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11/11/2009
IOWA NEWS UPDATE
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Some are standing in line for hours, others are going to their local school, and in some cases a mobile health van is delivering the H-1-N-1 flu vaccine to rural Iowa towns. .
No matter how they're getting it, Iowans are eager for protection from the H-1-N-1 flu virus.
So far, the virus has claimed 16 lives in Iowa. Five hundred people have been hospitalized.
People lined up at Des Moines' Veterans Auditorium Tuesday for a mass vaccination clinic.
In Tama County, officials are taking a van town to town and setting up vaccination clinics across the county. In Warren County, clinics are being set up at local schools.
Officials say a shortage of vaccine from the federal government has stymied efforts to reach people who need it but that the problem should be resolved in a few weeks.
CEDAR FALLS , Iowa (AP) According to the University of Northern Iowa's faculty collective bargaining unit, the majority of unionized faculty are open to furloughs and temporary pay cuts to balance the school's budget.
However, the respondents to a recent survey say the university must bargain ``in good faith and demonstrate the need for the measure.'
United Faculty Communications Committee member Chris Martin says it is important to know the faculty is on one page as they go into negotiations. About 360, or 42 percent, of the faculty responded to the survey.
Because of Gov. Chet Culver's budget cut, Northern Iowa must eliminate 10 percent, or about $8.8 million, in costs before June 30. Officials propose a graduated furlough or temporary layoff plan that would save the university about $1.8 million.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Former New York Gov. George Pataki says he'll tell Iowa activists that Republicans can find unity and electoral success by focusing on pocketbook issues that appeal to the middle class.
In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Pataki argued there's broad agreement the party should focus on creating jobs, cutting taxes and maintaining strong national security. He spoke soon after arriving in eastern Iowa, where he was scheduled speak at a Republican Party fund-raiser in Bettendorf.
Pataki flirted with a run for the GOP presidential nomination in the last election, and like many politicians his visit to the state where caucuses launch the presidential nominating process raises questions about his intentions.
Pataki says it's too early to think about the 2012 election and that he's focused on next year's midterm races.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines police say two men have been cited for hazing in connection with the hospitalization of a Drake University student because of alcohol poisoning.
In a statement Tuesday, police Sgt. Lori Lavorato says 20-year-old Skylar Otto and 19-year-old Joseph Hatchett will be charged and released on their own recognizance.
A Phi Delta Theta member identified by Des Moines police as 19-year-old Nathan Cody Erickson was hospitalized Sunday with a blood-alcohol content of nearly .50. He was later released.
The Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Drake has suspended three members in connection with the case. Fraternity vice president Bob Biggs says the organization is working with Drake University in the investigation.
Other fraternity officials say the Drake chapter's social calendar has been canceled until further notice.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) An Iowa City woman has been accused of assaulting a police officer who responded to a report the woman was lying in the street.
The officer and others responded to a medical call and tried to help 21-year-old Ayla Marshek, who was lying in the street partially covered in leaves.
According to police, Marshek refused medical treatment and became verbally abusive when the officer told her she was under arrest.
Authorities say Marshek struck an officer in the face with her fist after resisting being handcuffed, and continued her verbal abuse.
Marshek has been charged with assault on a peace officer and public intoxication. She was being held Tuesday in the Johnson County Jail.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) One of the two men accused of stoning 50 ducks to death last year at the Bever Park petting zoo area in Cedar Rapids is making a very public admission and apology.
Shayne Smalling has written a letter to the editor to be run in Wednesday's editions of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. In the letter, Smalling says he is disgusted by what he did and wants to take full responsibility for his actions.
The city spent about $3,500 to replace the ducks lost in the attack.
Smalling is now a Marine stationed in California.
Another Cedar Rapids resident, 19-year-old Zachary Kanellis, also faces charges in connection with the Bever Park duck stoning. The trial for both is currently set for March 1.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A crane has collapsed at the construction site of a new federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids.
The crane collapsed late Tuesday morning. Police say no one was hurt.
No other details have been released.
The federal courthouse is being built in Cedar Rapids to replace the existing one, which was inundated with flood water in 2008.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Public health officials are investigating the death of a 21-year-old Cedar Rapids man as a probable case of bacterial meningitis.
Linn County Public Health Director Curtis Dickson says reports had not confirmed meningitis in Monday's death, but he was fairly certain that was the case.
Dickson says 10 people in close contact with the man have been reached and are being given preventive antibiotic treatment.
Meningitis, which is an infection of the fluid in the spinal cord and fluid that surrounds the brain, can be caused by a viral or bacterial infection.
Bacterial meningitis, which is much more serious than the viral form, can result in brain damage, hearing loss, paralysis and death. Symptoms include high fever, headache and stiff neck.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) Fifty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Waterloo's West High School, its renovated auditorium will be rededicated with a memorial to the slain civil rights leader.
A bust of King sculpted by Waterloo native John Jago and built into the podium he spoke at will be unveiled Sunday. Jago will unveil the bust, which is 1-1/2 times life-size, before it is placed in the foyer.
West Principal Gail Moon says civil rights activist Anna Mae Weems, who brought King to Iowa, will speak during the ceremony, which will showcase the school's band, choir, orchestra and drama students.
Moon says the memorial is ``designed around commemorating a significant person in a moment in time.' The auditorium will retain its name. It was named after Edgar W. Kersenbrock, who was a West vice principal.
© 2002 Associated Press.
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