24
Jul
2001
• The State of Iowa will lose $3.4 million in road-construction money from the federal government because it decided not to change a law requiring certain penalties for third-offense drunken drivers. Legislators didn't wanted to tinker with the law, concerned about possible amendments, including proposals to lower the level at which a person is legally intoxicated. Governor Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, wants the level reduced to a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent, and Republicans are strongly opposed to changing the current level of .10. The issue could come up again when Iowa risked losing more federal highway funds beginning in October 2003 under a requirement approved by Congress that says states must set the level for drunken driving at .08.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the nation's leading law-enforcement agency, is under fire again. The FBI has discovered that 184 of its laptop computers have been stolen or are missing, including one containing classified information from two investigations completed several years ago. Even more distressing is that 449 firearms, from handguns to rifles to submachine guns, are also missing, and one of the missing weapons was used in a homicide.
• The Iowa State Auditor has said that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is not following laws requiring tests of water and hundreds of hazardous-waste sites. A required pollution hotline doesn't exist, and laws - some going back 20 years - haven't been enforced. DNR - which is also charged with managing parks, landfills, hunting, fishing, wildlife, wetlands, and pollution control - says it has too much to do and not enough money to do it. Legislators claim DNR is trying to turn the issue into a political football.
• Many people are probably eagerly awaiting their tax-rebate checks. You can find out when you should start camping by your mailbox by going to the GOP.gov Tax Rebate Calculator Web site at (http://www.gop.gov/rebatecalculator.asp). All you need is the last two digits of your Social Security number, and the Web site will tell you when your check will be mailed.
• As the United Nations pursues efforts to initiate global gun controls, a report presented to a U.N. conference in New York debating the issue reveals that more than half (56 percent) of the world's estimated 551 million firearms are legally owned by private citizens rather than by governments. Fewer than a million arms - 910,000, or 0.2 percent - are in the hands of rebels or anti-government insurgents, the report showed. Government military forces account for approximately 226 million arms (41 percent), and police forces hold some 18 million (3 percent). The authors of the report, while calling it the most comprehensive ever compiled, have admitted that their estimates are conservative at best, noting major problems in figuring the number of illegal guns worldwide, as well as the number of legally owned firearms in major countries such as China, India, and Pakistan.
• Kentec Company of Geneseo, Illinois, doesn't like the things the City of Bettendorf is saying about the paint it used in the Splash Landing Aquatic Center. A fax sent to local news media says Bettendorf is claiming the paint is a problem, no matter the real cause of continued problems with water clarity in the main pool. The fax also said that the company has withdrawn an offer to re-paint the pool at no cost and will discontinue any future involvement in trying to resolve the problem. Bettendorf officials said they didn't want to get into a public debate on the issue but don't recall any offer by Kentec to paint the pool for free. The main pool has been closed for three weeks and has been drained so that the walls could be scrubbed. Officials are also still not sure what the problem is and if their efforts have resolved it.
• Those junked cars in front yards will be getting more attention if a proposal heard by the Davenport City Council is passed. Currently, the only way the city can act is if someone complains. That would change under a plan that would initially cost $630,800 and require seven new full-time and four part-time or seasonal workers. The city would be divided into six districts, with code-enforcement officers being assigned to each district. They would respond to complaints and also be allowed to patrol and order corrective action on problems they see. All costs except $76,200 would be covered by increased fees assessed to violators and landlords; bidding out of towing contracts; and spreading out the purchases of required equipment over several years. If aldermen approve the plan, it could be in effect by July 1, 2002.
• In a landmark case that will probably go to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man who secretly recorded police after they pulled him over. The split decision ruled that Michael Hyde violated the state's electronic-surveillance law, which prohibits secret recordings. Hyde recorded officers using an obscenity, asking if he had cocaine in the car, and threatening to send him to jail after an October 26, 1998, traffic stop. The minority opinion used the famous videotape of the Rodney King police beating in Los Angeles as an example of a recording that would have been prohibited under Massachusetts law.
• A butterfly sensation across your chest might mean you are at great risk for a stroke. The feeling might be caused by atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disturbance. A relatively common heart disorder, it affects more than two million people in the United States, making it one of the leading risk factors for stroke. Atrial fibrillation isn't painful, and not everyone can feel it. But it is a serious condition leaving its victims six times more likely to have a stroke. And the risk increases with age. Atrial fibrillation can be detected by your doctor, and treatment is available.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the nation's leading law-enforcement agency, is under fire again. The FBI has discovered that 184 of its laptop computers have been stolen or are missing, including one containing classified information from two investigations completed several years ago. Even more distressing is that 449 firearms, from handguns to rifles to submachine guns, are also missing, and one of the missing weapons was used in a homicide.
• The Iowa State Auditor has said that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is not following laws requiring tests of water and hundreds of hazardous-waste sites. A required pollution hotline doesn't exist, and laws - some going back 20 years - haven't been enforced. DNR - which is also charged with managing parks, landfills, hunting, fishing, wildlife, wetlands, and pollution control - says it has too much to do and not enough money to do it. Legislators claim DNR is trying to turn the issue into a political football.
• Many people are probably eagerly awaiting their tax-rebate checks. You can find out when you should start camping by your mailbox by going to the GOP.gov Tax Rebate Calculator Web site at (http://www.gop.gov/rebatecalculator.asp). All you need is the last two digits of your Social Security number, and the Web site will tell you when your check will be mailed.
• As the United Nations pursues efforts to initiate global gun controls, a report presented to a U.N. conference in New York debating the issue reveals that more than half (56 percent) of the world's estimated 551 million firearms are legally owned by private citizens rather than by governments. Fewer than a million arms - 910,000, or 0.2 percent - are in the hands of rebels or anti-government insurgents, the report showed. Government military forces account for approximately 226 million arms (41 percent), and police forces hold some 18 million (3 percent). The authors of the report, while calling it the most comprehensive ever compiled, have admitted that their estimates are conservative at best, noting major problems in figuring the number of illegal guns worldwide, as well as the number of legally owned firearms in major countries such as China, India, and Pakistan.
• Kentec Company of Geneseo, Illinois, doesn't like the things the City of Bettendorf is saying about the paint it used in the Splash Landing Aquatic Center. A fax sent to local news media says Bettendorf is claiming the paint is a problem, no matter the real cause of continued problems with water clarity in the main pool. The fax also said that the company has withdrawn an offer to re-paint the pool at no cost and will discontinue any future involvement in trying to resolve the problem. Bettendorf officials said they didn't want to get into a public debate on the issue but don't recall any offer by Kentec to paint the pool for free. The main pool has been closed for three weeks and has been drained so that the walls could be scrubbed. Officials are also still not sure what the problem is and if their efforts have resolved it.
• Those junked cars in front yards will be getting more attention if a proposal heard by the Davenport City Council is passed. Currently, the only way the city can act is if someone complains. That would change under a plan that would initially cost $630,800 and require seven new full-time and four part-time or seasonal workers. The city would be divided into six districts, with code-enforcement officers being assigned to each district. They would respond to complaints and also be allowed to patrol and order corrective action on problems they see. All costs except $76,200 would be covered by increased fees assessed to violators and landlords; bidding out of towing contracts; and spreading out the purchases of required equipment over several years. If aldermen approve the plan, it could be in effect by July 1, 2002.
• In a landmark case that will probably go to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man who secretly recorded police after they pulled him over. The split decision ruled that Michael Hyde violated the state's electronic-surveillance law, which prohibits secret recordings. Hyde recorded officers using an obscenity, asking if he had cocaine in the car, and threatening to send him to jail after an October 26, 1998, traffic stop. The minority opinion used the famous videotape of the Rodney King police beating in Los Angeles as an example of a recording that would have been prohibited under Massachusetts law.
• A butterfly sensation across your chest might mean you are at great risk for a stroke. The feeling might be caused by atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disturbance. A relatively common heart disorder, it affects more than two million people in the United States, making it one of the leading risk factors for stroke. Atrial fibrillation isn't painful, and not everyone can feel it. But it is a serious condition leaving its victims six times more likely to have a stroke. And the risk increases with age. Atrial fibrillation can be detected by your doctor, and treatment is available.
