Iowa

Iowa lawmakers trying again to take on traffic cameras

Published

1 year ago

April 25, 2023

Iowa lawmakers trying again to take on traffic cameras

Visitors flows underneath the automated site visitors cameras in 2018 on Interstate 380 northbound close to J Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids, as seen in an aerial {photograph}. (The Gazette)

DES MOINES — Iowa lawmakers are making one remaining effort to control site visitors cameras in Iowa cities this legislative session.

A invoice superior out of a Senate subcommittee Monday that might require cities and counties to get approval from the Iowa Division of Transportation earlier than inserting site visitors cameras. The invoice, Senate File 489, intently matches a Home invoice that handed out of committee earlier this yr however has not been handed by the chamber.

Lawmakers have floated a number of strategies to control site visitors enforcement cameras this yr — and over the previous a number of years — citing considerations about privateness and arguing some cities abuse the methods to drive income.

Cedar Rapids, in a program that started in 2010, operates automated site visitors cameras at 9 areas, together with 4 that monitor velocity going into and out of the “S-curve” on Interstate 380 north of downtown. Final week, the Marion Metropolis Council voted to open the door to putting in red-light and velocity cameras within the metropolis, though simply what number of and the place they’d be positioned is but to be specified.

A 2018 Iowa Supreme Court docket resolution discovered that the Division of Transportation couldn’t regulate site visitors cameras with out modifications to the regulation, and cities have broad freedom to make use of the methods and situation citations.

Beneath the invoice, cities and counties would wish to file a request for a allow that features information on site visitors patterns, collisions and different issues of safety on the location they intend to arrange a digital camera. In addition they would wish to checklist various strategies of enforcement they’ve tried. The Iowa DOT could be the company to grant the permits.

Cities would solely be allowed to situation citations from the methods for failure to cease at an intersection with a site visitors mild or a railroad crossing, and exceeding the velocity restrict by over 10 mph — lower than the 12 mph that triggers a ticket underneath Cedar Rapids’s program.

Republican Sen. Mike Klimesh of Spillville stated the invoice shall be amended to direct a number of the funds collected by fines underneath the digital camera set up to the Size of Service Awards Program, a fund that grants awards to volunteer firefighters, reserve officers and volunteer emergency medical service staff.

The Cedar Rapids cameras generated greater than $5.3 million in income from site visitors citations for the fiscal yr that ended June 30, 2022. Town has budgeted for almost $6 million in income generated by the site visitors cameras for the present fiscal yr.

A part of the income is used for public security functions, together with supporting the funding of 33 Cedar Rapids police officer positions and public security applications. Cash additionally has been used previously to buy police and hearth tools and help social justice applications, such because the Citizen Assessment Board and City Goals.

The invoice’s modification would additionally permit cities to make use of site visitors enforcement methods which might be cell — not simply mounted — primarily based on their dimension: bigger cities would have the ability to use them and situation citations, whereas smaller cities would have the ability to place them alongside the street however may situation solely warnings, not citations.

Lobbyists representing cities and police organizations have been skeptical of payments being superior to control the cameras, saying they’d restrict a device that’s essential for site visitors security and typically funds a good portion of cities’ public security budgets.

Larry Murphy, a lobbyist for each Cedar Rapids and the Iowa Police Chief Affiliation, stated he prefers this invoice to an outright ban, however it might make the method extra bureaucratic and tough to rapidly reply to site visitors points.

Rep. Cindy Winckler, a Democrat from Davenport, stated the invoice will restrict native management and take away cities’ freedom to make use of expertise to implement the regulation and reduce collisions.

“We should be understanding of the selections which might be made at an area degree by people who’re elected to make these selections. … Sitting right here making an attempt to make selections on behalf of the communities in regard to the alternatives that they make in expertise and public security is actually unfair,” she stated.

However Klimesh stated there already are loads of actions native governments must receive permits for, and cities may nonetheless put site visitors enforcement cameras in high-crash areas.

Klimesh stated he has had conversations with Rep. Phil Thompson of Boone, the Home Public Security Committee chair, about closing the hole on the 2 chambers’ payments earlier than the top of the legislative session.

“I really feel it has a fairly good probability of getting finished this yr,” Klimesh stated. “If not this yr, we now have yet another yr of the Basic Meeting. This shall be a reside spherical subsequent yr, and we’ll take it again up once more and attempt to end it off subsequent yr.”

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Iowa

Iowa State women’s basketball star Emily Ryan discusses eating disorder in video

Published

6 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Press Room

Iowa State women’s basketball star Emily Ryan discusses eating disorder in video

Iowa State women’s basketball star Emily Ryan released a video Thursday in which she discusses her battle with an eating disorder.

Ryan, a senior from Claflin, Kansas, has been one of the Big 12 Conference’s best point guards for the past few seasons. She was a first-team all-conference pick in 2022, and a second-team selection in 2023.

“By sharing my story, I hope to build awareness and provide hope to everyone else fighting an invisible battle,” Ryan said in the video.

Ryan said her sense of self-worth was dependent on Iowa State’s success and her individual performance. That led to increased time spent in the weight room in an effort to get stronger and faster. When Ryan didn’t see the results that she desired, she began to focus on her diet.

Ryan said the Iowa State medical staff expressed their concern about Ryan’s eating habits and what it was doing to her body. Ryan said she was in “complete denial” about having an eating disorder, but her health continued to worsen.

Ryan missed the first nine games of the 2023-24 season due to the eating disorder. When she returned, she said, “off the court I was really struggling. By the end of the season, I was physically and mentally hanging on by a thread.”

During the offseason, Ryan spent 88 days at a treatment center in Denver.

“It took a long time but I finally came to the understanding that being sick wasn’t my fault, and eating disorders are real, complex illnesses,” she said.

How to get help

For resources on disordered eating, call the National Eating Disorders Helpline at 800-931-2237 or text NEDA to 741741.

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Iowa

Latest Iowa high school volleyball rankings reveal regional pairings

Published

16 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Press Room

Latest Iowa high school volleyball rankings reveal regional pairings

It was an important date around the state for volleyball teams in Iowa, as the latest rankings were released and regional pairings in all five classes were revealed.

The two come into play once regionals reach the championship round, as the higher-ranked team will serve as the host for those games.

All five No. 1 squads remained the same, as Ankeny Centennial (Class 5A), Cedar Rapids Xavier (4A), Mount Vernon (3A), Denver (2A) and Ankeny Christian (1A) held serve.

New teams to the Top-15 include Iowa City West in 5A, Ballard in 4A, Wapsie Valley in 2A and Stanton in 1A. The entire 3A poll remained the same while Sidney made one of the biggest climbs, moving to ninth from 12th in 1A.

Regional play for 1A and 2A begins Oct. 21 with 3A, 4A and 5A starting Oct. 22. The state tournament is scheduled for Nov. 4-7 in Coralville from the Xtream Arena. Complete regional pairings can be found on Bound.

Class 5A

1. Ankeny Centennial; 2. Pleasant Valley; 3. Ankeny; 4. West Des Moines Dowling; 5. Indianola; 6. Waukee Northwest; 7. Cedar Falls; 8. Cedar Rapids Prairie; 9. Waukee; 10. Iowa City Liberty; 11. West Des Moines Valley; 12. Sioux City East; 13. Iowa City West; 14. Iowa City High; 15. Linn-Mar.

Class 4A

1. Cedar Rapids Xavier; 2. Sioux City Bishop Heelan; 3. North Scott; 4. Clear Creek-Amana; 5. Lewis Central; 6. Pella; 7. Glenwood; 8. Carlisle; 9. Marion; 10. Adel-ADM; 11. Norwalk; 12. Sergeant Bluff-Luton; 13. MOC-Floyd Valley; 14. Ballard; 15. Grinnell.

Class 3A

1. Mount Vernon; 2. Western Christian; 3. West Delaware; 4. Dubuque Wahlert; 5. Davenport Assumption; 6. Sioux Center; 7. Carroll Kuemper; 8. Mid-Prairie; 9. Cherokee; 10. Wilton; 11. Solon; 12. Anamosa; 13. Roland-Story; 14. Clarinda; 15. Nevada.

Class 2A

1. Denver; 2. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont; 3. Dyersville Beckman; 4. Dike-New Hartford; 5. Aplington-Parkersburg; 6. South Hardin; 7. Boyden-Hull; 8. Pella Christian; 9. Iowa City Regina; 10. Hinton; 11. Grundy Center; 12. Sumner-Fredericksburg; 13. Wapsie Valley; 14. West Burlington; 15. Shenandoah.

Class 1A

1. Ankeny Christian; 2. Holy Trinity; 3. Saint Ansgar; 4. Riverside; 5. BCLUW; 6. Janesville; 7. North Tama; 8. Don Bosco; 9. Sidney; 10. River Valley; 11. Akron-Westfield; 12. Stanton; 13. Fremont-Mills; 14. Southwest Valley; 15. Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

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Iowa

Iowa high school football computer rankings (10/10/2024)

Published

24 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Press Room

Iowa high school football computer rankings (10/10/2024)

Week 6 of the 2024 Iowa high school football season has wrapped up, and High School on SI is continuing its weekly computer rankings for the season.

The Dowling Maroons kept their top five placing in this week’s 5A Iowa computer rankings after a thrilling 41-35 victory over Ankeny Centennial. They face a strong Urbandale team on Friday, to keep their momentum going.

The top of the 5A computer rankings stay the same this week as the Bettendorf Bulldogs take home another win, this time defeating Kennedy 33-14. The Bulldogs look forward to Friday, where they will travel to Davenport Central in hopes to hold their place in the standings.

SBLive’s formula was created using its linear algebra-based ranking algorithm inspired by the Colley Bias-Free Ranking Method. Colley’s Method was created by Wes Colley, Ph.D., an astrophysicist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He devised his algorithm to help address the subjectivity and controversy regarding BCS college football selections in the 1990s and early 2000s, using a method that used no subjective variables.

FAQ: SBLive High School Football Computer Rankings

Here are SBLive’s latest Iowa football computer rankings, as of Oct. 7, 2024:

IOWA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COMPUTER RANKINGS

CLASS 5A | CLASS 4A

CLASS 3A | CLASS 2A

CLASS 1A | CLASS A

CLASS 8 MAN

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— Ben Dagg | @sblivesports

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