West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Kaelyn Hoambrecker jumps 14’ 11.5” in the long jump for seventh place at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Hannah Gnann runs the second leg of the 4×800-meter relay. Falcons place third with a time of 11:51.23 at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Shay Abbott (right) runs a 13.41 in the 100-meter dash for fifth place at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Maggie Brueck runs the final leg of the Distance Medley at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington. WBND placed fourth with a time of 5:26.7.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Riley Kilbride placed fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:08.5 at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Kiia Nupp takes the baton from Ayden Hall in the 4×200-meter relay at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Jashira Baylark places second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.20 at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Abby Crowner competes in the 800-meter run at the Falcon Relays Tuesday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Jeff Giannettino clears the bar at 6’-10” in the high jump to set a new meet record at the Falcon Relays in West Burlington Monday.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Jeff Giannettino thanks fans for their support after attempting to clear 7-feet in the high jump on a windy West Burlington Monday.
West Burlington – Notre Dame Teammates Isaiah Trousil (left) and Timmy Williams (center) finish first and second respectively in the 100-meter dash Monday in West Burlington. Trousil’s 10.62 seconds time set a meet record.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Darius Redd finishes third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.51 seconds Monday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Isaiah Trousil takes the baton from Brant Wrede in the 4×200-meter relay. WBND set a meet record in the 4×200 with a time of 1:31.44.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Xavior Williams pulls away from the field running the anchor leg of the 4×200-meter relay. WBND set a meet record in the 4×200 with a time of 1:31.44.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Hayden Wilson competes in the 110-meter hurdles Monday at West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Jacob Smith clears a hurdle on his way to placing second in the 110-meter hurdles Monday in West Burlington.
West Burlington – Notre Dame’s Brant Wrede wins the 200-meter dash with a meet record time of 23.03-seconds Monday in West Burlington.
Categories
Obituaries this week
W.B. Fire Chief Michael W. Heim of Roeland Park, KS, passed away unexpectedly on March 29, 2015
Richard P.” Smokey” Abrisz, 84, Burlington, died Saturday, March 28, 2015
Edna Wittman, 79, West Burlington, died Sunday, March 29, 2015
Shirley I. Hill, 83, Middletown died Sunday, March 29, 2015
Robert Warren Schuler, 87, Burlington, died Monday, March 30, 2015
Genevieve “Gen” Murray, 93, Burlington died Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Mary Jane Baker, 84, Burlington, died Thursday, April 2, 2015
Lawrence Lee Long, 79, Burlington died Wednesday, March 25, 2015
News from the Hill…
This week there was a balance of debate and committee meetings. But the number of bills being debated continues to be lower than normal, which can be a good thing. One of the biggest bills that the legislature debated this week was setting the school start date. Everybody seems to have an opinion on this bill that ranged from letting local school boards set the date to present law of not allowing schools to start the school before the week of September 1 without a waiver. The problem with the way the present law has been enforced is contrary to the original intent of the law by the legislature several years ago. The waiver system was clearly broken because all waivers requested were granted. Across this state schools were starting anywhere from the first week of August to Labor Day. The bill will change the school start date to no earlier than the 23rd of August. This seemed to be the most workable compromise between all of the different people of Iowa.
Revenue Estimating Conference…
Last Thursday afternoon I attended the Revenue Estimating Conference meeting to hear firsthand of their prediction for the upcoming fiscal outlook. While there are some positive signs they also shared lots of concerns of the Ag economy, Ag business, growing strength of the dollar and trade relations with China. Everybody knows this is going to be a couple of tough budget years, and it got a little tougher last week. While we have growth in the revenues, it will be modest growth next year. We are expecting that state revenue will exceed the current spending levels by $181 million for fiscal year 2016. At the same time the Legislative Services Agency has projected the growth of an additional $455 million in expenses. Much of the growth in expenditures come from laws that have been approved in previous sessions. This increase in expenditures would include the business property tax credit, some education funding, and backfill for local governments. Medicaid’s projected costs would exceed the new available revenue if adjustments are not made to the program. While K-12 funding will be increased, many other state programs and agencies will not. In fact, it should be very obvious that additional cuts will have to be made to provide the additional funds for our schools. So to provide even more money to schools, there would have to be severe cuts made elsewhere!
Ways and Means…
We had two committee meetings this week. The first meeting was a presentation on the local option sales tax (LOST). The purpose of this presentation was to inform the members of present law and how it has become unworkable in Polk and Dallas Counties. Many of the cities in the Metro area are contingent and overlap two counties.
The second committee meeting we passed out five bills. One of the bills was HSB 161 which legalizes the sale and use of fireworks. Presently Iowa is one of four states that do not permit the sale of fireworks. One of the other bills was HF 192 which came from Judiciary Committee. This bill makes some changes to the informal review process for a property owner who wants to appeal their assessment. The bill also moves the application date for the Business Property Tax Credit back to July 1 which is the same date of all other property tax credits. Both of these bills were amended in committee and will be redrafted with a new bill number. I voted for these two bills and they head to the house floor for debate.
“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.” – C. S. Lewis
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands
Front (l-r): Head Coach Nick Breuer, Aaron Rawlings, Will Riley, Riley Ruther, Blake Barber, Riley Walker, Asst. Coach Eric Walechka.
Second (l-r): Hunter Reich, Jonah Fritz, Zach Krantz, Alexander Becker, Nicholas Skerik, Jacob Garrison, Keshawn Boyd, Dillan Jern, Drew Chiprez, Sal Cavazos, Allen Thomas III.
Third (l-r): Cordell Scarborough, Jonah Marlow, Quintin Williams, Ty Russell, Seth Estrada-Miller, Kody Sargeant, Lucas Pratt, Jax Lamm, Dylan McElderry, Holland Richardson.
Fourth (l-r): Will Godar, Gage Webster, Axel Tjaden, Parker Boughton, Noah Murphy, Austin Mixer, Dreyton Laveine, Kyle Wisbey.
Back (l-r): Reece Richards, Carter Corzatt, Ian Brem, Drake Day, Tanner Snodgrass, Cole Williams, Tucker Moore, Tyler Graham.
Front (l-r): Samantha Dzawo, Alexis Davis, Libby Logan, Morgan Flowers, Michenna Hunt, Kelyin Chng, Tiesha Conner, Katherine Foster, Anna Rheinschmidt,
Second (l-r): Kaia Jones, Madison Hatfield, Iliyah Moore, Katie Jackson, Kassidy Rashid, Abbey Dowell, Jordan Brooks, Maddy Roundy, Jianna Barshinger.
Third (l-r): Cameron Mehaffy, Taylor McCormick, Tessa Snodgrass, Sydney Schwenker, Sarah Meeker, Rylie Todd, Hope Ward, Bella Baier, Ella Sattler, Makenna Davis.
Back (l-r): Head Coach Mike Radloff, Olivia Baker, Alissa McClellon, Viviana Barbosa, Addyson Kellen, Isabelle Hase.
