opinion

Evans: Public health ‘rock star’ gives us straight talk

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In the world of contagions, epidemics and vaccines, there are not many true rock stars. There is, of course, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. His face is recognizable worldwide from his television briefings on the coronavirus epidemic sweeping the globe. Another is Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. His assistance is routinely sought by world leaders when a new pathogen threatens.

Congress

Evans: Bail out Postal Service before cruise lines

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It’s quiz time. What arm of the federal government has the most contact with ordinary Americans, people like you and me? Is it the Internal Revenue Service? Social Security Administration? The Food and Drug Administration?

Evans: Amazing heroes in the fight against coronavirus

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One of my memories, one that had been tucked away back where the cobwebs congregate, is from that day in 2004 when the oldest Evans daughter graduated from Saint Louis University. The graduates crowded onto the arena floor for the commencement ceremony. They were grouped by their areas of study – business, education, arts and sciences,law, nursing, medicine, etc. As each group of graduates was announced, those students rose and moved forward to receive their diplomas. When it came time for the School of Nursing, parental pride enveloped me over Sara’s achievement.

coronavirus

Evans: Crisis underscores how vital information is

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We have all become acutely aware in the past few weeks why masks and face shields, respirators and ventilators are so important for hospital workers and their patients. The supply is not keeping up with the need, and that could have dire consequences for the doctors, nurses and patients. Likewise, the coronavirus crisis has underscored the importance of another valuable commodity – access to accurate, authoritative information. As with ventilators and protective gear for hospital workers, the flow of facts is not occurring as smoothly as it should during this public health emergency. Randy Evans
STRAY THOUGHTS
Randy Evans is the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

coronavirus

Evans: No guarantee leadership roles will produce leaders

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Leadership is an elusive quality. When we think of leaders, we often list people in leadership roles. They are the boss; they make the decisions. But in reality, having a leadership role does not necessarily make those people true leaders. Someone once explained the distinction this way: “Actions, not words, are the ultimate results of leadership.”

On the eve of D-Day in 1944, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower delivered an inspiring message to the soldiers, sailors and aviators poised to embark the next morning on the largest invasion the world has ever seen.

Evans: Sick leave for all workers just makes good sense

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There won’t be any shortage of lessons to take away from the coronavirus crisis that has sent Iowa and the rest of the United States reeling. One lesson that deserves plenty of discussion now, rather than months from now, involves sick leave for American workers. Paying employees to stay home when they are ill is not just an economic issue for employers and employees alike – although it certainly does involve dollars and cents. It’s just good sense. Paid sick leave – or, more accurately, the absence of paid sick leave – can be a full-fledged public health problem.

Evans: There should not be a price tag to vote

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Iowans take considerable pleasure in enumerating the various ways our state stands apart from the other 49 states – beyond our endangered first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. For many years, we pointed with pride to the fact that Iowa’s high school graduation rate was tops in the United States. We like to remind friends from other states that Iowa farmers
produce more corn, hogs and eggs than farmers anywhere else. Sports fans beamed over the University of Iowa wrestling team’s success from 1978 to 1986, when the Hawkeyes won the NCAA title a record nine consecutive times. That is a longer string of NCAA team championships than any other Division I university in any other sport.

First Amendment

Evans: Teachers deserve protection for protecting student rights

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A bill now awaiting debate and a vote in the Iowa Senate is quite short. It adds a mere 10 lines to the Iowa Code. But those 10 lines are an important legal statement Iowa lawmakers should adopt before they finish their work for 2020. Senate File 2331 says employees of Iowa’s public schools shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned or in any other way retaliated against for protecting a student’s freedom of expression or for refusing to infringe on a student’s First Amendment rights. Currently, students in Iowa public schools have a right to exercise freedom of speech in the papers they are assigned to write for classes or in articles they write for their school’s student newspaper.

Stray Thoughts columnist Randy Evans writes about a bill up for debate at the Iowa Statehouse in Des Moines. IowaWatch file photo

Evans: Iowa’s compelling interest in equality for all

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Members of the Iowa Legislature are in the midst of tying themselves into knots over the issue of equality, and that’s unfortunate. The knot-tying involves what these lawmakers call “religious freedom.”

That has a patriotic ring to it. Who would disagree? Our constitutional right to freedom of religion sets the United States apart from many nations. But when you analyze what this legislative initiative really involves, it is too reminiscent of America’s past – a past when some people regularly were subjected to discrimination when they tried to find lodging for the night, or sit at a lunch counter for a meal, or to be hired for a job.

Evans: It’s time to overhaul, or end, the caucuses

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For 40-plus years, Iowa has been pulling the wool over the eyes of the free world every four years. It is time our state’s political leaders put aside their love of the national spotlight and retire the much-ballyhooed Iowa caucuses – or overhaul the process to address the obvious flaws that exist with the event. I say that, not because some people think Iowa is the wrong location for the first stop in the process of choosing the Democrats’ and the Republicans’ nominees for president. Randy Evans STRAY THOUGHTS Randy Evans is the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. He is a former editorial page editor and assistant managing editor of The Des Moines Register.