An Oskaloosa man is accused of sharing x-rated pictures of teenage girls on social media. Albia Police and the Division of Criminal Investigation arrested 30-year-old Andrew James Richardson last week. Albia Police were told that sexually explicit photos of a juvenile girl were sent to a social media user who claimed to be 16 years old. An investigation found Richardson owns the social media account. As law enforcement investigated further, they turned up more sexually explicit photos of teen girls…as well as evidence of sexual contact between Richardson and a juvenile girl. Richardson is charged with two counts of third degree sexual abuse, three counts of enticing a minor and four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Richardson is being held in the Monroe County Jail on $75,000 cash only bond.
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Mahaska County Board hires economic development director
Posted on by Rick Watts
The Mahaska County Board has hired an Economic Development Director. At Monday’s (6/17) regular Board meeting, the Board voted to hire Tom Flaherty to the position. Mahaska County Board Chairman Mark Groenendyk talks about the benefits of having someone work for the County in developing its economy.
“Everybody’s looking forward to having an independent person to talk to for their own needs. With no fees attached, just their concerns in mind…to see how they can expand, how to get more employees into their door, better roads for their business and so forth.”
Groenendyk says Flaherty comes highly recommended from the Davenport area, where he had previously worked. The County Board established priorities for Flaherty to work on: workforce development, housing, infrastructure and housing for seniors.
Looking Back on Sturgill Simpson’s Fabled CMA Protest
Posted on by Rick Watts
CMT – Whatever his other achievements have been or may be, Sturgill Simpson will probably forever be remembered by Music Row insiders for the stunt he pulled during the 2017 CMA Awards show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. We’ll get back to that in a moment.
In the interim, let’s raise a glass to the intrepid troubadour on his 41st birthday (Saturday, June 8).
Simpson emerged quietly on the country music scene without being extruded through the usual star-making machinery. In fact, he was guesting on A Prairie Home Companionbefore many on Music Row ever heard of him.
A native of eastern Kentucky, Simpson began his musical career in Oregon in the early 2000s. After he moved to Utah, where he worked full-time for Union Pacific Railroad, he continued playing the amateur circuits around Salt Lake City.
He moved to Nashville in 2012, with an eye on making music his profession, and the following year released on his own label the album High Top Mountain. Although it yielded no chart singles, it did harvest considerable critical praise. Simpson wrote 10 of the 12 songs on the album.
In 2014, he followed High Top Mountain with a second DIY collection, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (a cheeky reference to Ray Charles’ 1962 classic, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music). A cut from the album, “Turtles All the Way Down,” netted Simpson the song of the year trophy at the 2015 Americana Music Awards, where he had earlier been voted top emerging artist.
Atlantic Records signed Simpson and in 2016 released his A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, all the songs on which, save one, Simpson wrote. The album earned him Grammy nominations for album of the year and best country album, the latter of which he won.
Which brings us to Simpson’s CMA stunt.
Feeling that a Grammy win for best country album should at least garner him an invitation to the 2017 awards gala, Simpson was understandably piqued when no invitation arrived.
So on the same night and at the same time other stars were inside Bridgestone Arena, Simpson set up shop on the plaza outside with his guitar, amplifier and open guitar case for tips. To spread his message, he broadcast about 35 minutes of his singing and talking with passersby on Facebook Live.
Naturally, enough, he displayed protests signs as well, one of which read, “Struggling country singer… Anything helps (all donations go to the ACLU). God Bless America.”
Apart from creating a footnote to music history, Simpson also reportedly raked in $13 for the American Civil Liberties Union. Waylon Jennings, the old “outlaw” to whose vocal style Simpson’s is often compared, would have been proud.
June 17 – On This Day
Posted on by Rick Watts
In 1992 – Billy Ray Cyrus was at #1 on the US Country music chart with his breakthrough hit “Achy Breaky Heart”. Written by Don Von Tress it was originally titled “Don’t Tell My Heart” and recorded by The Marcy Brothers in 1991, its name was later changed to “Achy Breaky Heart” In the US it became a crossover hit on pop and country radio, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, becoming the first Country single to be certified Platinum since Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s “Islands in the Stream” in 1983.
Oskaloosa baseball and softball in action Monday
Posted on by Rick Watts
Oskaloosa’s softball team plays at Pella Christian Monday night. The Indians won two out of three at Saturday’s (6/15) Indian Classic, losing 2-1 to East Marshall, while beating Fairfield 10-4 and Creston 12-2. Monday’s Oskaloosa at Pella Christian softball game starts at 7:30pm.
Oskaloosa’s baseball team also plays a single game Monday night at Pella Christian. The Indians are coming off a doubleheader sweep of Indianola on Friday (6/14)…winning 5-3 and 3-2. Oskaloosa now 9-4 overall and 6-3 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. You can hear Oskaloosa baseball Monday night on KBOE-FM with coverage starting at 7:15 and the play-by-play at 7:30.
Why US-China trade war risks hurting firms in both countries
Posted on by Rick Watts
By PAUL WISEMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses are imploring President Donald Trump not to expand his tariffs to $300 billion in goods from China that have so far been spared in his trade war with Beijing.
These companies warn that the additional tariffs would drive up prices for consumers, squeeze profits and leave U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage to foreign rivals that aren’t subject to higher taxes on the components they buy from China.
And in a sign that commercial combat between the world’s two biggest economies is hurting business on both sides of the Pacific, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei warned that the hostilities with the Trump administration will shrink its expected revenue by $30 billion over the next two years.
Huawei is at the heart of the trade war that Beijing is engaged in with the Trump administration, which has accused Chinese companies like Huawei of committing forced technology transfers from American companies and stealing their trade secrets. Last month, the U.S. placed Huawei on its “Entity List,” which effectively bars American companies from selling components to Huawei without government approval.
In the meantime, American businesses, trade groups and individuals are pleading with the administration to drop its threat to tax the remaining Chinese imports that Trump hasn’t already hit with tariffs — or at least spare the particular imports that they and their customers rely on. Some are appearing in person to air their grievances in seven days of hearings in Washington that began Monday.
A common theme in their pleas is that American businesses — not China, as Trump often asserts — must pay the import taxes the president is imposing on Chinese goods. And in the end, many of these companies will pass their higher costs on to their customers.
Trump has already imposed 25{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports. The goal is to pressure Beijing to stop stealing American technology, forcing U.S. businesses to hand over trade secrets and unfairly subsidizing Chinese tech companies.
Eleven rounds of negotiations have failed to resolve the dispute over China’s aggressive drive to surpass America’s technological dominance. Businesses and investors say they hope the negotiations will gain momentum if Trump and President Xi Jinping hold a face-to-face meeting at a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan in two weeks.
“Most businesses are almost praying for a solution,” said Patrik Berglund, who tracks global trade as the CEO of Xeneta, an Oslo, Norway ,firm that provides data on the shipping industry. “These things will have enormous consequences. We’re so connected in this global world.”
This week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is sure to hear more complaints when he goes to Capitol Hill. Lighthizer is to testify Tuesday to the Senate Finance Committee and Wednesday to the House Ways and Means Committee. Lawmakers from both political parties have been increasingly inclined to speak out against Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs.
They were especially alarmed last month when Trump unexpectedly threatened to impose crippling tariffs on Mexico in a push to stop the flow of Central American migrants into the United States. Trump dropped the tariff threat after Mexico agreed to do more to block the migrants.
But the combat with China continues. And Chinese companies are being bruised. Huawei’s founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei, likened his company to a “badly damaged plane” because of the U.S. actions against it.
Ren said Huawei will reduce capacity and expects revenue of about $100 billion annually for the next two years, compared with $105 billion in 2018. In February, he had said the company was targeting $125 billion in 2019. Huawei’s overseas cellphone sales will drop by 40{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b}, Ren predicted.
The Trump administration asserts that Huawei poses a national security threat because it is beholden to China’s ruling Communist Party. But American officials have presented no evidence of any Huawei equipment serving as intentional conduits for espionage by Beijing. Huawei’s placement on the Entity List is widely seen as intended to persuade resistant U.S. allies in Europe to exclude Huawei equipment from their next-generation wireless networks, known as 5G.
The action against Huawei marked an escalation in a yearlong dispute with China. Trump’s earlier tariffs largely spared American consumers by focusing on industrial goods that don’t show up directly in the mall or big-box stores. But the new round would inflict financial pain on ordinary households because it will affect many consumer goods, from cellphones and computers to shoes and silk scarves.
“There’s certainly a lot of business pressure to resolve the China trade wars,” said Amanda DeBusk, chair of the international trade practice at the law firm Dechert and a former U.S. Commerce Department official.
She added: “The president looks at all of this as a negotiation. As we have seen, sometimes these things have a way of working themselves out as they did with his tariffs on Mexico.”
If Trump does expand his tariffs to all remaining goods from China, though, it could prove costly. A report commissioned by the National Retail Federation found that American consumers would pay an additional $4.4 billion a year for clothing, $2.5 billion more for shoes and $1.6 billion more for household appliances.
More broadly, economists say the tariffs could weaken a U.S. economy that appears to be on shakier footing. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the higher import taxes would leave the United States with 900,000 fewer jobs than it would have had otherwise.
“The U.S. economy will be flirting with recession later this year and early next,” Zandi said.
Jeffrey Pratt, leader of the supply chain practice at the accounting and consulting firm BDO, called the looming tariffs “a bit of gamechanger” for his clients. Many can’t afford to absorb the taxes themselves and would pass along the higher costs to their customers.
Atlas PyroVision Entertainment in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, relies on China for 90{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} of the fireworks it sells.
“Simply imposing a 25{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} tariff will ultimately cause significant harm to our family business,” CEO Stephen Pelkey said in a filing with the U.S. Trade Representative. “We would be forced to pass along the increase directly to our customers.”
Noting that community nonprofits often use the fireworks for Independence Day celebrations, Pelkey wrote: “In most cases, a 25{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} hike in price will force their skies to go dark on the 4th of July.”
Bracing for the new tariffs, Yedi Houseware, a Los Angeles family business, has postponed plans to hire and move into a bigger warehouse. Bobby Djavaheri, a company executive, echoed a common complaint: The administration is taxing products — in his case, things like air fryers — that aren’t made by American companies. They must be imported. So no U.S. producer benefits from the tariffs; U.S. importers just get socked with a tax.
“It’s really dumbfounding,” he said.
___
AP Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio in New York and senior producer Tracy Brown of AP Television News in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP
Oskaloosa City Council votes on facade improvement
Posted on by Rick Watts
Monday night (6/17), the Oskaloosa City Council will vote on approving a contract for phase two of the City’s façade improvement project. There is a bid of $800,000 from Cornerstone Commercial Contractors of Corning, Iowa. Following the regular meeting, the Council will go into closed session for an evaluation of City Manager Michael Schrock’s performance…..and following that, the Council will vote on a contract for Schrock. Monday night’s Oskaloosa City Council meeting starts at 6 at City Hall.
Heckethorn murder trial delayed
Posted on by Rick Watts
An Ottumwa man’s murder trial has been moved back to November. 19-year-old Jacob Heckethorn is charged with first degree murder in the death of William Shettlesworth last August. Heckethorn’s attorney has been granted a delay in order to prepare for a new prosecution witness. Heckethorn’s murder trial will now begin November 5. But Heckethorn’s trial for attempted murder is still on for August. He’s also accused of shooting Clifford Collett Senior in a different incident last August.
Ken Burns “Country” Documentary Announces Five-Disc Soundtrack
Posted on by Bob Ballard
The Ken Burns documentary “Country Music” is set to debut on PBS September 15th, and now a soundtrack to the 16-and-a-half-hour series has been announced.
The five-CD set, dropping August 30th, will span the complete history of Country music, featuring songs by artists like the Carter Family, Gene Autry, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, George Jones and more.
More contemporary artists on the soundtrack include Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Dwight Yoakam, Roseanne Cash and more. The tracklist is below:
Disc One:
“Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)” – Carter Family
“Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8)” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Barbara Allen” – Bradley Kincaid
“I’ll Fly Away” – James and Martha Carson
“If the River Was Whiskey” – Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers
“Fox Chase” – DeFord Bailey
“Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standin’ on the Corner)” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Wildwood Flower” – Carter Family
“In the Jailhouse Now” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Comin’ Round the Mountain” – Uncle Dave Macon and Sam McGee
“Pretty Polly” – Coon Creek Girls
“T.B. Blues” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Mountain Dew” – Grandpa Jones and His Grandchildren
“Home on the Range” – Gene Autry
“I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” – Patsy Montana and the Prairie Ramblers
“Tumbling Tumbleweeds” – Sons of the Pioneers
“Keep on the Sunny Side”/ “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes” – Carter Family
“The Great Speckled Bird” – Roy Acuff
“Whoa Babe” – Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
“New San Antonio Rose” – Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
“Wabash Cannon Ball” – Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys
“Mule Skinner Blues” – Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys
Disc Two:
“Honky Tonkin’” – Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys
“It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” – Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys
“New Mule Skinner Blues” – Maddox Brothers and Rose
“I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)” – Eddy Arnold and His Tennessee Plowboys
“Foggy Mountain Breakdown” – Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys
“Molly and Tenbrook” – Stanley Brothers
“Lovesick Blues” – Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys
“I Saw the Light” – Hank Williams
“Hey, Good Lookin’” – Hank Williams
“It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” – Kitty Wells
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” – Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys
“Jambalaya” – Little Brenda Lee
“New Step It Up and Go” – Maddox Brothers and Rose
“I Walk the Line” – Johnny Cash & the Tennessee Two
“Crazy Arms” – Ray Price
“Bye, Bye Love” – Everly Brothers
“The Long Black Veil” – Lefty Frizzell
“El Paso” – Marty Robbins
“Night Life” – Ray Price
“Hello Walls” – Faron Young
“I Fall to Pieces” – Patsy Cline
“Ring of Fire” – Johnny Cash
“Crazy” – Patsy Cline
“I Can’t Stop Loving You” – Ray Charles
Disc Three:
“Dang Me” – Roger Miller
“I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” – Buck Owens
“Don’t Come Home a-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” – Loretta Lynn
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” – Loretta Lynn
“Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” – Charley Pride
“Hungry Eyes” – Merle Haggard and the Strangers
“Mama Tried” – Merle Haggard and the Strangers
“Harper Valley P.T.A.” – Jeannie C. Riley
“Don’t Touch Me” – Jeannie Seely
“Folsom Prison Blues” – Johnny Cash
“Stand by Your Man” – Tammy Wynette
“She Thinks I Still Care” – George Jones
“You Ain’t Going Nowhere” – The Byrds
“Me and Bobby McGee” – Kris Kristofferson
“Help Me Make It Through the Night” – Sammi Smith
“Sunday Morning Coming Down” – Kris Kristofferson
“Okie From Muskogee” – Merle Haggard and the Strangers
“Man in Black” – Johnny Cash
“Girl From the North Country” – Bob Dylan with Johnny Cash
“Grand Ole Opry Song” – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Disc Four:
“Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” – Waylon Jennings
“Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8)” – Dolly Parton
“Jolene” – Dolly Parton
“I Will Always Love You” – Dolly Parton
“We’re Gonna Hold On – George Jones and Tammy Wynette
“Texas Cookin’” – Guy Clark
“If I Needed You” – Townes Van Zandt
“I Can’t Stop Loving You” – Johnny Rodriguez
“I’ve Been a Long Time Leaving (But I’ll Be a Long Time Gone)” – Waylon Jennings
“Love Hurts (Live)” – Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels
“Boulder to Birmingham” – Emmylou Harris
“Bluebird Wine” – Emmylou Harris
“Whiskey River” – Willie Nelson
“Miles and Miles of Texas” – Asleep at the Wheel
“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” – Willie Nelson
“Good Hearted Woman” – Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
“Family Tradition” – Hank Williams Jr.
“Seven Year Ache” – Rosanne Cash
“Pancho and Lefty” – Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard
“He Stopped Loving Her Today” – George Jones
Disc Five:
“Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’” – Ricky Skaggs
“On the Road Again” – Willie Nelson
“Amarillo by Morning” – George Strait
“Somebody Should Leave” – Reba McEntire
“Diggin’ Up Bones” – Randy Travis
“Why Not Me” – The Judds
“Honky Tonk Man” – Dwight Yoakam
“Streets of Bakersfield” – Dwight Yoakam with Buck Owens
“Where’ve You Been” – Kathy Mattea
“I’m No Stranger to the Rain” – Keith Whitley
“Go Rest High on That Mountain” – Vince Gill
“Guitar Town” – Steve Earle
“She’s in Love With the Boy” – Trisha Yearwood
“Tennessee Flat Top Box” – Rosanne Cash
“Get Up John” – Emmylou Harris & the Nash Ramblers
“Uncle Pen” – Ricky Skaggs
“I Still Miss Someone” – Rosanne Cash
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
This day in 1970, Johnny Cash appears on “TV Guide”
Posted on by Bob Ballard
This day in 1970, Johnny Cash graced the cover of “TV Guide.”
The Johnny Cash Show was a music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969 to March 31, 1971 on ABC. It was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The show reached No. 17 in the Nielsen ratings in 1970.
Cash opened each show, invariably preceding the first number with his customary “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” greeting, and its regulars included members of his touring troupe, June Carter Cash (his wife) and the Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins, and The Tennessee Three, with Australian-born musical director-arranger-conductor Bill Walker. The Statler Brothers performed brief comic interludes. An instrumental version of “Folsom Prison Blues” was used for the opening credits.
It featured many folk-country musicians, such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Merle Haggard, James Taylor and Tammy Wynette. It also featured other musicians such as jazz great Louis Armstrong, who died eight months after appearing on the show
As an actor, he had a dozen credits to his name, including roles on ‘Columbo’, ‘Little House On The Prairie’, and several movies.
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