The League of Iowa Human & Civil Rights Agencies

Gay Marriage Fight Targeted Iowa Judges, Politicizing Rulings on Issue

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 01:55:00 +0000

The ouster of three judges in Iowa's normally low-key judicial elections marks another battle in the national fight over same-sex marriage and raises fresh concerns over the politicization of judicial elections. Opponents of same-sex marriage had targeted the judges in an intense campaign to boot them off the state Supreme Court because of a unanimous ruling last year that legalized same-sex unions.

Read full story in the Washington Post

Minority Student Leaders to Convene for Iowa Youth Congress

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 01:50:00 +0000

(Des Moines, IA) --- The 5th Annual Iowa Youth Congress will be held Friday, November 12, 2010, 9a-4p, in the House Chamber at the Iowa State Capitol. The Iowa Youth Congress (IYC) is a civic leadership development opportunity for Iowa high school students, administered by the Iowa Department of Human Rights (DHR), with a special emphasis on the recruitment of students of color and students with disabilities. The event was created and is presented by DHR’s Office of Latino Affairs.

The program reaches out through regional meetings to teach students about developing policy issues from grassroots ideas, collaborating across diverse populations, and contributing to public life. “Congress members” represent 35 high schools statewide. The November 12th session is a mock General Assembly for 100 students from all over Iowa. Students will prioritize issues from previous regional meetings, introduce and debate bills. Three bills will be selected by the IYC to be recommended to legislators to be introduced as actual bills in the 84th General Assembly, which convenes January 10, 2011.

“The Iowa Youth Congress is an authentic exercise in democracy that teaches kids lifelong lessons and can result in fresh, new ideas for consideration by the Iowa General Assembly,” said Department of Human Rights Director Preston Daniels. “These students are tomorrow’s leaders who are already developing an awareness of how laws and policies affect the world around them.”

According to the United States Census, Iowa’s minority population will increase to 25 percent of the state’s total population by 2030. This growth will represent the largest generational increase in Iowa since 1880.

To learn more about the Iowa Youth Congress, visit http://iyc.latinoaffairs.iowa.gov/index.html.

National Parks Reach Out to Blacks Who Aren't Visiting

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:52:00 +0000

When Shelton Johnson was 5, his family took him to Berchtesgaden National Park in the Bavarian Alps. To this day, he remembers his sense of awe. “The mountains, the sky being so close — it affected me profoundly,” said Mr. Johnson, who now works as a ranger at Yosemite National Park in California. In 23 years on the job, Mr. Johnson, 52, has been equally struck by how few of his fellow African-Americans visit the national parks, Yosemite included. A few years ago, he decided to do something about it.

Read full story in the New York Times

Men Will Pause for a Cause, Survey Suggests

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:49:00 +0000

For many years, the assumption on Madison Avenue has been that cause marketing — doing well (selling products) by doing good (helping causes that matter to consumers) — plays more strongly with women than men. That may not be the case, according to a new survey. The 2010 edition of the PR Cause survey, co-sponsored by the trade publication PR Week and Barkley, an agency in Kansas City, Mo., found that men were nearly as supportive of cause marketing campaigns as women.

Read full story in the New York Times

At the Age of Peekaboo, in Therapy to Fight Autism

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:14:00 +0000

SACRAMENTO — In the three years since her son Diego was given a diagnosis of autism at age 2, Carmen Aguilar has made countless contributions to research on this perplexing disorder. She has donated all manner of biological samples and agreed to keep journals of everything she’s eaten, inhaled or rubbed on her skin.

Read full story in the New York Times

Sexual Harassment and the Federal Workplace

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:04:00 +0000

Sexual harassment has been back in the news with allegations of inappropriate advances by quarterback Brett Favre toward a female New York Jets employee, and with the reprise of accusations made long ago against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. While these cases have made headlines, sexual harassment remains a fact of everyday life and a problem in the government workplace. According to a recently retired federal government executive, sexual harassment cases are significantly under reported.

Read full story in Washington Post

Transgender Man Is on Women?s Team

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:44:00 +0000

Monday was a lazy day for Kye Allums, a typically busy junior playing Division I basketball at George Washington University. Without any classes or practice on his schedule, Allums woke up late, stopped in at a team meeting, worked on a class project, then took an afternoon nap.

But Monday was anything but ordinary because it was the day the world would learn about the decision Allums had embarked on one year earlier: to come out as a transgender man playing on a women’s basketball team.

Read full story in the New York Times

Respecting Muslim Patients? Needs

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:41:00 +0000

A woman in her mid-30s wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering, comes to an urgent care center complaining of leg pain. The first thing she asks: “Are there any woman doctors around?”

She declines to be alone in an exam room with a male doctor. She does not want to be touched by a man who is not a family member, even as part of a medical examination.

It’s a hypothetical situation, recounted in a new paper in The Journal of Medical Ethics, but the scenario neatly summarizes some of the dilemmas confronting health care workers in hospitals serving observant Muslim patients. When the traditional health care system cannot accommodate their needs, what are doctors and nurses to do?

Read Full Story from the New York Times

Laurens Installs Curb Cuts in 200 Sidewalks

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:32:00 +0000

Laurens, IA. - Federal prosecutors say the government has settled a complaint with the city of Laurens in northwestern Iowa stemming from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The U.S. attorney’s office said Friday that Laurens has installed more than 200 curb cuts to ensure people with physical disabilities can safely access sidewalks. The city was accused in October 2003 of not letting a disabled teenager and others who use motorized wheelchairs operate them on city streets.

Full Story

Lodging per Diem Rates Fall in Many Locales

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 02:20:00 +0000

Lodging per diem rates set by the U.S. General Services Administration are being revised down in numerous locations for the new federal fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The new rates could impact travel nurse staffing firms and others with employees that travel.

“The important thing is that the lodging rates have been reduced in many locations and some staffing agencies may not be aware of the change,” said Joseph C. Smith of TravelTax, a subsidiary of Joseph C. Smith Tax Consultants. “They would be wise to double check the rates of the localities in which they place staff to ensure that they do not over-reimburse their employees.”In the past few years, per diem rates typically increased. Smith said that with the rates going down this year, it could catch some firms off guard.

The per diem rates can be used as an alternative to keeping receipts; however, employers still must do their due diligence to check if employees are away from home overnight on employer business. Firms may continue to use last year’s per diem rates through the end of the calendar year but only if it has been their practice to do so in previous years, Smith said.

Filed by Staffing Industry Analysts, a sister company of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.