Broadband committee still sorting issues

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THE HAWK EYE
WEST BURLINGTON — These
students were named to the first
semester honor roll at West Burlington schools.
Fifth grade: Kaleb Allen, Austin
Applegate, Meloy Armstrong, Justin Bessine, Joey Brown, Ashton
Carr, Madeline Caston, Jenna
Chalupa, Stacey Dzawo, Andrew
Engler, Jay Felix, Jazzlynn Goodwin-Penrod, Hymiley Gosney,
Matthew Grimes, Emylea Hocking,
Grace Hoenig, Abbi Jern, Andrew
Krantz, Kyla Lewis, Malik Lewis,
Alora Marshall, Hayley Miller, Kristian Moore, Deven Myers, Kelsey
Myers, Trinity Overlander, Joshua
Philpott, Logan Prehm, Kathryn
Reach, Davis Ricketts, Alyssa
Ruther, Preston Smith, Nicholas
Snyder, Jack Spencer, Jaelyn Taeger, Landon Thompson, Matthew
Vance, Brockton Whitmore and
Gabriel Zurita.
Sixth grade: Danielle Behlman,
Kenyon Boyd, Paige Carson,
Daniel Christensen, Riley Cline,
Celeste Cobb, Caitlyn Conlee,
Austin Cox, Cayson Dahl, Alyssa
Dameron, Peyton Diaz, Ryne
Dossett, Gavin Dunkin, Zoe Eland,
Olivia Engler, Leslie Eutsler, David
Gerstel, Olivia Godar, Kelton
Granaman, Elizabeth Grobstich,
Brendon Hale, Naomi Hall, Annaka Harris, Tyler Hartman, Chloe
Hayes, Ty Hill, Ella Humphries,
Marvion Jackson, Kaydence Jochims, Darian Johnson, Kadence
Johnson, Lauryn Kent, Sydney
Marlow, Hunter Miller, Jenna
Miller, Ilianna Murphy, Kylee Pratt,
Sara Rouse, Shelby Ryan, Kaden
Schmitz, Kasidy Schnedler, Abigail
Schonrock, Colton Sherwood, Annah Torres, Natalie Vandenberg,
Kameron Walker, Morgan Webb
and Liliyan Zang.
Seventh grade: Olivia Baker,
Viviana Barbosa, Corey Bedenbender, Rachel Bradley, Emily
Capps, Erick Daly, Mason Forquer,
Jonah Fritz, Jacob Garrison, Lea
Grimes, Isabelle Hase, Addyson
Kellen, Taylor Kesterke, Delaney
Ketchum, Dreyton LaVeine, Camy
Machholz, Bret Masters, Taylor
McCormick, Dylan McElderry,
Cameron Mehaffy, Samantha
Myers, Dakota Peterson, Hunter
Reich, Caleb Robinson, Riley
Ruther, Tessa Snodgrass, Blake
Stumpf, Frankie Taylor, Hayley
Thomas, Riley Walker, Travis
Wills, Kyle Wisbey and Madeline
Wolgemuth.
Eighth grade: Kinnady Atwater,
Ian Brem, Makenna Brockett,
Emma Brown, Salvador Cavazos,
Xander Chalupa, Kelyin Chng,
Malanea Cobb, Tyler Dameron,
Alexis Davis, Drake Day, Seth
Estrada Miller, Morgan Flowers,
McKenzie Fry, Binita Gautam,
Tyler Graham, Hunter Hartsock,
Michenna Hunt, Bailey Jennings,
Joleen Kelly, Alexander Kinaman,
Daylee Larpenter, Micah Lewis,
Elizabeth Logan, Jonah Marlow,
Grace Mincer, Austin Mixer, Adriana Moad, Iliyah Moore, Keegan
Moore, Noah Murphy, Jacob
Philpott, Kaitlyn Porter, Reece
Richards, Kody Sargeant, Colby
Schenk, Tanner Snodgrass, Piper
Thacker, Cole Williams and Alonna
Wilmot.
Ninth grade: Jakob Anderson,
Juan Barbosa, Brian Brem, Kiera
Brown, Daniel Crooks, Cecilia
Crozier, Haley Engler, Jacob Fritz,
Hannah Gnann, Gunnar Hoffer,
Colten Hohenthaner, Dayton
Johnson, Taylor Martin, Brice
Mennen, Jalayna Miles, Madison
Munoz, Stephan Nguyen, Jerrilynn
Price, Julia Pross, Haley Rogers,
Meghan Ryan, Nathan Schroeder,
Tanner Sherrill, Masin Shullaw,
Emily Steele, Sarah Stockdale, Savannah Swanson and Jax Walters.
10th grade: Shayleigh Abbott,
Kamaryn Atwater, Jashira Baylark,
Julia Blakeman, Brandon Broeg,
Peyten Carlson, Kayleigh Coleman, Rooks DeRosear, Amber
DesJardins, Serifa Donaldson, Gabrielle Duttweiler, John Glasscock,
Micah Gnann, Chase Graham,
Danielle Graham, Jacob Graham,
Lerelcus Greer, Dustin Hartley,
Gracie Lange, Dalton Machholz,
Ryan McElderry, Athena Moad,
Kaleb Moore, Timber Newman,
Steven Nguyen, Nicole Nichols,
Rachel Patejak, Raven Pennington, Gabrielle Price, Rodrigo
Ramos, Tristan Randle, Alison
Rechkemmer, Nicholas Schenk,
Lukas Shipley, Tate Snodgrass,
Caitlyn Spencer, Seth Spiker,
Samantha Teel, Lucas Thompson,
Catherine Todd, Kelsey Webster,
Kiley West and Delaney Williams.
11th grade: Aaliyah Auwaerter,
Micah Barshinger, Cheyenne Bolding, Dillon Boothe, Derek Brissey,
Katelyn DeLlanos, Jack Engel,
Regan Jones, Laurel Kelly, Mikeal
McGill, Ethan Moeller, Mackenzie
Nicholson, Mariah Orton, Mynisha
Pearson, Alexis Pollock, Meredith
Reach, Tyson Riles, Camryn
Salvador, Aubrey Schmitt, Gradin
Schroeder, Paige Sherwood,
Haley Snyder, Alexis Sorensen,
Kristyn Vedder, Richelle Weeks,
Kelsi Yocom and Jenna Zaiser.
12th grade: Tyson Abbott,
Patrick Behlman, Kaitlynn Broeg,
Tania Carrion Serrano, Riley Clements, Courtney Cooper, Monica
Crozier, Machaela Diaz, Elamar
Donaldson, Alexander Engel,
Nicholas Ford, Tristan Garcia,
Riley Hale, Jacey Hicks, Kelci Hill,
Ana Jimenez, Da’Shon Johnson,
Alexandra Moad, Tori Moore,
Daniel Mumma, Veronika Noble,
Raegan Olson, Randa Reynolds,
Noah Stimpson, Emily Stockdale,
Taylor Webster, Baron West, Timothy Williams and Stephanie Wills
and Kenji Yohena.
XXXUIFIBXLFZFDPN
FROM THE FRONT
Classroom
West Burlington
!"#63-*/(50/*08"
Broadband committee still sorting issues
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By BARBARA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
DES MOINES — As Gov.
Terry Branstad prepares to
introduce legislation aimed at
expanding broadband Internet
in Iowa, members of a committee tasked with giving him key
recommendations for a bill said
it’s a complex issue they’re still
sorting out.
Members of a broadband
committee within the governor’s STEM (science, technology,
engineering and math) Advisory
Council said they’re still deciding what the state’s overall goal
should be with expanding highspeed Internet, also known as
broadband. There are several
factors to consider, including whether to focus on Iowa’s
roughly 20,000 households with
no broadband or increasing
current broadband speeds in
already-connected communities.
Part of the challenge is the
shifting national definition on
what constitutes high-speed
Internet, said John Carver,
superintendent of the HowardWinneshiek School District in
northeast Iowa and co-chair of
the committee.
“We’re in the infancy of all this
stuff,” he said.
The committee, which is
scheduled to meet in early February to finalize its draft, doesn’t
have a budget recommendation,
Carver said.
That concerns committee
member Dave Duncan, also
CEO of Iowa Communications
Alliance. He noted neighboring
states like Nebraska and Minnesota have more defined broadband budgets and time tables. In
Nebraska, state officials released
a plan last year designed to bring
faster broadband to more areas
by 2020. A Minnesota law signed
last year sets aside $20 million
for broadband expansion.
“I’m hopeful that our broadband committee will come
together with a recommendation
of a goal something like what
some of those other states are
doing,” he said.
Carver said group members
have different ideas.
“There will be a consensus on
what goes forward, but I don’t
know if it’ll be 100 percent supported by everybody,” he said.
Committee members said they
will recommend a robust fiberoptic network — a system of
cables best placed underground
— because it’s the best option for
a broadband infrastructure with
room for higher speeds, said Sen.
Steven Sodders, a Democrat
from State Center who also is on
the committee.
He introduced legislation Friday aimed at general expansion
plans for the state’s fiber-optic
network.
Sodders’ bill is separate from
Branstad’s work. He said his bill
is aimed at getting the conversation going, but he expects to
amend it once the governor’s bill
is introduced.
About 28 percent of Iowa
residents have access to a fiberoptic network, according to 2013
data from the Federal Communications Commission and the
National Telecommunications
and Information Administration.
Sodders expects his proposal on
fiber-optic network expansion to
take at least three to four years
to accomplish.
About 80 percent of Iowa
households — about 985,000 —
have high-speed Internet with
download speeds of at least 10
megabits per second and upload
speeds of at least 1.5 megabits
per second, according to Connect Iowa, an organization with
federal support is working with
communities throughout the
state to expand service.
Miss Colombia crowned Miss Universe
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By KELLI KENNEDY
Associated Press
MIAMI — Miss Colombia
Paulina Vega has been crowned
Miss Universe, beating out first
runner-up Miss USA Nia Sanchez and contestants from more
than 80 other countries at Sunday’s pageant in Miami.
Vega, a 22-year-old student of
business administration from
Barranquilla, Colombia, said the
contests leading up to Miss Universe were the first she had participated in. She also said they
would be her last as she would
be eager to return to her studies
in Colombia after her reign.
“It will be a dream come true
to represent the woman of today.
A woman that not only cares
about being beautiful and being
glamorous but also cares about
being a professional, intelligent,
hard-working person,” Vega had
said earlier in the week in talking about the role of the winner.
Following Sanchez, the
24-year-old Miss USA from Las
Vegas, the second runner-up was
Miss Ukraine Diana Harkusha.
Miss Jamaica Kaci Fennell
Polhans
Continued from page 1A
Details of that conviction were
not revealed in court.
Although the involuntary manslaughter conviction is a forcible felony requiring Polhans be
sent to prison rather than being
granted probation immediately,
he could be released from prison
at any time by the Iowa State
Parole Board.
Polhans gave brief answers to
several questions posed by Brown
during the Dec. 5 hearing but did
not relate specific details of the
events that led to him shooting
Sutton.
Carter said at Polhans’ hearing his client decided late Dec. 4
to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, rather than go to trial
the following week.
Those speeds about translate
to the ability of a household to
do several things online before
speeds begin to slow.
The FCC defines broadband
as lower download speeds of 4
megabits per second and upload
speeds of 1 megabit per second.
In the age of video streaming and
constant smartphones use, FCC
Chairman Tom Wheeler is set to
propose a new threshold Thursday for download speeds of 25
megabits per second and upload
speeds of 3 megabits per second.
The numbers are not a mandate for states, said FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield, but he added
it’s what broadband “is going to
need to be, to be adequate for the
uses. It’s a little bit forward looking.”
Branstad has set aside $5
million for broadband expansion in his budget proposal. He
is weighing factors before recommending more money for
future budgets, according to his
spokesman.
SAG Awards
win sends
‘Birdman’
Oscar hopes
soaring
and Miss Netherlands Yasmin
Verheijen also were among the
top five, emerging from the field
of 88 contestants.
Sanchez had spoken earlier
of looking forward to the oftendreaded interview portion. She
had been running practice questions all week with her roommate Miss Australia Tegan Martin, who made it to the top 10.
Sanchez has a fourth-degree
black belt in Tae Kwon Do and
has traveled the country teaching others. She previously
spoke about equipping women
to defend themselves against
crime.
“It’s just something that’s so
prevalent in our society, and why
not empower women to take
control of a dangerous situation
into their own hand,” she said.
“Today Show” personality
Natalie Morales served as host
of the show.
Miss Colombia was crowned
by the outgoing Miss Universe,
Gabriela Isler of Venezuela.
The broadcast included performances by singers Nick Jonas
and Prince Royce.
Crowd favorite Miss VenezuWilfredo Lee/Associated Press
ela Migbelis Lynette Castellanos
was cut after the top 10. She had Reigning Miss Universe Gabriela Isler, right, crowns new Miss
tremendous support and pres- Universe Paulina Vega of Colombia, left, during the Miss Universe pageant Sunday in Miami.
sure locally and back home.
Oscar hopes for “Birdman” got
an enormous updraft over the
weekend with big wins from the
acting and producing guilds, possibly sending the comedy soaring over the perceived Academy
Awards front-runner “Boyhood.”
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s
elegantly crafted backstage romp
won best ensemble Sunday night
at the 21st annual Screen Actors
Guild, a day after it also won the
top honor at the Producer Guild
Awards. Both guilds are seen as
highly predictive of which film
will triumph at the Oscars, which
is Feb. 22.
Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood,”
the acclaimed indie made with
the unprecedented real-life timeelapse of 12 years, long has held
as the awards seasons favorite.
But “Birdman” fills the role of a
classic Oscar winner, like “Shakespeare in Love,” as a celebration of
showbiz.
Dunn will be sentenced by
Schilling in early March on the
attempted murder charge. He
remains in the county jail without
bond.
Polhans has maintained his
innocence since his arrest last
June, saying he acted in selfdefense after being struck in the
back with a hammer by Sutton
during an argument.
Neighbors called police after
hearing a gunshot. Police found
Sutton dead in his backyard,
with a claw hammer lying near
his body. He was shot once in
the chest with a handgun. The
weapon was never found.
Polhans and Sutton were members of the Los Diablos motorcycle club, but Sutton recently
had been kicked out of the club.
Polhans told police he went to Sutton’s home to retrieve a Los Diablos club patch on a jacket.
Polhans admitted shooting
Sutton after he said Sutton struck
him from behind with the hammer during an argument about
the patch.
Carter argued during pretrial
motions Sutton was the aggressor
in the confrontation.
Polhans has remained in the
county jail without bond since his
arrest June. 1
“There was a compelling argument for self-defense,” Carter said,
at the plea hearing. “However, the
prospect of life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder was
too great a gamble.”
Beavers, who negotiated the
plea, said she was pleased with
the agreement.
“In this case, since he was going
to use self-defense, we thought it
would be an all-or-nothing case,”
she said after the hearing. “We did
not want to risk the jury having
only two options: guilty of firstdegree murder or not guilty.”
Although Beavers said she
believed the jury would have been
given only two options at trial,
under Iowa law, the jury also could
have considered second-degree
murder, voluntary manslaughter,
involuntary manslaughter or simple assault, along with a not guilty
verdict, several attorneys said.
Under Iowa law, voluntary
manslaughter is defined as the following:
“A person commits voluntary
manslaughter when that person
causes the death of another person under circumstances which
would otherwise be murder, if
the person causing the death acts
solely as the result of sudden, violent and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation ... ”
Last week, a Des Moines
County District Court jury found
Earl “Tone” Dunn, 36, of Burlington guilty of attempted murder
in the shooting of Kelon Tucker,
37. Dunn is facing up to 25 years
in prison. Authorities said he will
have to serve at least 17 years
in prison because the conviction carries a mandatory prison
sentence requiring him to serve
at least 70 percent of the 25-year
sentence.
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