New Consumer Protection Agency
Tomorrow, Mr. Obama will announce the head of the new Consumer Protection agency. Currently three candidates have emerged. Harvard professor, Elizabeth Warren is one candidate.
She has long been a champion of the consumer protection issues. The question remains whether Warren can be fair to businesses as the head of the new CPA.
Treasury Department Assistant, Michael Bar and Justic Department counsel Gene Kimmelman are also under consideration. The new agency is currently under the leadership of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner until the president announces the director tomorrow.
Gulf Coast Shrimp in Des Moines
Fabian Seafood Company sell fresh Gulf Shrimp.
The BP oil spill is contained for now, but the effects to the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico are still being felt. For some fishermen, just west of the Gulf, they have begun business as usual in Des Moines.
Gian says his grandfather has been parking and selling from this spot for 25 years. Two years ago, before his grandfather passed away he gave Gian his route. Now there’s a cloud of uncertainty about the future. Gian says he’s glad the oil spill is contained but a storm coming across the right direction could stir the waters and that has many of his customers worried.
Justin Gian and daniel Yousif say problems still loom in the Gulf and for them.
Gian says things could be worse. He says the fisherman in Louisiana are worse off because now many of them must work for BP, the same company that took their jobs.
Expanding Mitchellville Women’s Institution
The Iowa Corrections Institution for Women in Mitchellville is expanding to accommodate an increase in the number of female inmates. Patti Wachtendorf is the Warden at Mitchellville. Wachtendorf says the inmate population has increased by 13 percent. She says the expansion will allow them to offer more treatment to inmates with mental health issues.
Patti Wachtendorf says the facility will meet inmates mental health issues.
“You know we don’t want our mentally ill offenders put into a cell and forgotten. So we have to provide treatment and you need the right atmosphere to do that. And this allows us to build a mental health facility for mentally ill people instead of putting mentally ill people into prison,” says Wachtendorff.
Wachtendorf says 40 percent of female inmates have mental health problems. She says drug use is causing the rise in the number of female inmates. The expansion broke ground today and should be completed by 2013.
Iowa Governor Chet Culver says the expansion will create almost 200 permanent jobs and 300 temporary construction jobs. Culver says the $47 million dollar I-JOBS project is funded through a 20 year bond.
Iowa Prescription Drug Abuse
The Center for Disease Control says 1 in 5 teens have abused prescription drugs. A new report out this month includes Iowa, where prescription drug abuse investigations have risen sharply. The Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Narcotics Enforcement reports a 243-percent increase in their caseload from 2007 to 2008.
While state agencies scramble to confront the issue, some young people see prescription drugs as a way to fit in or get ahead.
The Center for Disease Control says 1 in 5 teens have abused prescription drugs. A new report out this month includes Iowa, where prescription drug abuse investigations have risen sharply. The Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Narcotics Enforcement reports a 243-percent increase in their caseload from 2007 to 2008.
While state agencies scramble to confront the issue, some young people see prescription drugs as a way to fit in or get ahead.
Feds create new jobs in West Des Moines
As some jobs disappear in Iowa the Internal Revenue Service is bringing new jobs to West Des Moines. The I-R-S call center currently has 120 employees and plans to increase that number over the next six months.
From left to right, Rep. Leonard Boswell, Commissioner Douglas Schulman, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Mayor Steven Gaer of W. Des Moines.
Senator Chuck Grassley was on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony. He says two words describe why the I-R-S chose the site, quality and productivity.
” You get productivity not necessarily because Iowans just are harder workers than anybody else in the country, but because they’re so dependable” says Grassley.
Grassley says he’s glad the I-R-S located to the area and encourages them to grow the new facility in the future. The call center will provide collection services to both businesses and individuals.
Douglas Shulman is the U-S Commissioner for the I-R-S. He says the reason the I-R-S chose Iowa was because of the quality of the workforce.
Schulman says the Iowa workforce drew the IRS Call Center to W. Des Moines.
The facility will provide collection services to businesses and individuals. The new center will bring a total of 200 new jobs to the area by next year.
The IRS maintains 39 call sites across the country. The center is leased through the US General Services Administration.
Des Moines Businesses Brace for Flooding
This weekend’s heavy rains have some businesses in Des Moines preparing for floods. Habitat for Humanity which provides housing for low-income families is having volunteers fill sand bags and load trucks. The Outreach Manager, Jenna Nathan, says about 70 volunteers are helping to protect the Habitat and move materials out.
Habitat for Humanity is setting up a temporary facility. Nathan says she hopes to reopen the office by Friday once the water levels subside.
Habitat is less than a mile away from the Des Moines River. The Army Corps of Engineers says the river will likely peak by Thursday. On 2nd avenue where Habitat is locaed water levels are expected to reach 29 ft, just 2 inches short of its record in 2008.
Media of tomorrow: The marriage of social networking sites and journalism
Martin Nisenholtz discusses how social networking sites are changing the way users access media. This especially interesting in an era where newspapers are forced to change their appeal to the public.
NYT’s Nisenholtz’s Speech: The Importance Of Engagement
This is an issue that anyone in journalism should be paying special attention to.
Propaganda: Is it alive today?
Rachel Maddow appeared in the guest seat with Jon Stewart Wednesday. Although she plugged her special about Timothy McVeigh, the conversation started off with two rules: don’t lie and don’t shoot people.
It seems that the conversation was directed at FOX news network. Most importantly though is the mechanisms that FOX news uses to illustrate their points. To say that there is a liberal conspiracy in the media without properly validating the accusation is negligent. As a researcher who focuses on the mechanisms of propaganda Stewart isn’t far off with his assessment.
Pinpointing the phenomena of propaganda is difficult to narrow. However, according to Nicholas Jackson O”Shaugnessy the success of propaganda relies upon, “the unintelligible without the recognition that the persuasion strategies propagandists espouse are in the main control” (O’Shaughnessy, 2004).
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/270574/wed-april-14-2010-richard-burt
Still one could argue that point FOX management makes: O’Reilly, Glen Beck and Hannity are entertainment shows – not news. However, what shows like this do is transform media audiences into media publics, from this media publics translate their networks of sociability into social capital .
At the current rate of reporting, Hannity, O’Reilly, Beck and others like Olbermann have helped to nail the coffin shut on objectivism in journalism. There is value to the directions of their shows. But the questions remains at what cost?
Grads looking for jobs
Wondering where to apply?
If you are a J-school graduate this spring it would be a good idea to find out what Nielsen markets are hiring.
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/2009-2010-dma-ranks.pdf
Bribery and kickbacks…Oh my
The WSJ is reporting that Russian and German authorities are looking into Hewlett-Packard’s alleged bribe to earn contracts in Russia. This could lead to a separate investigation by the US SEC.
Roland Maldonado 
