TAYLOR – PARENTS BILL OF RIGHTS
The Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee has passed the governor’s bill on appropriate books in school libraries.
State Senator Jeff Taylor of Sioux Center is a member of that committee.
Taylor says the bill out of his committee prosecribes how transparency is to take place
Taylor does not prefer this approach.
Another bill which passed last weekend’s legislative deadline would prohibit gender reassignment surgery for minors
RALLY TO RESIST
A large crowd gathered at the Iowa Capitol Sunday afternoon for what organizers called a “rally to resist” bills in the legislature on L-G-T-B-Q issues. Organizers like Keenan Crow of One Iowa urged rally-goers to call, email and visit with their legislators and tell them to vote no. Republican lawmakers say they’re responding to parents’ concerns by proposing a ban on elementary classroom discussions about sexual orientation and requiring students use the bathroom that matches the gender on their birth certificate.
SNAP AND MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY
Iowa lawmakers are considering changes in eligibility rules for food and medical assistance programs in Iowa.
Republican Representative Thomas Jeneary of Le Mars says the bill would make distributing benefits more efficient and help prevent fraud.
The bill is still being shaped.
The bill that’s now eligible for debate in the House also seeks to require some people getting food and health care assistance to work.
Democrats oppose the bill. Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell of Ames says if the bill becomes law, many Iowans currently receiving SNAP benefits or health care coverage through Medicaid will lose that safety net.
More than 800-thousand low income and disabled Iowans are currently enrolled in Medicaid. An average of about 280-thousand Iowans received SNAP benefits monthly during the last state fiscal year.
ORANGE CITY COUNCIL
The Orange City Council meets this afternoon. There will be two public hearings before the council. Both involve adopting plans and specifications, and awarding contracts, for two street projects. One is an extension of 14th St SE to the new Orange City elementary school. The other is construction of 18th St SW, to create industrial lots in the former Orange City airport. The council will also consider acceptance of an agreement to purchase nearly 3.2 million dollars in bonds to finance infrastructure around the new school, and for development of the Puddle Jumper Park.
SPORTS OFFICIALS
The chairman of a key Senate committee has introduced a bill to boost the penalty for assaulting a referee or umpire. Troy Scheuermann of Farmington is urging lawmakers to make this move for sports officials. Scheuermann, who’s a basketball referee, cites what happened after he and a partner volunteered to referee a three-on-three tournament for fifth graders in Fort Madison last March.
Fort Madison’s newspaper has reported that a Burlington man was arrested and charged with a serious misdemeanor. Senator Lynn Evans of Aurelia is a licensed official for football, basketball, baseball, softball and track. He’s never been assaulted over a call he’s made, but Evans says the escalation of these kind of incidents is discouraging people from becoming a sports official.
Twenty-three other states have already made assaulting a sports official a felony.
NURSES STUDY
Nurses are in short supply and high demand in Iowa, and a new study from the University of Iowa looks at ways nurses can overcome some of the things that cause them stress. Study co-author Amy Colbert, a U-I professor of management and entrepreneurship, says nurses are under mounting pressure from patients and others who treat them poorly, especially since the outbreak of COVID-19. Colbert says difficult interactions with patients or patients’ families sometimes made them feel as though they weren’t good at their job. Through the study, Colbert surveyed hundreds of nurses and asked how they managed to cope with uncivil behavior from patients — coincidentally, the ones who benefit from the nurses’ work. Those who were able to focus on the ultimate purpose of their work could more positively reframe the interactions. Colbert says some nurses were able to boost their own confidence after bad experiences, while others encountered greater success at rebounding when they turned to other nurses.
