Hot off the Press: Back on the field edition

Insecticides and fungicides sprayed on soybeans from a crop duster in Southeast Iowa killed over 500 fish when the chemicals contaminated a creek: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090807/NEWS/90807008. Just think: toxic chemicals are spread on the soybeans, which are harvested, processed, and then cooked and eaten by you. Buy organic.

The ACLU is pursuing a First Amendment case involving an Iowa atheist group and the Des Moines bus system. The group bought advertising space on buses and had ads designed and placed. But the ads were removed after they were denied final approval because DART administrators felt they were too controversial: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090807/NEWS/908070354. Here's what I don't get, and what the article doesn't go in depth about: how the fuck does the ad get placed before it receives final approval? Anyway, I side with the atheists. They have as much right as other religious groups to use public space.

Here's a follow-up article, saying DART will now allow the ads: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090808/NEWS/908080334. Good for them.

"A Canadian doctor diagnoses U.S. healthcare": http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rachlis3-2009aug03,0,538126.story.

Due to budget cuts, California schools won't be approving or receiving new K-8 textbooks until 2016: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-textbooks8-2009aug08,0,7197708.story. This state is rotting from the inside out.

College athletes have also become victims of California's budget cuts: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-college-budget-cuts7-2009aug07,0,3132119.story. At UCI last week, someone chalked the sidewalks with "Save UCI Rowing."

With little money for upkeep, Iowa's state parks and camp areas are experiencing a 30-100 percent increase in use: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090808/NEWS/908080325. Staycations! Seriously, though: Iowans should stay within their own state to enjoy its natural beauty.

Here's really sad article. More than two dozen young women have disappeared without a trace in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, a place that has been hit hard by the drug war: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-juarez-missing9-2009aug09,0,4357807.story.

This is frightening, to me at least. Classroom textbooks may be replaced by digital versions accessed with laptops: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/education/09textbook.html?ref=us. It's frightening because digital texts, like history, can be easily revised and changed completely.

The state government in Iowa spends $1.8 billion to lobby itself: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090809/NEWS10/908090334. It's a little confusing, I know. From what I understand, the internal lobbying is done by government agencies and departments fighting for beneficial legislation and larger pieces of the ever-shrinking fiscal pie.

Iowa's three public universities determined there is nothing wrong with their coal ash disposal practice: dumping the toxic waste into an unlined and unmonitored former quarry in Waterloo: http://iowaindependent.com/18193/iowa-universities-will-not-alter-coal-ash-disposal-practices. The astonishing thing is that the coal ash is being used as part of a reclamation process. "It looks exactly the way it did before it was a quarry. The only difference is that it's toxic." Yummy.

A health care townhall forum, hosted by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, became a "shouting match" as opponents of health care reform (likely people paid by health industry interests to start shit) interrupted the event: http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/08/09/news/breaking_news/doc4a7e62b58deb5339157770.txt.

The California budget has a new problem: lawsuits from those who've received cuts: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lawsuits10-2009aug10,0,6482327.story.