I love fireworks. I always have. I think it’s because I also like stargazing. Fireworks are just a little more sparkly and noisy.

There’s nothing like being outside on a warm July night, with your family, watching fireworks. One of my favorite 4th of July celebrations was on the banks of the St. Clair River, which separates Michigan from Canada. It was the biggest Independence Day celebration I had ever been to. The kind where the blankets and lawn chairs are lined up so close together you can barely walk between them. I was probably six or seven and I remember being fascinated by the fact that Canadians were across the river enjoying our fireworks.

Of course, just a few years later I was celebrating on foreign soil when my family moved to Africa. Fireworks were one of the things I missed most. We managed to always have a celebration with other Americans in the area. We would buy expensive imported mayonnaise for egg salad and make homemade marshmallows for our desserts. One year my sister had to go to school on the 4th of July because her school went year round and was run by a British administration, so an American holiday was not a reason to miss lessons.

Of course nothing beats the year I spent Independence Day in the United Kingdom. My American roommates and I spent the whole night at Planet Hollywood because it was the only place in London that we felt our red, white and blue attire would be properly understood. Drinking a Coca-Cola and staring at a poster of Elvis made it seem okay to celebrate our independence from the British. And while there were the bright lights of Piccadilly Circus, there were no fireworks.

Maybe that’s why I like fireworks so much - I’ve spent so many 4th of July nights without them.

But, I’m excited to have a front row seat for one of the best firework displays in the area this year! I’ll be helping out with the live broadcast of the Dubuque Fireworks Spectacular on the Mississippi River.

Since I firmly believe that everyone should get to see fireworks this weekend, we’re streaming the Dubuque fireworks online, just in case you’re stuck at work or at home. So be sure to check it out on KWWL.com tomorrow.

Otherwise, we’ve also got a list of firework celebrations across eastern Iowa.

Happy 4th!

Posted under Holiday

There’s been plenty of time for reflection over the last few days. Sitting in an edit bay, rolling through hours of video and pulling interviews and even locker room speeches with Coach Thomas. I watched video I had seen countless times with a new perspective.

Every time I’ve lost someone, I’ve always wished for one more chance to tell them just how much they really meant to me. And I have to imagine that many people wish they had that one last chance with Coach Ed Thomas.

The day Coach Thomas died, I was on Facebook, looking through comments posted to a memorial group in his honor. While I was logged on, a former teacher and mentor sent me a quick message through Facebook chat. We didn’t talk about anything terribly important, and I didn’t think much of the conversation until I got home that night and sat in my bed, trying to process the day’s events.

The teacher who I had casually chatted with earlier in the day is the Coach Thomas in my life. In fact, as a former baseball coach, the title had stuck and we still called him coach. Just like Thomas was arguably one of the greatest high school football coaches in the country, my coach was also the best in his field.

Dave Davis is a teacher at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Missouri. He started one of the first high school broadcast program in the country, and after 20 years, has established a tradition of excellence that includes holding the record for the most NSPA Broadcast Pacemaker Awards and an Emmy. Anyone in the country who teaches broadcast journalism at the high school level has certainly heard of Davis, if not sought advice from him. I remember the first journalism conference I attended with him. He was like a rockstar and we were his entourage. And while we as high schoolers basked in the recognition and fame, Coach was quick to remind us that the school’s reputation was the result of years of excellence, that it was much bigger than us. And that recognition could easily be lost if we did not demand excellence of ourselves.

To those outside our broadcast circle, Davis’ demands seemed impossible. But, for those on his staff, we knew that countless students had survived before us, and that if we gave him our best, we would survive too. And Coach never asked more of his students than he was willing to give of himself. He was the first one there in the morning and the last to leave the studio at night.

Davis’ high standards and honest sarcasm became part of our bond. Working long hours and rushing against deadlines tends to cause a closeness among the staff, but I know that Coach and I were especially close because I was a “news nerd.” As editor-in-chief of the newspaper and a reporter on his broadcast staff, news was more than an elective credit for me.

Even now, I’m struggling to put into words what Davis has meant to me. In the six years since I’ve graduated, Davis has remained a friend, a mentor and even a teacher. When I’m out in the field shooting, or in the edit bay, I still use his simple lessons as the building blocks for my daily work. On the days when I’m at my worst, I often cringe to think what Coach would say, and on the days where I’m at my best, I feel a little prouder knowing that he checks in on me and is proud of what I do. While many people have shaped me into the person I am today, I can say with certainty I would not be in the tv business without Davis in my life.

And so, for all of those who never had the chance to properly thank Coach Thomas, and in his memory, I am taking the opportunity to thank my coach. And I hope that each of you will do the same.

Posted under Uncategorized

If you use the mobile version of KWWL, you’ve probably noticed some changes over the last few months. We updated our menu to look cleaner and offer more options like additional weather information. We also replaced the graphic to display our new KWWL Mobile logo.

All of the recent changes have been inspired by mobile users, people who check our mobile site on a daily basis. So far we’ve gathered this feedback informally, but now we want to take the next step in making our mobile site better than ever.

We’ve launched a mobile survey, asking for your feedback. What do you like about our current mobile site? What would you like to see in the future? Even if you don’t use our mobile site, we want to know what would make you start!

And there’s a little incentive for your time. We’re giving away an iPod Touch to one lucky survey participant.

The survey runs through July 6, so check it out!

Posted under Web/Tech

After two straight days of severe weather, and with more in the forecast for this evening, I figured it was the perfect time to outline all the things you need to know about severe weather resources on KWWL.com

StormTRACK 7 iNTERACTIVE
This is probably my favorite. You can zoom down to street level and watch the storm pass over. And using the FutureTrack you can see where the storm will be moving in the next few days. If you find some of the features confusing, make sure to watch Schnack’s tutorial video.

Storm Reports
We can see the storms on the radar and tell you what kind of conditions they will produce, but we need your help to piece together all the damage reports. You can always e-mail us with detailed information and locations, or post it as a reply on our Twitter page. You can also submit it on ReportStorms.com, a Web site that gathers storm information for meteorologists across the country.

Photos and Video
If you have any photos or video of storms or storm damage, upload them to Show and Tell 7. We take those pictures and use them during newscasts and on KWWL.com. So you could see your picture on TV!

Live Streaming
When we break into normal programming on KWWL, we also stream that coverage on KWWL.com. That means if you have wireless in your home and are forced to go to the basement during severe weather, you can still watch our reports.

These are just our current services. If you have any ideas on how we can better serve you during severe weather, leave a comment or e-mail me!

Posted under Weather, Web/Tech

A Des Moines teen is the new national texting champ!

15-year-old Kate Moore says it was her quick moving thumbs that help her beat 20 other finalists.

Moore had to have speed and accuracy, text while blind folded and maneuvering through an obstacle course.

While the bragging rights alone would be worth all the hard work, Moore also won $50,000. 

Moore’s victory speech?

“I’m just completely stunned right now like you would never think that girl from Iowa would win something this big in New York I’m just completely amazed… stunned. Freaked out even.”

She should have thrown in an OMG for good measure.

Congrats!

Posted under Web/Tech

According to FIND (Fulfilling Iowa’s Need for Dentists), 55 of Iowa’s 99 counties are considered dentist shortage areas.

Today, a new Web site was launched to help these under served areas recruit graduating dentists.

Here’s how it works - communities can fill out a profile that includes incentives and why their town is a great place to live and work, then FIND will add the community and the information to its featured map.

In turn, FIND can provide up to $100,000 in loan repayments to graduating dentists who work in an eligible county.

So, if you’re tired of driving to the dentist, check it out.

Posted under Health, Web/Tech

According to a project conducted by a summer statistics course at Clarke College, the amount of people driving and talking in Dubuque is above the national average.

A group of 16 students stood at the following intersections and recorded gender and whether or not someone was talking on the phone as cars passed by from 7-8:15 a.m. and 4-5:15 p.m.

• Dodge and Locust
• Grandview and Delhi
• Grandview and University
• JFK and Asbury
• Asbury and NW Arterial

Here’s the interesting conclusions from the study.

More than 5,300 drivers were observed and 6.7 percent were using cell phones, above the national average of 5 percent.

Afternoon usage was almost three times higher than morning usage - 9.5 percent as opposed to 3.5 percent.

Women used cell phones 7.7 percent of the time, as opposed to men who used phones 5.6 percent.

And perhaps the saddest fact, the second runner up to the cell phone as a hand held item: the cheeseburger.

Posted under Web/Tech

When we remember the flooding, we talk about homes and businesses lost, as we should. They are our livelihoods and the places most important to us. But, rarely do we talk about how the flooding disrupted transportation and destroyed Iowa’s roadways. Here are a few of my transportation memories from the flooding last year.

I remember the first day the water started to spill over the roadways in Waterloo, I received an early morning call from our assignment editor warning me that my normal commute would take much longer than expected. I headed out the door as quickly as possible and jumped in my little car, planning to take my normal route - possibly with a few detours. After driving through water that threatened to stall my car, being re-directed by National Guardsmen and sitting in traffic on the last open bridge in town, my ten minute commute took more than an hour. In fact, later that day I stood in the median on the San Souci bridge, interviewing people sitting in traffic, talking about the difficulty of getting from one side of town to the other.

For two straight days, when the flooding was at its worst, a photographer and I tried to get from our newsroom to the home of our receptionist who lived in North Cedar. Her home was under water and she had invited us to tag along as she went in a boat to check on it. Armed with maps, we spent hours, driving down side roads, only to hit water and have to turn around. We even enlisted the help of some Iowa State Patrol, hoping they would be able to find an open road. In the end, Matt and I stood at the edge of the water, waving at Sandy from a distance. She was in a boat, but there was a combination of water and dry land between us that made it impossible for us to connect.

I’m sure everyone has a story they can tell. And the Iowa Department of Transportation is no different. IDOT says more than 400 miles of primary roads were closed during the flooding and 125 miles of road suffered major damage.

IDOT has unveiled its inaugural collection of photographs showing the floods affect on Iowa’s transportation system. The digital gallery was compiled from a variety of sources, in fact, some of the photos are unidentified as far as location. It shows the disturbing power of water from a unique perspective - transportation.

Check it out.

And of course, KWWL has its own slideshow featuring photos of flooding and recovery. Feel free to upload your photos and also check out our forum where you can share your recovery story.

Posted under Weather

Miss a school board meeting or commencement ceremonies at a Cedar Rapids Community school? Starting this week, you can watch them online.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District announced it will be putting video clips on the district Web site. These will include school board meetings and the “District Focus” informational program. The board meetings will not be streaming, they’ll be posted after the fact. There’s no word on how long the delay will be, but right now they have the most recent June 8 meeting posted.

Click here to check it out.

And for your relatives who don’t live in the area, now online are videos from commencement ceremonies at Jefferson, Kennedy, Metro and Washington high schools and band concert at Roosevelt Middle School.

Posted under Education, Web/Tech

Posted under Weather