GENERAL NEWS:                                                                                     Monday, May 5,  2003

… Eustachy Countdown: Only hours remain – until 5 p.m. today – for suspended Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy to appeal recommendation to fire him.  Headline from Des Moines Register’s sports section this morning – “D-day arrives for Eustachy team …Coach, lawyers face deadline for filing appeal of dismissal.” Register story says a contract buyout would cost ISU athletic department $2.5 million. (More below.) 

 Among the offerings in this morning’s update:

• Columnist Bob Novak reports HILLARY “could be propelled, without her volition, into next year’s presidential election.”

• New Hampshire commentary – Kerry’s no ‘Dixie Chick’ but best news is it’s unlikely he’ll pose nude (as the Chicks did) for a magazine

• For extensive, representative coverage of Saturday night’s South Carolina debate, refer to yesterday’s IA pres watch morning report. And, more on the debate below

• Kucinich, Edwards’ parents in Iowa today, but Sharpton skips out

• Eustachy File update below: Scientific ESPN poll reveals most believe he should keep his job – but sportswriter says he’s campaigning on the “alcoholism ticket” to stay in Ames

• Ex-GOP Sen. Jeffords echoes Grassley concern about fracturing or jeopardizing Republican Senate majority

• While broadcasting NWS watches about severe IA storms yesterday, CNN WeatherWomen Jacqui Jeras mentioned that Iowa is “a very friendly state” and noted heavy storms in Des Moines and Oskaloosa. It’s familiar territory for her – since she was a WHO-TV (Des Moines) forecaster before joining CNN

• Washington Post coverage of the South Carolina Dem debate focuses on Lieberman-Kerry-Dean dispute over the Iraq war

• Voice of America report: Food sales to Cuba slumping this year – but it appears IA Dem Rep. Boswell still planning to visit island later this month

• Newton-based Maytag – moving jobs from Illinois to Mexico – in middle of legislative dispute over economic development funding in the “Land of Lincoln”

• The Centennial Bridge over the Mississippi River between Davenport and Rock Island (IL) opened July 12, 1940, and tolls have been charged every day – until last Friday

All these stories below and more.

… Flood warnings continue in several IA locations today as rivers still to crest after heavy weekend rains. Des Moines has record rainfall – nearly three inches – for a 5/4, nearly doubling old record for the date of 1.39 inches set when Grover Cleveland was president. Several morning newscasts and weather reports indicate that the DSM area has received more than six inches of rain over past week – more than the recorded snowfall and rainfall for the past six months.

THE EUSTACHY FILE: 
        … A scientific survey conducted for ESPN indicates that two-thirds of sports fans believe Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy should keep his job despite the scandal surrounding his behavior. The poll – involving 874 American adults – revealed that 67 percent of those identifying themselves as sports fans said Eustachy should keep his job – but 85 percent of those believe he should first complete an alcohol rehabilitation program before resuming his duties as head coach. ESPN reported that – when asked about Eustachy’s bigger error in judgment – 58% of the sports fans responded by saying drinking with students while 32% said his kissing young women. The ESPN report said, “About half said that Eustachy’s public acknowledgment of alcoholism is sincere, through more than half believe that he made the acknowledgment only to save his job.” One more poll finding: Sports fans supported ISU athletic director Bruce Van De Velde’s handling of the situation by a 38-30 margin.  
… It shouldn’t come as a great surprise that the Eustachy dilemma would be a red-meat topic on ESPN’s “sports reporters” program yesterday – especially after host John Saunders’ intro asked: “Is the college coaching fraternity turning into ‘Animal House’”? The Eustachy situation at Iowa State along with Mike Price’s dismissal as the football coach at Alabama – before he even coached a game – gave the reporters more than enough ammo. Among the comments: Mike Lupica said that “in the Big Boy world you get fired for stuff like this” …comparisons to Bill Clinton won’t fly because, in fact, impeachment charges were filed against the ex-pres …Eustachy “got religion a little late in the service when he was about to lose his job” …Eustachy is “now trying to run on the alcoholism ticket” with an extensive PR effort to try to save his job and noted that both Eustachy and Price violated the conditions (character, ethics clauses) of their contracts. And from Mitch Albom: The university is “not a rehab center” and that Eustachy was apparently “addicted to dorm parties” since he wasn’t just sitting in a hotel room – but attended post-game campus parties (at Kansas State and Missouri). Eustachy and Price also were featured on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” program – where the topic of the day was about coaches caught in inappropriate situations.    

CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES: 

… Chicago Sun-Times online headline – “Hillary in ’08, or sooner?” Political columnist Robert Novak reported yesterday – “It is not merely the ranting of radio talk show hosts and their callers. It is not just daydreaming by political junkies. It’s still a long shot, but it really could happen. Hillary in ’04! No, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York is not about to announce her candidacy for president in 2004, joining the jostling pack of Democratic candidates elbowing each other and participating in their first debate this weekend in South Carolina. Her reputation for keeping secrets is well-known, but everybody believes she is planning to sit out 2004 and aiming for the 2008 election to run for president. Nevertheless, Hillary could be propelled, without her volition, into next year’s presidential election. The prospect of another Bush-Clinton race – with a younger Bush and a female Clinton – generates hope and fear among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats hope that Mrs. Clinton can duplicate her letter-perfect 2000 campaign for the U. S. Senate but fear she could bring on one of the periodic Democratic washouts, in the mode of George McGovern and Walter Mondale. Republicans hope her premature presidential candidacy could mean ridding themselves of the Clintons at long last, but are frightened by her masterful performance in New York.”

… Kucinich scheduled in Iowa today with appearances scheduled in Davenport, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids – and breakfast tomorrow morning with reporters in Davenport before leaving state. John Edwards’ parents also scheduled in Davenport today to attend mail carriers convention. Sharpton, who also was scheduled to attend the mail carriers meet, isn’t coming – reportedly heading to a Connecticut event. Sharpton has not campaigned in IA since his initial visit in February.

… New Hampshire columnist Jack Kenny – under the headline, “Whatever he says, Kerry’s no ‘Dixie Chick’” in yesterday’s New Hampshire Sunday News  – writes that if Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines “wants to speak her mind again it probably won’t take very long and would not distract too much from the harmony of the music. Meanwhile, we have the likes of U. S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to entertain us. Kerry, a Presidential hopeful, visits here often and is trying to recover from what radio talkmeister Don Imus called ‘a Dixie Chicks’ moment, when he called for a ‘regime change’ here in America …Last week Kerry was attempting to ‘clarify’ the statement. ‘It was not about the President and it was not about the war. It was about the election.’ But don’t expect him to apologize and don’t expect him to pose nude for any magazine. The White House has already passed judgment on his appearance (‘He looks French’) and no one would mistake him for one of the Dixie Chicks, anyway. ‘Vive la differance!’”

… Washington Post coverage of the Saturday South Carolina Dem debate by political reporter Dan Balz: “The Democratic presidential candidates tangled here over Iraq and who can keep the country safe, and they differed sharply over how to provide health care to all Americans in a lively debate that helped kick off the next phase of the battle to become the party’s challenger to President Bush in 2004. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) pointedly criticized former Vermont governor Howard Dean for opposing the war in Iraq and attacked Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) for seeming to be ambivalent about supporting Bush on the war. ‘No Democrat will be elected president in 2004 who is not strong on defense, and this war was a test of that strength,’ he said. Kerry disagreed, saying that his quarrel was over whether Bush had exhausted all other options for disarming Iraqi President Saddam Hussein before going to war. But he said he supported that objective. ‘There’s no ambivalence,’ he said. Dean said Bush had waged ‘the wrong war at the wrong time’ and said the United States could face new threats if Iraq falls into the hands of Islamic fundamentalism. But he said he was ‘delighted to see Saddam Hussein gone,’ a stronger declaration than he has made previously.”  

… More post-debate reaction: From AP’s Nedra Pickler – “Democrats pursuing the presidency emerged from their first primary debate with deep divisions over foreign policy, health care and tax cuts and no clear front-runner to challenge President Bush. After Saturday night’s 90-minute confrontation at the University of South Carolina, Democrats were left with a field of nine candidates who face a long, tough challenge to sell themselves as the best opponent to unseat the popular Republican incumbent. With eight months until the first nominating contest in Iowa, several among the nine have head starts in money, experience and organization.” Pickler says those four – all members of Congress – are Edwards, Kerry, Lieberman and Gephardt.  

IOWA POLITICS: 

… Update on the Boswell-Cuba Watch: IA Dem Congressman Boswell is scheduled to visit Cuba on a trade mission later this month – but the following VOANews report isn’t exactly encouraging. In fact, Guv Vilsack isn’t even going along. The report from Voice of America: “A non-profit group that monitors trade between Cuba and the United States says the Castro government’s recent crackdown on dissents will hurt food sales. Despite a U. S. trade embargo against the island, Congress passed a law in 2000 that allows farmers to sell food to Cuba in cash-only transactions. The U. S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council says American farmers had sales close to $140 million to Cuba last year. The trade council’s president, John Kavulich tells VOA that U. S. farmers have postponed business this year because of the events of the past 30 days. He noted the governor of Iowa – a major farm state – had put off a planned delegation visit to the island …The group had estimated in December that food exports to Cuba this year would total $166 million, up 19 percent. But Mr. Kavulich says recent tensions could prevent sales from reaching that high.”

MORNING SUMMARY:    

… This morning’s headlines…

Top front-page headline, Des Moines Register: “RAIN SWAMPS IOWA …3 inches soak D.M.; flood fears surface.” 

Sioux City Journal, top online headline: “Kansas City area hit by twister; at least one dead”

National online headline, Quad-City Times: “Study: Gender inequity lingers in the workplace” 

National headline, Daily Iowan (University of Iowa) online: “FBI researcher changed story in McVeigh case”

Omaha World-Herald online, headlines: “Fierce storm spreads hail, heavy rain across Midlands” Report says “volatile storms” hit region with most Nebraska damage in Sarpy and southern Douglas counties in the Omaha metro area. & “Where are Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction?”

Top online headline, Chicago Tribune: Illinois – “Blagojevich vows one thing, budgets another, critics say” Report says that although Gov. Rod Blagojevich has slashed spending for public universities he recently signed off on a $170,000 “pork-barrel grant pushed by a top Democratic all in the Senate to finish construction of tennis courts at a private Downstate college.”

… Newscasts this morning report that a deer trapped in a Cedar Rapids office building jumped through a two-story window to its death over the weekend. The deer entered the building through an open door and it jumped through an open window on the second-floor as workers were trying to corral it.

… From front page of Des Moines Register this morning: “Des Moines taxpayers have been hit with a $73,300 repair bill that covers damage to 40 police cars over the past 10 months.” The Tom Alex report said police officials “call it an unusual rash of wrecks and miscues that might reflect an increased number of young officers who lack experience behind the wheel.”

WAR & TERRORISM: 

… Headline from New York Times this morning: “Bush Shifts Focus to Nuclear Sales by North Korea.” 

… From VOANews (Voice of America) – headline, “Schools Reopen in Iraq” The report from Baghdad – “U.S. officials working on the reconstruction of Iraq called for schools to reopen, but all are not ready to receive students. Many schools were damaged during the war or during the days of looting that followed. Teachers are spending their first day trying to clean up the mess.”

FEDERAL ISSUES:  

… Vermont – and former Republican – Sen. James Jeffords, according to the Washington Post, had “some not-too-subtle words of advice” for his GOP colleagues in the U.S. Senate as Republicans push reluctant party moderates to support President Bush’s tax-cut package: Don’t forget what happened the last time you tried this. The Post reported: “It was two years ago this month that Jeffords decided to bolt from the Republican Party and become an independent, tipping the balance of power in the Senate to the Democrats until the GOP regained a narrow majority in November. Now, Jeffords said in delivering the Democrats’ response to Bush’s weekly radio address, Republicans who disagree with fiscal priorities – an apparent reference to Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and George V. Voinovich (Ohio) – are being pressured to toe the party line …The administration has been gentler with Snowe and Voinovich than it was with Jeffords, and neither has shown signs of leaving the GOP. But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) has used Jeffords’s case as an object lesson to shield Snowe and Voinovich from hardball tactics.”   

IOWA ISSUES:

… While IA Guv Vilsack prepares to call state lawmakers back for a special session to insist/demand they pass Iowa Values Fund economic development, an Iowa company – Maytag, based in Newton – finds itself in center of Illinois dispute over providing incentives to encourage job creation. Excerpt from the weekend report in the Chicago Tribune with a Galesburg, Ill., dateline – “When Maytag Corp. started talking about closing shop and moving 2,000 jobs out of town a few years ago, the community and the state mustered up millions of dollars in grants and loans to induce the appliance-maker to stay. The company took the money but now has decided to close shop here and transfer some of those manufacturing jobs to Mexico anyway. And that has left many people feeling cheated, while adding to a growing debate in the General Assembly over whether the state should exact a price in the future on companies that accept taxpayer help and bolt soon after.” The Tribune report said Illinois “lawmakers are debating a plan to require companies that receive government financial incentives to create and keep the jobs and salaries they promise. If they don’t, they could be required to repay some or all of the money.” 

OPINIONS: 

… This morning’s editorials, Des Moines Register: “Celebrate Iowa art …A new ‘art form’ to be introduced at the Civic Center highlights the importance of culture to Iowa’s future.” Focus on upcoming performance – “Saturday night at the Civic Center is a performance that brings together the work of local musicians, an Iowa writer and a nationally known actor [Hal Holbrook] in an unusual celebration of Iowa heritage.”  & “How CEOs make out…” Editorial says, “While most Americans struggle to cope, one privileged group continues to rake in the big bucks.” & “…the poor kids don’t” Editorial: “As the rich get richer, more poor black children are falling into a category known as ‘extreme poverty.’”

IOWA SPORTS: 

… The Iowa Cubs will play a doubleheader against Tacoma at noon today at Sec Taylor Stadium in Des Moines – the regularly scheduled game and one to make up for the game postponed due to rain yesterday. 

… Although the numbers haven’t been reported yet, the Sioux City Journal reported that “thousands of anglers” were expected in the Iowa Great Lakes area over the weekend for the start of the walleye season – which opened at midnight Friday. The Journal reported that Jim Christianson, the DNR fisheries biologist stationed at Spirit Lake, expected a good opener and said the best bite will be at night – “That’s especially true on West Lake (Okoboji) because of the clearer water. It’s usually a late bite, from midnight on.”  

… Getting an early start on a Daytona 500 win? A DSM Register sports report said that a Hartford teenager recorded his first hobby stock car victory at the state fairgrounds track over the weekend. The Register coverage: “Jacob Murray needed five months to go from the Department of Motor Vehicles to the checkered flag at the Iowa State fairgrounds.” Murray, 16, has been in eight feature races since January, including three at the fairgrounds. He is a sophomore at Carlisle High School.

IOWA WEATHER: 

DSM 5 a.m. 52, mostly cloudy. Temps across IA this morning range from 45 in Estherville and 46 in Spencer to 53 in Ottumwa and Davenport. Today’s high: 65, drizzle. Tonight’s low: 47, chance showers. Tuesday’s high 68, partly sunny. 

IOWAISMS: 

… After more than six decades of paying tolls to cross over the Mississippi River between Davenport and Rock Island (IL), Quad-City residents enjoyed their first toll-free weekend for use of the Centennial Bridge. Excerpt from the report by Thomas Geyer in the Quad-City Times: “When the Centennial Bridge opened July 12, 1940, Bill Montgomery of Davenport had the dubious honor of being the first driver to have a flat tire on the new bridge. It was a Dohm Transfer Co. truck that was the first vehicle to pay a toll on the bridge when it opened. And it was a Dohm truck that paid the last toll Friday …Rock Island and Davenport city leaders spoke about their visions of a new era of growth for their respective downtown areas now with the toll gone.” 

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