January 27, 2012

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Blood supplies getting low again

January 28, 2011 By

Blood supplies across the region aren’t at the critical stage, yet, but they’re getting close. April Opplinger, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross Mid-America Blood Service Division in Omaha/Council Bluffs, says donors are becoming very scarce.

Opplinger says, “We haven’t had to cancel any surgeries or things but we have definitely put our national inventory system to the test.” The winter months are often among the worst for blood donations, and Opplinger says the particularly cold weather the past few weeks has been having an impact.

“We have seen, since January 1st, about 14,000 blood donations canceled,” she says. “We have had to move blood products from one hospital to another to make sure that patient needs were met.” Opplinger is appealing to all Iowans to consider making a donation of a pint to help replenish local and national supplies.

“Our blood supply is the lowest that it’s been in January in over a decade,” she says. “We’re encouraging people to take the time to find out if there’s a donation opportunity around them and to make an appointment or even walk in, today or next week.” Opplinger says the Red Cross conducts blood drives regularly across the region.

Donors can visit “www.redcrossblood.org” or call 800-RED CROSS.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Iowa launches investigation into unauthorized access of medical records of football players

January 28, 2011 By

The University of Iowa has launched an investigation after a routine check determined that someone may’ve accessed the electronic medical records of 13 Iowa football players who were admitted to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Medical records are protected by federal law, and cannot be viewed unless authorized. University spokesman, Tom Moore, says they know records were accessed, but he is not sure how many.

Moore says that is the focus of the investigation, to determine how many records were accessed, and the person who accessed them. “At this point in time we believe there may’ve been some potential breeches of confidentiality, and that’s why we are investigating,” Moore said.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Health & Medicine Tagged With: ,

Gronstal says Branstad either “deliberately misleading” or has “faulty memory” on casino tax

January 28, 2011 By

The Democratic leader of the Iowa Senate says Republican Governor Terry Branstad either doesn’t remember or is “deliberately misleading” Iowans about the state tax on what used to be riverboat casinos.

Branstad is calling for a tax rate of 36 percent on all state-licensed casinos, saying that’s the rate originally agreed to years ago.  Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal says Branstad must have a “faulty memory.”

“The tracks agreed to a 36 percent tax and the riverboats were at 20, so it’s not what was agreed to in the original legislation,” Gronstal says. “But they’ve got a faulty memory about a lot of things.” 

In 1994 the state’s race tracks were allowed to open slot machine casinos, with the agreement the taxes for those tracks in Altoona, Council Bluffs and Dubuque would go up gradually, to a top rate of 36 percent.  There eventually was a court battle, as the tracks objected to the much lower rate the other so-called “riverboat” casinos were paying — and the tracks won their case and got their tax rates lowered.

In a written statement, Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said the caisnos which began as “riverboats” no longer have to cruise up and down a river or around a lake “which was required before and was why they had the lower rate.” And most of the former “riverboat casinos” are land-based, according to Albrecht.

Gronstal is from Council Bluffs, home to a three state-licensed casinos, and he doesn’t expect Branstad’s plan to hike the casino tax to 36 percent to pass the legislature.

“Think about the differential impact of that.  It takes $65 million out of Council Bluffs — $65 million.  One third of those revenues come from our community and uses it to spread tax benefits to a whole bunch of businesses in eastern Iowa,” Gronstal says.  “And I would also say not one of us ran on raising taxes.”

Gronstal made his comments during this morning’s taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program.  Branstad’s call for raising the state tax on casinos is directly connected to his request to reduce the state income tax on corporations, as the casino tax hike would raise about two-hundred million and the the corporate tax cut equals about two-hundred million dollars.  After the show’s taping, Gronstal told reporters that’s a tax break for big business.

“Read his words: a flat rate of six percent,” Gronstal said. “He rewards only companies that are making more than $25 million a year.”

 According to Gronstal, small corporations with profits of less than $25 million are already paying the six percent rate, so those small businesses won’t get a tax break. 

Gronstal also warns a debate in the legislature about raising the casino tax will prompt some legislators to try to insert other gambling-related proposals in the bill.

In 1983 — during Branstad’s first year as governor — Branstad signed a law allowing betting at race tracks.  In 1989, Branstad signed a law allowing casino-style gambling on riverboats.  In 2007, Governor Culver signed a law which got rid of the requirement that the casinos float. Iowa now has 17 state-licensed casinos.  The 18th is under construction in northwest Iowa, near Larchwood.

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

Small nuclear plants an option for future state energy needs

January 28, 2011 By

An Iowa utility company executive is exploring the construction of small nuclear power plants as one way to meet the state’s future energy needs. The president of Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy Company, William Fehrman, told a legislative committee he’s taking a serious look at designs for much smaller reactors.

“If you were to drive by it, it would basically look like a quonset hut, inside a very secure fence,” Fehrman said. The “modular” reactors produce up to 125 megawatts of energy compared to the traditional nuclear facilities that produce 16-hundred. Fehrman says they’re also more affordable.

“They aren’t nearly as cost-prohibitive as building a very large plant and bringing that on-line all at one time,” Fehrman says, “operationally, if the plant would happen to come off-line and quit generating it doesn’t nearly have the impact on our system as large plants.”

Fehrman says two American companies are developing designs for the smaller reactors, but currently there are no examples in operation. He says MidAmerican will complete its study by the fall. Lawmakers have asked utility company executives to assess the future of nuclear power in the state.

The Duane Arnold plant near Palo is Iowa’s only nuclear facility. Fehrman made his comments to the Senate Commerce Committee.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

Harkin says there’s plenty of time to fix Social Security

January 28, 2011 By

A new report predicts more doom about the longevity of the nation’s Social Security program, but Iowa Senator Tom Harkin indicates it’s not a pressing concern. The congressional projections say Social Security will take in 45-billion fewer dollars this year than it pays out in benefits, but Harkin says there’s plenty of time to get the ailing system fixed.

“They said beginning in 2037, the trust fund will only be able to pay out 75% of projected outlays right now,” Harkin says. “That’s 2037. Let’s see. How many years is that from now? That’s 26 years from now. We have 26 years in which to make the changes necessary.” Still, millions of baby boomers are nearing retirement age now and Social Security is posting deficits. Harkin, a Democrat, says there are short-term solutions to patching up the safety net.

“The biggest change would come about if we get unemployment down,” Harkin says. “The more people going to work, the more people paying in to Social Security. That’s the reason you’re having the trust fund go down right now, it’s high unemployment.” Harkin suggests other solutions could be on the horizon that would require congressional action, like pushing up the current cap on how payroll taxes are deducted from the paychecks of the ultra-wealthy.

“It’s just unfair that someone making $106-million dollars a year pays the same into Social Security as someone making $106,000 dollars a year,” Harkin says. “That doesn’t make sense. It’s just not fair. We need to raise that cap.” Without changes, the report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said Social Security deficits would total $547-billion over the next decade.

The C-B-O report also projected at the current rate, the part of the Social Security program that provides disability payments would be drained in 2017.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Center for Violence Prevention opening in Cedar Falls

January 28, 2011 By

A program is scheduled for this afternoon to celebrate the opening of the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Violence Prevention. Annette Lynch is director of the center, which is housed on the Cedar Falls campus but also serves the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.

Lynch says the center’s goals involve making sure the school’s sexual misconduct policies are clear and the response to victims effective. “And also that we provide prevention education to students so we decrease the amount of violence happening on campus,” Lynch said.

The center has been awarded roughly $2.5-million in grants over the past decade. Lynch says education majors at U.N.I. will be able to take classes at the center. “So teachers that graduate from UNI will go into schools able to do violence prevention work within their regular jobs throughout Iowa,” Lynch said.

Future police officers, social workers and others could also take classes at the center. Lynch says the UNI Violence Prevention Center will work closely with the Sioux City based Waitt Institute – a private foundation focused on reducing violence in Iowa’s K-12 schools.

“They have been doing the same kind of work in the public schools system for the past 10 years,” Lynch said. “So, we are actually hiring a consultant from the Waitt Institute who will be working with me in the center as the director of the Mentors for Violence Prevention Institute.”

U.N.I. President Ben Allen and Senator Chuck Grassley are among the scheduled speakers at the opening event, set for 1:30 p.m today.

See more info here: www.uni.edu/cvp <http://www.uni.edu/cvp

Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine Tagged With: , ,

Pilot program uses soy products to promote wellness in schools

January 28, 2011 By

A pilot program to promote both wellness and soy products is being tested in central Iowa schools for a possible statewide rollout. Jantina Wennerstrom, spokeswoman for the Ankeny-based non-profit Soy for Life Foundation, says she’s meeting with classes of middle-school girls for an hour at a time over four weeks.

“We talk about healthy choices, eating breakfast, fruits and vegetables,” Wennerstrom says. “The girls get to prepare their own snacks and usually that’s where I start showing them different soy foods they can use, like a salsa or a smoothie. They get to touch and taste and take a look at tofu and different soy foods.”

It’s important to reach kids during their formative years, she says, so they’ll learn healthy habits that will have a positive impact throughout their lives. For the next several months, Wennerstrom is traveling to Des Moines-area middle schools to present what’s called the Soy Sense Curriculum.

For props, she takes along various types of soft and firm tofus. “I actually lay them out on the table so we can talk about how they look — not yukky but bland and they don’t have a lot of taste,” Wennerstrom says. “We get to touch it and feel the different consistencies. Then we take ‘new’ tofu and we make smoothies and talk about how you really can’t taste it in the smoothie.”

The girls are great about trying new things, she says, and one session focuses on things like nutrition content of foods, portion control and keeping a food journal. Wennerstrom says: “We discuss how in our minds we sometimes think we eat fruits and vegetables every day, but are we really doing it? We talk about different foods we’ve tried and some of the good things we do in our lives. Also, the idea that energy in equals energy out, so what kinds of things we can do for exercise.”

The first three sessions focus on Healthy Eating-The Benefits of Soy; Healthy Lifestyles-Be Strong, not Skinny; and Healthy Eating–Disease Prevention. The fourth week involves a field trip to a grocery store, with a scavenger hunt to find various soy-based products.

 To learn more, visit: “www.soyforlifefoundation.com“.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Education, Health & Medicine Tagged With: ,
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