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09/12/2008
IOWA NEWS
AP-IA--RightNow
Latest Iowa news, sports, business and entertainment:
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Officials with Rockwell Collins say they're seeking voluntary layoffs from 80 Iowa production employees and delaying the hiring of about 200 engineers because of a strike at Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company. .
Members of the Machinists Union went on strike on Saturday. Rockwell Collins is a major Boeing supplier.
Rockwell Collins spokeswoman Pam Tvrdy says that some of the company's projects are probably going to be delayed. She says the company is delaying hires and asking for voluntary layoffs to soften the impact of the strike.
Tvrdy says the company employed a similar strategy during the last strike affecting Boeing.
Rockwell Collins is the largest private employer in the Cedar Rapids area, with more than 7,500 local employees. IOWA EAGLES DONATION
Eagles to donate $25 million to Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The Fraternal Order of Eagles is donating $25 million for a new diabetes research center at the University of Iowa.
University Hospitals spokesman Tom Moore says the Fraternal Order of Eagles agreed to contribute $5 million each year over the next five years to fund the a facility which will be called the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center.
The facility will be part of Iowa's new Institute for Biomedical Discovery, a 200,000-square-foot, $120 million facility.
Moore says a timeline for the project has not been established.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles is a nonprofit service organization that provides assistance for a variety of causes. PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES
Cedar Rapids man gets 39 years in child porn case
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A 43-year-old Cedar Rapids man has been sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for producing child pornography.
John Shuler had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce child pornography and producing child pornography. The charges involved two minor girls and incidents from about 2005 to 2006.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says he was sentenced Tuesday to 39 years and two months in federal prison. There is no parole in the federal system.
After leaving prison, he must serve 15 years of supervised release.
A co-defendant in the case, Heather Fiorella, pleaded guilty in December 2007 to three counts of possessing child pornography. Her sentencing date hasn't been set. WRITING SKILLS PROPOSAL
Educators seek student writing testing
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A new state proposal would add Iowa to the ranks of states that tests how well students can write.
State education officials are expected to ask lawmakers to require an annual writing test for third, sixth and 10th graders in Iowas public schools.
Officials say they want to improve writing skills that have fallen short on national tests.
The writing test was part of a legislative agenda approved on Thursday by the state education board.
Iowa's is one of the last states not to test students writing ability. Forty-eight states judge their children's writing skills. Writing also has become a staple of college entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT. FIRE RESCUE
Woman, 2 children rescued from Waterloo fire
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) A Waterloo woman who dropped her baby from a second-story window has been rescued from her burning apartment.
Police say firefighters found Collette Marquand holding her baby out of a window when they arrived at the fire about 8 a.m. Thursday. They say she dropped the baby to a police officer waiting below.
Firefighters raised a ladder to the window and rescued Marquand and her 6-year-old son before extinguishing the blaze.
Marquand and her two children were taken to a Waterloo hospital, where they were treated for smoke inhalation and released.
Authorities say Marquand's 6-year-old son was playing with a cigarette light and started the fire.
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (AP) A plan put forward by Hyperion Resources to control air emissions at its proposed oil refinery in southeast South Dakota has received first-round endorsement from state regulators. .
South Dakota's Department of Environment and Natural Resources says it has approved a draft air quality permit for the $10 billion Hyperion Energy Center and that it would issue a final decision after a public comment period.
The proposed Hyperion Energy Center in Union County, South Dakota would process 400,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil daily into gasoline and diesel fuel. It would include an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plant that would turn a byproduct of the refining process into hydrogen, steam and electricity to power the refinery.
The complex would be located on nearly 3,300 acres near Elk Point, South Dakota northwest of Sioux City. It would be the first new U.S. oil refinery in more than 30 years.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
© 2002 Associated Press.
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