Iowa News

VOTER REGISTRATION-IOWA        Dems voting early but GOP has registration edge        DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The election of 2012 is well under way though election day is still more than a month away.        Democrats have the absentee ballot lead, with voters already returning 8,800 ballots to Republicans’ 2,600 as of Friday. However, Republicans have a voter registration advantage and say they’ll have a strong turnout on Election Day.        Early voting began Thursday.        Republicans took the voter registration lead in April, in part due to the 2010 primary for governor and the January caucuses that drew record GOP participation.        Part of the change also is due to a standard cleanup of voter registration rolls that involved confirming current addresses of voters by mailing notices.        The state had 89,000 fewer active voters in August than in January.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN-ROAD TO 270        As race stands, Obama within reach of second term        DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Five weeks to Election Day, President Barack Obama seems within reach of the 270 electoral votes needed to win a second term.        Republican Mitt Romney’s path to that magic number is narrowing.        To overtake Obama, Romney would need to quickly gain the upper hand in nearly all of the nine states where he and Obama are competing hardest.        Polls show the president with a steady lead in many of them. But several Republicans say many presidential opinion polls sample Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents at 2008 levels.        Romney is intent on shifting the dynamics of the race, starting with the first presidential debate on Wednesday.        If the election were held today, an Associated Press analysis shows Obama would win at least 271 electoral votes, with Ohio and Iowa now among the states he would carry.

VENEER LAYOFFS        Iowa wood veneer firm lays off about 50 workers        GRUNDY CENTER, Iowa (AP) – A Iowa wood veneer company in Grundy Center has laid off more than half its workers because of slow sales.        KWWL reports that the R.S. Bacon Veneer Company laid off almost 50 workers on Friday.        General Manager Paul Hamann says the company decided to shut down production until sales improve.        The company has been one of Grundy Center’s largest employers for over 40-years.        Production worker Bob Becker says he was surprised to be laid off after nearly 16 years on the job.        Hamann says the company hopes to rehire the workers after the sales improve.

TRIPLE FATAL        3 Iowa women killed in collision with pickup truck        (Information in the following story is from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com)        CHARITON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities are investigating a crash that killed three Ottumwa women when their vehicle collided with a pickup truck in south-central Iowa.        The Des Moines Register reports the crash happened on Highway 34 west of Chariton around 9 p.m. Saturday.        An eastbound truck collided with the vehicle the three women were in after it crossed the center line of the highway.        Authorities say 56-year-old Olga Palencia, 66-year-old Dolores Rodas and 44-year-old Julieta Mendez all died at the scene of the crash.        The truck’s driver, 19-year-old Garrett Hollinrake, of Knoxville, was injured and taken to Lucas County Health Center. Hospital officials said no one could provide an update on Hollinrake’s condition Sunday.

KEOKUK SHOOTING        Iowa man, 18, acquitted in shooting of another man        (Information in the following story is from: The Hawk Eye, http://www.thehawkeye.com)        KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) – An 18-year-old Keokuk man has been acquitted for shooting another man while trying to protect his mother during an argument this summer.        The Hawk-Eye reports jurors found Colton Dobson not guilty on Thursday after a three-day trial. He had been charged with willfully injuring 27-year-old Tim Mondon with a shotgun on July 14th.        Defense attorney Gordon Liles says jurors believed Dobson was acting in self-defense when he shot Mondon, who had to have the lower part of one leg amputated.        Liles says Mondon was drunk at the time of the shooting and had been verbally and physically abusing Dobson’s mother.        When Dobson intervened, Mondon started beating up Dobson in the front yard. Dobson grabbed a shotgun from inside, but Mondon refused to back down and was shot.

HOSPITAL PAINKILLER LIMITS        Iowa hospitals place limits on painkillers        (Information in the following story is from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com)        DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Hospitals in the Des Moines area are imposing limits on painkiller prescriptions to limit abuse of the drugs.        The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa Health-Des Moines plans to join rival Mercy Medical Center in restricting access to painkillers.        The hospitals are reacting to increasing abuse of pain medications like Oxycontin and hydrocodone.        Last year, Mercy put up signed in its emergency room warning that doctors would only prescribe pain medications for emergency conditions. Iowa Health-Des Moines is planning to post similar warnings.        Doctor Gary Hemann, chairman of Mercy’s emergency department, says it can be hard for doctors in emergency rooms and urgent care facilities to tell if a patient is lying about pain because they don’t see the patient regularly.

 

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