 |
||
|
The Associated Press Bureau e-mail: apdesmoines@ap.org Chief of Bureau: Carol Riha Chief of Communications: David Tschantz News Editor: Scott McFetridge Broadcast Editor: Melanie Welte
Political Writer: Mike Glover Iowa Photographer: Charlie Neibergall Upcoming Events: July 24-26 _ State Baseball Aug. 8-9 _ Knoxville Nationals Aug. 25-28 _ Democratic National Convention, Denver Aug. 28 _ FBC-S Dakota St-Iowa St Aug. 30 _ FBC-Maine-Iowa Sept. 1-4 _ Republican National Convention, St. Paul Sept. 6 _ FBC-Fla International-Iowa; FBC-Kent St-Iowa St Sept. 13 _ FBC-Iowa St-Iowa Sept. 20 _ FBC-Iowa St-Pittsburgh; FBC-Iowa-UNLV Sept. 27 _ FBC-Northwestern-Iowa Oct. 4 _ FBC-Kansas-Iowa St; FBC-Iowa-Michigan St Oct. 11 _ FBC-Iowa-Indiana; FBC-Iowa St-Baylor Oct. 15-17 _ 2008 Borlaug Dialogue Oct. 18 _ FBC-Nebraska-Iowa St: FBC-Wisconsin-Iowa Oct. 25 _ FBC-Texas A&M-Iowa St Nov. 1 _ FBC-Iowa-Illinois: FBC-Iowa St-Okahoma St Nov. 8 _ FBC-Penn St-Iowa; FBC-Iowa St-Colorado Nov. 15 _ FBC-Purdue-Iowa; FBC-Missouri-Iowa St Nov. 22 _ FBC-Iowa-Minnesota; FBC-Iowa St-Kansas St If you know of additional upcoming events that you think should be listed here, please contact the AP bureau in Des Moines. |
AND HIGH WATER: An aerial view of downtown Cedar Rapids submerged by the rising Cedar River on June 12, 2008. The buildings on Mays Island in the center of the river are (left to right) City Hall, the Linn County Courthouse and the Linn County Jail. AP Photo/Steve Pope.
July 2008
Highlights from the state report CEDAR RAPIDS _ The Cedar River poured over its banks Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets. Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water. "We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start," Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. BC-Midwest Flooding. Moved June 12. By Amy Lorentzen. DES MOINES _ A levee ruptured early Saturday allowed the Des Moines River to pour into an area near downtown, and a mandatory evacuation was ordered for 270 homes, authorities said. Crews from the city and National Guard used dump trucks and front-end loaders to build a temporary berm of dirt and sandbags in a bid to stop the water before it flowed out of the largely business area and into more populated neighborhoods. The river punched a 100-foot-wide gap through the levee at about 3:45 a.m. in the city's Birdland Park area, and within a few hours water was up to 4 feet deep in places. BC-Midwest Flooding-Des Moines. Moved June 14. By Melanie S. Welte. CEDAR RAPIDS _ The marquee out front says it all: "God Bless You Neighbors and Good Luck." Putting up the letters was the first thing Larry Welp did after floodwaters finally receded enough to let him return to his grocery, Jim's Foods. The 60-year-old wanted to buck up the neighborhood, even as it sank in that his life's work was gutted. The windows were broken out. The food, the beer, even the cigarettes were sopping wet and worthless. The store had a wicked stench, a mix of sewage and spoiled food. BC-Midwest Flooding-Devastated Store. Moved June 20. By Henry C. Jackson. DES MOINES _ This year's corn crop was Bill Talsma's lottery ticket _ a potentially record-setting haul. Then came the flood. The raging rivers and streams destroyed nearly a quarter of the crop Talsma and his brother were growing on about 75 percent of their 9,000 acres in Iowa, and drenching rains damaged the rest. "I was counting on this being one of my best years ever, but now it's one that you just want to get behind you," the 50-year-old Talsma said. Across the Corn Belt states of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, many farmers are looking at a bleak harvest after a planting season that started out with the promise of great riches. BC-Midwest Flooding-Farmers. Moved June 25. By David Pitt. DES MOINES _ Fewer college students are pursuing computer-related degrees at a time when demand is increasing and thousands of baby boomers are retiring from technical jobs. The colliding trends have some business leaders worried that they won't find enough workers needed to maintain expected growth. "There's a bit of a perfect storm going on," said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, a California-based consulting and staffing service. Although a dearth of tech workers has been a problem before, the situation is now more dire because of soaring demand by a wide range of businesses, from tech companies like Microsoft to insurance companies and local hospitals. BC-IA--Tech Worker Shortage. Moved June 23. By David Pitt. DES MOINES _ A political infrastructure that pushed Barack Obama to victory in the Iowa caucuses and an increase in Democratic voter registration make him the favorite in the state in November, but an intense catch-up effort could put Republican John McCain back in the game, veteran political strategists in both parties say. "John McCain's problem in Iowa is Obama already has an infrastructure here and McCain doesn't. He pulled his staff out, he pulled his people out," said Iowa House Minority Leader Chris Rants, a Republican. "He has to decide if Iowa is part of his strategy, is Iowa going to be a battleground or not." BC-Obama-Iowa. Moved June 11. By Mike Glover. ___ Photos of the Month AP received scores of outstanding photos from Iowa members during the record flooding in June. Here are just a few:
___ Broadcast story of the month _ Story of the month: Elwin Huffman of KOEL-AM, Oelwein, for his outstanding help with the flooding in Cedar Falls on June 11 and word that the levee had held. He put various city officials on the phone with AP Broadcast Editor Melanie Welte after a 5 a.m. news conference, providing critical information to members statewide. For his excellent example of AP cooperation, Huffman wins this month's broadcast award. He also was awarded an APME Instant Citation. Runner-up to Charles Potter of KWPC for backup help on word that a railroad bridge had collapsed in Louisa County on June 25. ___ Member News The Iowa Newspaper Foundation has set up a fund to aid Iowa newspaper employees who suffered losses or were displaced by the recent flooding. Click here to access the Iowa Newspaper Employees Disaster Relief Fund to contribute, or to apply for aid. If you have questions, contact the Iowa Newspaper Foundation at 515-244-2145 or by e-mail at inf@inanews.com. The new Iowa Chapter of SPJ is up and running! Executive board members include Rachel Haugo, Marie Elizabeth Oliver and Erin Simpson of Meredith Corp.; Sarah Bzdega; and Jared Strong , Tom Barton and Lucas Grundmeier of The Des Moines Register. You can contact Rachel at Rachel.haugo@gmail.com Please remember to send any member news, including awards, staff changes and interesting industry tidbits, to Iowa Chief of Bureau Carol Riha at criha@ap.org. ___ AP News
Hal Ritter, a founding editor of USA Today who helped launch the newspaper’s Money section, has been named business editor of The Associated Press, responsible for global coverage of financial news. Ritter, who has been acting business editor for three months, succeeds Kevin Noblet, who resigned. Ritter, 56, began working for AP as a consultant in February 2006, and became director of special projects in April 2007. He was one of the architects of AP’s popular Money & Markets service. ___ MEMBER CHOICE The Associated Press has begun rolling out details of its new pricing to members, a plan that will return up to $21 million to U.S. newspapers. The reductions are part of the most important overhaul in pricing and structure of AP content in the history of the cooperative, and will greatly expand the content that newspapers receive, as well as simplify the process by which they are assessed. This historic shift changes the traditional arrangement, from AP providing pre-defined “wires” to customers, to allowing them open access to AP content and the ability to create highly customized slices of news coverage. Starting later this year, all member newspapers will gain access to a real-time database of all the English-language breaking news content that AP produces worldwide. They also will gain tools that allow them to search for locally relevant stories, photos, graphics and other content from within the database. The changes significantly increase the amount of content newspapers can draw from for local, national and niche or targeted publications. Under the plan, called Member Choice, AP will also broaden newspapers’ licenses for the first time to allow use of AP content within the full range of a member’s local publications. Members will receive their provisional pricing details for Member Choice over the next month. The rate changes are subject to final approval by the AP Board of Directors meeting in late July. AP rates traditionally have been set and distributed each October. Additionally, a detailed Member Choice Product Guide and companion Web site are now available to members. For more information and access to both, please contact your local chief of bureau. Read more about the Member Choice roll-out plan on AP’s corporate Web site at: http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/pr_062508a.html. ___ Mobile News Network
With the free iPhone-specific application, users will also be able to submit news and photos back to the AP directly from their iPhones if they happen to capture images from the scene of a breaking news event. Read more about this AP software upgrade at: http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/wn_061008a.html __ Exciting news about the AP Member MarketPlace The AP Member MarketPlace, or State News Exchange, is a new service that lets you share news with other member newspapers in your state. There’s no cost to join. With the Member MarketPlace you can share breaking news, features, photos or graphics with all papers in your state or only selected newsrooms. A few clicks in AP Exchange open this world of collaboration and locally relevant content. The service launched in April with seven accounts and now includes more than 130 newspapers sharing stories and photos among themselves. So far, the most vibrant State News Exchange is Florida and several new members joined in June. One active member, The Charlotte Sun, has begun a daily Florida page that features text and photo content from the news exchange and the largest paper to join so far is the Palm Beach Post. The June wave also included papers from across the nation, and participation is gaining even more momentum. Currently, members can take part in regular orientation conference calls, held every Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. CT. These calls are designed to orient editors on using the AP Member MarketPlace/State News Exchange. For more information on the Member MarketPlace, or to participate in one of these orientations, contact your Iowa Chief of Bureau Carol Riha. ___ Print and online editions of the 2008 AP Stylebook on sale now
AP also offers a subscription-based Stylebook Online, which provides searchable access and the means to create a personal stylebook. Subscribers to the AP Stylebook Online Edition get changes throughout the year as AP editors make them, as well as periodic e-mail notifications about new changes. The new print edition and online subscriptions can be ordered online through the secure site, http://www.apbookstore.com. The order form also allows customers to create an invoice to pay by check or money order, credit or debit card, and member news organizations can request direct assessment. The new edition costs $11.75 for member news organizations, $11.75 for college bookstores and $18.95 retail. ___ AP Lifestyles now available online AP Lifestyles Online launches in July, making available video, interactives and slideshows to accompany text and photos covering all aspects of daily life. Subscribers can watch a video on making the perfect cocktail or listen to AP Fashion Writer Samantha Critchell critique red carpet fashion or see a slideshow on how to crochet. Subscribers also receive text in an easy-to-launch turnkey service with AP Exchange, XML (NNTP) or Atom delivery.
AP Lifestyles Online is produced by a core staff of eight based in New York, with reports from AP staffers around the globe. It offers timeless content as well as timely content off the news every weekday. For more information, contact Iowa COB Carol Riha or Lifestyles Editor Diane Davis at ddavis@ap.org. ___ Special Editions The “Back to School” Special Edition will move July 8. Stories include:
The Special Editions calendar for the remainder of the year:
|
AP links: Iowa: http://www.ifoic.org
Journalism: Iowa AP:
|
|
|
||
|
©2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
||
AP plans to recognize each of these individual photo
contributors with certificates. Thanks for your great work!
Hal
Ritter named business editor of The Associated Press
