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IOWA DAILY REPORT

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Our Mission: To hold the Democrat presidential candidates accountable for their comments and allegations against President George W. Bush, to make citizens aware of false statements or claims by the Democrat candidates, and most especially, to defend the Bush Administration and set the record straight  when the Democrats make false or misleading statements about the Bush-Republican record.

 This is a special Memorial Day weekend roundup report, including updates from Sunday and Monday. The next report will post midday Wednesday when the regular daily schedule resumes

Monday, May 26,  2003

GENERAL NEWS:  

 Among the offerings in this morning’s update: 

... San Francisco Chronicle columnist – ‘Quotable’ Dems wannabes become media shy, cites lack of coverage for Dean stop in Bay Area last week & probably for upcoming Dem visits

... Weekend Iowa Poll: Register, in copyright coverage, says Iowans give GWB high marks for job performance and Iraq, but are disenchanted with economic showing

... In New Hampshire, Edwards contrasts his and GWB’s respective backgrounds, challenges group posting anti-Edwards billboards

... Lieberman visits Quad-Cities, blasts Bush administration on economy

... Graham – in NH – warns U.S. is “jeopardy in terms of economic security.”

... Washington Post: Military record, i.e., Kerry, may have significant role in 2004 Prez race

... Dem Party analysts concerned that big-spending wannabes could undermine arguments against reelecting President Bush 

... Washington Whisper: Hillary silence “driving the White House nuts.”

... Dean, in Mason City, says Americans would prefer health insurance – presumably his proposal – to Bush tax cuts

... BBC News reports missing passports pose security/terrorist threat

... Kucinich kicks off Northern California tour with a call for increased environmental protections

... Iowaism: Guv Vilsack to become Friar Tuck next weekend

... Lieberman leads in Michigan poll

... AP’s Fournier analysis: Three Dem candidates try “a largely untested theory” of planning (intentionally) for their first big win after Iowa and New Hampshire

... Signatures secured to force election on changing local government system in Sioux City

... Weekend report: More GOP tax-cut proposals likely

... Sports: Register’s Iowa Poll today shows support for dismissal of Larry Eustachy as Iowa State’s basketball coach

All these stories below and more.

Memorial Day updates: 

... IA newscasts say this will be a working holiday for Vilsack and Republican legislative leaders. They were scheduled to meet today to discuss Iowa Values Fund economic development proposal and other issues in preparation for Thursday’s legislative special session

... Stalemate continues in the Meskwaki tribal leadership dispute – and their casino near Tama remains closed – as both sides harden their positions. The Des Moines Register reported this morning that other Iowa casinos are benefiting and seeing bigger crowds due to the court-ordered closing of the Meskwaki facility

... KCCI-TV (Des Moines) reported today that bomb threats were made against two Iowa riverboat casinos – the Diamond Jo in Dubuque and the Isle of Capri in Marquette -- over the weekend. Authorities searched both casinos, but nothing was found

... BBC News report today:  The deputy head of the Anglo-American administration in Iraq has said there are too few troops in the country to bring order. Major General Tim Cross, the British number two in the Office of Reconstruction and Human Assistance, said there were particular problems in Baghdad although he insisted they were being addressed.     

... Westward shift surfacing – get used to it. Today’s update features San Francisco Chronicle coverage of wannabe California visits -- including Dean, who was there last week, and Kucinich, who’s still there. Get used to more CA reports ahead since all the Dem candidates, except Sharpton and Moseley Braun, are scheduled in California over the coming days during the congressional recess. 

 CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES: 

Morning report:

... Under the headline “Quotable candidates turn media-shy,” San Francisco columnist Carla Marinucci wrote Sunday: “Is the famously plain-speaking former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean losing his nerve as a presidential candidate? Or are the pressures of a national race showing up on a fledging campaign that has rocketed suddenly to the top of the interest list? The questions come to mind after watching Dean in San Francisco on Thursday night at an event that had all the ingredients of a winner. Hundreds of supporters showed up to greet him in a colorful setting – Chi Chi’s on Broadway, site of the city’s first lesbian bar. And some important Silicon Valley rainmakers turned out to support his campaign: Steve Kirsch, who ranks as one of the nation’s most deep-pocketed Democratic donors, and venture capitalist Joe Kraus. It was the kind of intimate retail campaigning that makes for good coverage indeed, but Dean’s campaign stubbornly barred TV and print reporters from attending. So it didn’t get covered at all. ‘It’s absolutely inconsistent with the needs of a Democratic challenger,’ says political communications Professor Barbara O’Connor of California State University at Sacramento…The issue of what makes a presidential campaign appearance newsworthy – and how much access it deserves – will be raised again and again as a host of Democratic hopefuls crisscross California in search of cash over the next week.” Marinucci’s column adds that Gephardt, Graham, Kerry and Edwards are “planning fund-raisers, most of them out of the glare of the media spotlight.”

... Today’s Quad-City Times reports that Lieberman attended a Sunday reception with about 50 Scott County Democrats in Bettendorf. Excerpts from Linda Cook’s coverage: “Lieberman said he was running for president ‘because I don’t like the direction our country is moving in. These are tough times for the country…He said that Iowa has lost 33,000 jobs since the Bush administration took over. ‘As far as I’m concerned, there is only one American who should lose his job – and that is George W. Bush. He said the Bush administration is not a compassionate one, and that tax cuts should go to businesses that create jobs and middle-class workers. One of his goals, he said, is to make America energy independent by imposing standards of fuel efficiency and better utilizing such resources as coal and ethanol. Currently, he said, ‘No matter how strong we are, foreign countries can yank our chain.’” 

... In the U.S. News & World Report’s “Washington Whispers” column this week, Paul Bedard reports that the “silence from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s office is driving the White House nuts. The former first lady is what they call ‘the unknown’ in the upcoming re-election bid by President Bush. ‘She been awfully quiet,’ says one. The worry: Will she or won’t she make an 11th-hour jump into the Democratic presidential primaries? She says no, but most expect her to try in 2008. Skeptical Bushies say they’ll be watching how much of a boost Clinton gets during her upcoming book tour to gauge her threat to the president.” 

... The New Hampshire Sunday News reported that Edwards in Manchester  – wrapping up a two-day campaign swing in the state – “contrasted his own roots as the child of two millworkers with President Bush’s different background. ‘Our country desperately needs an economic plan that gives us a shot in the arm and restores real fiscal discipline,’ Edwards is quoted as saying in a press release distributed yesterday, ‘and that’s exactly what I’m offering. While this president is out of touch and without a solution, millions of Americans are getting left behind. The people who are being betrayed every day by the President are the people I have represented. This is my whole life, first as a lawyer, then as a senator.’…Edwards said that the group, The Americans for Job Security, is ‘about to put up billboards in New Hampshire and Iowa attacking me.’ Edwards pointed out that Republican Party activist Dave Carney, who lives in New Hampshire. ‘runs the group.’ ‘It’s a front group and they’re on the attack,’ Edwards said. ‘Here’s what I have to say to him: Bring it on!’…[Edwards spokesman Colin] Van Ostern, in a telephone interview, said the group is attacking only Edwards because ‘he is clearly the biggest threat to George W. Bush. He connects with voters.’ Criticism of the anti-Edwards billboard campaign must have been Edwards’ main message for the weekend since AP reported that in Nashua he said: “I will take this fight on every single day.” The Associated Press coverage also quoted Edwards as saying: “What I spent most of my adult life doing before I went to the United States Senate was fighting for kids and families against big insurance companies.” 

... Graham also was in New Hampshire during the weekend although, according to the Sunday News coverage from Keene, his comments appeared to be more incoherent and disjointed than Edwards’ remarks. Under the headline “Graham warns of economic jeopardy,” the Sunday News reported that among Graham’s remarks were such gems as “New Hampshire is the place to begin Presidential primaries. You can’t get away with slick 30-second commercials here. You have to know the answers to questions, and you have to respond…The country is in jeopardy in terms of economic security. I voted no on the tax cuts because I didn’t think it was a good idea to pass a trillion dollars worth of debt onto the next generation…That [tax cut] philosophy is usually called ‘trickle down.’ But our industrial capacity is only being used at 75 percent. The problem is the lack of confidence from consumers…Four out of the five last U.S. Presidents served as governor at some point in their careers. I can beat George Bush in Florida, and I won’t have to wait for the Supreme Court to cast a ballot to do it.” 

... (Iowa Pres Watch Note: Graham – obviously – was making an assumption about the Florida outcome. There was no indication in the Sunday News coverage Graham mentioned recent polls have indicated that he trails GWB in a head-to-head matchup in Florida. He presumably mentioned, given the content of his comments, that he is a former governor) 

... Over the weekend, the Mason City Globe Gazette headlined that “Howard Dean brings his universal health care plan to North Iowa” The Globe Gazette coverage Saturday – reporting on Dean’s participation in a health care roundtable in Mason City on Friday – said the former VT guv was “touting his plan to provide every American with health insurance.” Based it on the Globe Gazette story, it was fairly standard Dean rhetoric about his health care proposal. Excerpts: “’Why is it a good plan? Because it will pass,’ he said. ‘In the past, health care plans, including President Clinton’s, failed because Democrats fought it and Republicans killed it. So we’re not trying to reform the system. We want 42 million uninsured Americans in the system first. Then we’ll fight about it’…’If you give people a choice between the president’s tax cut and health insurance that can’t be taken away, they’ll say health insurance. And this would cost half of the president’s tax cut.’” 

... Headline from today’s The Union Leader: “No front-runner, Democrats plot strategy for nomination” Analysis by AP’s veteran political reporter Ron Fournier: “The campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination will pit the tortoises against the hares, three patient plodders hoping to overtake three confident sprinters after the race’s first lap.” Fournier described Kerry, Gephardt and Dean as “the pacesetters. Following the traditional nomination path, they are seeking victories Jan. 19 in Iowa or eight days later in New Hampshire to build momentum for the first multistate showdown Feb. 3.” He wrote that three others – Lieberman, Edwards and Graham – are “betting their candidacies on a largely untested theory that they can wait until Feb. 3 or beyond for their first victories. They will need a lot of money and a bit of luck to pull it off. At least one of the slow-starters, Edwards, may air the campaign’s first ads early this summer to jump-start his bid.” Another excerpt: “Eight months before the first vote is cast, no front-runner has emerged in a campaign that may last just six weeks in early 2004, according to Democrats in key states and the candidates’ own strategists…After the Feb. 3 elections in Arizona, South Carolina, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico and Oklahoma, eight more states plus the District of Columbia select delegates in the next three weeks. Then comes Super Tuesday on March 2, when California, New York and at least seven other states choose delegates. After that big day, more than half of the 2,161 delegates needed for the nomination will have been awarded.”  

... Los Angeles Times headline from Sunday – “Democrats’ Plans Could Be Costly… Party analysts fear the presidential candidates’ spending proposals will undermine their economic argument against reelecting Bush.” Times political ace Ronald Brownstein writes – “Even with the federal government facing record budget deficits, many of the 2004 Democratic presidential contenders are advancing much larger spending programs than Al Gore was willing to risk as the party’s 2000 nominee. Some Democratic analysts are increasingly concerned that these substantial new proposals may threaten the party’s ability to challenge President Bush in next year’s election on what could become a major vulnerability: the federal budget’s sharp deterioration, from record surplus to massive deficits, during his presidency. ‘At some point, the Democrats will be called to task to see if their own programs meet the fiscal test they are holding up for the Bush administration,’ said Elaine Kamarck, senior policy advisor to Gore in 2000. Already, the spending proposals – especially for health care – are emerging as a key divide in the Democratic race. Three leading contenders – Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, John Edwards of North Carolina and Bob Graham of Florida – are questioning whether health-care plans by three rivals – Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and, especially, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri – are affordable, economically and politically. Yet the pressure to produce bold ideas attractive to Democratic primary voters may be triggering a spending competition that will make it difficult for all of the candidates to hold down the cost of their agendas. And that prospect has Republicans practically salivating at the opportunity to portray the Democrats as recidivist big spenders.” 

... Associated Press reported over the weekend that Lieberman – with 27 % -- leads among Dem voters in Michigan. The EPIC/MRA poll published in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press had Gephardt (19%) in second Kerry (15%) holding down third. The other six candidates were in single digits with one in five Michigan Democrats undecided. In a separate EPIC/MRA poll of Democrats, Republicans and independents 48% said they would vote for President Bush with 41% saying they would vote for “the Democratic candidate for president.” 

... On Sunday, the Washington Post’s Lois Romano – headline, “Military Record May Gain Role in 2004 Presidential Race’ – wrote: “Since the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, a candidate’s military service has seemed an issue of the past, one that intrigued the news media but not necessarily the voters, who in the past three presidential elections have rejected war veterans in favor of candidates who managed to avoid combat at the height of the Vietnam War. But perhaps for the first time since Dwight D. Eisenhower rode his World War II service into the Oral Office in 1952, candidates for the White House today must face the possibility that – for an electorate scarred by terrorism and coming out of war in Afghanistan and Iraq – military service has taken on a new relevancy. Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) – the only one of the nine Democratic presidential with battlefield experience – has made his military record a centerpiece of his campaign. President Bush put the issue of military leadership at front and center earlier this month with his showy landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln – complete with flight suit emblazoned with ‘commander in chief.’ The dramatic images surrounding Bush’s on-deck address to the troops that day made it abundantly clear that the president – who spent the Vietnam War stateside in the Texas National Guard – will flaunt his military leadership in his bid for reelection. According to a Washington Post survey, 29 percent of Americans say that when considering a candidate for president, it is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important that the person has served in the military. Among Democrats, that rises to 31 percent…The day after Bush’s speech, Kerry met with veterans in South Carolina and pointedly noted that his military experience makes him qualified to take on a wartime president. ‘I don’t have to sit in the Situation Room and be taught everything…I learned a lot on the front lines,’ he said. In a later interview, Kerry was blunt about his strategy. ‘If the president is going to wear a flight suit on deck, I have one to match, so to speak,’ he said. ‘If we want to make those comparisons, I think it can become dangerous territory for them. If he can talk to the troops, I can talk to veterans. And my experience is a little more real.” 

... The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Kucinich “kicked off a presidential campaign visit to Northern California on Saturday at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center, calling for greater environmental protection, particularly for the world’s oceans. ‘Right here at the water’s edge, we’re reminded of the power of nature, of water, and the urgent role of our oceans in the ecology of the world,’ he said, as fog rolled through the Golden Gate and gulls wheeled over Fort Mason’s piers. ‘Environmental issues need to be put at the top of the debate,’ he said. ‘Our oceans need help, and they need an advocate in the White House.’ It was a message calculated to appeal to Northern California voters as the liberal Democratic congressmen heads off on a 10-day tour of the region in a Greyhound Bus powered entirely by recycled vegetable oil. Kucinich plans to make 32 stops on the trip to places such as Santa Cruz, Grass Valley, David, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, San Jose and Santa Rosa.” 

 IOWA POLITICS: 

... Headline from the Des Moines Sunday Register: “Grassley endures rough ride… Tax-cut battle over, but Medicare debate looms” The Register’s Jane Norman of the Washington Bureau reported: “Grassley, as he put his signature on a $350 billion package of tax cuts and state aid, concluded weeks of negotiations marked by outbursts from House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas of California, a tongue-lashing from the speaker of the House, and long faces among Iowans over Grassley’s loss of a Medicare provision helpful for his home state. And it probably will get worse. Grassley, as head of the most powerful committee in a Senate with a 51-seat GOP majority, now must climb what may prove an even steeper hill – passage of a $400 billion prescription-drug benefit for Medicare, the nation’s health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled.” 

MORNING SUMMARY:    

This morning’s headlines:

... Des Moines Register, top front-page headline: “Drug deaths hit 5-year high” Report by Register’s Tom Alex says the 174 Iowans died from drug overdoses in 2001 – a five-year high. 

... Quad-City Times, main online head: “Student killed in weekend crash” Excerpt: “Tragedy struck West High School just days before the joy of the June 8 commencement ceremony. A West High student and the father of another student were killed, and another student was injured, in a bizarre three-vehicle accident Saturday night on Interstate 280.” The report said the accident was caused by a pickup truck driving the wrong way on the interstate highway. 

... Headlines, Omaha World-Herald online: “A ‘miraculous’ cleanup on I-80” Report: “Talk about speed on the interstate. Contractors hauling away rubble from a bridge that collapsed on Interstate 80 near Blue Springs beat the governor’s hopes and, more importantly, the stream of cars heading home from Memorial Day weekend activities… workers opened the westbound lane by midmorning Sunday and had all four lanes in both directions open late Sunday.” & “Bush’s peace plan passes Israeli Cabinet test”  

... Sioux City Journal online headlines: “Israeli Cabinet approves peace plan” 

... Chicago Tribune, top online headline: “U.S. near powerless to fix Iraq electricity” & “Lawmakers back regime change in Iran”

... New York Times on the Web, headlines: “Israel Approves Bush’s Road Map to New Palestine” & “Iraqis Frustrated by Shift Favoring U.S.-British Rule”  

... And the Mississippi River just keeps on rolling, even during holiday weekends. The Quad-City Times reported this morning that nearly 90,000 tons passed through Lock & Dam 15 at Davenport on Sunday. The upbound traffic – 48,872 tons; downbound traffic – 40,038 tons. Top tonnage by commodity groups: Grain 40,036; coal 23,400; oil seed, soybeans 15,136; sand, gravel, stone 12,000; and chemical fertilizers 11,972. Seven commercial towboats (with 54 loaded barges and 33 empty barges) and 12 recreational boats passed through the lock. 

... Headline from Sunday’s Sioux City Journal online: “It could be a banner year for ticks” The report says Iowans enjoying a walk in the woods or a camping trip this summer could come home with “some unwelcome critters” – ticks. Ken Holscher, an assistant entomology professor at Iowa State, said a mild winter didn’t thin the tick numbers and then mild spring weather prompted both ticks and people to be more active outdoors. Holscher: “I like to say ‘ticks don’t find people, people find ticks.”

Iowa Briefs/Updates:

... Sunday Summary: Top front-page headline in yesterday’s Des Moines Sunday Register – “Iowans give Bush good marks…But poll finds dissatisfaction on economy” Copyrighted Register report outlines results of latest Iowa Poll: “George Bush’s popularity in Iowa remains high after a successful military campaign, but that good news is tempered by disenchantment with his handling of the economy. While 67 percent of Iowans approve of his overall handling of the presidency, a new Des Moines Register poll shows that 50 percent disapprove of Bush’s performance on the economy – the national issue that matters most to them. Forty percent applaud his effort on the economy, and 10 percent are unsure.” Numbers: On GWB’s job as president – Approve 67%, Disapprove 27%, Not sure 6%. On the situation with Iraq – Approve 71%, Disapprove 24%, Not sure 5%. On the economy – Approve 40%, Disapprove 50%, Not sure 10%. 

WAR & TERRORISM: 

... BBC News reported over the weekend that Liberal Democrat spokesman Paul Burstow has called for an immediate investigation into a report that “thousands of missing passports are at risk of falling into the hands of terrorists or criminals.” Burstow said government figures revealed “that 11,500 passports were lost in the post [mail] between 1999 and 2002. The BBC report said Burstow “said the situation was ‘scandalous’ and posed a serious security risk at a time of heightened fears about a possible terrorist attack.”

... From the Korean Front: VOANews (Voice of America) reported “North Korea says it will agree to multilateral talks on its suspected nuclear weapons program if Washington first holds one-on-one discussions.”

... VOANews also reported that “land mine experts from the United States are in Iraq beginning the task of removing what could easily be as many as 10,000 land mines from throughout the country. Eventually, Iraqis will be trained and land mine removal will become their task. A team of land mine experts from the State Department has been using specially trained dogs and metal dictators to carefully search for some of the last life-threatening remnants of Saddam Hussein’s regime.” 

FEDERAL ISSUES:  

... The Sacramento Bee reports that last week’s tax cuts may just be the beginning. Headline – “GOP: Keep tax cuts coming…Bush likely to urge more reductions” Report by Bee Washington Bureau Chief David Westphal – “After Friday’s final congressional passage of a $330 billion tax cut, President Bush is set early [this] week to sign his third tax-cut bill in two plus years in the Oval Office. Odds are he’s only warming up. If the president and congressional Republicans have their way, they will follow the new tax cut with additional rounds of tax-slashing legislation, perhaps every year for the rest of Bush’s presidency…Although Bush’s initial tax cuts already have taken a slice off federal income taxes – nearly $2 trillion over 10 years – some say major reductions are still to come.”

IOWA ISSUES:

... A Sioux City community activist said he intends to file petitions this week to force an election that could result in changing the city’s form of government. The Sioux City Journal reported that Rudy Salem said he has collected 2,600 signatures to require an election that would “give all of us, rich or poor, the opportunity for our voices to be heard. We believe that all will join ranks afterward to allow Sioux City to prosper.” Salem, who needed 2,421 valid signatures to require an election, has proposed the city switch to a commissioner form of government from the current council-manager form. Sioux City operated under the commission system from 1910 until 1953, when local residents voted to switch to a council-manager form.  

OPINIONS: 

Today’s editorials:

... Des Moines Register: “Amid the recently fallen…Let this be a special Memorial Day for those who sacrificed in Iraq.” & “Go ahead, dumb the tests” Editorial about testing standards imposed by federal No Child Left Behind Act. Excerpt: “Iowa should work hard on its own to improve student achievement – in a sense keep two sets of school books – but it should not let itself be compared unfavorably.”

 Sunday Summary: Sunday’s editorials

... Des Moines Register: “Want growth? Think beyond tax cuts…Iowa tax reform should be revenue neutral” Excerpt: “Both state and federal politicians must get over the obsession with taxes and rediscover the proven path to economic progress – working to make this a better place.”

... The Sunday Register awarded “a rose to Senator Chuck Grassley for pushing for action in the deaths of 11 Mexican immigrants found last fall in a train car in Iowa…Grassley wants justice served to the immigrant smugglers – and the lives of other immigrants protected.” 

... Sunday Register letter to the editor: Under the headline, “It’s robbery,” the letter said: “It is truly amazing how people praise Senator Charles Grassley for re-packaging the $730 billion tax cut into a bill that pretends to cost ‘only’ $350 billion. A tax cut in a time of rising unemployment and exploiting debt is robbery of vital services for citizens least able to care for themselves.” – William J. Teaford, Cedar Falls

IOWA SPORTS: 

... Headline from today’s DSM Register front page: “Most say ISU right to remove Eustachy” In a copyright article, Register’s Thomas Beaumont writes: “A majority of Iowans say Iowa State University was right to force Larry Eustachy to step down as men’s basketball coach, the Des Moines Register’s latest Iowa Poll shows. Slightly more than a third, however, said the former coach should have been disciplined but allowed to keep his job after revelations of late-night drinking at student parties.” The numbers: Right to force Eustachy’s resignation – 54%, all respondents and ISU fans; Punished Eustachy, but allowed him to stay – 35% all respondents, 37% ISU fans; No action against Eustachy – 5% all respondents, 4% ISU fans; Not sure – all respondents 6%, 5% ISU fans. 

... Over the weekend, Wartburg (Waverly) sophomore Missy Buttry set two NCAA Division III championship records. Buttry, who’s from Shenandoah, won the 1,500 in 4 minutes, 20.86 seconds to break a 16-year-old record by nearly seven seconds and took the 5,000 title in 15:51.23, toppling a 20-year-old record by 15 seconds. 

... Sunday Summary: In girls state track tournament, Cedar Rapids Washington junior LaNeisha Waller enters record book with a 19-foot, 5-inch long jump – the best ever by an Iowa high school girl…Register sports columnist Sean Keeler proposes – and encourages support for – naming the press box at Iowa State for longtime broadcaster Pete Taylor. Keeler said the proposed “PETE TAYLOR PRESS BOX” would be appropriate recognition for Taylor, who died this spring after broadcasting Cyclone sports for more than two decades.   

IOWA WEATHER: 

... DSM 12 noon 76. Midday temperatures across Iowa mostly in the low 70s – from 69 in Dubuque to 74 in Lamoni to 76 in Des Moines. This afternoon’s forecast high 78, sunny. Tonight’s low 52, clear. Tuesday’s high 82, mostly sunny. Tuesday night’s low 60, mostly clear. Wednesday’s high 85, chance T-storms. WHO-TV’s Brandon Thomas reports: “Clear skies tonight, lows in the low/mid fifties. Mostly sunny on Tuesday, with highs in the upper seventies to low eighties. Partly sunny on Wednesday, with a chance of isolated showers/t-storms in the afternoon. Highs will be in the low/mid eighties. Mostly sunny on Thursday, with highs in the low eighties. A good chance of showers/t-storms on Friday, highs in the mid seventies to around eighty degrees.” 

IOWAISMS: 

... The Des Moines Register report that Guv Vilsack will dress as Friar Tuck and First Lady Christie will be Maid Marian at the fifth annual Spring Fling at Terrace Hill – the governor’s residence – next Saturday. As part of the annual event started by the Vilsacks to promote literacy, volunteers will portray other characters from Robin Hood and his Merry Men. This year’s event will be from 11 a. m. to 2 p.m. In the past, Vilsack has dressed as the Mad Hatter, a scarecrow, a crocodile from Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh. 

 

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