Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says he has been following the debate over legalizing medical marijuana in the state.  “My position has always been that it should be driven by the needs of patients and the determination of whether it’s safe and effective for them to use to reduce their pain,” Braley says. “I think this is going to be a continuing conversation that Iowans are going to have, and I think it’s an important one.” Colorado has legalized recreational use of marijuana along with medicinal use. Braley says the recreational use of marijuana would have to be something state lawmakers decide after hearing from Iowans.

“For me, the much more important issue is whether people who have chronic pain, and serious debilitating diseases are in need of access to something in the form of medical marijuana when other pain medications are not effective for them,” according to Braley. “And there’s been a lot of news coverage about families — including children — who are using this in the medicinal form, because it is the only thing that they can tolerate to address their severe chronic pain.” Braley is running for the U-S Senate. He was asked about the federal government’s decision to not stop the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado, even though it is a controlled drug.

“It think it’s a lot more complicated than that. I mean, it gets down to that whole relationship between the federal government and states’ abilities to decide what kind of laws apply to the public welfare of their citizens,” Braley says. Braley says the decision to not enforce the drug laws in the case of marijuana is something the Obama Administration made based on the situation and would not cover every case.

“I think that’s a decision that would have to be made on an ongoing basis. I think that most American citizens expect federal laws to be enforced. When they come into conflict with state laws, then the state and federal government have to come to some sort of reasonable accommodation with the Constitution, and I think that’s what’s happening now,” Braley says. Braley did not answer a question about whether he agrees with President Obama’s statement that marijuana is no more dangerous a drug than alcohol.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa College Student Aid Commission (Iowa College Aid) wants students and families to be aware of major changes coming to the 2016 SAT, a standardized college admissions exam that assesses critical reading, math and writing skills needed to be successful in college. College Board, the owner and developer of the SAT, recently announced that a redesign of the SAT (https://sat.collegeboard.org/register/sat-subject-test-dates) will involve many changes to the exam. According to College Board, “The redesigned SAT will focus on the knowledge and skills that current research shows are most essential for college and career readiness and success.”

Some of the changes scheduled to take place beginning in 2016, include:

· The writing portion of the test will now be optional.

· The length of time to take the test will be reduced to three hours, with additional time allotted for students taking the optional essay portion.

· The writing portion will now require test takers to respond to a passage of writing as opposed to responding to a statement using their experiences.

· The reading section will center on source citations. Students will need to support their answers using evidence from readings.

· Obscure vocabulary words will replaced with those more widely used in college and the work place.

· Scores will now be based on a scale of 1600, rather than 2,400.

· Algebra, problem solving and data analysis will be the new focus in the mathematics section.

· The math section will no longer allow calculators to be used on every portion.

· In the multiple-choice section, points will no longer be lost for wrong answers.

· Writing passages from significant moments in American history and science will be used in different sections.

· For income-eligible students, application fee waivers will be available for up to four colleges.

· Digital and print versions of the test will be offered.

“Some of the changes to the SAT, ending the penalty for guessing incorrectly, eliminating obscure vocabulary words and making the essay optional, are being done to better realign the exam with schoolwork,” stated Karen Misjak, executive director for Iowa College Aid. “Keep in mind that these changes won’t take effect until 2016. The free test prep program available through Iowa’s state-designed career and information planning system, I Have A Plan Iowa®, will help students prepare now for the SAT, ACT or GRE.”

For more information on the changes to the SAT, visit www.collegeboard.org. In addition, more information to help Iowa families plan, prepare and pay for college is available on Iowa College Aid’s website, www.IowaCollegeAid.gov.

An Atlantic man was arrested Wednesday on two Cass County warrants for Failure to Serve Jail Time. According to Atlantic Police, 30-year old Cody Hanson was brought to the Cass County Jail and held without bond. The warrants — issued on March 3rd — are associated with incidents of assault which occurred in Oct. and June of 2013.