Analysts at a private Iowa think tank say they’re worried by a trend involving health insurance revealed by the release of new census data. Elaine Ditsler with the Iowa Policy Project says the number of uninsured Iowans has slowly gone up.She says that’s the area of most concern, the increasing rate of unisurance. She says where eight percent where uninsured five years ago — today it’s 10 percent. Ditsler says the increasing cost of insurance has led more businesses to drop their employee coverage. She says since 1999 the Iowans with health insurance from their job dropped from 70 to 65 percent. She says there’s been about the same drop in job-based health insurance as there has been an increase in uninsured Iowans. Ditsler says things would have been even worse had it not been for government provided health insurance that some people were able to get after losing their job-based insurance.Ditsler says the number of uninsured is likely to go higher unless something is done with health insurance costs. She says, “There’s really no end in sight to the increase in health insurance premiums and its going to take something, a more comprehensive solution, and a more deliberate solution for us to see a reversal in the number of uninsured Iowans.” Ditsler says the increasing cost of health also impacts those who have insurance coverage, as the insurance increases eat away at any wage increases those workers gain.
Iowans feel the pain of high gas prices
Iowa motorists are feeling the pain at the pump. Gas prices in many cities have jumped between 20 and 40-cents a gallon in the past two days, while some areas of the state are seeing their first-ever prices at three-bucks a gallon. This Davenport man says he’s making the trip to Milan, Illinois, to fuel up his S-U-V.He says it’s worth it to save the money, usually ten-cents a gallon. This Quad Cities woman says she’s worried about having enough money to buy groceries.She says she goes to the store, gets what she needs and hopes there’s enough to last the month or she’ll just have to limit her travels. This man says she’s had to cut back on everything else. The man says he works out of his truck and he’s spending 50-dollars a week for regular unleaded. He says the bounding gas prices have cut into the family’s entertainment and travel budget. A spokeswoman for Triple-A-Iowa says motorists should not fill up if they don’t need to, as that could cut into supply and send prices still-higher.
Deadline approaches for sex offenders to move
The deadline arrives tomorrow (Thursday) for many registered sex offenders in Iowa to move. A U.S. district judge has ruled that as of the first of September, they cannot live within 2-thousand feet of a school or registered daycare. Bill Davis is Scott County Attorney and he says local prosecutors will be ready to enforce the new law. “Don’t expect any arrests September 1,” he warns. “But don’t think that the law-enforcement aren’t active and working to enforce the law — because we are.” Davis says they’re mapping out the county and its communities to see where sex offenders are living, and which are in violation of the law. The prosecutor says those people will be contacted and given “a reasonable amount of time to vacate.” Offenders who’ve been living at an address since July 2002 or before will be allowed to stay where they are. All offenders who started living in a barred area since then will have to move away, under a new law that was tested in court and finally upheld earlier this year.
Missing North Carolina girl found in Des Moines
A missing North Carolina girl was found safe at the Des Moines bus station last night (Tuesday) after a five-day, multi-state search. Police believe she left her home voluntarily last week with a sex offender on parole. Des Moines police Sergeant Greg Westemeyer says they got a tip on the girl’s location. Dispatchers sent officers to the bus station where they found the white female, 12-year-old Jodie Renee Collie of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. She was reported missing on August 25th by North Carolina authorities. An Amber Alert was issued. Westemeyer says Collie did not appear to be hurt.She was in fair physical condition and was being treated at a local hospital. Westemeyer says the suspect, identified as 27-year-old Philip Daniel Denkler, was not with the girl. He says it’s possible Denkler is still in Iowa. Investigators are still looking for a vehicle that may have been involved, a beige or gold four-door car with North Carolina plates. If you see the car, call your local police or the F-B-I. Westemeyer says Collie was found at the Greyhound station after she called her grandfather to tell him where she had ended up.
Farmland plans expansion in Denison
Officials from Farmland Foods and Smithfield Foods will be in Denison this (Wednesday) afternoon to announce plans for expanding the Farmland pork processing plant there. Farmland says it will announce a significant investment in the Denison facility that will bring new jobs to the community. Several dignitaries have been invited to the event including U.S. Congressman Steve King of Kiron and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge. In April, Farmland president George Richter said plans were in the works to expand the Denison plant’s value-added processing capacity by 60-percent and create between 200 and 225 new jobs. Rickter says one goal was to have less reliance on selling “fresh” pork at low margins, giving themselves the ability to process the pork into items like ham, bacon and sausage instead of bellies and other “raw” products. He says the objective is to increase the value of the items coming out of the facility through a “major” renovation. Richter also said the cost would be “considerably north” of 25-million dollars. Earlier this month, the Iowa Department of Economic Development announced it was awarding Farmland expanded enterprise zone benefits for the Denison plant because it was competing for a 77-million dollar expansion project.
Iowa students do well on S-A-T
The State Department of Education says Iowa students increased their average verbal and math scores on the S-A-T college entrance exam, and were above the national average on both. Only five percent of students nationwide take the S-A-T compared to the A-C-T test, so it’s not as an important gauge of Iowa students. Education Department spokeswoman Kathi Slaughter says one important thing to come from the S-A-T results is more students report their schools are offering advanced placement courses for college. She says over the years Iowa hasn’t had a large number of schools offering advanced placement courses and they’ve been trying to get them to increase. A spokesman for the A-C-T has expressed concern about the number of students taking advanced college courses. Slaughter says this is information after the A-C-T results that shows those college prep courses are gradually increasing. Slaughter says there is another positive from the S-A-T results.She says minority student participation has increased, which she says is good news. Iowa high school had an average verbal score of 596 and average math score of 608 on the S-A-T compared to the national average verbal score of 508 and average math score of 520. The highest possible score is 800 in each category.
More Iowa aid heading to help with hurricane relief
More Iowans are headed to Louisiana to help with hurricane cleanup. Nearly 100 soldiers and healthcare professionals will head to the badly-flooded region, and National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Greg Hapgood says they’ll bring gear with them. They’ll tote along nine electrical generators capable of delivering 30 and 60 kilowatts, and one that puts out 200-thousand watts that’s to be sent to the SuperDome to provide backup power where hundreds of storm victims took refuge. The equipment’s coming from Air Guard bases in Sioux City and Fort Dodge, and soldiers will go along to keep them running. There are about 35 soldiers and trucks assembled into a medium-truck platoon. Louisiana called to say they need that help, specifically machines tall enough to get through the deep water without stalling and move people or things as quickly as possible. Iowa Public Health Division Administrator Director Mary Jones says they hope to have a team of thirty health professionals on-site by Friday. Two will be doctors, she says, ten of them nurses, 10 paramedics, 2 respiratory therapists and half a dozen are environmental-health specialists. Jones says that team will provide health care to families displaced by the storms and flooding. Many may have pre-existing medical conditions, chronic problems like asthma, diabetes, so heart conditions. In the shelters their individual needs may not be met and pills likely were left at home when they evacuated, so this team will do triage to determine who needs what care and get it to them. Jones hopes the team can be ready to leave by Friday, and says they’ll stay for two weeks.Governor Tom Vilsack says Iowa also stands ready to field requests for emergency aid from Alabama and Mississippi, also hit hard by the hurricane this week. The governor cautioned Iowans moved by the scenes of disaster not to try sending individual gifts. Vilsack advises Iowans to rely in organizations like the Iowa Red Cross, which have expertise and know what kind of thing people need in situations like this. “The last thing people down there need are care packages coming from Iowa without any regard to what the specific needs might be.”
