Puntos destacados de la investigación: Mientras más joven comience a fumar, es más probable que fume diariamente cuando sea adulto y es menos probable que haya dejado el hábito a los 40 años, según un estudio internacional que incluye a EE. UU. Los ...

DALLAS, 8 de abril del 2020— El impacto mundial del COVID-19 continúa aumentando y, cada día, la comunidad científica aprende más sobre el efecto y la interacción de las enfermedades cardiovasculares con el COVID-19. Juntos, la American Heart Association...

DALLAS, 22 de abril de 2020 — Informes de las líneas del frente de los hospitales indican que la cantidad de ataques del corazón y ataques cerebrales a nivel nacional ha caído en forma precipitosa. Sin embargo, es claro que COVID-19 no hace que las ...

Statements Highlights: Adverse social factors, such as insurance status, food insecurity, lack of funds for medication and others, may lead to worse heart failure outcomes. Caregiving by family and friends of people with heart failure is increasingly...

Statement Highlights: Women with cardiovascular disease should receive pre-pregnancy counseling and be monitored during and after pregnancy by either a cardio-obstetrics team or a multidisciplinary team of health care providers with experience in...

AHA COVID-19 newsroom     DALLAS, May 4, 2020 — The American Heart Association, together with 14 cardiovascular societies in North America, today issued joint guidance, “Safe Reintroduction of Cardiovascular Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic:...

Research Highlights: Mechanical clot removal alone may be as effective as combining it with intravenous (IV) clot-busting medications for stroke patients.    Mechanical clot removal alone reduced the risk of brain bleeding in this Japanese...

Waiting more than a decade after menopause to start estradiol...

Research Highlights: The PCORnet Blood Pressure Control Laboratory, a new collaborative partnership, analyzed electronic health record data from nearly 1.5 million patients including almost 6 million ambulatory visits with blood pressure measures. ...

Research Highlights: A genetic risk score from a blood test identified more men age 50 and older who are at higher risk of an aortic aneurysm and could benefit from ultrasound screening. Weakness and bulging in the wall of the aorta, the major blood ...

From warriors to "butterflies on wheels," Vietnamese women have inspired generations.

Matt Freitas, nurse practitioner, treats people with mental illness, including his daughter, who has schizophrenia. The number of patients seeking treatment for mental illness has tripled over the past three years, Freitas says. Photography, audio and production by Lauren M. Whaley, CHCF Center for Health Reporting.

Joyce Plis directs the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Modesto, California. She's a hero to sick people who have nowhere else to turn. Her son Eric, 46, has schizophrenia. Photography, audio and production by Lauren M. Whaley/CHCF Center for Health Reporting.

Everyone pictured in this 12-person photo gallery has a mental illness. They live in this community. A daughter. An uncle. A sister. A friend. A neighbor. A co-worker. They are us. Photography by Lauren M. Whaley/CHCF Center for Health Reporting.

DALLAS, April 3, 2020 — With the COVID-19 pandemic, more patients are having difficulty breathing and requiring ventilators to help them breathe. As hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) volumes increase with COVID-19 patients, health care ...

Botones para compartir de AddThis Compartir en Facebook Compartir en Twitter Compartir por correo electrónico Compartir para imprimir DALLAS, 20 de abril del 2020 — Debido a que la pandemia del coronavirus (COVID-19) ha cambiado las...

Some might tell you the only way to manage your association is through a “one size fits all” Association Management System like NOAH. While these tools have their place, they are not the best solution in all situations. In this article, we’ll discuss benefits towards assembling a custom Association Management System using open source tools […]

The post Alternatives to NOAH AMS (Association Management System) appeared first on Psychology of Web Design | 3.7 Blog.

Your logo could easily be the most memorable component of your WordPress website—or any other form of publicity, for that matter. However, it’s imperative that your logo reflects the fundamentals of modern logo design. WordPress’s own logo, which is placed very subtly in a corner on most websites using the platform, has such a clean design that it’s hard not to notice. Yours can be like this too. In this brief article, we’ll discuss three fundamental tips or techniques for designing the best possible logo for your WordPress website. Modern Logo Design Tips Most businesses have logos, and if they

The post 3 Elements of Good Logo Design for Your WordPress Website appeared first on Photoshop Lady.

Cara Menang Terus Main Domino Terpercaya Domino QQ Terpercaya – Inilah tingkatan kartu terbagus di dalam permainan live poker, contohnya 10, J, Q, K, AS yang berlambang keriting seluruhnya. Kamu bisa melakukan raise pada saat mempunyai kartu bagus agar mendapatkan keuntungan besar di dalam permainan tersebut. Setelah anda mendapatkan tiga kartu domino tersebut. Anda diharuskan […]

The post Cara Menang Terus Main Domino QQ Terpercaya appeared first on Themegalaxy.

It's a relatively simple process to add some flair to your blog comments these days. I want to look at 6 of the best free tools and give you a quick overview of the benefits of each. Let's start with one you've likely heard of before...

The following is a guest post by Andy Walpole. There are many parts of the Wordpress API which are fantastic but there are also other parts which, I would argue, are lacking. The Settings API was introduced in version 2.7 to allow the semi-automation of form creation. All credible Content Management Systems and frameworks have their own set of functions or classes for the same purpose. Drupal has a multitude of hooks which can be leveraged, while CodeIgniter uses a combination of the Form Validation Class and the Form Helper . When creating a Wordpress plugin recently I wanted to create a dynamic form to insert data into a field in the option database table. I decided to create a class for this purpose with the intention of creating reusable code for future projects.

WooCommerce 4.0 is here! Read all about the new, streamlined dashboard, time-saving store management tools, and enhanced reporting and analytics.

The post WooCommerce 4.0: Better, More Efficient Store Management appeared first on WooCommerce.

IOWA CITY — Investigators on Wednesday arrested a long-haul trucker from Iowa who they say is linked by DNA evidence to the killings of three women whose bodies were dumped in Wyoming and...

“I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”...

Nearly 327,000 Iowans have taken an assessment to see if they are eligible to be checked for COVID-19 under the Test Iowa Initiative. Another free drive-though site for those who have taken the...

Nearly 25,000 more Iowans filed unemployment claims in the past week, Iowa Workforce Development reported Thursday. Continuing weekly unemployment claims total 181,358, the department reported. Iowa...

Thanks to enough people following guidelines on social distancing and avoiding large gatherings, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday the state is able to shift its COVID-19 focus from mitigation...

Immigrants have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 pandemic. They’re more likely than native-born Americans to be laboring to keep our essential services running, especially in the...

DES MOINES — The Iowa Supreme Court has asked a group of criminal and civil lawyers, judges and court staff from judicial districts across the state to make recommendations on how criminal and...

Iowa State University graduates who celebrated commencement Friday saw lots of caps and gowns, red-and-gold confetti and arenas packed with friends and family. But none of those images were from...

Watch my video and see what a decentralized WordPress environment might look like. Almost everything we rely on to operate online is a centralized platform. WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, you name it—they’re all gigantic, centralized platforms. Ok, sure, but why does that matter? It matters because the bigger centralized platforms get, the less freedom users […]

Watch my video about the incremental approach—the cheapest, smartest, and easiest way to build a website (and a business!) One thing that’s always annoyed me about contract web design and development is this idea that you can actually pay for a finished product to be delivered within a particular time frame. Nothing actually works this […]

The Joe Rogan podcast with Elon Musk was one of the most important events of 2018, and no—I’m not being hyperbolic. If you thought this interview was all about Elon hitting a spliff, you…may have been misled slightly. In reality, Elon helps us peek behind the curtain to get a glimpse of the future: Can […]

It’s simple—I don’t like recurring payments. And I don’t know about you, but with most recurring payments, I feel anxiety around this need to “get my money’s worth.” In other words, I often feel like I under-utilize the product and thus overpay to some extent. So why do I sell my software under a recurring […]

I am a longtime resident of Johnson County, currently in my 25th year of law enforcement. I worked for the Coralville Police Department in the late 1990’s and transferred to the Cedar Rapids Police Department in 1999 where I am a sergeant of the patrol division. I have degrees in criminal justice and organizational leadership and have advanced leadership training from Northwestern University in the School of Police Staff and Command.

Working in the second-largest city in the state has offered me many opportunities to lead. I have taught in the police academy and defensive tactics and as a field training instructor. I was the director of the Eastern Iowa Heroin Initiative, where I founded CRUSH of Iowa (Community Resources United to Stop Heroin). CRUSH is a community-based, grassroots organization helping all those affected by substance abuse disorder.

My passion has been community outreach. Currently I am a member of the Johnson County Human Trafficking Coalition and the Johnson County Prevention Partnership. Through these partnerships I will create a criminal interdiction team to fight the trafficking of humans, weapons and narcotics.

As sheriff, my top three concerns are substance abuse, mental health and human trafficking. I believe in creating long-lasting relationships with the community. I believe in common sense solutions without the haze of political bias. I believe that every citizen has a voice and should be heard. I believe in building a proactive and progressive law enforcement agency that serves with professionalism, compassion and dedication to the citizens. I believe we need to place the community back into community policing.

I am ready to be sheriff of Johnson County. I am a proven leader who is determined to build bridges with the citizens of the county and lead with accountability, trust and transparency. I will fight for all of Johnson County as sheriff because I have done so all of my life. This election is not just about me, it is about us. We, together, will make a positive impact on Johnson County. The status quo is not working. It’s time for change!

I would love to have your vote on June 2. We work better when we work together. People before politics!

Al Fear is a candidate in the Democratic primary for Johnson County sheriff. alfearforsheriff.com

I have been a Johnson County resident since 1977. I grew up in Clear Lake, a small farming community in North Central Iowa. I came to Iowa City after being recruited by Dan Gable to wrestle for the University of Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team and placed 3rd place in the 1980 NCAA Division I.

I met my wife Teresa and we settled in Iowa City. I have two children, Melissa, 36, and Anthony, 25; and grandchildren Emma, 9, Ellie and Emilia, 4-month-old twin girls, and Jack, who passed two just before his 2nd birthday. I am a cancer survivor and support cancer research and patient support.

I was a maintenance supervisor at the old Cantebury Inn, I owned and operated Advance Property Management for 23 years and drove a school bus for First Student, Inc. While working at First Student I was one of the driving forces in the campaign for the workers to unionize with the Teamsters. I was asked to join the Teamsters as a full-time organizer after the campaign, which I did for 13 years. I found my calling as an organizer because I was able to help others stand up for themselves and really change their lives.

I made the decision to run for Johnson County supervisor because we need to bring some common sense back to Johnson County government, and run a smarter government that works for all. The supervisors need to oversee the county departments better to stop wasting county funds paying settlements to individuals because of illegal action by department employees. Rules are for everyone and if you work outside the rules there will be costs and consequences.

I want to bring new blood to the board as well as new ideas. County supervisor is a public service position of honor and trust. Being a supervisor is about following through on jobs you were elected to do for the people. The supervisors need to finish jobs that they started but never completed. You should never leave a job half done!

I hope the voters agree the Johnson County Board of Supervisors need to answer to the public for their actions and their employees. We can no long just “sweep issues under the rug.”

Dean Phinney is a candidate in the Democratic primary for Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

Serving as state representative of House District 85 for the past few years has been a privilege and an honor. I have worked hard to stand for the people of my district fighting for issues that are important to them and to the voters of Iowa City. I want to continue that advocacy and am running for another term in the Iowa House and ask for your vote.

I vigorously support adequate funding for education from pre-school to our community colleges and universities. Our young people are Iowa’s future and deserve the best start available through our excellent education system in Iowa. But we need to provide the dollars necessary to keep our teachers in the classroom so our children are prepared for whatever may lie ahead of them.

I have advocated for the fair treatment of workers in Iowa and support their right to organize. I have worked on laws for equal pay for equal work and whistle blower protection.

I am for essential funding for mental health services for Iowans of all ages. Children and adults who are struggling with mental health issues should have services available to them no matter where they live in this state.

I have fought to keep government open and accessible to Iowans. I support open records and open meetings laws to ensure that availability and transparency to all Iowans.

Keeping voting easy and accessible to voters has been a priority of mine. I support a fair and balanced redistricting system for voting in Iowa.

I have advocated to keep the bottle deposit law in place and expand it to cover the many new types of containers available.

I have worked on oversight legislation after several investigations into defrauding government which involved boarding homes, government agencies and pharmacy benefit managers (the “middleman” between pharmacies/Medicaid and the healthcare insurance companies.)

I cannot avoid mentioning the challenge of the coronavirus in Iowa. It has impacted our health, jobs, families and businesses. No one could have predicted this pandemic but as Iowans, we need to do our best to limit contact and the spread of this disease. My sincere appreciation goes to those workers on the frontlines of this crisis: the healthcare workers, store owners, businesses, farmers, teachers and workers who show up every day to keep this state moving forward. Thank you all!

There is still much work to be done to keep Iowa the great place where we live, work and raise our families. I am asking for your vote to allow me the privilege of continuing that work.

Vicki Lensing is a candidate in the Democratic primary for Iowa House District 85.

Immigrants have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 pandemic. They’re more likely than native-born Americans to be laboring to keep our essential services running, especially in the food processing sector that has been ravaged by the pandemic.

And yet immigrants living here illegally — including many food industry workers, their family members and people who have been living here since they were children — do not get the same coronavirus relief that legal citizens do, such as the $1,200 federal payment millions of Americans are receiving.

To remedy the situation, Iowa could coordinate direct cash payments to undocumented immigrants who were left out of the federal program. California announced such a program last month, offering $500 payments to thousands of undocumented Californians.

The public health crisis is tightly bound to the immigration crisis. It has exposed disparities in the workforce and also given rise to protectionists who want to restrict migration.

Iowa’s meat processing industry has been slammed by the virus, with at least one plant in Iowa reporting more than half of its workers have tested positive. Those production lines are heavily populated by immigrants. Well over 1,000 combined cases have been reported at four major packing facilities.

Nationally, 28 percent of agriculture workers and 29 percent of food processing workers are foreign-born, according to the pro-immigration New American Economy Research Fund.

Most immigrant workers have legal status, but many don’t. Some of those who are legal have family members who are undocumented. An influx of cash would help bring some stability to struggling families so they can weather the crisis.

At the same time we are asking essential workers to risk their health to sustain us, the anti-immigration lobby has used the pandemic as an opportunity to ramp up their campaign to cut off the flow of workers across borders. As one recent example, four GOP senators — including Iowa’s Sen. Chuck Grassley — sent a letter this week to the Trump administration, asking for guest worker visas to be suspended until next year.

In the pandemic, the idea of giving people money quickly gained political support. Direct payments are not mucked up by the corporate cronyism that plagues traditional economic development, a la checks to companies and targeted tax breaks. When politicians and bureaucrats pick certain businesses to stimulate, they do a bad job.

As long as the government is doing stimulus, the best avenue is writing checks to individuals. People need to buy stuff and as long as the economy limps on, they can buy stuff with money. Immigrants are people, even if they came here illegally. They are also workers, caretakers and taxpayers.

Direct payments would not be a special kickback or a reward for people living in the country illegally. It would be just like the $1,200 direct deposit I got from the government. It comes with a recognition that they are the same as us, important contributors of our culture and economy who are victims of an unworkable legal system.

If the federal government won’t do it, Iowa should.

adam.sullivan@thegazette.com; (319) 339-3156

One in five people will have some kind of mental illness in their lifetime. Yet despite how common these conditions are — as common as silver cars, and more common than being left-handed — stigma remains the greatest barrier to individuals seeking help regarding their mental illness.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This serves as a great opportunity for our community to begin eliminating stigma by starting conversations and increasing understanding about mental illness.

Now, more than ever before, it is important to talk about mental illness. Many of us could be feeling increased anxiety, stress and feelings of isolation due to the COVID-19 outbreak and social distancing requirements. For those Iowans who already live with a mental illness, this pandemic could be causing symptoms to compound.

A recent study released by a team at Iowa State University states that increased unemployment and social isolation measures related to COVID-19 could result in an increase in suicide rates of close to 50,000 individuals.

Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, there still is help available: Telehealth services during this crisis is critical. Our state leaders, Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen and Gov. Kim Reynolds responded immediately by encouraging health providers, insurers and businesses to work together to remove barriers and ensure telehealth is accessible.

Your Life Iowa, a state-operated service, offers referrals for problems related to alcohol, drugs, gambling, mental health or suicidal thoughts and can be contacted by phone, text or online chat 24/7.

Between March 1 and April 19, Your Life Iowa received nearly 500 contacts related to COVID-19 and traffic on the website — YourLifeIowa.org — is up 27 percent. Crisis lines and mental health counselors around the state and country are also reporting an uptick in patients reaching out for resources or virtual counseling. This is important progress.

However, the greatest barrier for those in need of mental health services is stigma.

If you know someone who is struggling, be a voice of support. The silence around mental illness is preventing our fellow Iowans — our friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members — from feeling better. By breaking down the stigma around mental illness, we can help them access the resources and treatment they deserve.

If someone opened up to you about their mental illness, would you know what to say? Do you have a general understanding of the most common mental illnesses? Do you know how to support loved ones dealing with mental illness? There are free resources available at MakeItOK.org/Iowa to learn more.

You can also read stories of Iowans who live with mental illness, take a pledge to end mental illness stigma and learn more about how you can get more involved with Make It OK through ambassador trainings, upcoming events and workplace programming.

Together, we can end the stigma and Make It OK.

Jami Haberl, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative; Lori Weih, UnityPoint Health — St. Luke’s Hospital; Tricia Kitzmann, Linn County Public Health and Mona McCalley-Whitters, Ph.D., NAMI Linn County.

“Je n’ai pas de sœur, c’est peut-être pour ça que je la cherche dans chaque femme” confie Maria Clara Macrì dans les pages de son livre 13 Moons to Find Her, qui devrait être publié prochainement. Cette quête de sororité s’est réalisée au travers d’une série de portraits (un projet au départ intitulé In Her Rooms) pour laquelle la photographe italienne a rencontré […]

Ricardo Sousa, who writes for Smashing Magazine created a great plugin called Twittar. This plugin will use someones Twitter Gravatar if their email address is not connected with a Gravatar. For more info check out the full post at Twitter Avatars in Comments: A WordPress plugin Image credit: Ricardo Sousa

The post Twitter avatars inside your WordPress comments appeared first on WPCult.

Here is a nifty trick for your comments.php template. If someone comes to your site and leaves a comment but doesn’t leave a url back to there site, the default link that is shown in place of the php code comment_author_url is the current page link. That might not look good. So, here is a […]

The post Display custom url if comment authors url is blank appeared first on WPCult.

IOWA CITY — Investigators on Wednesday arrested a long-haul trucker from Iowa who they say is linked by DNA evidence to the killings of three women whose bodies were dumped in Wyoming and Tennessee in the early 1990s.

Police arrested Clark Perry Baldwin, 58, at his home in Waterloo, Iowa, on murder charges filed in Wyoming and Tennessee in the deaths of the women, including two who were pregnant. Investigators said they were looking into whether Baldwin could be responsible for other unsolved slayings.

Baldwin was arrested after investigators used semen and other material recovered from the victims to develop DNA profiles of their perpetrators, according to court documents in Wyoming. Last year, they learned that the same profile matched all three cases.

Investigators zeroed in on Baldwin after finding DNA in commercial genealogy databases of someone related to the suspect’s profile, court documents say. Last month in Waterloo, the FBI secretly collected DNA from Baldwin’s trash and a shopping cart he used at Walmart and it matched the profile.

In Wyoming, Baldwin is charged in the deaths of two unidentified women whose bodies were found in 1992 roughly 400 miles apart.

A female trucker discovered the nude body of the first victim in March 1992 near the Bitter Creek Truck turnout on Interstate 80 in southwestern Wyoming. An autopsy determined the woman suffered head trauma consistent with strangulation and her body had likely been in the snow for weeks.

A month later, Wyoming Department of Transportation workers found the partially mummified body of a pregnant woman in a ditch off of Interstate 90, near Sheridan in northern Wyoming.

An autopsy didn’t determine the cause of death but found the victim had an injury potentially consistent with suffering a blow to the head.

Investigators never identified the women and referred to them as “Bitter Creek Betty” and “I-90 Jane Doe.” Both were believed to be in their late teens or early 20s, Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Cmdr. Matt Waldock said.

In Tennessee, Baldwin is charged with two counts of murder in the 1991 killing of a 32-year-old pregnant woman from Virginia, Pamela McCall, and her fetus.

McCall was found in woods off Interstate 65 in Spring Hill, Tenn., in March 1991. An autopsy determined McCall had neck injuries and died of strangulation. Sperm was recovered from pantyhose worn by McCall, who was last seen at a Tennessee truck stop days earlier.

Court documents say that Baldwin allegedly raped a female hitchhiker in Wheeler County, Texas, at gunpoint in his truck in 1991. The 21-year-old woman told police that Baldwin struck her on the head, bound her hands and mouth and tried to choke her to death. He allegedly admitted to the assault but was released pending grand jury proceedings. Court documents do not indicate whether he was charged or prosecuted.

Baldwin, who has previously lived in Nashua, Iowa, and Springfield, Mo., was a cross-country truck driver for Marten Transport at the time.

Baldwin’s name also surfaced during a 1992 homicide investigation in Iowa. His ex-wife told police then that Baldwin once bragged about “killing a girl out west by strangulation and throwing her out of his truck,” court documents say.

Waldock said investigators were “hopeful” to solve other cases with Baldwin’s arrest.

One case of interest is the 1992 death of Tammy Jo Zywicki, 21, an Iowa college student who was last seen after her car broke down on an Illinois highway. A white man who was driving a semi-trailer was seen near her vehicle. Zywicki’s body was found in rural Missouri, stabbed to death.

Another is the 1992 killing of Rhonda Knutson, 22, a truck stop convenience store clerk in northern Iowa who was bludgeoned to death during an overnight shift. Investigators have released sketches of two men who were in the store, including one trucker. Baldwin lived in nearby Nashua then.

In 1997, Secret Service agents raided Baldwin’s apartment in Springfield, Mo., after learning he was making counterfeit U.S. currency on a personal computer. He and two female associates were indicted on counterfeiting charges. Baldwin was sentenced to 18 months in prison and released in 1999.

In 2008, a fire destroyed a Nashua building where Baldwin operated a candle business and damaged two adjacent buildings, including one that housed the town’s newspaper. The cause of the fire was never determined.

Baldwin is being held at the Black Hawk County jail pending extradition to Tennessee.

The charges stunned Jazz Baldwin, 32, of New Hampton, Iowa, who said she learned two years ago that Baldwin was her father after he purchased a DNA test kit. The two had been in contact over Facebook since then, she said.

“I heard rumors about his ‘possible crimes’ but always thought they were bogus,” she wrote in a Facebook message. “Murder was NOT on the list of things we thought he had done and gotten away with.”

“I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.” — 4-H pledge

The Johnson County 4-H program is living up to these words, teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County to assemble Camp-in-a-Bag kits for the youngest “Littles” enrolled in the BBBS mentoring program.

Big Brothers Big Sisters creates one-on-one opportunities between adult volunteer mentors and at-risk youths ages 6 to 18. Known as “Bigs” and “Littles,” they meet for at least six hours a month for 18 months. But those in-person outings to movies, museums, restaurants, recreational activities and new adventures, as well as monthly events and school-based programs organized by the agency, are on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So the kits became an outreach outlet.

“I was thinking about ways that we would be able to connect with our Littles, to let them know that we’re thinking about them,” said Dina Bishara, program specialist for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County. “And also in a very small way, to try to fill that gap that so many kids are experiencing right now. They’re used to the structure and activity of school and extracurricular activities and playing with friends.”

The bags contain more than six hours of STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — activities, from the pieces needed for building gliders and balloon flyers, to conducting scientific experiments, planting seeds, choosing healthy snacks and writing down their thoughts.

Those activities also reflect the other contributing partners: Johnson County Master Gardeners, Johnson County Extension and Outreach’s Pick a Better Snack program, O’Brien Family McDonalds and Forever Green Garden Center.

“(We wanted to) just give them something really fun and also educational and engaging, to help them spend time with their siblings, if they have them, and get their parents involved, if possible — and just really keep them connected to that learning and the fun, but also to Big Brothers Big Sisters,” Bishara said. “Camp-in-a-Bag helps us structure things in an intentional and thoughtful way.”

Partnering with 4-H, known for its summer camps, fairs and educational programs, “was a really great way to make sure that the activities we were including were really robust, so it was not going to be a hodgepodge, throw-some-things-in-a-bag,” Bishara added. “We really needed to be deliberate about it, to have the directions nicely laid out.”

The first wave is being distributed to 20 elementary-age children, and officials are hoping to expand the project.

“Funding is always a question,” Bishara said. “We would love to expand to 20 or 40 for more. ... We’d sure like to be able to target the kits to a little older kids, who have different interests.”

Bishara and Kate Yoder, who works with 4-H out of the Iowa State University Extension office in Johnson County, are eager to continue their collaborative efforts.

“It really great,” Yoder said. “When you work together, things comes together and amazing things happen. I’m excited to see what the future holds — what partnerships we can build on and grow.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com

• What: Big Brothers Big Sisters Camp-in-a-Bag kit contributions

• Contact: Email Dina Bishara at dina@bbbsjc.org

Nearly 327,000 Iowans have taken an assessment to see if they are eligible to be checked for COVID-19 under the Test Iowa Initiative.

Another free drive-though site for those who have taken the assessment and been scheduled for an appointment opened Thursday in Cedar Rapids — the fourth site in the state so far.

About 1 on 46 Iowans have been tested so far, health officials said.

State data release Thursday for the first time reveals big gaps in who has — and who has not — taken the assessment at TestIowa.om:

• Less than 35 percent of those who have been assessed for tests are men. Yet men are more apt to die from the disease than women. Of the 231 Iowa deaths so far, 51 percent are of men.

• Only 2 percent of those who have been assessed for testing are age 80 or over. But 46 percent of the Iowa deaths from the virus reported so far are in that age group.

• There are gaps in the rates at which urban and rural residents are completing the assessment. Nearly 9 percent of Linn County residents have been assessed, but only about 7.6 percent of Allamakee County residents have. Yet when looking at the rate of known infection per capita, Allamakee is far worse.

Nearly 25,000 more Iowans filed unemployment claims in the past week, Iowa Workforce Development reported Thursday.

Continuing weekly unemployment claims total 181,358, the department reported.

Iowa Workforce Development said 24,693 people filed unemployment claims between April 26 and May 2. That included 22,830 initial claims by people who work in Iowa and 1,863 claims filed by people who work in Iowa but live in another state.

State unemployment insurance benefit payments totaled $50,931,302 for the same week, the department said.

Also this week, a total of $111,378,600 in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits was paid to 164,088 Iowans. Since April 4, a total of $439,126,200 has been paid.

A total of $10,046,089 was paid to 15,612 Iowans receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits.

The industries with the most claims were manufacturing, 6,053; industry not available, self-employed, independent contractors, 4,010; health care and social assistance, 2,988; accommodation and food services, 2,200; and retail trade, 1,768.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is continuing to allow more businesses to reopen, which may mean more Iowans going back to work.

On Wednesday, after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, Reynolds issued a proclamation permitting a variety of businesses to reopen, including dental services, drive-in movie theaters, tanning facilities and medical spas.

She also relaxed mitigation strategies in the 22 counties that remain under more strict orders because the virus is more widespread there.

Beginning Friday in those 22 counties — which include Linn, Johnson and Black Hawk — malls and retail stores may reopen provided they operate at no more than 50 percent of capacity, and fitness centers may reopen on an appointment basis only.

For more information on the total data for this week’s unemployment claims, visit https://www.iowalmi.gov/unemployment-insurance-statistics.

Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com

Thanks to enough people following guidelines on social distancing and avoiding large gatherings, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday the state is able to shift its COVID-19 focus from mitigation strategies to managing the impact on Iowans.

Even as the state Department of Public Health reported 655 new cases and 12 more deaths, Reynolds said Iowa is successfully dealing with the disease, which has claimed 231 lives in less than two months.

As she continues to allow more businesses to partially reopen, Reynolds said credit goes to Iowans for responding to targeted mitigation efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent health care systems from being overwhelmed.

“I’m proud to say that Iowans do what they always do and they responded,” she said during her daily news conference Thursday. “So since we’ve kind of really accomplished what we were trying to do ... now we have shifted our focus from mitigation and resources to managing and containing virus activity as we begin to open Iowa back up.”

That means that beginning Friday, dentists may resume providing services and campgrounds, drive-in movie theaters, tanning facilities and medical spas all may reopen statewide, but with restrictions.

Her latest proclamation also relaxes mitigation strategies in the 22 counties that remain under more strict orders because the virus is more widespread there.

In those 22 counties, beginning Friday, malls and retail stores may reopen provided they operate at no more than 50 percent of capacity and take other steps, and fitness centers may reopen for appointments only.

In a statement, Coralville’s Coral Ridge Mall said it would reopen under those conditions starting at 11 a.m. Saturday. Shoppers there should expect to see hand-sanitizing stations, frequent cleanings and social distancing directions among other precautions.

“As Coral Ridge Mall prepares for this ‘new normal,’ we are thankful for the opportunity to reopen our doors and look forward to welcoming guests back into the shopping center,” senior general manager Monica Nadeau said in a statement.

Representatives of another large mall in the Corridor — Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids — did not return calls Thursday for comment on its plans.

The governor’s new guidelines are in effect until May 15 unless she changes them. Data about COVID-19 will continue to drive her decisions about reopening the state economy “in a responsible manner,” Reynolds said.

“Just as we can’t stop the virus completely, we also can’t keep businesses closed and our life restricted indefinitely,” she said.

According to the state’s newest version of its COVID-19 dashboard, at coronavirus.iowa.gov, 31 people were admitted to hospitals in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 417 with 107 on ventilators and 151 in intensive care.

There have been 66,427 people tested, with 16.6 percent of them testing positive for a total of 11,059. Another 4,266 people are recovering.

Although the number of Iowans dying and becoming infected with COVID-19 continues to increase, Reynolds, who met Wednesday with President Donald Trump and his coronavirus advisers, said she is proud of the state’s efforts.

“We are leading, and we’re leading by example. And we’re going to continue to lead,” she said. “We are in a pandemic. We have a rapidly changing environment. We are reacting and being proactive.”

That includes testing at hot spots, such as meatpacking plants, “so of course, our positive cases are going to increase,” she said.

Iowa’s COVID-19 response may not be perfect, Reynolds said, “but I think we’re doing everything we can to really take care of Iowans in a responsible way (and) also to get the economy up and going so Iowans can get back to work and we can do everything we can to get our life somewhat back to normal.”

Just as it will be up to business owners, churches and others to decide whether they are comfortable partly reopening, Reynolds said it will be up to Iowans to decide whether they want to venture out.

“Iowan to need to make those individual choices themselves,” Reynolds said. “They need to apply personal responsibility, take into account where they’re going, what they’re doing.”

Reynolds also said Trump asked Iowa Director of Public Health Caitlin Pedati to be a member of his coronavirus task force after Pedati briefed the president on Iowa’s efforts to mitigate COVID-19. However, later Thursday, White House officials told Bloomberg News Pedati is not “officially” a member of the task force, but may be consulted. The governor’s office declined to comment.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced $78 million for Iowa in reimbursement for costs associated with COVID-19. The funds will cover 75 percent of the eligible cost of personal protective gear and medical supplies and equipment during May and June.

In addition, FEMA has obligated $44 million for similar costs in March and April; $17 million to cover deployment of the National Guard; $4 million to reimburse the state for costs associated with its response; and $4.2 million for the use of up to 20 beds at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.

Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com

DES MOINES — The Iowa Supreme Court has asked a group of criminal and civil lawyers, judges and court staff from judicial districts across the state to make recommendations on how criminal and civil jury trials will resume with coronavirus health restrictions.

The court is asking the 17-member Jumpstart Jury Trials Task Force to develop temporary policies and procedures for jury trials that will ensure the “fundamental rights of a defendant” to a jury trial, while at the same time “protecting the health and safety” of the jurors, attorneys, judges and the public, said Des Moines lawyer Guy Cook, co-chairman of the task force.

The court, Cook said Thursday, has put together a “good cross-section” of professionals who have experience with civil and criminal trials.

Task force members are:

• Associate Supreme Court Justice Mark McDermott, chairman

• Guy Cook, Des Moines criminal and civil attorney, co-chairman

• 4th Judicial District Judge Michael Hooper

• 5th Judicial District Judge David Porter

• Angela Campbell, Des Moines criminal defense attorney

• Jim Craig, Cedar Rapids civil attorney, president of Iowa Defense Counsel Association

• Janietta Criswell, clerk and jury manager, 8th Judicial District, Ottumwa

• Kathy Gaylord, district court administrator, 7th Judicial District, Davenport

• Patrick Jennings, Woodbury county attorney, Sioux City

• Julie Kneip, clerk of court, 2nd Judicial District, Fort Dodge

• Bill Miller, Des Moines civil attorney, chairman of Iowa State Bar Association litigation

• Todd Nuccio, Iowa state court administrator

• Jerry Schnurr, Fort Dodge civil attorney and president-elect of Iowa State Bar Association

• Jennifer Solberg, Woodbury County chief public defender

• Chad Swanson, Waterloo civil attorney, president of Iowa Association of Justice

• Brian Williams, Black Hawk county attorney

• Mark Headlee, information technology director of Iowa Judicial Branch

The committee will review the current schedule to resume jury trials that the court has established in consultation with public health officials and other health care providers, and recommend whether the schedule should be altered, according to the court’s order.

Jury criminal trials can resume July 13 and civil trials Aug. 3, according to the order.

The task force also will make recommendations for how those trials should proceed, according to the court’s order.

Members should develop policies and procedures aimed at protecting the health and safety of jurors, court staff, attorneys, judges and visitors throughout the trial process, particularly during the identification of potential jurors, summons of potential jurors, jury selection, trials, jury instructions and jury deliberations.

Cook said members will have to consider the challenges for each type of trial. More jurors, for example, are needed in a criminal case, so space and logistics will have to be considered with social distancing requirements.

That will be more difficult in the rural courthouses that have less space.

A pool of 80 to 100 potential jurors are sometimes summoned for felony trials in larger counties, but that, too, may be a challenge with social distancing.

Another possibility would be requiring masks, but how will a mask affect the credibility of a witness if it hides the person’s facial expressions, Cook said.

These are all issues the members may encounter.

Steve Davis, Iowa Judicial Branch spokesman, said the goal is one uniform statewide plan, but it’s possible that each district may have some discretion, as in the previous orders issued during this pandemic, because of the differences in each county.

Davis said the task force members were chosen based on gender, background and geographic area.

The recommendations should be submitted to the court the first week in June.

Davis said he didn’t yet know when the task force would start meeting by phone or video conference or how often.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

Iowa State University graduates who celebrated commencement Friday saw lots of caps and gowns, red-and-gold confetti and arenas packed with friends and family.

But none of those images were from this year — which now is defined by the novel coronavirus that has forced education online and put an end to large gatherings like graduation ceremonies.

Appearing in front of a red ISU screen Friday, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Daniel J. Robison addressed graduates like he usually would at commencement — but this time in a recorded message acknowledging the unprecedented circumstances keeping them apart.

“This year, because of the COVID crisis, we are unfortunately not all together for this happy occasion,” he said, pushing forward in a motivational tone by quoting famed ISU alumnus George Washington Carver.

“When you can do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world,” Robison said, citing Carver.

About 12,000 graduates across Iowa’s public universities this month are doing exactly that — capping their collegiate careers with never-before-attempted online-only commencement ceremonies, with each campus and their respective colleges attempting a variety of virtual celebration methods.

ISU and the University of Iowa are attempting some form of socially-distanced livestreamed convocation with countdown clocks and virtual confetti. All three campuses including the University of Northern Iowa have posted online recorded messages, videos and slides acknowledging individual graduates.

Some slides include photos, thank-yous, quotes and student plans for after graduation.

UNI, which didn’t try any form of a live virtual ceremony, instead created a graduation website that went live Thursday. That site hosts an array of recorded video messages — including one from UNI President Mark Nook who, standing alone behind a podium on campus clad in traditional academic regalia, recognized his campus’ 1,500-some spring graduates and their unusual challenges.

“We know the loss you feel in not being able to be on campus to celebrate this time with your friends, faculty and staff,” Nook said. “To walk around campus in your robe and to take those pictures with friends and family members … The loss is felt by many of us as well.”

He reminded those listening that this spring’s UNI graduates — like those at the UI and ISU — can participate in an upcoming in-person commencement ceremony.

And although students were allowed to return caps and gowns they ordered for their canceled walks across the stage, some kept them as keepsakes. The campuses offered other tokens of remembrance as well, including “CYlebration” gift packages ISU sent to graduates in April stuffed with a souvenir tassel, diploma cover, and streamer tube — to make up for the confetti that won’t be falling on graduation caps from the Hilton Coliseum rafters.

In addition to the recorded messages from 17 UI leaders — including President Bruce Harreld — the campus solicited parent messages, which will be included in the live virtual ceremonies.

To date, about 3,100 of the more than 5,400 UI graduates have RSVP’d to participate in the ceremony, which spokeswoman Anne Bassett said is a required affirmation from the students to have their names read.

“Students do not have to sign up to watch,” she said. “So there’s no way at this time to predict how many will do so.”

Despite the historic nature of the first online-only commencement ceremonies — forever bonding distanced graduates through the shared experience — UI graduate Omar Khodor, 22, said it’s a club he would have liked to avoid.

“I’d definitely prefer not to be part of that group,” the environmental science major said, sharing disappointment over the education, experiences and celebrations he lost to the pandemic.

“A lot of students like myself, we’re upset, but we’re not really allowed to be upset given the circumstances,” Khodor said. “You have this sense that something is unfair, that something has been taken from you. But you can’t be mad about it at all.”

Life is too short to dwell on what could have been or what should have been — which sort of captures graduate Dawn Hales’ motivation to get an ISU degree.

The 63-year-old Ames grandmother calls herself the “oldest BSN Iowa State grad ever.”

“It’s the truth, because we’re only the second cohort to graduate,” Hales said. “I’ll probably be the oldest for a while.”

ISU began offering a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in fall 2018 for registered nurses hoping to advance their careers — like Hales, who spent years in nursing before becoming director of nursing at Accura Healthcare, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center in Ames.

In addition to wanting more education, Hales said, she felt like the “odd man out” in her red-and-gold family — with her husband, three sons and their wives all earning ISU degrees. She earned an associate degree and became a registered nurse with community college training.

“I was director of nursing at different facilities, but I did not have a four-year degree,” she said. “I always wanted to get my BSN.”

So in January 2019, she started full-time toward her three-semester pursuit of a BSN — even as she continued working. And her education took a relevant and important turn when COVID-19 arrived.

“My capstone project was infection control,” she said, noting her focus later sharpened to “infection control and crisis management” — perfect timing to fight the coronavirus, which has hit long-term care facilities particularly hard.

“We were hyper vigilant,” Hales said of her facility, which has yet to report a case of COVID-19. “I think we were probably one of the first facilities that pretty much shut down and started assessing our staff when they would come in.”

Hales said she was eager to walk in her first university graduation and was planning antics for it with her 10-year-old granddaughter.

“We were trying to think, should I dance across the stage?” Hales said. “Or would I grab a walker and act like an old lady going across the stage?

“She was trying to teach me to do this ‘dab’ move,” Hales said. “I said, ‘Honey, I cannot figure that out.’”

In the end, Hales watched the celebration online instead. She did, however, get a personalized license plate that reads, “RN2BSN.”

Coming from a family-run dairy farm in Jerome, Idaho, EllieMae Millenkamp, 22, is the first in her family to graduate college.

Although music is her passion, Millenkamp long expected to study at an agriculture school — but Colorado State was her original choice.

Then, while visiting family in Iowa during a cousin’s visit to ISU, she fell in love with the Ames campus and recalibrated her academic path.

While at ISU, the musical Millenkamp began writing more songs and performing more online, which led to in-person shows and a local band.

And then, during her junior year, a talent scout reached out to invite her to participate in an audition for NBC’s “The Voice.” That went well and Millenkamp, in the summer before her senior year, moved to Los Angeles and made it onto the show.

She achieved second-round status before being bumped, but the experience offered her lifelong friendships and connections and invigorated her musical pursuits — which have been slowed by COVID-19. Shows have been canceled in now idled bars.

Millenkamp went back to Idaho to be with her family, like thousands of her peers also did with their families, when the ISU campus shut down.

After graduation she plans on returning and working the family farm again until her musical career has the chance to regain momentum.

But she recently returned to Ames for finals. And she and some friends, also in town, plan to celebrate graduation, even if not with an official cap and gown.

“We’ll probably have a bonfire and all hang out,” she said. “We’ll celebrate in our own way.”

Most college seniors nearing graduation get to spend their academic hours focusing on their major and interests, wrapping their four or sometimes five years with passion projects and capstone experiences.

That was Omar Khodor’s plan — with lab-based DNA sequencing on tap, along with a geology trip and policy proposal he planned to present to the Iowa Legislature. But all that got canceled — and even some requirements were waived since COVID-19 made them impossible.

“There were still a lot of a lot of things to wrap up,” he said. “A lot of things I was looking forward to.”

He’s ending the year with just three classes to finish and “absolutely” would have preferred to have a fuller plate.

But Khodor’s academic career isn’t over. He’s planning to attend law school in the fall at the University of Pennsylvania, where he’ll pursue environmental law. But this spring has diminished his enthusiasm, with the question lingering of whether in-person courses will return to campus soon.

If they don’t, he’s still leaning toward enrolling — in part — because of all the work that goes into applying and getting accepted, which he’s already done.

“But online classes are definitely less fulfilling, less motivating. You feel like you learn less,” he said. “So it will kind of be a tossup. There’ll be some trade-offs involved in what I would gain versus what I would be paying for such an expensive endeavor like law school.”

As for missing a traditional college commencement, Khodor said he will, even though he plans to participate in the virtual alternative.

“Before it got canceled, I didn’t think that I was looking forward to it as much as I actually was,” he said.

Not so much for the pomp and circumstance, but for the closure, which none of the seniors got this year. When the universities announced no one would return to campus this semester, students were away on spring break.

They had already experienced their last in-person class, their last after-class drink, their last cram session, their last study group, their last lecture, their last Iowa Memorial Union lunch — and they didn’t even know it.

“So many of us, we won’t have closure, and that can kind of be a difficult thing,” he said.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com

For a list of commencement times and virtual celebrations, visit:

The University of Iowa’s commencement site at https://commencement.uiowa.edu/

Iowa State University’s commencement site at https://virtual.graduation.iastate.edu/

University of Northern Iowa’s commencement site at https://vgrad.z19.web.core.windows.net/uni/index.html