Just like love is love, hate is hate

Just like love is love, hate is hate

Gazette Column
This is what we’ve been reduced to and the saddest part of all is that we no longer find such behavior shocking. On March 22, at a Fort Dodge restaurant, a 26-year-old man — a Jefferson, Iowa, native transplanted in Lafayette, Colo. — tossed a glass of water onto U.S. Rep. Steve King and the congressman’s dinner mates. The man, Blake Gibbins, was immediately arrested and charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. That same day a woman who knew Gibbins when they were both younger and now lives in King’s congressional district, Carly Johansen of Ames, began fundraising online for Gibbins’ legal defense expenses. The GoFundMe site had a goal of $3,000 and, as I type, it has raised more than $5,000 from 254 donors in a five-day span.…
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We must talk about suicide

We must talk about suicide

Gazette Column
For Iowans between the ages of 15 and 34, suicide is second-leading cause of death On Monday we learned a third person connected to a mass shooting took his own life. Jeremy Richman, a 49-year-old neuroscientist and father of Newtown, Conn., shooting victim Avielle Richman, took his own life in the town hall offices of the nonprofit he co-founded to research violence and named for his daughter, the Avielle Foundation. His death closely followed those of two survivors of the 2018 Parkland, Fla., school shooting. Also gone are former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School cheerleader and recent graduate Sydney Aiello, 19, who lost her best friend in the rampage, and an unidentified sophomore at the school. (Author’s note: After this column was filed, the family of Calvin Desir identified him as the second Parkland shooting survivor to…
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Push needle on Cedar Rapids’ age-friendly reputation

Push needle on Cedar Rapids’ age-friendly reputation

Gazette Column
April 4 public meeting to provide older residents' survey responses Here’s what we know: Anything designed to facilitate access, engagement, safety, enjoyment and participation by older people is good for all age groups. So, why aren’t we doing more of it? The idea of creating “age-friendly” communities isn’t a new one. In 2011 Des Moines became the first Iowa community to earn the distinction of being an Age-Friendly Community, a partnership between the World Health Organization and AARP. Sadly, it remains the only Iowa community to complete the process, although Charles City in Floyd County has been exploring the idea. Two years ago Iowa City was named the best small city for successful aging by the Milken Institute. The group ranks communities in nine areas: general livability, health care, wellness, financial security, education, transportation and convenience,…
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Looking back on a year without the Facebook app

Looking back on a year without the Facebook app

Gazette Column
What would make you take a step back from something that had been a part of your life for more than decade? Would it be one big thing, or a thousand little ones? Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the day I deleted the Facebook app from my phone. Since 2006 - a year remembered fondly because of its association with my real-keyboard-and-roller-ball BlackBerry - I had held the social network in the palm of my hand. For the past year, I've received no pinging notifications. I've not scrolled while waiting at the doctor's office. No photos from my travels have been immediately shared. The few posts, shares, likes, comments and other activity I've had since last March have been completed at a computer. And, honestly, those interactions also have…
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County leaders to lawmakers on mental health: We can do better

County leaders to lawmakers on mental health: We can do better

Gazette Column
Not too long ago, state government leaders received widespread accolades for a bipartisan overhaul of the adult mental health system, and state leaders are well aware that Iowans want and need a comprehensive system for children. Now comes the hard part. Reforms of mental health services approved last year included critical access centers for people in crisis, a statewide crisis hotline, removal of residency caps and improved community-based care to spur more comprehensive treatment options for those with persistent illnesses. Some counties within the state's 14 mental health regions, like Linn, are positioned to move forward on at least some of these goals. Others, however, continue to have difficulty providing basic services that state law already required. Adding to the complications at the Statehouse is a more recent push for…
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Do you share these priorities?

Do you share these priorities?

Gazette Column
Unveiled Monday, the Trump administration's proposed budget is an exercise in wrongheaded priorities, repeatedly sacrificing government investment in working-class America. Let me show you. Because this is Iowa, let's begin by looking at proposed budget changes at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Trump administration proposes a 15 percent cut to USDA programs - billions in reductions. Included is a $26 billion cut to crop insurance, $9 billion to voluntary conservation programs, and $5 billion to Section 32 programs that help purchase American commodities in times of need (such as during a self-inflicted trade war.) It perhaps should not be surprising that the Trump administration makes another attempt to reduce food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and once again promotes the widely panned harvest boxes. But…
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Local groups take aim at Islamophobia

Local groups take aim at Islamophobia

Gazette Column
Breaking through the noise of the 24-hour news cycle, where participants are more likely to yell than offer thoughtful discussion, isn't easy. But a dozen local churches, religious organizations and academics still are going to try. The stakes surrounding Islamophobia, they say, are too high - even in the city that is home to the Mother Mosque of America - to leave it to the talking heads. "I recently read a novel by Louis de Bernieres, ‘Birds Without Wings,'” said Charles Crawley, president of the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County. The book, set in Turkey in the early 20th century, documents how international events tore apart Christians and Muslims who lived together peaceably for centuries. "If we aren't proactive, the same thing could happen here, with national and international events…
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Iowa event keeps the momentum

Iowa event keeps the momentum

Gazette Column
We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. Those words were spoken this week by Sen. Martha McSally, an Arizona Republican, retired Air Force colonel and the first female combat mission fighter pilot, as she revealed she was 'preyed upon and raped” by a superior officer while serving in the military. "So, like you, I also am a military sexual assault survivor, but unlike so many brave survivors, I didn't report being sexually assaulted. Like so many women and men, I didn't trust the system at the time,” McSally said at a subcommittee hearing on military sexual assault Wednesday. McSally also revealed, during the 2018 campaign, that she had been sexually abused by a high school coach when she was teenager. Such revelations…
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International Women’s Day events build balance

International Women’s Day events build balance

Gazette Column
When Vildana Tinjic first arrived in Cedar Rapids, she was surprised to learn there was no local observance for International Women's Day, which has been celebrated globally since 1911. So, she planned something for herself and her co-workers at Linn County Public Health. Beginning last year, however, the local landscape changed. The Women's Equality Coalition of Linn County, known for its long-standing, annual celebrations of the day women received the right to vote, began hosting an event to recognize International Women's Day. This year Tinjic will speak at the community event, describing the differences she has observed in the status of women and girls in her home country and the United States. Tinjic, an environmental public health specialist, is a Bosnia-Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia) war survivor who immigrated, along with her…
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Eli Lilly’s insulin gesture isn’t enough

Eli Lilly’s insulin gesture isn’t enough

Gazette Blog
In mid-February the comment period closed for the Federal Drug Administration's proposed approach to transition insulins as regulated drugs to biologics and biosimilars. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company noted in its comments that it wanted to introduce its own versions. And, on Monday, it did just that. Lilly will begin selling an authorized generic of Humalog 100 for $137.35 per vial, which is roughly 50 percent below the insulin's current list price. As an authorized generic the insulin will be identical to the brand-name, except for the label, and will be manufactured in the same facilities. The generic will be called Insulin Lispro, according to company reports, and sold through an Eli Lilly subsidiary, ImClone Systems. Introduction of the authorized generic is a compromise, of sorts. The pharmaceutical company is…
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