A new survey on the gender wage gap finds Iowa is right at the national average of women earning 77-cents for every dollar earned by men. That ranks Iowa 31st among the 50 states. Kate Gallagher Robbins, senior policy analyst with the National Women’s Law Center, says the gap is much wider for minority women in Iowa. Gallagher Robbins says, “When we look at the gap for race and ethnicity, we compare women of color to white non-Hispanic men and for those groups, in Iowa, black women are making about 60% of what white men are earning, while Hispanic women are making about 56%, so it’s fairly striking economic disparities there.”

This June will mark 50 years since President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, yet little progress has been made in narrowing the wage gap. She says some businesses have restrictive policies that make it easy to keep salary data under wraps. “Basically, if you tried to discuss your salary with anyone, you could be punished, and in fact, that’s true in many states across the country,” Gallagher Robbins says. “You can be punished for discussing your salary. That business practice is not illegal and it makes it very difficult for women to know that they even are being underpaid.”

Last week, April 9th, marked Equal Pay Day. That’s the day in 2013 that women have to work through in order to make what men made in all of 2012. “If women are earning nationally 23% less than what men are earning, they have quite a ways to go into the following year to try and make up that amount of money,” Gallagher Robbins says. “What that translates to in actual earnings is about $11,000 nationally.”

While women in Iowa and nationwide make 77-cents to every dollar made by men, the worst state on the list was Wyoming, where the rate was 66-cents. The list was topped by Washington D-C where women make 90-cents to every man’s dollar.

(Radio Iowa)

The Shelby County Public Health Department in conjunction with the Harrison, Cass, Crawford, Monona and Shelby (HCCMS) Family Planning will be holding a “Get Yourself Tested” event today (April 18th), in Harlan. The GYT event allows men and women to be tested for the sexually transmitted diseases of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea,  through painless and private screenings. In addition, a counselor from the Iowa Department of Public Health will be present to counsel people about HIV, and will offer HIV testing to those at risk.

Public health officials say half of all sexually active people will get a STD by the age of 25 and most will not know it. Most infections are preventable. The CDC recommends yearly Chlamydia screening for sexually active women under the age of 26. Screening and treatment of infections is important, since many STD’s often have no signs or symptoms. The only way to find out if you are infected is to Get Yourself Tested.

GYT events are held every April all over the nation as April is Sexually Transmitted Infection Awareness Month. The idea is raise awareness about the impact of STD’s and to encourage people to discuss their sexual health with their partners and healthcare providers. The Shelby County Public Health GYT event will be held at no charge, from 1- to 5-pm today, at the Public Health Office at 2712 12th Street in Harlan. Appointments are encouraged but not required. For more information, or to make an appointment, call Rachel Birks at Myrtue Medical Center’s HCCMS Family Planning Clinic at 712-755-4312.

The City of Atlantic recently received another “Tree City USA” Award. The event was held a couple of weeks ago. Dolly Bergman, a volunteer with Trees Forever,” told the Atlantic City Council during their meeting Wednesday evening, that the award recognizes the City for the work its employees and Trees Forever volunteers do, with regard to tree planting and care. Bergman said there are four standards the City must meet in order to qualify for the “Tree City USA” award: There must be a “Trees Board” – which in Atlantic, is the Trees Forever group, a tree care ordinance is in place, a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day observation and proclamation.

Bergman says the hardest part is coming up with a budget to meet the $2 per capita requirement. She says if it wasn’t for money the Trees Forever spends in the community, “Atlantic wouldn’t make it,” because of what is in the budget for tree maintenance, new trees, on so on. According to Bergman, in 2012, between the Parks Department and Trees Forever, $15, 668 was spent on tree planting and maintenance, which when added with the $2 per capita for Atlantic’s population of 7,112, allowed the City to just barely qualify for the award.

A new Tree City USA flag will be placed in the City Park, to replace last year’s flag. Bergman says 2013 marks the 18^th year Atlantic has become a Tree City USA community. Bergman said the City Council and residents should be proud of the award, which is usually presented on the first Tuesday of April, each year. She said in Iowa, there were only 89 communities that qualified for the award for the past year.

In other business, Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones announced the City has some new Police Reserve Officers. He said the volunteers were sworn in last week, and if residents see them on duty, they should offer a “Thank you,” for the service they provide. And, John Lund, Assistant to City Administrator Doug Harris, reported the restrooms at both the City and Sunnyside Parks are now open for the season. Lund said also, that letters will be sent out within the next few weeks to property owners, with regard to the City’s Minimum Maintenance Code, for those properties which are an eyesore and in need of sprucing up. The Code requires property owners to keep structures in reasonably good repair.