BEIJING (AP) — China has criticized President Joe Biden’s statement that American forces would defend Taiwan if Beijing tries to invade as a violation of U.S. commitments about the self-ruled island. Beijing gave no indication of possible retaliation. Biden said “yes” when asked during an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS News’s “60 Minutes” program whether U.S. forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. The comment added to displays of official American support for the island democracy in the face of growing shows of force by the mainland’s ruling Communist Party, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory. China’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. remarks violate Washington’s commitment not to support formal independence for Taiwan, a step Beijing has said would lead to war.
Rebate can get farmers tractor rollbars for half price and save lives
By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)
Today is Tractor Safety Day, the first day of National Farm Safety Week, and one of the biggest dangers involving farm tractors is a lack of rollover protection. A program offers Iowa tractor owners a rebate to install rollover protective structures, or ROPS. Jackie Curnick (CUR-nick), program coordinator at the University of Iowa’s Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, says the rebate saves money — and rollbars save lives.
Curnick says, “We can provide up to $500 in funding for a retrofitted rollbar and typically that’s about half of the price of the retrofit.” The program often has a lengthy national wait list but Curnick says Iowans have a special “in” and should apply for the rebate.
“Iowa is lucky because we do have some funds available, so we do say, ‘Yes get on the list,'” Curnick says. “In the last couple of years we’ve retrofitted about 30 tractors because we have that funding through the Iowa Center for Agricultural Safety and Health.” Studies find ROPS are 99% effective in preventing injury or death in the event of a rollover when used with a seatbelt, and 70% effective when used without a seatbelt.
“Half of U.S. tractors don’t have rollover protection. They are the leading cause of death on a farm, and 80% of deaths caused by tractor rollovers happen to farmers,” Curnick says. “The most frequent cause of them are going from the side or rear turnovers and that’s about 96 deaths per year.” She says virtually any tractor can be retrofitted with a ROPS. Learn more about the rebate program at www.i-cash.org.
NASA Astronaut Raja Chari to Speak at Central College
PELLA — Raja Chari, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut and commander of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission, will present at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, Douwstra Auditorium, on Central College’s campus.
Central hosted “Space Station Central” in February 2022, where campus and community members were able to talk to Chari live while he was in space on the International Space Station. Now he is back home and Central has the honor of welcoming him and his spouse, Holly Schaffter Chari ’99, to speak in Douwstra Auditorium. The public is invited to hear Chari discuss his time aboard the International Space Station and life as an astronaut.
Chari is also one of 18 astronauts, chosen from 18,000 applicants, to train for NASA’s Artemis moon-landing program. This lunar exploration program will land the first woman and the next man on the moon in 2024.
Astronaut Chari’s program is free. Please register in advance. The presentation will be livestreamed at 7 p.m. on Central Dutch Network.
Ottumwa Duck Races Return This Weekend
Ottumwa’s most beloved summer event is coming back again this year September 24, 2022. JBS and Greater Ottumwa Partners in Progress have teamed up to bring back the Duck Races which will benefit Heartland Humane Society. One dollar from every duck adoption will go toward the no-kill animal shelter for dogs and cats. The mission of Heartland Humane Society is to provide temporary shelter and care to homeless/lost animals, to educate the public on proper care of animals, and to promote neuter and spay programs. 7,000 rubber ducks will launch for the third year in Central Park and travel South on N. Court St. on September 24, 2022. Adopt your duck for a chance to win cash! First place will win $2,500, Second place will win $1,000 and the Dead Duck (last place) will win $500. Have you ever entered a contest that you can win for coming in last? Go to www.ottumwaduckraces.com for more information on the duck races.
Event Location
North Court Street next to Hotel Ottumwa
107 E. Second St.
Ottumwa IA
For more information, contact:
Christy Butts
(641) 682-3465
christy@ottumwaiowa.com
Indians drop homecoming night game to Keokuk
By Sam Parsons
The Oskaloosa Indians entered their homecoming week contest against the Keokuk Chiefs hoping to notch a win before entering their brutal district schedule, but those hopes were quickly extinguished by a rash of turnovers.
The game began with Oskaloosa going 3-and-out. Keokuk suffered the same fate on their first drive; however, it was here that the turnover trend began, as the punt that followed the Chiefs’ 3-and-out was muffed, and they moved from their own 8 up to their own 43. 3 plays later, sophomore QB Brenton Hoard connected on a pretty sideline shot to Diego Garcia, finding him in stride as he cruised to a 59 yard score to take a 7-0 lead.
The Indians’ kick return unit took the field and promptly lost the ball again sophomore Maddux Ashman was the victim of a perfect hit from junior Chase Eckland, who placed his helmet right on the ball to jar it loose and kicker Cooper Abfalter-Dial was in the right place at the right time to recover. However, the Indians’ defense wouldn’t get rattled, as they staved off the Chiefs’ drive in their own territory as it ended with an Abfalter-Dial missed field goal of 32 yards.
Another Osky 3-and-out on offense led to another Osky stop on defense, which led to another special teams turnover as senior Waylon Bolibaugh picked up a rolling punt and lost the ball a few steps into his return. The Indians now had 3 special teams turnovers in 13 minutes of play.
The Oskaloosa defense again held firm, forcing a turnover on downs in their own territory. The Indians offense responded with a 3-and-out and the Chiefs offense was able to get moving again, embarking on a 9-play, 52-yard drive that ended with Hoard punching it in from the 1 yard line on a QB sneak to take a 14-0 lead that remained heading into halftime after Oskaloosa’s final drive of the half ended with an aborted snap over the head of junior QB Trevor Willett inside the Chiefs’ 30 for the Indians’ 4th turnover of the night.
The 3rd quarter featured a lengthy Chiefs drive to start, but ultimately no points as they were again halted deep into Osky territory, which preceded a 3-and-out for the Indians and then the same for the Chiefs, keeping the score at 14-0 Chiefs entering the final quarter of play.
At the outset of the quarter, the Indians were getting out of their funk offensively, but another great play by Chase Eckland ended the drive as he picked off Trevor Willett at the Chiefs’ 2 and took it out to the 25. Keokuk wouldn’t parlay that into anything offensively, going 3-and-out, and then Osky was finally able to string together a scoring drive: the 13-play, 49-yard drive was highlighted by Trevor Willett finding Waylon Bolibaugh for 16 yards on 4th and 16 to keep it alive. It ended with senior Wyatt Grubb hauling in a tipped pass in the end zone from 2 yards out to cut the lead to 7; however, the Indians burned off over 6 minutes of time, and there were only 3 minutes and 24 seconds left.
Luckily, the Indian defense understood the assignment. They quickly forced a 3-and-out from the Chiefs to get the ball back on the Osky 25 with 2:01 and no timeouts to travel 75 yards. The offense was up to the task early, as Grubb made 2 catch-and-runs of 20 yards to bring the Indians into Chiefs territory. 3 straight completions to junior wideout AJ Lawrence put the Indians on the Keokuk 14; however, prior to the 3rd completion, the Indians’ offense could only stand and look to the sideline for about 25 seconds as the clock ticked under 30.
It was here that the Indians’ drive stalled. An offside penalty followed by 3 straight incompletions from Willett led to a 4th and 5 on Keokuk’s 9, and Diego Garcia came through once more for the Chiefs, picking Willett off in the end zone and sealing the victory for Keokuk.
Oskaloosa (1-3) begins their district schedule at home against Clear Creek-Amana next Friday. Keokuk (2-2) returns home to face Fairfield.
Oskaloosa Passing
Trevor Willett: 20/36, 250 yards, TD, 2 INT; 0 sacks, 0 fumbles
Keokuk Passing
Brenton Hoard: 17/33, 193 yards, TD; 1 sack, 7 yards lost, 0 fumbles
Oskaloosa Rushing
Dom Piersel: 6 carries, 14 yards
Tatum Westercamp: 6 carries, 13 yards
Keokuk Rushing
Brenton Hoard: 16 carries, 48 yards, TD
Malachi Douglas: 10 carries, 16 yards
Oskaloosa Receiving
Wyatt Grubb: 7 rec, 99 yards, TD
Waylon Bolibaugh: 7 rec, 87 yards
AJ Lawrence: 4 rec, 42 yards
Dom Piersel: 1 rec, 11 yards
Parker Lewis: 1 rec, 11 yards
Keokuk Receiving
Diego Garcia: 7 rec, 117 yards, TD
Chase Eckland: 4 rec, 27 yards
Drew Campbell: 3 rec, 43 yards
Mason Claus: 1 rec, 9 yards
Liam O’Donnell: 1 rec, 2 yards
Malachi Douglas: 1 rec, -4 yards
Treasury recommends exploring creation of a digital dollar
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is moving one step closer to developing a central bank digital currency, known as the digital dollar. Administration officials say it’d help reinforce the U.S. role as a leader in the world financial system. The White House said Friday that after President Joe Biden issued an executive order in March calling on agencies to look at ways to regulate digital assets, the agencies came up with nine reports. One Treasury recommendation is the U.S. “advance policy and technical work on a potential central bank digital currency.” The Atlantic Council nonpartisan think tank says many other countries already are exploring or have created a central bank digital currency.
DNR seeking sign ups for annual volunteer day
By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)
The chief of Iowa’s Parks, Forests and Preserves Bureau is asking Iowans to mark next Saturday (September 24th) on their calendars to lend a hand with sprucing up our state parks.
It’s the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ sixth annual Statewide Volunteer Day and Sherry Arntzen is encouraging everyone who loves and uses our park system to sign up.
“We have a number of different volunteer projects in some of the parks,” Arntzen says. “It could be putting together picnic tables, painting picnic tables, picking up trash, helping with some invasive species removal, planting trees, or staining other buildings that we have.”
There are projects planned all across the state at about one in every four of Iowa’s state parks. “So we have 71 state parks and forests. Right now, we have 18 parks that have scheduled events on the 24th,” Arntzen says, “but if people are interested in learning about other volunteer opportunities at some of our parks, we encourage them to reach out to the park offices direct.”
Arntzen says Iowa’s state parks are “beloved places for many Iowans,” and the DNR staff greatly appreciates the help volunteers provide. “We’re down a little bit this year on the number of scheduled projects, especially since COVID,” Arntzen says. “We have a large increase in our number of guests that we serve in our parks, so we have been quite busy this year with just our day-to-day operations.”
Some of the projects can be tackled rain or shine, but if the weather looks inclement, volunteers should contact the individual park office in case of changes to the date, time, or meeting location.
To sign up, log on to: www.iowadnr.gov/volunteer
Oskaloosa High School Homecoming Parade
By Sam Parsons
Last night, Oskaloosa High School put on its homecoming parade with plenty of participants walking and riding around the town square in downtown Oskaloosa.
At the conclusion of the parade, the festivities moved to the old community stadium for the coronation of the Homecoming King and Queen, and it was Elliot Nelson who was crowned Homecoming King, and Audree Cheney crowned Homecoming Queen.
The rest of the Oskaloosa HS homecoming court for 2022 included Isabelle Fuller, Mya Snitker, Maleah Walker, Morgan Ford, Brody Barnhart, Lawson Morris, Tucker DeJong, and Jordan Barnes.
Pella Special Election Results: LOSST Extended for 20 More Years
By Sam Parsons
The unofficial results are in from this week’s special election in the city of Pella, and the voters have decided to extend the city’s Local Option Sales and Services Tax, or LOSST, through 2043.
On Tuesday, voting was conducted for the referendum on the LOSST, which has been in place in the city of Pella for 20 years. Of 7,861 registered voters, 2,182 voted, or 27.76%. 1,221 ballots were “YES” votes (55.96%), while 961 voted “NO” (44.04%).
The full unofficial results from the Marion County Auditor are available here. Mayor Don DeWaard’s newsletter published on the LOSST, which details what it is used for and other background information, can be found here.
Biden: Tentative railway labor deal reached, averting strike
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached, averting a strike that could have been devastating to the economy before the midterm elections. Biden said Thursday the tentative deal will keep the “critical rail system” working and avoid economic disruption. The president says it’s “an important win” for the economy, the American people and tens of thousands of rail workers. The Democratic president says the rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions and “peace of mind around their health care costs.” Biden calls the agreement “a victory for railway companies.” A strike starting Friday could’ve shut rail lines across the country. The tentative agreement will go to union members for a vote.