Opinion

DAVENPORT (AP) ? A Davenport-based company is alerting nearly 1,200 former hospital patients about a security lapse that exposed their names and birthdates to identity theft.Genesis Health System has issued the warning. Genesis says a medical transcription firm didn?t establish a firewall to protect online information from May 5 to June 24. The firm is contracted by Cogent Healthcare, which provides physicians ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board voted Thursday to investigate whether a national group that opposes gay marriage violated state law.The inquiry will focus on the National Organization for Marriage and its efforts in 2010 and 2012 to unseat Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of a unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized gay marriage in the state. It was trigger by a complaint ...

SIOUX CITY (AP) ? A former Sioux City high school teacher has been given probation and a suspended prison sentence for stealing band instruments.Forty-year-old Kevin Massey, of Sergeant Bluff, was sentenced on Thursday to three years of probation and five years in prison, suspended. He?d pleaded guilty to theft after prosecutors lowered the charge.Massey has resigned from his job as band director at North High ...

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) ? A 35-year-old Iowa man has been charged with stealing groceries from a northeast Nebraska mom and her child.A South Sioux City officer says he found grocery bags of pork and bread in the vehicle of Jacob Tuttle when he stopped Tuttle for speeding and a broken brake light last week. The officer matched the vehicle?s description to that provided by a witness to a theft from another ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? The outbreak of a stomach bug two states have linked to bagged salad came as little surprise to food safety experts, who say the process of harvesting, washing and packaging leafy greens provides numerous opportunities for contamination.Although nutritionists stress the chances of getting sick from vegetables are low compared to the dangers of a diet without them, packaged salads heighten the ...

DES MOINES (AP) ? Former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Marsha Ternus has been named the director of a new public policy institute at Drake University named in honor of Sen. Tom Harkin.University officials said Thursday Ternus begins as head of the Tom Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement on Aug. 19.Ternus, a Drake Law School graduate, was appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court in 1993 and served ...

DES MOINES ? Kenneth Gilchrist of Douds will be inducted into the 2013 Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame during a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 18 at the 4-H Exhibits Building at the Iowa State Fair.Selected for his outstanding service and dedication to 4-H, Gilchrist will be presented a certificate by the Iowa 4-H Foundation as he is introduced on stage.A long-time supporter of the 4-H program, Gilchrist started a boys? 4-H ...

The No. 2 Democrat in the Senate wants to know how many phone records of Americans that the National Security Agency has collected in its sweeping surveillance program.Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois included a provision in the 2014 fiscal year defense spending bill that would require the NSA to report to Congress on the records, all NSA bulk collection efforts, and the costs. The provision also requires a list of ...

Fairfield High School freshman orientation is 6:30 p.m. Aug. 19, in the high school commons.A previously published time was the incorrect date.

Fairfield Police Department had no news releases this morning, but the daily dispatch log for Thursday included:9:14 a.m. report of garbage items dumped in ditch west of 12th Street on Gear Avenue.11:05 a.m. Gregory S. Robinson, 34, was arrested for fifth-degree theft at Fairfield Hy-Vee Food and Drug Store and was issued a trespass warning.2:04 p.m. caller reported a dog left in a vehicle in a lot. Officer ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? A federal judge in Albuquerque is expected to decide today whether companies in New Mexico and Iowa can begin legally slaughtering horses, for the first time in the country since it was effectively banned in 2006.A hearing is scheduled on a request by The Humane Society of the United States and others for a restraining order to block Valley Meat Co. of Roswell, N.M., and Responsible ...

Jefferson County Sheriff?s Office update the expenses for the destruction, damage, vandalism and theft charges reported Tuesday at Northeast Missouri Electrical Coop on Highway 34 near Batavia. Emergency dispatch received an alarm at 12:42 a.m. Tuesday, followed by a voltage alarm. Deputies report observing sparking and small flames inside the substation. Batavia Fire Department secured the scene and employees ...