Those who run kick-the-habit programs for gambling addicts are asking Iowa lawmakers to stop skimming the money from their programs. Over the past two years, the number of clients served by the Iowa Gambling Treatment program has declined, and Janet Zwick of the Iowa Department of Public Health blames the decline on a cut in advertising, — a reduction caused when legislators shifted money away from gambling treatment to other priorities.The Gambling Treatment program completely cut out radio and print advertising when its budget was cut. Iowa law requires that three-tenths of a percent of all gambling profits to the state to be set aside for gambling treatment, but legislators have been siphoning off some of that money for other programs, like the Veteran’s Home in Marshalltown and substance abuse treatment. As a result, private gambling treatment programs are seeing a dramatic increase in clients. The Eastern Iowa Center for Problem Gambling in Davenport had 900 clients last year, and Jan Meisenbach (my’-zen-bawk), the center’s director, says they could help even more if the state came through with the money.Meisenbach says Iowa doesn’t have inpatient gambling treatment programs, and severe gambling addicts are forced to go to other states, like Minnesota, to get the help they need. In the year 2000, the state’s Gambling Treatment program helped a record one-thousand-53 Iowans. Last year, due to budget constraints, it served only eight-hundred-42.
Brandon man charged with taking cattle
If you thought cattle rustling was left behind in the Wild West, think again. A Brandon man’s pleading not guilty to cattle theft, though he admits he fenced in cows that he knew belonged to a neighbor. 38-year-old Bob Rose says he got tired of the cattle wandering onto his property so he rounded them up and penned them. When the neighbor first spotted some of his strays behind Rose’s fence he thanked him for rounding up the stragglers, but then found he had more of the missing animals. Rose told investigators from the Black Hawk County sheriff’s office he wanted to teach his neighbor a lesson and would have given the animals back. Court records say the heisted heifers were worth more than 10-thousand dollars and the charge in the battle over cattle is first-degree theft.
Group warns about leaving kids in cars
Most people know the potentially deadly dangers of leaving a child in a hot parked car during the summer, but a child advocacy group is warning Iowans not to leave kids in the car at -any- time, including during the winter months. Jenny McCoy is spokeswoman for TYKES, which stands for Take Your Kids, Ensure their Safety. When it’s cold out, McCoy says busy people are tempted to leave their kids in the warm car as they duck into a store for a quick errand. She says that’s a recipe for disaster and potentially for death for any child left behind in the vehicle. They may get out of the car to find a caregiver, get abducted, get lost or freeze, get tangled or strangled in their seat belts or power windows or get carbon monoxide poisoning. McCoy offers a few tips for parents and anyone else who’s transporting kids. Always keep your vehicle locked, even when it’s in the garage or driveway, so kids aren’t tempted to get inside it and get into trouble. Don’t leave the keys within reach of kids. Teach them not to play in or around the vehicle. McCoy says free informational booklets and window clings are available through TYKES and the Iowa Safe Kids Coalition, based in Des Moines, at 800-526-KIDS.
Study shows grad students may be overworked
A recent national report claims graduate students are overworked and sometimes taken advantage of by their professors as they struggle to get a masters or doctoral degree. John Mayfield is associate dean of I.S.U.’s graduate college and says while every grad student has to do research, some benefit by taking part in ongoing work in their department. Most people who go for just a Masters degree are hoping to enhance their job prospects, so even if they work as one part of a big research project, it’s an important factor in their learning. Whatever research project is chosen is part of the professor’s major program, but the student takes part for their own benefit — and he explains that most research is too expensive to make up a whole project just for one student. It’s a lot of work to advance beyond the bachelor’s degree, and Mayfield says while it’s an investment by the student, it also enriches both the student and the college in which they study. He says graduate students are “laborers within the system,” though he says even more than their work on projects, the hardest thing they do is thinking up and planning how to do some original research project to earn that degree. Grad students are often seen working on campus, as lab assistants and teaching big lecture classes, but Mayfield says they’re not being taken advantage of — even though he says they should be paid more for the research or teaching work they do. Mayfield says most stories you see about some kind of research program will involve the work of graduate students, and that’s certainly true of the research done at I.S.U.
Harkin defends Dean’s Iowa speech
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says the media has taken criticism of presidential candidate Howard Dean’s Iowa speech too far. Harkin introduced Dean and stood on the podium right behind him as the Vermont Governor went into a rousing speech the ended with a yee-haaah, after Dean finished third in Monday’s caucuses. The speech has been replayed over and over on news programs and been lampooned by comedians as well. Harkin says Dean did go overboard a little bit, and should not have done what he did on stage. But he says Dean was trying to inspire the young workers who had stood out in the cold for him and say the fight had just begun. Harkin says Dean just gave the speech at the wrong time. He says he was trying to keep his troops enthused, and Harkin says you have to keep it in context. Harkin says the national media has tried to portray it as an outburst, but he says it was a speech Dean had already given several times. Harkin says though, Dean should’ve been speaking to the nation.Harkin says the media has kept the issue alive, when he says it’s not that big a deal.He says the “pack media” is trying to whip something up and psychoanalyze the speech and Dean continues to take hits. Harkin says he’s seen other Democrats like Al Gore and Bill Clinton give speeches where their veins were popping out. The political pundits say Dean’s speech opens questions about his ability to lead and whether Dean is to volatile. Harkin says that overlooks Dean’s work as a doctor and a politician. Harkin says what Dean did in providing health care to kids and balancing the budget in Vermont is not the work of a “raving lunatic”, he says it’s the work of a dedicated public servant. Harkin says Dean’s presidential campaign is not doomed because he finished a disappointing third after leading early in Iowa. He says they’re writing Dean’s obituary, but Harkin says people said George W. Bush was dead after losing big to John McCain in New Hampshire, and he says if you check you’ll find Bush is not dead right now.
Nussle cool to food labeling rules
Some ag and consumer groups are pressing Congress to speed up rather than delay implementation of “country of origin” labeling for meat and other food products. But Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle, a republican from Manchester, isn’t wild about the proposal. Nussle says people think “country of origin” labeling will be the “be all and end all” solution to the Mad Cow scare and food safety issues. But Nussle says it will add cost to food “at a time when the economy’s struggling and people are having a hard time paying the bills.” Nussle says there must be a better way to track food for safety purposes. He says country of origin labeling “puts a lot more stress on our agricultural exports than it does to provide valuable information to consumers.” The U.S. House has already voted to delay country-of-origin labeling for two years. A recent Reuters survey found 76 percent of American farmers support mandatory country-of-origin labeling, but opponents of the program say it will encourage other countries to erect more barriers to American farm goods.
Both sides mark anniversary of legalized abortion
Iowa activists from both sides of the abortion debate are taking part in rallies today, marking the 31st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Nearly 200 members of the group Iowans for Life took a 24-hour bus ride to Washington D.C. for a massive march, which is expected to draw 300-thousand people. Ann McAlister is president of Iowans for Life and explains why she was motivated to make the long journey. She says “We cannot let this day go by without memorializing these 40-some-million lives that have been taken in the last 31 years.” The buses picked up supporters from several Iowa cities, including: Carroll, Altoona, Iowa City, Dyersville and Dubuque. McAlister, who’s from Bayard, says the march and rally are an inspiration.The D.C. rally is to begin at the Washington Monument at 11 central time, with the march to the Supreme Court beginning at noon. Meanwhile, the Iowa capitol rotunda is the setting for a rally by pro-choice activists at 3:30 this afternoon. Kathi Di Nicola is spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, one of the groups taking part in the rally. She says its main goal is to raise awareness about another march on Washington D.C. in a few months.The March for Women’s Lives is slated for April 25th by several pro-choice groups. Di Nicola explains why they’ll be marching on the nation’s capitol. She says the country and the politicians need to be shown “We are committed to choice. We are committed to women’s reproductive rights and that restriction of women’s access to reproductive health services will not be tolerated.” For more information on the March for Women’s Lives, surf to: “www.marchforwomen.org”.
