February 9, 2012

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Bill would charge adults who "groom" kids for sex by showing porn

March 9, 2009 By

A bill advancing at the statehouse would charge adults who are "grooming" young children for sex by showing them pornography. The Human Resources Committees in the Iowa House and Senate on Monday unanimously approved bills that make it a crime for the parent, guardian or custodian of a child to "knowingly" expose the kid to pornography.

Senator Becky Schmitz, a Democrat from Fairfield, recently retired after 27 years as a social worker at an Area Education Agency in southeast Iowa. "Part of the reason that I wanted to pursue this is out of my own frustration having worked with young children and…having the strong, gut feeling that something was going on by stories that they would tell me about things going on in the home and knowing that there wasn’t anything that we could do or the Department of Human Services could do until there was actual physical evidence of the sexual abuse," Schmitz says.

Schmitz heard chilling stories from young children who were being shown pornography — apparently in order to encourage them to engage in sex acts.  "We would have young children who would talk about things that they were exposed to in their own home," Schmitz says.

Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says child psychologists tell her showing obscene materials to a very young child can turn that child into a predator. "It’s a form of abuse and it’s one of the ways that they desensitize children to the material, making them think that it’s normal and that those kinds of behaviors are normal," Mascher says. "…They are psychologically damaged and if we can do things to intervene earlier on I believe we can have a much greater impact a child’s life and protect them in a way that will prevent them from being that next generation of abusers."

It’s already illegal for a stranger to show pornography to a child. If the bill becomes law, parents found guilty of knowingly showing pornography to their child may be charged with abuse — and they could lose custody. Bill backers say fathers who show their 16-year-old sons a Playboy won’t be charged with abuse, but moms and dads who show pornography to toddlers, grade schoolers and pre-teens — might.

 

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

Ban on spreading manure on frozen ground discusssed

March 9, 2009 By

Iowa pork producers are fighting a proposed new restriction on spreading manure. The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission wants to ban producers from applying manure to frozen ground — saying the manure runs off the frozen earth and into nearby waterways.

Iowa Pork Producers attorney, Eldon McAfee, says most farmers agree the practice should be avoided — but they also want an emergency exception. "We’ve seen weather the last two years that reminds us we need emergency or urgent escape clause if you have to apply because the weather turned bad in the fall and you couldn’t get it out before the ground froze or if you have a water line break and the pit fills and you need to get it out before the pit runs over, etcetera," McAfee says.

He says the emergency exception would still put restrictions on where the manure could be spread. McAfee says the emergency out would not allow someone to cause surface or groundwater pollution when they apply manure to frozen ground. Someone who uses the emergency exemption would have to put the manure in a place where it would not run off.

Pork producers are trying to get lawmakers to enact legislation that would pre-empt the E.P.C. rules.  The Iowa Farmers Union objects to the proposal. I-F-U lobbyist Judy Hoffman says they don’t like it because the law wouldn’t require producers to consider a current weather forecast before applying the manure.

"If they know that snow is coming or there has just been snow -then particularly for liquid manure there’s more of a chance that it’s just going to go sliding off and can get into water areas," Hoffman says. Hoffman and McAffee were guests today on the Iowa Public Radio program "The Exchange." 

 

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation

Laurens-Marathon downs Bulington ND 47-35

March 9, 2009 By

Adam Woodin had 17 points on 7-11 shooting as seventh ranked Laurens-Marathon got by Burlington Notre Dame 47-35 as the Chargers come out with a win in their first trip to the state tournament.

Woodin said he was very nervous before the game, but didn’t notice it once he got into the flow of the game. Woodin says the Chargers effort was good as they executed well and moved the ball on offense.

Notre Dame shot a chilly 28% for the game. Junior Andrew Schilling led the way with 11 points while senior forward Chris Kirk finished with eight points. Kirk says they couldn’t capitalize on the offensive end and didn’t do a good job of rebounding defensively.

It is the second straight year that the Nikes fell in the opening round. Kirk says it’s tough now to deal with, but he says when they look back on it and see that not a lot of teams make back-to-back trips to state, it is something that’s nothing to be ashamed of. 

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Bill changes references from "husbands" and "wives" to "spouses"

March 9, 2009 By

The Iowa legislature’s first and only openly gay senator has introduced a bill which would recast two key words in a number of Iowa laws regarding marriage.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the bill will be needed if the Iowa Supreme Court upholds a district judge’s decision and gay marriage becomes legal in Iowa.. ”I think it’s a good bill and it’s something that shouldn’t be controversial,” McCoy says. “We should just be thinking about how this is all going to work once Iowa becomes a Mecca for gay marriage.”

McCoy cites the president of the Iowa Family Policy Center as the source for the contention that Iowa will become a “Mecca” for gays and lesbians who wish to marry.

McCoy contends more gays and lesbians will choose to move to Iowa if gay marriage is legal here. ”I think it’d be good for the economy,” McCoy says.

McCoy calls his bill the “Religious Freedom and Civil Martiage Protection Act.” It would remove the words “husband” and “wife” from Iowa laws and replace them with the word “spouse.”

“We just want to make sure that it’s gender neutral,” McCoy says.

Property rights, inheritance issues, health care decision-making and even banking and lending practices are governed by Iowa laws which make references to husbands and wives and McCoy’s bill would address all those instances. McCoy’s bill, however, isn’t expected to advance this year.

The Iowa Supreme Court heard from lawyers representing both sides in the gay marriage debate late last year, but a ruling on the case involving a handful of gay couples isn’t expected anytime soon.

 

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

NU High opens defense of 1A title with 58-50 win

March 9, 2009 By

Defending champion Cedar Falls NU-High led virtually the entire but had to battle the entire way to advance to the 1A semifinals. Leading by 12 late in the third quarter the fifth ranked Panthers held off a late rally by second rated Adair-Casey for a 58-50 victory in the tournament opener.

Junior forward Eddie Diemer says it feels great to win the opener as no one wants to come to state and lose on Monday. He was one of four Panthers in double figures with 12 points and says a demanding schedule that included several larger schools helped prepare them for the tournament. Diemer says they knew that Adair-Casey was undefeated, but he says they also knew their schedule wasn’t as tough as the one they played. NU-High improves to 20-4.

Senior center Josh Harris had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Adair-Casey. Senior guard Zack Leeper also had 16 points before fouling out in the final seconds. Leeper says NU-High is a great ballclub that plays great team defense and made it seem like there were six guys out there.


Leeper says while dissapointed with the loss he is happy the season ended at the state tournament as he says being with his teammates a final time at the state tournament was a great way to end his career.

Adair-Casey ends the season with a record of 25-1. 

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Researchers predict Cancer will become top killer of Iowans

March 9, 2009 By

Medical researchers at the University of Iowa are predicting a shift in the state’s leading cause of death. The new "Cancer in Iowa" report predicts 6,300 Iowans will die from cancer this year, while 16,000 new cancer cases will be diagnosed.

Those numbers are very close to last year, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry’s medical director Dr. Charles Lynch, a U-of-I professor of epidemiology. Lynch says: "An important observation here is that heart disease, for many, many years, has been our number-one cause of death in Iowa but it’s been declining over the last few decades. We’re at the verge now of where cancer, likely by the end of this decade, will become the number-one cause of death in Iowa, surpassing heart disease."

"If you look at age-adjusted death rates for cancer, they have been declining," Lynch says, but cancer death rates are catching up to heart disease because the decline in cancer deaths hasn’t been as great as the decline in heart disease deaths. He says the number of Iowa smokers has been falling for several years, yet lung cancer remains Iowa’s leading cancer killer.

"The number-one cause of cancer death in the state continues to be lung cancer," Lynch says. "This accounts for about three out of every ten deaths here in Iowa and I think as most Iowans know, smoking prevention is the best way we know of to prevent the development of lung cancer." In Minnesota, cancer deaths have already surpassed heart disease deaths.

Lynch says it’s encouraging that most cancer numbers in Iowa continue to fall, thanks in part to improved treatments and more people getting early cancer screenings. "We have four major cancers that affect Iowans," Lynch says. "In addition to breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, these include lung cancer and colorectal cancer. Together, these four cancers account for over half of all the newly-diagnosed cancers and slightly more than half of the cancer deaths that we see in the state."

The annual report has been presenting Iowa cancer data since 1973 and aims to help advance efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. The report is based on data from the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa Cancer Registry includes county-by-county statistics. It’s online in the "publications" section at " www.public-health.uiowa.edu/shri /" or by calling the registry at 319-335-8609. Lynch says you can also find the report quickly by Googling the three words "Iowa," "cancer" and "data."

AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelley reports on Cancer deaths. :46 MP3

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Backyard barbecue tax?

March 9, 2009 By

propance tank One Republican calls it a tax on backyard barbecues. A bill that cleared a House committee last week would raise the fee that’s charge on propane.

The Iowa Propane Education and Research Council’s activities are currently financed with a one-tenth of one cent fee on every gallon of propane sold in Iowa. The bill would raise that to two-tenths of a cent to raise more money for energy efficiency project. 

Representative Chuck Soderberg, a Republican from Le Mars, says while that’s a tiny increase, it’s still a bad idea. "You know, I want to do whatever we can to promote energy efficiency, but at the same time that can be done now within the current structure and not increase fees to the people that do use propane," Soderberg says.

About 70 percent of rural Iowans use propane to heat their homes and bill backers estimate the average cost of heating an Iowa home with propane would increase less than two dollars a year if the fee goes up to two-tenths of a cent per gallon. The fee increase would raise about 375-thousand dollars a year, which would be used for energy efficiency programs for Iowans who use propane to heat their homes.

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,
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