(Radio Iowa) — Representatives of the Obama Foundation have been in Iowa this week, looking for artifacts from Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns in Iowa. Sam Michel  is a spokesman for the foundation. “Obviously Iowa in 2008 played a huge role in the Obama campaign,” he says, “and as the museum team was designing the Obama Presidential Center they wanted to highlight the role of Iowa, the role of the people who were volunteering and working on the Obama campaign in telling the story of President and Mrs. Obama.”

Earlier this week, the foundation hosted events in Mason City and North Liberty for Obama campaign volunteers to share their stories — and their memorabilia.”Yard signs, campaign pamphlets, photos as well as things that are personal memento’s to people who worked on the campaigns, things that mean a lot to them,” Michel says, “things that help explain why they decided to work for then-Senator Obama.” There’s an event tonight (Friday) in Des Moines for more story telling and memorabilia sharing. “Right now, we’re just trying to get a good understanding of what all is out there,” Michel says. “We’ll catalog it this week, we’ll record it and then go back to Chicago, figure out what we want to display in the Presidential Center Museum and go from there.”

Tonight’s Obama Foundation meeting will be held at the headquarters of the Isiserettes, a drill and drum corps made up of Des Moines kids. In November of 2007, the group led Obama, his wife and Obama supporters on a march up a Des Moines street to the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual fall fundraiser. The Obama Presidential Center Museum is still being designed and Michel says they hope to break ground within the next year or so.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Watch the Atlantic Homecoming Coronation and Parade today on KJAN TV.  The coronation at the school begins at 12:00 pm and the parade begins at 2:30 pm.

(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa State University researcher says the idea that striking a “power pose” in the mirror can boost your confidence, abilities and testosterone levels is complete bunk. The idea of power posing gained popularity after a study came out about a decade ago, but I-S-U psychology professor Marcus Crede says there’s no scientific evidence it really works. Just what is a power pose? “The most common example is standing like Wonder Woman, your hands on your hips, upright,” Crede says. “Some people extend their arms up in the air. It’s a pose associated with powerful people. You’re taking up lots of space, you’re standing very tall and upright.”

Crede says there’s not a single study to support claims power posing is effective, while the original 2010 report made numerous claims. “One was that it would make you feel more powerful,” Crede says. “The second one was that it would make you more willing to take risks, which in many business settings is important, you know, you put yourself out there. It also claimed it would increase your testosterone levels and lower your cortisol levels, and cortisol levels are associated with stress.”

The original study has drawn criticism as the results couldn’t be replicated, but a follow-up study in 2018 presented an updated analysis of the research. Crede says from all the studies he’s reviewed — some three-dozen of them — power posing just doesn’t work. “Some people say before you go for a job interview or give that big presentation at work, go to the bathroom and power pose for a couple of minutes,” Crede says. “There’s nothing wrong with that and I don’t think it’s going to hurt you, but don’t think that you can substitute good preparation for an interview or a presentation with simply power posing for a minute or two.”

Power posing is the subject of a TED Talk which is reportedly the second-most viewed TED Talk on YouTube, with some 70-million views. There’s also a book on power posing that was a New York Times bestseller. “A lot of people have been exposed to this and there’s a huge industry on power posing where the main proponent goes around the country giving talks at $100,000 a pop telling people to power pose,” Crede says. “There’s simply no evidence for this. To me, that’s somewhat troubling that so many people have been sold this idea that really has no scientific basis.”

Crede compares power posing to a drug being sold to the public without a single study ever having been able to show the drug works better than a placebo — or better than doing nothing.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says three people face burglary charges following an incident in Corning Thursday. Deputies were called to a burglary in progress around 5:40 p.m. in the 2000 block of Quincy Street in Corning. Following an investigation, 48-year-old Fred William Ehrman, of Des Moines, 64-year-old Stanley Wayne Roberts, of Corning, and 47-year-old Michelle Lyn Paradise, of Des Moines, were arrested for second-degree burglary.

Two Polk County residents were arrested Thursday evening following a traffic stop in Adams County. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports deputies conducted a traffic stop around 4:30 p.m. near 9th and Quincy streets in Corning. The driver, 42-year-old Lamont Arthur Mitchell, of Des Moines, was arrested for of driving while barred. His passenger, 42-year-old Tracy Lehmann, also of Des Moines, was arrested on an Adair County warrant for third-degree burglary.

Authorities also say they located used hypodermic needles in the vehicle and charged both individuals with possession of drug paraphernalia. Both suspects are being held at the Adams County Jail.

DENVER (AP) — A pair of Republican senators won’t say if the president can ask another country to investigate a political foe. Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Cory Gardner of Colorado wouldn’t answer that question Thursday in light of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Trump last week insisted he had the right to ask Ukraine and China to investigate his possible Democratic opponent next year, former vice president Joe Biden.

Ernst and Gardner are both up for re-election next year in competitive states. Their approach mirrored that of Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, also a top Democratic target next year. McSally on Monday wouldn’t address the appropriateness of Trump’s requests for help from overseas. Some other Republican senators who don’t face voters next year have said it was inappropriate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a man who was shot to death on the north side of Des Moines. Police identified the man as 23-year-old Rashid Mohamed Ibrahim, who lived in Des Moines. Ibrahim was found around 1:30 p.m. Thursday by officers sent to investigate reports of a shooting. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
No arrests had been reported. Police say the shooting death is the city’s 13th homicide this year.

(Iowa News Service) — The Trump administration has approved a new regulation allowing states to include drug testing as a condition for anyone receiving unemployment benefits. Generally, workers can collect unemployment if they’ve lost their jobs by no fault of their own and meet other eligibility criteria. Michele Evermore with the National Employment Law Project points out that the low unemployment rate means businesses already are paying less in unemployment benefits. She calls the regulation “an expensive solution in search of a problem.”

“I think at the end of the day what this rule is about is just making it harder to get benefits, and it’s a not-so-subtle attack on the character of unemployed workers – who, by definition, are involuntarily unemployed.”

Evermore adds if the economy cools down in states that implement drug testing, local business could suffer, because every dollar spent during the height of a recession generates one-dollar-and-60 cents in economic activity. Iowa is one of eight states that doesn’t require a waiting period for unemployed workers to qualify for benefits, although legislation was introduced last session to try to overturn that.

With more states decriminalizing marijuana, opponents of the new regulation fear fewer workers may apply for jobs that require drug screening. Evermore says states that adopt the drug-testing requirement could create unnecessary hurdles for people who’ve lost their jobs. “I don’t really get the sense that people are that overly concerned that somebody might have some marijuana and then get an unemployment check. I honestly don’t think that that’s a public-interest concern that very many people share.”

Iowa’s attempt to make workers wait to collect unemployment was one of nearly 170 laws introduced in multiple states this year to alter unemployment benefits. The new regulation comes at a time when more Iowans than ever are working: the state’s unemployment rate of two-point-five percent is among the lowest in the nation. Mississippi, Texas and Wisconsin had enacted drug-testing laws that were put on hold while the regulation was pending.