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Chinese student enrollment surges at state universities

February 18, 2010 By

Colleges across the country are reporting increased enrollment among international students — with the biggest increase coming from China. That’s certainly the case at both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.

U-of-I Admissions Director Michael Barron says just two years ago, there were 69 Chinese undergraduate students at the University of Iowa. This spring semester, there are 491. 

“In general, international students applying to the University of Iowa are up and China is certainly a major driving force,” Barron said. “I will say there’s a noticable interest among Chinese students in business administration.”

More than 1,400 Chinese applied for admission at the U-of-I this year. Iowa State University’s Chinese undergraduate enrollment, at 876, is nearly twice the size of the University of Iowa. I.S.U. Assistant Admissions Director Pat Parker says Iowa State had only 72 students from China eight years ago. According to Parker, many of the Chinese students attending ISU are studying accounting, finance and English. Chinese enrollment at universities in the U.S. is booming for a variety of reasons.

“There’s quite a large middle class now in China,” Parker said. “They consider education to be very important and the U.S. Government has made a real effort in the last four to five years in making obtaining the visa a little easier for those people.”

But Parker admits universities looking for student diversity and out-of-state revenue aren’t leaving a Chinese student’s choice to chance. Iowa State, for example, has two full-time undergraduate recruiters who travel the world meeting with parents and potential new students.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Belmond man dies in industrial accident

February 18, 2010 By

A 51-year-old Belmond man has died as the result of an industrial accident Wednesday at the Eaton Corporation plant in Belmond. He is identified as Doug Barkema.

Officials with the Eaton facility said Barkema was a 24-year employee and was a machine operator. An investigation is underway into what would have caused the accident. An Eaton spokeswoman declined to say how the incident happened in the first place.

(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Respite pay for Iowa National Guard members getting closer

February 18, 2010 By

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says overdue payments to some 800 Iowa National Guard members should soon be on the way. The pay is called “respite leave.” Braley says if a soldier is required to serve in a combat area longer than the designated period, then you are eligible for time off or $200 a day “for having that burden placed on you and your family.”

Braley says there are 22,000 guard members nationwide who qualify. Iowa guard members and others were left without the pay because of a delay in when the program was announced and the time it was implemented. A House bill sponsored by Braley, and one in the Senate by Iowan Chuck Grassley, was approved in October to authorize the Army to pay the soldiers.

Braley says things are now falling into place to see it happen. He says the Department of Defense issued the necessary guidance on February 1st and the Department of Army this week issued the written guidelines. Braley says the Iowa National Guard is expected to announce Friday the process they plan to follow to get the payments to soldiers.

Braley says the issue first came to light two years ago when the members of the 1133rd Transportation company returned from a record deployment and members said they were not eligible for the pay.

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

Report ranks the health of Iowa’s 99 counties

February 18, 2010 By

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Wednesday released a report that ranks the health of the counties in each state. Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) director Tom Newton says the survey uses a variety of health information.

He says they’re looking at health outcomes, such as death as well health factors made up of health behaviors, care and social economic factors as they try to get a big picture on how healthy the population is within the county. The top five of Iowa’s counties for overall health are Sioux, Winneshiek, Bremer, Lyon and Delaware. Appanose County was at the bottom of the list.

The study uses much of the information gathered by the health department. Newton says poverty is one of the factors that is probably going to pull some counties down, and some of the counties have an older population that would pull them down. He says older populations tend to have more problems with disease. Newton says the rankings are another factor to look at in the overall health picture.

“We can’t take these too seriously, but they should be a call to action. It should be a way to mobilize the community to begin to look at what its needs are around health and develop some plans to address those needs,” Newton says. He says counties will likely look at the information as they plan for the future.

Newton says counties are beginning the community health needs assessments they do ever five years and he says the report will likely be one of the tools in their toolbox as they look at how to make their county as healthy as possible. To see more on the report, go on-line to: www.countyhealthrankings.org.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Shell Rock teen lobbies for new back seat belt law

February 18, 2010 By

The Iowa Senate has passed a bill that would require teenagers riding in the back seat to wear a seat belt.  Eighteen-year-old Isaiah Krull of Shell Rock has been lobbying for this bill for a little over a year.

“I was in a very serious accident,” Krull says, “one that I probably should have died from.” 

Krull was riding in the back seat of a car that wrecked on July 27, 2008.  “I was in the middle of the back seat, because I was leaning forward, talking to the people who were in the front who had their seat belts on because it is the law,” Krull says.

The roof of the car caved in, Krull’s head hit the roof and his head was crushed.  He was in a coma for 10 days.  He had to learn to talk, walk and feed himself all over again.  He’s been on a crusade to change state law, so buckling up is required for people, like him, who are riding in the back seat of a vehicle.

“You’d better wear it, because I don’t want you to be in as bad an accident as me,” Krull says.

Senator Bill Heckroth of Waverly dubbed the new seat belt requirement for teenagers in the backseat “Isaiah’s Law” in honor of the young man and his lobbying effort.

“Quite honestly, he and I don’t think this bill goes far enough. We think everybody should have to wear ‘em, but we know here in the legislature sometimes you have to use the art of compromise,” Heckroth says.  “…We really urge your support of this bill so that other young people like Isaiah and their families do not have to go through what Isaiah has had to do.” 

The bill passed the Iowa Senate Wednesday afternoon on a 39 to nine vote.  Isaiah Krull and his mother, Renee, were in the balcony that overlooks the senate when the vote was taken.

“I am extremely happy,” Krull said afterwards.  “I hope the House passes it as well.  That way it becomes law.”

A recent survey found only 30 percent of Iowa teenagers wore a safety belt when riding in the back seat.  Current law requires children in a vehicle who’re under the age of 11 to be buckled in a child safety seat or wearing a seat belt when the vehicle is moving.  If the bill that passed the senate yesterday becomes law, drivers caught with un-belted teenage passengers in their vehicles could be fined 25 dollars.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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