Center News

Inside The Reporter’s Notebook: Gazette Series Humanizes, Raises Awareness Of Heroin Addiction

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Heroin addiction is growing nationwide, and eastern Iowa is no exception with more than 61 non-fatal overdoses and 21 deaths in 2015. Cedar Rapids Gazette healthcare reporter Chelsea Keenan and public safety reporter Lee Hermiston spoke with IowaWatch intern Brittany Robb about their stories that formed part of an in-depth look at the epidemic in The Gazette’s June 2016 series, “Heroin’s Hold In Iowa.”

Business & Consumer Affairs

After Flicking Away Lawsuits, Lead Industry Goes for a Final Knockout

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In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised to 535,000 its estimate of the number of American children with potentially dangerous levels of lead in their blood. The number of children found to have high levels of lead in their blood has been declining nationally over the past few years. Iowa, too, has seen a decline. In 2008, 624 children were found to have high levels of lead in their blood, data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows. That number dropped to 323 in 2009.