April 2019 » Lynda Waddington

10Apr 2019 by Lynda Waddington

One less barrier to vaccination

Gazette Column

Amid measles outbreak and emergency mandates, Vatican makes position change public For vaccination advocates, there’s bad news and good news. Let’s start with the bad. Although deemed eradicated in 2000, measles is making a record comeback in the United States. Health officials have, for the second week in a row, added dozens of new cases, bringing the nationwide total to 465 as of last week. Not only does this mark the highest number of cases in a five-year period, highly contagious measles is now present in a third of U.S. states, including Iowa neighbors Illinois and Missouri. More measles cases occurred in the first three months of 2019 than in all of 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although 2014 remains the year since 2000 with the most…

07Apr 2019 by Lynda Waddington

Veteran facing deportation finds hope in Iowa’s presidential parade

Gazette Column

Manuel Valenzuela, a Marine who served in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972 and has been facing the possibility of deportation since 2009, is very happy his travels to raise awareness brought him to Iowa. “The people of Iowa came to me, shook my hand and expressed gratitude for my service,” Valenzuela told me by phone as he drove his message-wrapped recreational vehicle out of Iowa toward Chicago. “I was respected by so many good people, some even handed me money to help pay for fuel while I continue to spread the message about me, my brother and other veterans who are being deported by the very country they fought for and would still die for. Iowans told me to ‘keep it rolling.’” And while visiting with Iowans was rewarding, Valenzuela…

03Apr 2019 by Lynda Waddington

Biden censures: Politics, legitimate or both?

Gazette Column

Should Joe Biden had known better? Maybe. As a longtime Iowa caucus consumer, I’ve had multiple interactions with Biden. That doesn’t make me unique in the Hawkeye State. I’ve had opportunity to speak with him one-on-one on several occasions, and many more to watch as he has interacted with others, in semiprivate and public settings. Again, this doesn’t make me special. There was the time when Biden spoke at an event at a Cedar Rapids home. I asked if I could walk with him to his car to get in a few more questions. He agreed, tossing his arm around my shoulder as we walked. (For the record, a similar request of U.S. Rep. Steve King and numerous other politicians, regardless of gender, have resulted in similar outcomes.) There also…

01Apr 2019 by Lynda Waddington

Why state leaders needed to step back from work requirements

Gazette Column

State work requirements for Medicaid recipients appear to be scuttled, at least for this year. That’s a good thing because research and experience show the numbers don’t add up for participants or for taxpayers. The bill passed by the Iowa Senate, Senate File 538, required the Department of Human Services to petition the federal government for permission to implement Medicaid requirements beyond those already in place at the federal level. Those new stipulations centered on work requirements. Specifically, “able-bodied” recipients would need to work or volunteer a minimum of 20 hours each week, and government officials would need to make larger investments in software and staffing in order to track the changes with the increased veracity required by the bill. Sticks of chalk sit around a partially completed drawing of the…