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Bleeding Heartland
It's what plants crave.
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safety 
Thu Dec 27, 2012 at 07:08:57 AM CST
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Politicians and commentators continue to react to recent comments by National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. He broke the NRA's weeklong silence following the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting with a December 21 speech (falsely billed as a "press conference") and an appearance on NBC's "Meet The Press" two days later.
LaPierre rejected any new restrictions on guns or ammunition and blamed a wide range of cultural influences for mass shootings. He suggested that Congress should respond by funding armed security officers in every school in the country.
This thread is for any comments about the root causes of violence or policies that could prevent future gun-related tragedies. I've enclosed lots of relevant links and analysis after the jump.
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Thu Dec 20, 2012 at 08:05:00 AM CST
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Hundreds of school districts and businesses are closed across Iowa today because of winter storm Draco. Late last night we had rare snowstorm thunder and lightning in the Des Moines area. Power outages have affected many Iowans. Our electricity came back relatively soon in Windsor Heights, and I hope that will be true everywhere.
This is an open thread: all topics welcome. A few winter weather-related links and two soup recipes are after the jump.
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Mon Dec 17, 2012 at 16:55:00 PM CST
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The horrific mass killing at Sandy Hook elementary in Newtown, Connecticut has dominated news coverage since Friday, and almost everyone I know has been talking about the tragedy. But only a few Iowa politicians have publicly discussed the events or possible ways to prevent similar crimes.
Remarks by Senator Tom Harkin, Representative Dave Loebsack, State Senator Rob Hogg, and Governor Terry Branstad are after the jump. I'm disappointed but not surprised that the governor is not open to any new restrictions on assault weapons or large ammunition clips. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who like Branstad has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association, today called for moving "beyond rhetoric" on gun control. His comments are also below.
I've sought comment from other members of Iowa's Congressional delegation and will update this post if I hear back from any of them. UPDATE: Added Representative Bruce Braley's comments below.
SECOND UPDATE: Added Senator Chuck Grassley's comments during a December 17 radio interview.
LATER UPDATE: Added comments from Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass.
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Wed Nov 21, 2012 at 09:29:35 AM CST
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The Iowa PIRG Education Fund released its 27th annual report on dangerous toys today. The five most common hazards in products marketed for children are: lead, phthalates, magnets, choking hazards, and noisy toys.
You can download the full text of "Trouble in Toyland" here (pdf). I've posted the executive summary after the jump. U.S. PIRG has created this toy safety interactive website, which consumers can access on smartphones.
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Mon Oct 22, 2012 at 12:25:00 PM CDT
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The city of Windsor Heights will take the Iowa Department of Transportation to court over the denial of a request to place speed enforcement traffic cameras on Interstate 235.
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Mon Oct 01, 2012 at 09:23:32 AM CDT
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Following a month-long summer recess, members of the U.S. House and Senate worked for less than three weeks before adjourning in late September until after the general election. Congress will hold only "pro-forma" sessions for the next month, presumably to prevent President Barack Obama from making recess appointments.
Follow me after the jump for a review of how the Iowans voted (or did not vote) on the most significant legislation that came up during the past few weeks.
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 11:45:07 AM CDT
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MidAmerican Energy is considering two possible locations for a new nuclear reactor in Iowa, Perry Beeman reported for the Des Moines Register on Friday.
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Sun Sep 09, 2012 at 10:15:00 AM CDT
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Hunter Oatman-Stanford's fantastic article for Collectors Weekly on "The Top 10 Most Dangerous Ads" inspired this post. Click through to see some amazing advertisements from the last century: A 1923 paint book for boys and girls, encouraging kids to have "fun with the whole 'Lead Family' of products," 1950s ads encouraging mothers to give 7-Up to young children, 1969 ads promoting sugar as a diet aid ("Sugar just might be the willpower you need to curb your appetite"), and even a 1947 ad proclaiming, "DDT is good for me-e-e!" Oatman-Stanford gives the background on the health impacts of the advertised products.
All topics are welcome in this open thread, particularly memories about idiotic things that were once widely accepted in our culture. No partisan warfare here, please: if you want to talk politics, try to focus on wrongheaded consensus ideas like Iowa's film tax credit program or the deregulation of the banking sector in the 1980s.
P.S. - I'm not nostalgic for most of the dangerous playground equipment of my childhood, like see-saws and metal monkey bars sets over solid concrete, but I have to agree with the Retro Junk blog, those merry-go-rounds were fun.
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Thu Sep 06, 2012 at 08:50:00 AM CDT
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Here's a lede I didn't expect to read in any newspaper: "It can be good to have a nuclear power plant nearby if you have a flood disaster."
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Mon Jul 02, 2012 at 09:15:00 AM CDT
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The Iowa Department of Public Safety announced last week that it is halting electrical inspections of farm buildings. The move is consistent with Governor Terry Branstad's opinion that the inspections are an unlawful bureaucratic overreach. One way or another, a court will probably decide whether the Electrical Examining Board or the Branstad administration violated state law.
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Mon May 21, 2012 at 07:46:39 AM CDT
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Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Vice Chair Jeff Lamberti was arrested Friday night and found to have a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit.
UPDATE: Added Governor Terry Branstad's comments below.
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Wed May 16, 2012 at 07:58:23 AM CDT
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Longer days, warmer weather and the approaching end of the school year mean more time outdoors for many Iowans, especially children. Last week Kamyar Enshayan, a Cedar Falls City Council member and director of the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Energy and Environmental Education, raised an important question: "Is having weed-free lawn worth it?"
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Mon May 14, 2012 at 21:29:52 PM CDT
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was poised to implement new rules on sunscreen labels and marketing this summer, more than 30 years after the first sunscreen labeling rules were introduced in 1978. However, sunscreen manufacturers may keep using misleading language when packaging and advertising their products for at least another six months.
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Tue May 08, 2012 at 07:05:00 AM CDT
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Beef Products, Inc. announced yesterday that it will permanently close three factories in Waterloo, Iowa, Amarillo, Texas and Garden City, Kansas. BPI suspended operations at those plants in March, following public controversy over lean finely textured beef, which detractors call "pink slime." The Waterloo facility employed 200 people, who will be jobless effective May 25.
Comments from Governor Terry Branstad, Senator Chuck Grassley, and Representative Bruce Braley are after the jump. Branstad and Grassley criticized what they have called a "smear campaign" against lean finely textured beef. Braley, who previously called for a Congressional investigation into media claims about the product, expressed regret that "the facts have been lost in the furor" over lean finely textured beef.
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Thu May 03, 2012 at 08:42:03 AM CDT
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"Local control" has long been a rallying cry for conservatives who oppose taking governing decisions away from school districts, city officials, or county supervisors. However, Iowa Senate action this week rejecting a ban on traffic cameras is the latest sign that Iowa Democratic lawmakers are more likely than Republicans to respect this principle over centralized standards.
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Fri Apr 27, 2012 at 07:38:38 AM CDT
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The U.S. Department of Labor announced yesterday that it will not seek to regulate agricultural work done by children under age 16. Several members of Iowa's Congressional delegation welcomed the news. Their statements are after the jump, along with background on the proposed rules and the full statement from the Labor Department.
UPDATE: I've added Senator Tom Harkin's comments below. He was the only Iowan in Congress to express concern about the government walking away from "regulations that were, at their core, about protecting children."
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Thu Apr 12, 2012 at 01:06:27 AM CDT
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(Click here for background on this policy change. A lot of poultry inspectors don't like the idea. - promoted by desmoinesdem)
You'd think the USDA would see the flaw of logic in letting the people who make the food inspect the food and decide if it is actually safe to eat.
The USDA has decided in its infinite wisdom, despite pink slime and a few other debacles of the food industry, to test a program allowing chicken companies to check their own livestock and decide whether or not the chickens are safe to eat.
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