Blog » Page 27 of 45 » Lynda Waddington

28Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Postville’s Rubashkin has criminal case expunged

Gazette Column

This can’t be what Iowa lawmakers had in mind when they agreed last year to make some criminal records private. The legislature created a new section of the Iowa Code, 901C, to keep certain criminal records private if the defendant was acquitted or found not guilty. There are, of course, caveats. All court costs and fines must be paid in full. The case must be at least 180 days old, and the not guilty verdict cannot be due to a finding of insanity or incompetency. But, if the criteria is met, beginning on Jan. 1, interested case parties could petition to have a criminal case hidden from public records. The law change was necessary, advocates said, because the Internet makes court information more readily available. Every day, they argued, Iowans…

27Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

This is no time for a food fight

Gazette Blog

Raise your hand if you remember when Congress debated making ketchup a vegetable. Many people remember the absurdity, even as they’ve forgotten the context. In 1981 — back when I was just another kid in the school lunch line — Congress hoped to take a ride on President Ronald Reagan’s spending-cut coattails by demanding the USDA cut $1 billion from child nutrition programs. But proposed legislation neglected to specify what should be slashed. School lunches were then mandated to have a meat, a grain, a dairy and two servings of fruits or vegetables. USDA officials told Congress they could make the cuts and still meet the requirements if pickle relish and ketchup could be reclassified as vegetables. You’d think after the subsequent backlash that Congress would have learned Americans want…

22Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Let’s redo school lunch

Gazette Column

Policies set by school districts to address negative school lunch account balances are drawing headlines, and make clear that it is time to rethink the program. In Kentucky, several parents complained after an elementary school student’s lunch was taken away and tossed in the garbage because of an overdrawn lunch account. A Michigan high school student suffered a similar fate when his account reached a $4.95 negative balance. In Massachusetts, as many as 25 middle school students were forced to dump hot lunches because their lunch accounts were in arrears. The list goes on. When lunch accounts dip into the red, school children across the nation are being denied lunches or offered a paltry alternative, which some have dubbed a “sandwich of shame.” School districts trying to operate within tightening…

21Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Apple right to resist DOJ ask

Gazette Column

Apple has been ordered to develop software for a very important reason. Even so, the tech giant is right to resist. A magistrate judge, acting on a request by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, says Apple must help law enforcement disable safety features on an iPhone 5C. The device was owned by Syed Farook, who was part of the husband and wife shooting team in the San Bernardino attacks. Users of iPhones can choose to have data automatically deleted if an incorrect passcode is entered too many times. A secondary feature progressively slows down passcode guesswork. Both are safety features, intended to keep the user’s personal information and data private. The good news is, if the G-Men can’t bypass them on their own, the features obviously work. But the latest…

15Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Love in a time of social media

Gazette Column

We grew up hearing how “love is patient, love is kind,” but now we have social media. In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are the top 10 things I’ve learned about love from Facebook, Twitter and a never-ending dredge of other social media sites. 1) A parent’s love for his/her child isn’t suitable for public consumption. Children between the ages of 14 and 29 would prefer their online friends believe they spontaneously sprouted in a cabbage patch. And, just like those round-faced dolls, parents should contain their pride and ownership to a single signature on a well-hidden butt cheek. 2) “Rick rolled” is not an amorous activity. Engaging in it does show your age. 3) Segregation is alive and well. We no longer live in a world where love and…

14Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Pair health insurance with access

Gazette Column

More of Iowa’s kids have health insurance. Now we need a more robust system that allows them to use it. A report released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says between 2013 and 2014, about 13,000 more Iowa youngsters received health insurance, mainly through their eligibility for public insurance plans like Hawk-i or Medicaid. Increased adult access to Medicaid programs came via millions in funding from the Affordable Care Act. Researchers believe that as adults discovered new Medicaid options for themselves, youngsters were also signed up for coverage. In this report, Iowa claims the fifth lowest uninsured rate for children (3.2 percent) — a significant move in the right direction from it’s earlier placement of 13th in the nation (5 percent). Many state residents and health care advocates worked…

08Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Critics mistaken to dismiss Iowa as ‘too white’

Gazette Column

Another Iowa caucus season, another long line of critics ready to diminish the state’s first-in-the-nation status based on resident demographics. Fortunately such tired narratives have once again fallen to performance. Network television analyst Jeff Greenfield, writing for Politico, labeled the caucuses “a blight on American politics.” He quoted Democratic operative Joe Trippi to make his point: “After Iowa and New Hampshire, the Democratic primary race the rest of the way is an electorate that is 54 percent white and 46 percent minority.” It’s no secret that Iowa residents are predominantly white — more than 87 percent so, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — or that the state’s overall percentage of minority populations rest below the national average. Few fail to note, however, the significant gains by minority groups in…

07Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Meanwhile, under the golden dome

Gazette Column

Welcome back to another year of Legislative Goodness. I’m joined by intrepid reporter Graph Stacker and political analyst Ima Payfordthiss. Anything unusual happen this week, or are lawmakers still deadlocked on school funding? Graph: There was actually movement in the K-12 funding dispute, Lynda. A Democrat-controlled Senate committee approved a 4 percent increase in state aid. As you know, the Republican-controlled House already voted to give schools an extra 2 percent in state aid. Ima: Yet splitting the difference doesn’t seem likely since the 3 percent average is above Gov. Terry Branstad’s proposed 2.45 percent increase. Graph: No one wants another appearance by the infamous veto pen. Is this another legislative session where school funding sucks up all the oxygen? Graph: Well, we’ll have to wait and see what lawmakers…

03Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Time for Iowa Democrats to clean house

Gazette Column

Nearly two years ago Iowa Republicans made changes to protect the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Iowa Democrats must now do the same. Republican corrections were a public and painful affair. Following 2012 caucus tally mishaps, members of the “liberty movement” staged and executed a plan that had 22 of Iowa’s 28 national delegates supporting Ron Paul as the GOP nominee. Paul supporters also took key state roles, claiming seven of 18 seats on the Republican State Central Committee, under the leadership of movement member A.J. Spiker. Infighting began. Some potential presidential candidates were wary of the party’s ability to provide a level playing field. Within two years Spiker and his allies were removed. The party rebuilt trust and pulled the caucuses back from the brink of political irrelevance. Let’s hope, four years…

01Feb 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Wendell Willkie is a 2016 cautionary tale

Gazette Column

This is what happened in 1940 when Republicans opted for a political outsider National pundits pondering what a Donald Trump nomination means for the Republican Party and the nation have been reading the tea leaves. They’d be better off reading history books. This isn’t the first time party activists have engaged in friendly fire or looked beyond political loyalists for a savior. Seventy-five years ago Repubicans decided a businessman was their best presidential bet. Like Trump, Wendell Willkie, the GOP’s 1940 presidential nominee, once considered himself more left than right. Less than a year before he was named the GOP nominee, Willkie was registered as a Democrat. And he too bucked the establishment. Willkie didn’t run for the nomination, instead taking a stand at the party’s national convention in Philadelphia.…