I am writing to express my concerns about Iowa House File 852, the act relating to a "real-time electronic repository" to monitor and control over-the-counter products containing any detectable amount of pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, etc. This new act is very expensive ($230,000 to $288,000) to be payed out of the State General Fund, plus an ongoing cost of $30,000 to $86,000. Does the State of Iowa need to spend this much more money when the current laws have proven to be effective?

Imagine the day when higher-speed passenger-train tracks are laid between the current traffic lanes of the interstate highway system. Imagine the day in the future when you decide to take your family on vacation across the country and instead of loading up the car for a multi-day trip or going to the airport, you get on the train at the interstate highway near your home for a fast, energy-efficient, and cost-effective trip that is not connected to Amtrak.

This new policy of "test optional" admissions is an end run around a recent court decision banning race-based preferences in student admissions, specifically the controversy that surrounded the University of Michigan. (See "Scrubbing Bubbles," River Cities' Reader Issue 659, November 14-20, 2007.) Augustana simply wants to discriminate against whites and males without civil liability and has found a way to do so.

Reverend Jim Richter

Via the Reader Web site

Radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers, and for persons who have never smoked, chances are much greater of developing lung cancer if exposed to high levels of radon gas over a period of years.