SCOTUS contraception ruling troubling for women, religion

SCOTUS contraception ruling troubling for women, religion

Gazette Column
Many will be erroneously celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court opinion handed down today in the Hobby Lobby contraception case as a further attempt by the courts to protect religious freedoms or innocent life. It does nothing of the sort. The only “people” the opinion protects are the majority of American corporations. The only religious freedoms it protects are those with which a majority of Court justices agree. The decision — a 5-4 split, saying “closely held corporations” cannot be required to provide contraception coverage for employees if the company has a religious objection — is not limited to the Hobby Lobby corporation. Based on Internal Revenue Service definitions, it will impact about 90 percent of all American businesses, and about 52 percent of the American workforce. Perhaps it should not be surprising…
Read More
Research fraud damages trust

Research fraud damages trust

Gazette Column
Like many journalists, I rely on scientific research. And, as a general rule, I place more trust in research conducted by universities, especially those completed on the taxpayer’s dime and part of a peer-review process. I understand, as I hope most consumers do, research or studies paid for by interests associated with the topic — for instance, the link between tobacco use and cancer funded by tobacco company interests — can be skewed or presented to the public in unethical ways. Following the actions of an AIDS research team at Iowa State University, however, I’m forced to reconsider my standards of trust. Dr. Dong Pyou-Han, now indicted by the federal government on four counts of making false statements and expected to be arraigned next week, is a former research assistant professor within…
Read More
Women need a breakout role in state government

Women need a breakout role in state government

Gazette Column
Same-sex couples can marry in Iowa, but haven’t shared a gubernatorial ticket in years. Iowa is defaulting to male-female election day partners — if the individuals rumored as recently tapped by Democratic candidate Jack Hatch and previously by Republican incumbent Terry Branstad are any indication. In Iowa, the only power held by the lieutenant governor’s office is what the governor’s office allows. There are no duties or requirements for the lieutenant governor in the Iowa Code, and the Iowa Constitution mandates the office holder to perform duties as assigned by the governor. The primary responsibility of Iowa’s lieutenant governor is to complete the term of the governor if he vacates office, which has happened four times in state history (once when Gov. William Beardsley died while in and three times…
Read More
Horny toads, sisters and mixed up priorities

Horny toads, sisters and mixed up priorities

Gazette Column
When I was two years old, most people believed I could read. According to family lore, I would grab my favorite book from the shelf — “Horton Hatches the Egg” by Dr. Seuss — flop onto the floor, open the cover and, beginning with the title page, say every word as I turned the pages at the appropriate time. It was all a parlor trick. My older sister, Cathy, read the book to me so many times I’d memorized not only every word, but with which pages they belonged. We should have taken a tin cup and performed on street corners. I’m the baby of a very large family and, despite our age difference or maybe because of it, Cathy and I were inseparable until she graduated high school and…
Read More
Communication, responsibility at core of HIV conviction reversal

Communication, responsibility at core of HIV conviction reversal

Gazette Column
Eastern Iowa man once faced 25 years for consensual encounter The Iowa Supreme Court has effectively set aside the conviction of an Eastern Iowa man who pleaded guilty in 2009 to criminal transmission of HIV. Nick Rhoades, 39, was originally sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was released on probation after serving only a few months. He was also required to register for life as a sex offender. The charges followed Rhoades’ consensual Black Hawk County encounter with another man. Although undergoing treatment for HIV, police and court records indicate Rhoades did not disclose his status to the man before unprotected oral and protected anal sex. Law enforcement became involved a few days after the encounter, when the man learned from a mutual acquaintance that Rhoades was positive. Today’s…
Read More
Point, click, preserve Iowa’s small-town history

Point, click, preserve Iowa’s small-town history

Gazette Column
Like most things that wind up being equal parts cool and addictive, Bill Whittaker says his multiyear obsession to photograph Iowa towns began as a fluke. [caption id="attachment_1843" align="alignright" width="200"] Bill Whittaker[/caption] In July 2007, he was sent to survey a spot for a new cellular tower in Colfax as part of his duties at the University of Iowa’s Office of the State Archaeologist, when a faded advertisement on the side of a brick building caught his eye. He took a handful of photos of that building and the downtown area, hoping to compare his shots with some from when the town was more prosperous. “I was puzzled that I could find no photos of downtown Colfax on file [at the State Historic Preservation Office], no newspaper clippings, no images…
Read More
More IJH rush jobs won’t serve Iowans or at-risk youth

More IJH rush jobs won’t serve Iowans or at-risk youth

Gazette Column
About midway through May, a moving van and trailer arrived at Toledo’s now shuttered Iowa Juvenile Home. According to the Iowa Department of Human Services, furniture, appliances (including older computers) and records were removed from the site and relocated to other state-run facilities. Area residents and former facility workers who had purchased flags in honor of loved ones or donated to the Iowa Juvenile Home Foundation to provide specialized materials for the school library, worried these items and other historical artifacts had been removed from the site. A DHS spokeswoman says while the future of these items are discussed, they remain at the Toledo facility. But the move, hit-and-miss property upkeep and near constant presence of highway patrol officers in the parking lot have done little to alleviate the worry…
Read More
So much for lessons learned

So much for lessons learned

Gazette Blog
There is one moment in the recent past that has, above everything else, continued to shape and solidify those who identify as liberals, progressives and Democrats: the 2000 presidential contest and the Florida fiasco. If either of the two limited recounts in Florida — one requested by Vice President Al Gore, the other ordered by the Florida Supreme Court — had been completed, it is likely that Republican George W. Bush would have won the state. If, however, a statewide recount of all disputed ballots had taken place, or would have been ordered by the court, the extremely narrow victor in Florida would have been Gore. Those scenarios are courtesy of a study commissioned by several news organizations in late 2001. There were other studies, of course, that provided more scenarios and…
Read More
Prison alternatives needed for mentally ill

Prison alternatives needed for mentally ill

Gazette Column
Saturday’s column provided a closer look at a Johnson County criminal case involving a 29-year-old man on the autism spectrum who is facing 45 years in prison for crimes related to his obsession with a former girlfriend. When the man is sentenced to prison later this month — and there is little reason to believe he will not be sent to prison — he will join the ranks of some 8,000 Iowans who live behind bars. Of those inmates, according to the latest annual report by the Department of Corrections, about 47 percent have a mental health diagnosis for a chronic condition. Within that percentage are seven other individuals who share the Johnson County man’s diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome. While the most common diagnosis among inmates is substance abuse disorders and depression, the report…
Read More