This past week was “Get Smart About Insurance Week” nationwide. Tom Alger, a spokesman for the Iowa Insurance Division, says the goal is to educate people.He says they want to educate about what your’re purchasing, and what your options are regarding insurance and costs. Alger says the Iowa division has a website available to answer questions.He says you can find out about your agent, companies, you can ask questions or register a complaint when something isn’t going right. The website is www.iid.state.ia.us, or you can call the toll-free number 877-955-1212. Alger says one of the biggest things they stress is shopping around for insurance.He says the industry is competitive, so it may mean you’re able to get the same coverage at a better price. He says you should schedule an annual visit with your insurance agent to talk over your coverage. Alger says a national study shows only about 34-percent of people say they understand the details of their insurance coverage.
Lottery officials following gambling debate
The Iowa Lottery has seen its profits increase in the last year, but changes in the state’s gambling industry could make holding onto the increases tough. The Iowa Legislature is expected to discuss the expansion of casino gambling, and Lotter spokesperson Mary Neubauer says that could impact their business.She says anything that competes for discretionary income and the entertainment dollar would be affected by an expansion of gambling licenses. The residents of the four counties that have passed gambling referendums won’t be the only ones interested in the gambling debate.She says the lottery is watching the debate and will be involved along with the casinos, as she says there’s only so much discretionary income to go around. Neubauer says there are too many unanswered questions to get any handle on the potential impact to the lottery.She says the effect remains to be seen. The State Racing and Gaming Commission asked the legislature to give it direction before they would lift their moratorium on new gambling licenses.
Gift cards getting more popular
What could be better than a plastic card to buy things with? How about a card that has your purchases already paid for? Dan Kramer with Shazam, a regional A-T-M network, says gift cards are exploding in popularity. Nearly 1,700 financial institutions do business with the Shazam network, and he says 250 use the net for processing their credit, debit, Electronic Benefit cards and gift cards, so Shazam has a new product to help them. Kramer says nearly one in ten purchases this past holiday season were done with gift cards. He says the average consumer now buys three gift cards a year, and uses them two-point-8 times, and financial institutions have seen a “huge increase” in such prepaid transactions. Gift cards are tremendously popular in Europe, Kramer says, and prepaid cards that are “reloaded” with money so they can be used again and again.
Kids get taste of science in Waterloo
Northeast Iowa kids who may be interested in a behind-the-scenes entertainment career can get some early training today in Waterloo. The Bluedorn Science Imaginarium is holding its Super Science Day, according to spokeswoman Holly Bignall.There’ll be hands-on activities and exhibits — all revolving around special effects in theatre. Bignall says the various stations offer kids a glimpse into how the magic of the imagination is coaxed along by things like sound and light. They can experiment with wind machines, pulleys that move sets and backgrounds and how lighting techniques can be used to change the mood of the audience. Bignall says there will also be a special class kids can take.Everyone in the audience will be assigned sound effects for creating the backdrop to a mock-radio play. For more information, call 319-233-8708.
Boswell outraged by reports of kickbacks
Congressman Leonard Boswell says he is “outraged” by news reports indicating two Halliburton employees took six-million dollars in kick-backs on a no-bid government contract for rebuilding Iraq. Boswell says “there’s a rat in the woodpile somewhere and we ought to get him out,” and Boswell says the only way to do that is to establish Congressional oversight of such “no-bid,” secret contracts. Boswell says he’s concerned taxpayers’ money is being used for things it should not be used for, especially at a time when the federal budget deficit is in the half a trillion dollar range. Boswell says he’s getting “kind of fed up with this kind of stuff” and he says “enough is enough.” Boswell says a congressional panel should receive government contracts that are not open to the public bidding process. Boswell says Halliburton, which used to be headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, “has been the worst offender of corporate responsibility time and time again” and “has show complete disregard in their dealing with the federal government and taxpayer dollars.”
Numbers show travel up in Des Moines
Air travel’s taking off again in Iowa. The Des Moines International airport Friday announced it’s finalized the count of travelers last year. Airport spokesman Roy Criss says “emplanements” set a new record of 911,063 which beats the old record set in 1996. Emplanements and deplanements in all totaled just over one-point-eight million, so airport managers hopt to reach a total of 2-Million this year. In the middle of the last decade, low-fare competitors attracted public interest, though travel leveled off late in the nineties. But after the attacks of September eleventh 2001, aviation business took a big hit, and Criss says recovering from that has been a big victory.He says people are getting confidence back with time, and the economy’s in good shape so people are willing to spend their discretionary income to fly. Still, Des Moines is beating national trends. Most commercial airports in the U.S. in 2003 saw an increase of barely one-percent in traffic, but Des Moines International had an increase of three-point-two percent. Of Iowa’s eight airports with commercial service, Des Moines has about twice the traffic of the next largest, at Cedar Rapids.
E-mail scam seeks your bank information
Iowa’s financial industry put out an urgent alert Friday afternoon. Ben Hildebrandt is spokesman for the Iowa Bankers Association and says a phony e-mail is trying to rip off bank customers. They’re apparently claiming to be from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, saying you must send your account numbers and other information to them, or risk not being covered by FDIC insurance at your bank. Hildebrandt says that’s just not true. The unsolicited “spam” e-mail apparently went out late in the week to thousands of people, demanding that they type in their account information and personal data and return it to the sender of the e-mail, supposedly to “confirm” it. The worst thing that could happen, he says, is that that personal information could be used to take all the money out of your account. Hildebrandt says if you get any kind of message by e-mail, mail, phone or other messaging medium, check it out with your own banker. He says check with someone you trust to get information about this scam or anything you question — and he reiterates, no bank, business or government agency would ask for personal information in this way. You can also check out the way banks and genuine institutions do business by visiting www.fdic.gov
