The Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) and the law enforcement officers across our state wish everyone a safe Thanksgiving holiday. To ensure safety, please take the time to buckle up, slow down and drive defensively in your travels around the state.

Those who choose to not buckle up or drive aggressively have a higher chance of being stopped by law enforcement. The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, along with local, county, and state law enforcement officers , are once again teaming up through the Special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) during the Thanksgiving holiday to save lives and reduce crashes. Beginning November 24 , 2014 , and running through November 30, 2014, there will be an increased presence of law enforcement officers on Iowa roadways.

Seventy-seven percent of all occupants ejected from a vehicle during a crash are killed. In 2013, Iowa had 317 traffic fatalities with more than 43% of them or 107 not restrained by a seat belt. Randy Hunefeld, sTEP Coordinator with the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, wants you to know that, “Buckling up takes less than three seconds and reduces your chance of becoming a fatality statistic by nearly 50%.” Is it worth it? Hunefeld says, “You can bet your life on it.”

For additional information , go to www.iowagtsb.org or www .nhtsa .dot.gov.

Police in Creston say two residents have reported incidents of theft. Tuesday evening, a resident on Ivy Avenue in Creston, reported that sometime between Sunday and Monday, someone took a 2009 54-inch Toro zero turn mower from her residence. The mower was valued at $2,000.

And, on Nov. 3rd, another Creston resident reported that sometime over the previous day,  someone entered her farm building on Quail Avenue and took several items, including: A 2011 Yamaha Grizzly 450; An EarthQuake post hole digger; A small bottle torch in yellow carrying case; A box winch for truck bed bale stabber; A 110 wire feed welder; A blue 2012 Chicago 5500 13 hp generator; A Central Pneumatic 21 gallon, 2.5 hp, 125 psi air compressor; An Echo SRM 210 weed eater; A Stihl chainsaw;  2 bolt cutters (1 grey, 1 red); A new, black, 2 wheel trailer dolly; A torch head and hoses; A grill propane bottle; A single tree stand; A log chain; Deer antlers, and miscellaneous tools. The loss was estimated at a little more than $11,320.

DES MOINES, Iowa – As Iowa’s population continues to age, also growing is the number of elders being exploited financially, although new protections are in place aim to reverse that trend. The Iowa Uniform Power of Attorney Act officially took effect this summer and today marks the start of a statewide awareness campaign.

Attorney and law professor Josephine Gittler, College of Law, University of Iowa, says the Act adds new protections against those who abuse Power of Attorney authority, and makes it easier for Iowans to set up a POA. “The Act allows a person to name someone to act on his or her behalf with respect to financial matters in the event that as they age they become incapacitated, or as a result of Alzheimer’s or some other dementia,” says Gittler.

Financial exploitation of seniors is the most common type of elder abuse, with about one of six adults over age 65 having been preyed on; research indicates women are twice as likely as men to fall victim. Gittler notes, not having decisions on record about who will be in charge if a person becomes incapacitated likely means the courts would have to make the appointment.

“If one doesn’t have a Power of Attorney, then the only alternative may be establishing a court-ordered conservatorship,” says Gittler. “That takes time, and involves expense and the court rather than the incapacitated person decides who gets to make decisions.”

More information on the new Uniform Power of Attorney Act is available through the AARP of Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law National Health Law and Policy Resource Center.

(Iowa News Service)

DES MOINES, Iowa – After some improvements in the 1990s, the poverty rate for kids in Iowa has been on the rise over the last decade or so, and a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation says a two-generation approach is the best strategy for strengthening those families.

Michael Crawford, director of Iowa Kids Count, said the method includes a focus on high-quality early education for children, while also providing parents with access to job training, career paths and other tools. “The two-generation approach really aims to create opportunities for families by equipping the parents and the kids with the tools they need to thrive,” he said. “That’s the whole idea is, you really can’t look at just the children, you’ve got to look at the parents and the kids both.”

The report on the two-generation approach outlines how the public, nonprofit and private sectors could better coordinate their efforts to reduce poverty among the 10 million low-income families in the United States with young children.

Some specific actions that would help increase the economic opportunity for these families, said Crawford, include an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, along with “increasing and making refundable the Child Tax Credit for low-income families. That’s a way to put some money in the pockets of low-income families, so they can afford day care and helps them with their monthly budgetary needs.”

In Iowa, he said, more than 250,000 children are living in low-income families. The report, “Creating Opportunity for Families: A Two-Generation Approach,” is online at AECF.org.

(Iowa News Service)