's on to the courts where a group of citizens says it will ask a judge to step in and remove Archie Brooks and Tom Vlassis. We did hear one thing we haven't heard through this whole thing last night. We finally heard from people who support Vlassis and Brooks. Here's a questions for you. In a city the size of Des Moines, are seven thousand signatures enough to force a resignation? Are people really fired up about the CIETC scandal? I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Pierre Pierce will likely get an early release from prison. Before you ask, "why is he getting out early?", let me share this with you. The Iowa Parole Board likes to give prisoners an early release so there can be some supervision of a former inmate as they transition back into the real world. It makes sense when you think about it. If they just let him finish his sentence, they have to give him a little cash and send him on his way. No one has any authority to make sure prison time really did change the direction of his life.

The state's new 2000 foot rule for sex offenders got it's first real legal challenge yesterday when a Polk county judge ruled it unconstitutional. The case was that of a Windsor highs man we'd featured on our newscasts before. He was convicted of having sex with the woman he later married and father five children with. They still are married by the way. He's considered a danger to society and the law restricts where he lives. Interesting debate. Public safety vs an Individual's right to live freely once they've served a sentence.

The space shuttle astronauts are fixing jet packs with duct tape.

For you racing fans, it looks like Barbaro is having a tough time of it in his recovery.

Sorry this is so late.

See you tomorrow
Patrick Dix

Should They Resign...Why is Ethanol More Expensive and....Is Anyone Out There?

I write this most days asking...Is anyone really out there? The answer came at the end of last week when we finally got a comment. An anonymous viewer asked if Trisha and her husband had recorded their story at the StoryCorps Traveling Booth in Ames. The answer is no. They're going up Friday. Thanks for letting us know someone is reading this.

To the news now, where the Des Moines City Council will hear again tonight from community activist Pete Rose. He's collected nearly seven thousand signatures in thirty days. Is that enough to force two members of the council to resign?
That will be up to the two men in question. Tom Valasis and Archie Brooks were both board members at the Central Iowa Employment Training Consortium, and are still in the hot seat for a perceived lack of oversight of CIETC. The petition has no legal weight. The Council says it won't vote to ask Vlassis andBrooks to step aside, and the two men in question have stated repeatedly that they won't quit.

Gas prices did a little turn around over the weekend. I know this has been happening in other parts of the state, but this was the first time I notices some of the bigger name stations in the metro charging more for ethanol blended gas than they are for regular gas. We got an email about this and I think Liz Klinge is going to take this subject up tomorrow morning.
A lot of you are asking why ethanol is more expensive if we're giving tax credits to gas stations for selling ethanol?
The answer is complicated but it basically comes down to this. If you talk to gas station owners, they'll tell you they've been taking it in the shorts for weeks on ethanol prices. The price of ethanol is up because demand is so high. More stations on the east coast and Texas are using ethanol blended gas and so there's not a lot of the product to go around.

Can you believe it's a month to the state fair? Sure felt like it this weekend. They're building a new stage, mostly for you county music fans out there, and there are still tickets for James Taylor and the rest of the grandstand acts.

and finally, there's a guy out of Altoona selling pieces of his wife's face for advertising. No, I'm serious. He's selling little web ads on a picture of her face hoping to raise money...I assume for his wife. go to milliondollarmother.com for more information.

Jeriann says we WILL get rain tonight. We need it.

One more thing. Brad gave me that promised traffic tip this morning. When a lot of you are going home to the western suburbs you take MLK to get out of downtown. The entrance on to 235 from MLK is closed. Most people go up one block, turn left, and get on 235. Brad says a lot of people get caught on the left side of the road, waiting in the line to get on to 235.
If you pass that line up, and go one block north to Atkins, go left, take another left on to MLK and that will save you four or five minutes waiting to get on to 235.

Hope it saves you time.
Any comments or questions?
Let us have it!

Patrick Dix
patrick.dix@whotv.com

Gas is up, London remembers and Closing Ceremonies

Gas prices are back up. Here's what AAA has to say about the average price and other averages around there state. Expect gas to go even higher. We were hearing reports of higher oil prices already in trading today. Here's a poll about what americans expect the price to do over the next few weeks.

A lot of this, as we said yesterday, is due to instability around the world. Even though North Korea doesn't produce oil...the markets hate to guess about what's going to happen...and it looks like we have no idea what's going to happen next in North Korea. It's worth mentioning that the situation in the Gaza Strip has not calmed. We're going on two weeks missing now for an Israeli soldier.

The National Special Olympics Games wraps up in Ames tonight with closing ceremonies. The public can now get tickets for this event that includes Kurt Warner and JoDee Messina. Here's a link with the details. The airlift for the athletes takes off tomorrow morning. My wife and I will be there to volunteer and send em off.

This surgery for one of the bonobos at the Great Ape Trust is really interesting. It's not just the research that makes this an asset to the community. We're going to see a first of it's kind surgery on a bonobo at Des Moines University today. That would never happen without a world class facility like this in Iowa.

The national story I just can't figure out is the guy who looks like Michael Jordan and is suing MJ for it. How's that court argument going to go. This guy wants 500-million bucks because Michael Jordan is TOO FAMOUS. He believes Jordan, and nice co-founder Phil Knight are responsible for people coming up to him on the street and saying..."Hey are you Michael Jordan?". He doesn't even look that much like MJ. I have an idea. How about a fee for people who bring lawsuits like this to the courts? If you win your case...Good for you. If you lose, and a jury finds your case frivolous...you're out 10-thousand dollars.

We didn't get it in the show this morning but new numbers on unemployment came out today. Good news for the US economy.

Finally, we're asking the question, "Who let the dog out?". Not dogs...But Trisha's dog. His MIA status caused a bit of worry this morning. Fortunately he showed up about a block away and had his collar on. He's back home.

Highway 210 Again...North Korea Again...and Gas Prices Again

Good Morning...

Overnight last night there was another bad crash on Highway 210 in Story County. According to a deputy, this isn't the first time an accident like this has happened in this spot.

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We also learned North Korea isn't finished firing off it's test missiles. A south Korean news agency has a story about more missiles ready to launch.
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That story, along with the news that a soldier died in Afghanistan and more violence in Iraq means instability.
Instability around the world = higher gas prices for you and me.
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Brain Drain is the topic Elizabeth Klinge takes up this morning and it's interesting.
Do you remember how your parents tried to keep you engaged in learning over the summer? Liz talked about things like Scrabble, hangman, trips to the grocery store or the bank as suggestions to sneak in a little learning over the summer. My wife tells the story of her family sitting around playing blackjack for pennies as a way to learn how to do simple math. Of course this led to the embarrassing moment when her math teacher asked her to add five and six and her response was...HIT ME!(ok that story is not true but the blackjack thing is.)
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The Space Shuttle Discovery docks with the Iinternational Space Station this morning and drops off some supplies and relief crew for the station.
Washington Post
ABC NEWS
and The BBC all have good updates on the progress of Discovery.
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And one of the coolest stories of the morning...How would you like to have your family's story recorded in the National Archives? It could happen if you can get to Ames by July 30th. A project through NPR allows you to record your story. Trish and her husband are signed up to do this. We'll see if they make it into the history books.

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Brad Ehrlich promises he's got a way to save you five minutes on your afternoon commute. We'll have to wait until tomorrow on Today in Iowa.

Questions or comments? Feel free.

Have a good day!
Patrick Dix
patrick.dix@whotv.com

Overnight accident, Early wake-up call, and The Birthday Suit!

Sorry this is so late posting. I was out on a "shooting" investigation on the South side of the city. Some guy called police saying he was shot in the face along SW Park Ave. There's a hole in the driver's side window, and he's got a scratch on the face. Police aren't sure exactly what happened yet. Anyway, that's why this is late.


If you lived in Des Moines in the 70's you probably remember the Coronado Apartment. The man convicted of killing four people in the fire is out of prison this morning.

If you were one of the people trying to get home in I-235 late last night you ran into a big traffic problem. A police report now says a drunk driver hit a stalled car. The accident sent two people to the hospital and dozens more people around the accident for about a half hour.

Anyone else wake up with the fireworks last night? Every Police agency in the Metro spent most of the night trying to catch up with all the calls dealing with illegal fireworks.

North Korea shot off another one of it's long range nuclear missiles again this morning. Thing is, it didn't work.

Shuttle Discovery gets an early wake up call this morning and gets to work making sure launch didn't cause any problems that might have damaged the orbiter.

Two new studies you might want to learn more about this morning. One says a good night sleep is the way to reduce the length and severity of the severe headaches.
The second is for moms who are trying to figure out when they'll stop breastfeeding.

The Riley Bike trail closes today for resurfacing and repair. It's part of a larger project to extend and connect trails. Here's a cool link if you're looking for more information about biking in central Iowa.

And thanks to Trish for this morning's reminder that the bikini turns 60 today.



Have a good morning.
As always questions and comments are welcome.