skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Veterans Group Opposes Fireworks Expansion in Iowa

play audio
Play

Monday, February 8, 2016   

FAIRFIELD, Iowa - Senate File 508 would allow Iowa residents to possess and use fireworks, such as firecrackers and Roman candles. Currently, only novelty items such as sparklers are legal in the state.

The bill passed a Senate committee last week, but one group says the effort poses a threat to Iowa's veterans and others who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Bob Krause is president of the Veterans National Recovery Center, a group that focuses on the health of returning veterans.

"They can be quite debilitating," he says. "Some PTSD veterans that I know, if they hear a loud retort, like a muffler backfiring or something like that, they will actually fall into a fetal position."

He says the chance of getting PTSD from the first combat-zone experience is now between 20 and 25 percent, but that likelihood jumps with the second and third combat tours to between 90 and 95 percent.

Krause notes the problem is extensive, and involves more than just combat veterans.

"We've got 5,000 veterans in Iowa that have PTSD just from the wars that have occurred since 9/11, not counting our Vietnam veterans," he says. "There's a lot of them, and that doesn't even include the police and fire and other people that have been around gunfire."

He says PTSD is a chronic excitement of the amygdala, the "fight or flight" center of the brain. If the condition lasts too long, it can cause scarring and a permanent short circuiting of the brain.

Krause says expanding sale and use of fireworks in Iowa means those suffering from PTSD will have to be in a heightened state of paranoia year-round, not just around the Independence Day holiday.

"We don't need that," says Krause. "These veterans are being ignored enough. It's like kicking a guy in a wheelchair. You just don't want to do that, even if it's unintentional, and that's kind of what you're doing with this bill."

Both the Iowa House and Senate passed separate bills expanding fireworks in Iowa last session, but the chambers could not agree on a single version to send to the governor for signature.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021