(Radio Iowa) — The state medical director says while very few Iowa kids are smoking cigarettes these days, there’s been a sharp increase in the use of other kinds of nicotine products. Dr. Caitlin Pedati says 22 percent of 11th graders admitted on a 2018 survey that they used e-cigarettes to “vape.”

“That’s in contrast to just two years prior when only nine percent of 11th graders reported using those products,” Pedati says. Dr. Pedati, who works in the Iowa Department of Public Health, is state medical director AND state epidemiologist. She says the U.S. Surgeon General has declared e-cigarette use among youth to be an epidemic for good reason.

“We know that nicotine is highly addictive. We know that it can affect things like learning, memory and attention — especially in people whose brains are still developing which happens until about age 25,” Pedati says. “There’s also a concern that some of these products may contain things we don’t even know about and so they might have short or long term health effects.”

Research also shows routine nicotine use among teenagers increases anxiety. A 2018 survey found two percent of sixth graders and eight percent of eighth graders admitted they had “vaped” and state officials warn they’re using things that look like wrist watches, computer thumb drives or pens that adults may not recognize as a vaping device.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:22 a.m. CST
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 14-year-old boy is dead after a shooting just hours into the new year in Des Moines. Police say the shooting happened about 3:50 a.m. Wednesday. Police say the shooting happened about 3:50 a.m. Wednesday. Arriving officers found the body of Josiah Woods along 17th Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police Sgt. Paul Parizek told KCCI-TV that the shooting happened after a dispute at a gathering. Parizek said police sought information from people at the scene but the lack of cooperation was “frustrating.” No arrests have been made.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Pete Buttigieg’s campaign says he raised more than $24.7 million in the last three months and now has a campaign staff of 500 people nationwide. It’s a show of financial and organizational strength heading into the presidential primaries. Buttigieg’s campaign says he has raised $76 million since he launched his bid for president, including more than 2 million contributions from over 733,000 people. It’s a notable feat for the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who gave up the position Wednesday when his successor was sworn in. Buttigieg’s average contribution was around $38.
ELDON, Iowa (AP) — Tiny Eldon in southeast Iowa has been losing population, jobs and business for nearly five decades, but one woman is trying to turn things around with a focus on tourism centered around the community’s famous landmark _ the house that served as the backdrop for Grant Wood’s famous “American Gothic” painting. Donna Jeffrey has lived in Eldon her entire life. The Des Moines Register reports that she is leading a downtown Eldon redevelopment nonprofit that seeks to reinvigorate the town by giving visitors a reason to spend more time and money there.
GLENWOOD, Iowa (AP) — The superintendent of an Iowa care center for people with intellectual disabilities has been fired amid a federal investigation. Jerry Rea was notified in a letter Monday that he was being dismissed from his position at the Glenwood Resource Center. The letter says the dismissal is a result of disregard for policies and procedures. Associated Press efforts to reach Rea on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Rea had been placed on paid leave earlier this month. Few details have been released about the federal investigation. It covers concerns that residents with a range of developmental and physical disabilities were the subjects of sexual arousal experiments.

(Radio Iowa) — One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to quit smoking, and a survey finds 70-percent of Iowa smokers want to quit, while 50-percent will try to quit in 2020. There are mixed messages circulating about how vaping can help smokers to kick the habit, messages that are blatantly false, according to Erika Sward, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association.

“We know that smokers are confused,” Sward says. “Smokers want to end their addiction and not be held hostage by nicotine and tobacco products.” The U-S Food and Drug Administration has not found any e-cigarette to be safe and effective in helping smokers quit, she says, and the Lung Association is urging smokers to step away from all tobacco and nicotine products, and not switch to vaping.

“The Lung Association believes that every smoker can quit, and can quit for good,” Sward says. “We know that it’s hard, but if smokers want to talk to their doctors or call 800-LUNG USA or call 800-QUIT NOW, they can work with someone who is an expert at helping people end their addictions for good.”

Surveys find about 16-percent of Iowa adults smoke cigarettes and more than 5-percent use e-cigarettes. As for Iowa teens, about 4.4-percent smoke cigarettes while 22-percent of Iowa 11th graders use e-cigarettes. Breaking the addiction can be very difficult and the advice of a professional may be key.

Sward says, “Every person takes a slightly different approach to how they can be most successful at quitting, and that’s why it’s important to work with someone with that experience, including the American Lung Association, to find the exact way they can be most successful in improving their health for 2020.” The Iowa Department of Public Health reported nearly 50 cases of serious illness related to vaping during 2019.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Transportation is accepting applications for funding from the national Volkswagen Settlement, Debra Arp leads the team that is handling the grant paperwork. “Volkswagen came into a settlement with the U-S Department of Justice and created this trust fund to do environmental mitigation resulting from their defeat devices that were in the vehicles that resulted in faulty emissions testing,” according to Arp.

She says there is nearly five million dollars in funding available to various organizations. She says it is available to private organizations, public transit system operators, city, counties and schools which own and operate diesel powered equipment are eligible to apply. Arp says the goal is to upgrade to make the vehicles cleaner.

She says the funds will replace the current diesel engines being used to improve the emissions in the vehicles or equipment. Arp says anyone in the categories she mentioned is encourage to apply. She says there is four-point-nine million dollars available, with three-point-one million dollars available for buses, around one million dollars for trucks and 700-thousand dollars for non-road and transport equipment.

You can learn more about the funding and how to apply at the program website: www.iowadot.gov/vwsettlement.

(Radio Iowa) — A new state mandate that begins with the New Year requires all health care providers to send prescriptions directly to the patient’s pharmacy through a secure device and a special software program. The Chair of Family Medicine at Mercy One Central Iowa, Tim McCoy, says they launched the e-prescription system in their clinics last September.

“It does speed up things for nursing staff and patients don’t have to come to the pharmacy — or come to the clinic — to take a written prescription,” McCoy says. “A lot of my patients are elderly, and someone that has to come pick a script up, or they couldn’t get to the clinic.” Doctor McCoy says the system has benefited patients.

“Especially patients that have you know, troubles with transportation, elderly patients. It’s actually been very helpful and patients have been very appreciative of, of that,” according to McCoy.

E-prescriptions have been shown to reduce the number of pharmaceutical and medical errors — as well as the amount of falsified prescriptions, which have contributed to opioid misuse.

(Thanks to Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)