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Senate passes "electronic logbook" bill to track common meth ingredient

March 2, 2009 By

The Iowa Senate has passed a bill which might establish an electronic database to track the sale of one of the ingredients for an illegal drug.

A few years ago, legislators passed a law which moved over-the-counter medications which contain "pseudoephedrine" behind the pharmacist’s counter. It also set new limits on how much can be purchased at one time and forced those who buy the products to sign a log book.

Authorities, though, fear some meth-makes go from pharmacy to pharmacy, buying up huge quantities, and the bill that passed the Senate Monday would require people to sign an "electronic logbook" to better track bulk purchases.

Senator Steven Sodders, a Democrat from State Center, says there’s been a recent uptick in the number of illegal meth labs in the state. "Seeings that we’ve had an increase of about 13 percent in labs, I think this will be a good bill," Sodders says.

Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, was among the six "no" votes on the bill. "It violates the medical privacy of tens of thousands of innocent Iowa families, Iowa families whose only crime was that someone in their family caught a head cold," Quirmbach says. "To have the state government gathering this vast amount of data on innocent citizens I think is a very troublesome development."

But Senator David Hartsuch, a Republican from Bettendorf who was an E.R. doctor, says an electronic database isn’t that much of a stretch for pharmacies. "Prescription drugs, actually, that information is tracked," Hartsuch said.

The bill now goes to the Iowa House for review. However, the bill doesn’t provide the money for the statewide "electronic logbook" for pharmacies. Lawmakers are hoping for a $750,000 federal grant to finance it instead.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Fourth Monday in August proposed as school start date

March 2, 2009 By

A House committee has voted to push back the "official" start date for K-through-12 public schools in Iowa.

Current law actually bars schools from starting before September 1, but nearly every district in Iowa gets a waiver from the state to start in August. A bill that cleared the House Education Committee Monday would forbid schools from beginning classes before the last Monday in August.

Representative Mike May, a Republican from Spirit Lake, backs the bill. "I believe there are some real advantages in starting at the same time, when kids are moving from school to school, when we’re trying to get seamless education going between high schools and community colleges," May says. "I mean, I just see a lot of benefits in having a more standard calendar."

May owns a resort of Lake Okoboji and he argues tourism attractions throughout the state lose millions of dollars because families can’t vacation here in August, because school’s starting too early. "If they don’t travel to Iowa in August, they will go to Cancun, California, Florida in the winter time when they have that long vacation," May says.

The Iowa Association of School Boards argues local school boards know best how to set the year’s calendar. For example, many K-through-12 schools in college towns operate on an academic calendar that’s identical to the local college or university. Others argue the earlier mid-August starting date allows for longer holiday breaks during the school year, even week-long spring breaks in some districts.

May, who is a retired teacher, says longer breaks shouldn’t be an objective. "I find no substantive research that says that if you spread out the school year you improve student achievement — without adding days or contract time with kids, of course," May says. "There just isn’t any research out there to show that."

May made his comments today on Iowa Public Radio. The bill which passed the House Education Committee must next be debated by the full, 100-member Iowa House before it goes to the senate for review.

 

Filed Under: Education, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

AGWSR wins state tourney opener

March 2, 2009 By

Third ranked AGWSR is known for it’s defense and it was on display during the tournament opener. Yielding an average of just under 22 points per game the Cougars limited sixth ranked New London 40-29 in a class 1A quarterfinal. Senior center Macy Ubben led AGWSR with 19 points and also added nine rebounds as the Cougars advance to the semifinal round with a 24-0 record.

Ubben says last year they lost in the first game and felt they had some unfinished business to take care of in this game. It was a hard fought opening half in which the Cougars led 17-14 at the half. They outscored New London 16-6 in the third quarter to take control.

New London coach Duane Blint says they didn’t shoot the ball very well, but the defense gave them a lot of trouble. He says they needed to hit a couple of 3′s, but that didn’t happen.
It was New London’s first trip to the tournament since 1999 and Blint says it was a great way for a talented group of seniors to end their career as they’ve set all kinds of school records and put the school back on the map in basketball.

New London ends the season with a record of 25-1. 

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Victims identified in fatal Sioux City fire

March 2, 2009 By

Authorities have identified the two men that were killed in a house fire early Sunday morning in Sioux City. The victims are 59-year-old Donald Listman and 48-year-old Rodney Pritchard.

Sioux City Fire Marshal Chuck Hirsh says firefighters knew there were probably people in the home when they entered the front door.

"This was a very small house, less than 500 square feet, and the fire in the living room was just inside the front door," Hirsh said. "Firefighters were looking for the occupants. I believe they were told by a neighbor next door that there were probably people in the home and because of the size of the house, they didn’t have to go very far to find both occupants in the home."

Firefighters pulled Listman and Pritchard out of the home. Both men were alive, but unconscious, and died later at the hospital. Hirsh says Listman tried to escape the heavy smoke and heat by going into a bathroom shower. "Mr. Listman apparently had woken up, had enough time to get to the shower, turn the shower on and try and protect himself from the heat and the smoke – but he was found unconscious at the base of the shower," Hirsh said.

A city employee that was plowing snow reported the fire at 3 a.m. Investigators have not yet determined a cause for the fire. Hirsh says there was a smoke detector in the home, but it was destroyed in the fire, so investigators don’t know if it was in working order. 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Creighton survey says job cuts will slow in Iowa

March 2, 2009 By

The latest report on the economies in Iowa and the Midwest region as a whole shows only a slight improvement for February. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the survey of supply managers and business leaders displays a modest uptick, but the report is still quite dismal, given how poorly January’s report turned out.

Goss says, "The leading economic indicator was up a bit but still in the danger territory, still well below growth neutral, almost at record low levels and that would be up from January but still not a good signal for the nine-state region going forward." While the massive federal economic stimulus package has passed through Congress, Goss isn’t convinced it’ll bring all of the hoped-for effects.

"We will see some impacts from the president’s stimulus package, perhaps as early as the second quarter of this year," Goss says. "The more important impact will come from the Federal Reserve. Now, with interest rates at their lowest since the Federal Reserve was formed in 1913. You put all that together, we are going to see an economic turnaround."

Still, Goss fears the actions being taken now will lead to "excessive inflation" by 2010 and he says our current leaders appear to have "no regard and no concern" for that inflation. For the Midwest region, the survey showed job losses for the 13th time in the past 14 months. For the ninth straight month, Goss says Iowa’s Business Conditions Index was below growth neutral, meaning, it’s shrinking.

"At least the reports were not as bad for Iowa as some of the other states," Goss says,"for example, your northern neighbor, Minnesota is having a much tougher go of it, economically speaking. Likewise, Missouri, not doing as well. While I am expecting job losses to continue for Iowa, I think the pace of those job losses may slow down a bit."

He says while the agriculture machinery manufacturing industry has held up better than many other industries in Iowa, "I expect it to be the turnaround industry for the state and will provide an early signal of an expanding global market place."  

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

Some rosy, not so rosy financial stats from February

March 2, 2009 By

The latest figures indicate February may have been a better month, financially, for some Iowans.

Iowans paid about two percent more to the state in personal income taxes in February, but the report shows a huge jump in retail sales. Sales and use tax receipts in February were up 17.4 percent over February of last year.

While Iowans may be starting to buy again, business trends still aren’t as rosy. Corporate tax payments to the state were down over in February and the Legislative Services Agency report concludes February was a "poor month" for corporations in Iowa.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Education chief warns some schools would lose high-speed access if ICN sold

March 2, 2009 By

The head of the Iowa Department of Education says if legislators decide to sell the state-owned fiber optics network, some of the state’s K-through-12 schools might lose the ability to connect to the Internet.

Last Friday, House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy said legislators should consider selling or leasing the Iowa Communications Network, but Iowa Department of Education director Judy Jeffrey says the ICN is the only way some students can surf the web. "There are some school districts who still don’t have high-speed access," Jeffrey says.

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen said last week that students can just plug their computers into a jack in the wall and access the Internet. But Jeffrey says even where high-speed lines are available, the Iowa Communications Network provides a more reliable connection — and Jeffrey says that’s critical for the classes that are taught where students are at one site and the teacher is at another. "Many of these things could be accomplished through the Internet,"Jeffrey says, "but there are some parts of that two-way, audio-video streaming that are of a benefit to some of our students."

While Jeffrey isn’t going so far as to call on legislators to keep the Iowa Communications Network under state ownership, she is suggesting that if legislators sell or lease it, some accommodations should be made for schools in areas of the state where high-speed Internet access is unavailable. "Whether they decide to sell or lease or keep, I would hope they would preserve that option of our education enterprise having that access at a low cost," Jeffrey says.

Fiber optic lines for the Iowa Communications Network were installed in late 1990 and the system not only provides high-speed Internet access for schools, it serves as the phone and Internet service provider for all state government agencies. Legislators complain they spend millions keeping the network up-to-date and it may be time to sell the fiber optic system to the private sector.

Iowa Department of Education director Jeffrey made her comments this morning during an appearance on Iowa Public Radio.

Filed Under: Education, Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,
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