TAG SEARCH RESULTS FOR: ""

Pork producer: We need year round immigrants

Posted on by Rick Watts

A top Iowa pork producer is pushing federal lawmakers to allow immigrant workers to stay on the job year-round.

A spokeswoman for Iowa Select Farms — the state’s largest pork producer — told U.S. senators during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday that seasonal employment currently allowed under a federal visa program is insufficient to meet the industry’s needs, the Des Moines Register reported.

Farmers and meatpacking plants are facing severe labor shortages and need immigrant workers to be able to work year-round, said spokeswoman Jen Sorenson.

“If the labor shortage is not addressed, it could lead to farms and packing plants shutting down, causing serious financial harm to the communities in which they operate,” said Sorenson, who’s also president of the National Pork Producers Council.

Wednesday’s hearing focused on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would provide a pathway to legal status for more than 1 million undocumented farmworkers. The U.S. House passed the bill in March.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, also testified at the hearing.

While Sorenson praised the legislation’s call for year-round visas, she urged lawmakers to lift its cap on the number of those visas, saying that would force producers to “compete against one another for the same limited number of year-round visas.”

Southern Iowa Fair Queen likes her job

Posted on by Rick Watts

An Oskaloosa High School graduate is this year’s Southern Iowa Fair Queen.  Trisha Van Donselaar was crowned Fair Queen Monday night (7/19).  She says she’s enjoying her duties.

“It’s so fun; I’ve been really enjoying it.  I’ve been working at a lot of shows, helping hand out ribbons.  I’ve also been attending a lot of the kids’ activities, hanging out with kids and handing out their ribbons, also.”

Trisha will also compete in the Iowa State Fair Queen pageant next month. 

Jason Aldean Drops New Song With Carrie Underwood

Posted on by Bob Ballard

Jason Aldean was teasing the new duet “If I Didn’t Love You,” but wouldn’t give up the name of his singing partner. Well, the song is now out, with Carrie Underwood joining Jason, but she gave up the news way before the actual release.

Not long after Jason shared the tease, Carrie spilled the news herself, posting the woman raising her hand emoji.

“There ya have It!,” Jason shared. “Can’t wait for y’all to hear it tonight at midnight.” You can check it out below:

This day in Country Music History

Posted on by Bob Ballard
  • Today in 1977, Alabama debuted on the charts with their first single, “I Wanna Be With You Tonight.”
  • Today in 1981, the Oak Ridge Boys’ album, “Fancy Free,” was certified gold.
  • Today in 1990, the “Livin’ It Up” album by George Strait was certified gold.
  • Today in 1991, Holly Dunn released her collection, “Milestones: Greatest Hits.”
  • Today in 1993, Reba McEntire hit the top of the country singles charts with “It’s Your Call.”
  • Today in 1997, Deana Carter’s album, “Did I Shave My Legs For This?” was certified triple platinum.
  • Today in 2002, Toby Keith performed on the historic USS Battleship New Jersey for a roaring crowd of thousands. Before the show began, the mayor of Camden, New Jersey presented Toby with a Key to the City. The same day, his “Unleashed” album arrived in stores.
  • Today in 2002, Joe Nichols’ “Man With a Memory” album and Charlie Daniels’ “Redneck Fiddlin’ Man” arrived in stores.
  • Today in 2002, the “Hard Workin’ Man” album by Brooks and Dunn was certified for multi-platinum sales of 5-million copies.
  • Today in 2002, Kenny Chesney topped the “Radio & Records” Country Top 50 chart with his single, “The Good Stuff.”
  • Today in 2002, there was never any doubt that Toby Keith’s album, “Unleashed,” was going to be HUGE. However, after a midnight meet-and-greet, when Toby celebrated the release of the project with an in-store appearance at a Manassas, Virginia Best Buy store, he broke attendance records! The event ended at 3 am with 5,000 frenzied fans scooping up 2,600 copies of the album. The previous record holder was Ozzy Ozbourne, whose in-store appearance snagged 3,500 fans and 2,000 CDs sold.
  • Today in 2003, Sugarland performed a showcase at Nashville’s 12th & Porter club and picked up a record deal with Mercury.
  • Today in 2004, CMT’s “20 Funniest Country Videos” dubbed Jeff Foxworthy’s “Redneck Stomp” number one.
  • Today in 2013, Miranda Lambert earned a double-platinum certification for her single, “The House That Built Me.”
  • Today in 2016, Tim McGraw fell into the audience while trying to shake a hand with a fan at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena in Stateline, Nevada, but gets back on stage to finish “All I Want Is A Life“
  • Today in 2017, Jamey Johnson’s concert at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was cancelled with the venue saying the band would not conform to its security policy.
  • Today in 2017, Brantley Gilbert rode in the pace car and told drivers to “start your engines” at the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Finknenauer to run for Grassley’s US Senate seat

Posted on by Rick Watts

Democrat Abby Finkenauer, a former congresswoman, is running for Republican Chuck Grassley’s U.S. Senate seat, hoping her blue-collar credentials will propel her forward in a state that has grown more conservative over the years.

The 32-year-old former state lawmaker, who announced her candidacy by video Thursday morning (7/22), would offer a stark contrast to the 87-year-old Grassley, who was elected to his first term in the Senate eight years before Finkenauer was born.

“I’m running … to make sure that Iowans and, quite frankly, our country has someone sitting in the United States Senate representing them and working for them every day who actually understands working families,” Finkenauer told The Associated Press in an interview before the video release.

Finkenauer, despite losing her House seat in 2020 after one term, remains a youthful prospect in the Iowa Democratic Party, which has struggled to produce a new generation for statewide office. Along with 38-year-old Democrat Dave Muhlbauer, a farmer who previously announced his bid for Grassley’s seat, she is hoping Grassley’s slipping poll numbers provide an opening to revive a shrinking segment of the party’s once diverse electorate: rural voters.

Grassley has said he will announce by November whether he will seek an eighth term, though he talks regularly with campaign aides and reported this month having $2.5 million in his campaign account as of the end of June.

Despite job approval that’s ebbed in the past decade, Grassley would be the favorite to win reelection and faces a nominal primary opponent in state Sen. Jim Carlin. State and local Democratic officials have said the party has receded in the onetime battleground state, particularly from the industrial river towns they once claimed as bastions, notably in Finkenauer’s former northeast Iowa district.

Republican Donald Trump easily won the state in 2016 and in 2020.

Finkenauer accuses Grassley of showing too much fealty to Trump, citing his near-silence on the former president’s unfounded claims of widespread election fraud before the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“The fact that he did not call out those lies as they were happening in our state, as they were happening across the country… it’s so disappointing,” Finkenauer said.

Trump’s allegations of fraud in the election he lost to Joe Biden were rejected by courts, his attorney general and other prominent Republicans.

Grassley condemned the January Capitol riot as “an attack on democracy itself” but hasn’t publicly suggested Trump quit arguing the 2020 presidential election was stolen. When pressed at a recent public meeting in Iowa to call out Trump’s falsehoods, Grassley declined, stating simply, “Biden is the president of the United States.”

Touting the union family profile that put her in Congress in 2018, Finkenauer also chastised Grassley for not being among the bipartisan group of senators working on a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure deal brokered with Biden. Grassley voted Wednesday to block the infrastructure bill’s advance.

Such a package “means jobs, and that’s what I know matters to people in Iowa and across the country,” Finkenauer said.

Grassley said Wednesday during a call with reporters that he hadn’t seen the language in the bill. “And I don’t think anybody expects me in Iowa to vote for a bill that I haven’t seen the language,” he said.

Finkenauer won in 2018 when Democrats reclaimed the House majority, stressing her union household upbringing. She defeated two-term Dubuque Republican Rep. Rod Blum.

That profile was little help in 2020 as working-class voters who once fueled Iowa Democratic Party strength along the Mississippi River leaned toward Trump and lifted Republican Ashley Hinson over Finkenauer.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee doesn’t consider Iowa among its top targets, though it is monitoring in the event Grassley doesn’t seek reelection. In the meantime, the group is stressing economic gains made under Biden and attributing them to action in the narrowly Democratic-controlled Senate.

Instead of Iowa, Democrats are focused first on holding Senate seats in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire. After that, they see opportunities to gain seats in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, all narrow presidential battleground states.

The Iowa Senate race is among those in a group of states Biden lost, including Florida, Missouri and Ohio.

‘Field of Dreams’ MLB game is three weeks away

Posted on by Rick Watts

BY 

The highly-anticipated Major League Baseball game at the Field of Dreams Movie Site is coming up on August 12 and Dyersville is hosting a “Beyond the Game” festival that starts the day before. Dyersville Chamber director Karla Thompson says there’s been a surge of interested in the area after the game was announced.

“We talk to tourists all the time that (say) they’ve never been there, it’s on the bucket list and this is the year they’re going to come to the Field of Dreams,” Thompson says.

The Dyersville Chamber has been fielding lots of calls about how to register for game tickets, which are being awarded through a lottery to Iowa residents.

“Even if they don’t get tickets, they can come to our festival,” she says. “…We’re going to be the official viewing party for that game. We’re going to have that in the city square, which is right downtown in Dyersville.”

The game will be played on a newly-constructed, eight-thousand seat ballpark that’s next to the baseball diamond that was seen in the 1989 movie. The site is a few miles outside of Dyersville. In town, there’s an “If You Build It” exhibit about the making of the movie. Thompson says an “Iowa Zone” will be set up during the two-day festival so tourists — and locals — can learn more about the state as a whole.

“Businesses and organizations are going to be there, giving out samples or promoting their product or just kind of showcasing or providing an education opportunity, so like John Deere, Blue Bunny, Musco Lighting — those all kind of represent Iowa,” Thompson says.

Musco Lighting, based in Oskaloosa, has installed lighting systems at several sports arenas major league ballparks, including Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City. Thompson is looking for volunteers to help out during the festival, including at the “Kid’s Zone” in Dyersville where there will be all sorts of activities — and even a pitching contest.

“It takes a village to put this on,” Thompson says, “so we’re kind of excited.”

The Field of Dreams game was originally scheduled for last summer, but was postponed due to the pandemic. The Chicago White Sox will be the home team and their game against the New York Yankees will count as a regular season game. From now through this Friday, fans with an Iowa zip code can register in a lottery for tickets. Winners will be notified on August 2 if they won the chance to buy two tickets to the game.

(Reporting by Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester)

Olympic opening ceremony director fired for Holocaust joke

Posted on by Rick Watts

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee fired the director of the opening ceremony on Thursday because of a Holocaust joke he made during a comedy show in 1998.

Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said a day ahead of the opening ceremony that director Kentaro Kobayashi has been dismissed. He was accused of using a joke about the Holocaust in his comedy act, including the phrase “Let’s play Holocaust.”

“We found out that Mr. Kobayashi, in his own performance, has used a phrase ridiculing a historical tragedy,” Hashimoto said. “We deeply apologize for causing such a development the day before the opening ceremony and for causing troubles and concerns to many involved parties as well as the people in Tokyo and the rest of the country.”

Tokyo has been plagued with scandals since being awarded the Games in 2013. French investigators are looking into alleged bribes paid to International Olympic Committee members to influence the vote for Tokyo. The fallout forced the resignation two years ago of Tsunekazu Takeda, who headed the Japanese Olympic Committee and was an IOC member.

The opening ceremony of the pandemic-delayed Games is scheduled for Friday. The ceremony will be held without spectators as a measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections, although some officials, guests and media will attend.

“We are going to have the opening ceremony tomorrow and, yes, I am sure there are a lot of people who are not feeling easy about the opening of the Games,” Hashimoto said. “But we are going to open the Games tomorrow under this difficult situation.”

Earlier this week, composer Keigo Oyamada, whose music was to be used at the ceremony, was forced to resign because of past bullying of his classmates, which he boasted about in magazine interviews. The segment of his music will not be used.

Soon after a video clip and script of Kobayashi’s performance were revealed, criticism flooded social media.

“Any person, no matter how creative, does not have the right to mock the victims of the Nazi genocide,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based human rights group.

He also noted that the Nazis gassed Germans with disabilities.

“Any association of this person to the Tokyo Olympics would insult the memory of 6 million Jews and make a cruel mockery of the Paralympics,” he said.

Kobayashi is a former member of a popular comedy duo Rahmens and known overseas for comedy series including “The Japanese Tradition.”

Japan is pushing ahead with the Olympics against the advice of most of its medical experts. This is partially due to pressure from the IOC, which is estimated to face losses of $3 billion to $4 billion in television rights income if the Games were not held.

The official cost of the Olympics is $15.4 billion, but government audits suggest it’s much more. All but $6.7 billion is public money.

“We have been preparing for the last year to send a positive message,” Hashimoto said. “Toward the very end now there are so many incidents that give a negative image toward Tokyo 2020.”

Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo organizing committee, also acknowledged the reputational damage.

“Maybe these negative incidents will impact the positive message we wanted to deliver to the world,” he said.

The last-minute scandals come as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government faces criticism for prioritizing the Olympics despite public health concerns amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

Koichi Nakano, who teach politics at Sophia University, wrote on Twitter that the opening ceremony chaos underscores a lack of awareness in Japan about diversity.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she learned of Koyayashi’s comments from Hashimoto.

“I was astonished,” she said.

Kobayashi’s Holocaust joke and Oyamada’s resignation were the latest to plague the Games. Yoshiro Mori resigned as organizing committee president over sexist remarks. Hiroshi Sasaki also stepped down as creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies after suggesting a Japanese actress should dress as a pig.

Also this week, the chiropractor for the American women’s wrestling team apologized after comparing Olympic COVID-19 protocols to Nazi Germany in a social media post. Rosie Gallegos-Main, the team’s chiropractor since 2009, will be allowed to finish her planned stay at USA Wrestling’s pre-Olympic camp in Nakatsugawa, Japan.

___

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

___

AP Sports Writer Stephen Wade contributed to this report.

Rep. Miller-Meeks urges Iowans to get COVID-19 vaccine

Posted on by Rick Watts

The Iowa Department of Public Health’s website shows the number of Covid-19 patients in Iowa hospitals has been increasing over the past three and a half weeks.  Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa is an eye doctor who’s the former director of the state health department. She went on the floor of the U.S. House Wednesday (7/21) to urge Iowans to get vaccinated.

“For the last few months, I have traveled across my district administering vaccines to Iowans. It has been a pleasure to see my constituents and the entire country have a renewed sense of freedom and a return to normal.  But fully engaged living is threatened by the Delta variant, which is causing increased hospitalizations and deaths, especially among those unvaccinated.” Miller-Meeks says if you haven’t gotten a shot and have concerns, talk to your doctor.

“It is miraculous to have three safe and effective vaccines for Covid-19 so rapidly. Decades of research informed the development of these break-through vaccines and millions have been vaccinated with tremendously low risk.”

As she spoke, Miller-Meeks, who is a Republican, positioned a large photo showing her giving a Covid shot to the chairman of the Iowa G-O-P. Forty-seven percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated according to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s data.

MEET THE H & S FEED & COUNTRY STORE PET OF THE WEEK: “SAMMY”

Posted on by Bob Ballard

This week’s H & S Feed & Country Store Pet of the Week is “Sammy”. Sammy is an affectionate 5 year old cat who loves attention, gets along with kids and he gets along with other cats. If you’re looking for a furry companion to curl up on your lap and give you some lovin’, Sammy’s your guy! He’s fully vaccinated, and ready to find his forever home.

If you’d like to set up an appointment to meet Sammy or any of the pets at Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter, visit https://www.stephenmemorial.org/ and fill out an adoption application.

Check out our visit about with Terry Gott from Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter here:

NEWSLETTER

Stay updated, sign up for our newsletter.