Iowa is seeing rising rates of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs, so state health officials got federal approval to launch a program to distribute clean syringes to drug users, but there’s a problem. Syringe exchange programs are illegal in Iowa. Randy Mayer, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Health, says they’re preparing to make the case for syringe exchanges to state lawmakers.

Mayer says, “The most important one was to get this determination of need approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which we’ve just recently done.” State lawmakers considered a bill that would legalize syringe exchange programs last year, but it didn’t pass. The same state report that shows increasing rates of hepatitis C also shows Iowa is at risk for an H-I-V outbreak among drug users. Mayer says the state hasn’t yet seen H-I-V diagnoses rise among people who use drugs, but the department is watching closely for that.

“What we have is an avenue for that to occur,” Mayer says. “So, it really just takes the right person to get into that population with untreated HIV infection and that could allow that to happen. So having a syringe services program is one way to try to avoid that.”

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne illness that can cause liver failure. Mayer says the number of diagnosed hepatitis C cases in Iowa has increased more than 200-percent in the past 16 years. Iowa now has about 2,200 people per year getting a diagnosis of hepatitis C. It’s third on the state list of reportable infectious diseases. Mayer warns tens of thousands of Iowans who have hepatitis C are likely not diagnosed.

(Radio Iowa, w/Thanks to Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

A Creighton University economist is suggesting Iowa legislators should tread carefully as they craft a tax cut package. Republican lawmakers like Senate G-O-P Leader Bill Dix point to state tax cuts of the 1990s as proof cutting taxes will spark the economy and lead to state tax revenue growth. Creighton’s Ernie Goss says that’s true “in some cases,” but he’s not predicting that for Iowa now.

“When we cut the rates, generally speaking, the collections from the taxes are reduced. That’s what happened in Kansas. There was not the supply-side bump and in this case when you’re at full employment, it’s hard to get that supply-side bump. Where are you going to get the workers? Why can China grow at three times the rate of the US? Well, they have more fuel for the fire – labor that can come into the market. We don’t have it.”

Kansas Republicans enacted a plan in 2012 that dramatically cut taxes. “I think you need to do it in a more thoughtful manner, if you’re going to cut and they did cut,” Goss says. “But also you have to understand that some of the spending’s also going to be cut.” Goss says despite deep cuts in education and other areas over the past few years, the state budget deficit in Kansas is now 900 million dollars.

Republicans in Iowa says one difference now is the extra taxes the state should collect due to FEDERAL tax law changes. Goss cautions against counting on that “windfall” — as he predicts it won’t be as large as predicted. Goss made his comments during a recent appearance on Iowa Public Television.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa is caught in a legal fight with a conservative Christian student group that denied a leadership position to a gay student. The case pits a university policy barring discrimination based on sexual orientation against the religious beliefs of a 10-member group called Business Leaders in Christ.

The group sued in federal court after the state’s flagship university in Iowa City revoked the group’s campus registration in November. The group says its membership is open to everyone, but that its leaders must affirm a statement of faith that rejects homosexuality.

The university says it respects the right of students, faculty and staff to practice the religion of their choice but does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.