Governor appoints 27 to boards and commissions

Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe today announced 27 appointments to state boards and commissions.

The appointments included:
—Lawrence Berkley of Little Rock replaces Paul Dickson on the Medical Ionizing Radiation Licensure Committee. His appointment expires July 14, 2012.
—Marion Burton of Little Rock was reappointed to the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics Commission. His appointment expires Nov. 9, 2014.
—John Cain of Little Rock was reappointed to the Mosaic Templers of America Center for African-American Culture and Business Enterprise Advisory Board. His appointment expires Oct. 31, 2013.
—Thomas Flowers of Center Ridge replaces Kathryn Scarsdale on the State Board of Career Education. His appointment expires June 30, 2016.
—Dr. Scott Harter of Little Rock replaces Rudy Van Hemert on the Medical Ionizing Radiation Licensure Committee. His appointment expires July 14, 2012.
—Dr. Alice Hines of Conway replaces Freeman McKindra on the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account Foundation. Her appointment expires Sept. 30, 2014.
—Judge Cindy Thyer of Jonesboro replaces Gary Isbell on the Arkansas Pygmalion Commission on Nontraditional Education. Her appointment expires June 30, 2011.
—Dr. Maurice Traylor of Marion replaces Dr. Guy Tucker on the Medical Ionizing Radiation Licensure Committee. His appointment expires July 14, 2012.

Appointed to the Arkansas Fire Protection Services Board:
—Chief Chad Mosby of El Dorado replaces Roger Edwards.
—Jim Tolewitzke of Brookland.
—Bobby Davis of Batesville.
—Chris Jones of Imboden.
—Chief Stacey Caplener of Pleasant Plains.
These are reappointments and will expire October 14, 2012.

Appointed to the Task Force of Racial Profiling:
—Rev. Eddie Cantu of Springdale.
—John Colbert of Fayetteville.
—Chief Carlos Corbin of Little Rock.
—William Dawson of Greenwood.
—Maricella Garcia of Little Rock.
—John Wesley Hall of Little Rock.
—Larry Jegley of Roland.
—Jack Lassiter of Little Rock.
—Leo Monterrey of Little Rock.
—Dorothy Oliver of Pine Bluff.
—Didi Sallings of Mablevale.
—Marcus Vaden of Conway.
—Gary ‘Stoney’ Walker of DeQueen.
Appointments to this new board expire June 30, 2012.

And as previously reported, Tonya Alexander of Marion was appointed special associate associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court to hear a Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission case against Pulaski County Circuit Judge Willard Proctor.

Alexander will replace Justice Annebelle Clinton Imber, who retired earlier this year.

Imber’s replacement, William Bowen of Little Rock, is to take her seat on the bench in January.



Read More...

New numbers show spike in H1N1 cases

Maricopa County and Arizona State University officials are working to vaccinate high-risk people against the H1N1 virus, as recently released numbers show a spike of confirmed cases in the region.

Are you ready? Tribune H1N1-HQ

According to the state Department of Health Services, out of 429 confirmed cases of influenza reported in the past week, 256 of those were laboratory-confirmed H1N1. Six of those cases resulted in deaths last week. Since April 2009, 131 deaths have been confirmed.

While the number of cases is less than several months ago, state health officials have confirmed that recently they are witnessing a spike in the number of reported and confirmed cases of H1N1 in Maricopa County, according to numbers released Thursday.

Maricopa County to date has had 3,847 H1N1 cases reported for the current flu season. That shows a drop compared with last year's flu season, which saw 5,324 cases of laboratory-confirmed H1N1.

But late November into early December showed a spike in the number of lab-confirmed influenza cases reported, according to regional health officials. They reported that those recent numbers show an increase over this time last year.

"To prepare for a potential third wave of illness, it is important that we continue our efforts to vaccinate high-risk people for H1N1," said Dr. Bob England, director of Maricopa County's Public Health Department. "As soon as we give our high-risk residents the ability to access vaccine, we are planning on opening up these sites for everyone in our community who wants vaccine."

Starting Saturday, and for the first time in Maricopa County, officials are making the H1N1 vaccine available to people who are considered "high risk," according to criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control.

ASU spokeswoman Julie Newberg said the public university has already opened vaccinations to its many students, a program that started in November. Now the university has also opened vaccinations for people in high-risk groups designated by the CDC.

Newberg said just a sampling of those high-risk groups include everyone under 24 years of age, obese people, and those who have asthma, heart conditions, and lung conditions, among other things.

According to the CDC, high-risk groups also include pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, health care and emergency medical personnel, people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old, and people between the ages of 25 and 64 who are considered high risk because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.

Newberg said many of the university's more than 60,000 students have been vaccinated as long as they are younger than 24, and that it would be difficult to predict the total number of those treated because the process is ongoing. "The numbers change from day to day," she said.

Newberg added that patients did not necessarily have to be affiliated with the university. She said the school recently extended its services to anyone identified as high risk.

To address concerns regarding this and other flu outbreaks, Newberg said the school started a Web site back when H5, or the avian influenza, had a lot of students and workers concerned. The Web site, www.asu.edu/pandemic, also has information about the more recent H1N1, which is also known as swine flu.

"This is a pandemic," Newberg said, acknowledging that the recent public sentiment has been to dismiss the flu virus. Newberg said a pandemic is not dictated by frequency, but by how widespread it is. "H1N1 has spread all over the world," she said.

H1N1 Vaccine clinics

For more information about H1N1, call the bilingual flu hotline at (877) 764-2670. To find locations of Saturday’s vaccine clinics for high risk people, visit www.StopTheSpreadAZ.org.



Read More...

TRAX turns 10: UTA move to rail line seems to have grown on residents

Barbara Toomer never dodges a fight with the Utah Transit Authority when fares and access to the disabled are at stake.

In 2001, the West Valley City woman and her friends exited their wheelchairs during an afternoon rush hour and sat on light rail tracks in downtown Salt Lake City, stopping TRAX for about 20 minutes. The sit-down was a protest of a paratransit fare proposal.

As much as Toomer has clashed with UTA management over the years, its services have grown on her — especially light rail, which is 10 years old today.

"I have never ever had any trouble at all with TRAX and I really like TRAX," she said. "I use it every time I go downtown."

A new transportation era rolled in with TRAX a decade ago. Steel wheels became an alternative to rubber tires. And TRAX was the bellwether to more trains: Since the original Salt Lake City-to-Sandy TRAX line opened, it has been expanded three times. Higher speed FrontRunner CommuterRail from Salt Lake City to Ogden opened.

By 2015, UTA plans to add 70 additional miles of railroad to the system: light rail extensions to Salt Lake City International Airport, West Valley City, Draper and the West Jordan area, and commuter rail to Provo.

The introduction of trains to public transit hasn't been without criticism. Bus routes were changed to drop people off at train stations. But some passengers prefer to ride buses since train fares traditionally have been more expensive.

"It's been a real problem for a lot of people," said Toomer, who works for the Disability Rights Action Committee. "They did cut a lot of routes out and one of the reasons is they wanted to get people onto TRAX."

Wheels of light rail were spinning in the heads of UTA's executives 15 years before it became a reality, UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said.

UTA brought the issue before Salt Lake County voters in 1992 in the form of a sales tax increase for a handful of transit projects. Voters said no.

"Nevertheless, in 1993 UTA purchased the Union Pacific right-of-way in Salt Lake County, as a 'protective buy' for approximately $18 million," Carpenter said, explaining that even though UTA didn't have money to build the track, they thought buying the property would keep and protect the right-of-way for future use. "This is the railway corridor between 900 South in Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake-Utah county line that eventually became the Sandy to Salt Lake TRAX line."

In 1995, UTA scored a Federal Transit Administration grant that covered 80 percent of the estimated $312 million to build the Salt Lake City-Sandy line.


Read More...

State Stem Cell Funding Possibly In Jeopardy

State money has helped Connecticut carve a niche in stem cell research, luring top scientists to the state and funding more than 200 researchers at the University of Connecticut, Yale and Wesleyan as they pursue treatments for cancer, Parkinson's and other diseases using promising new methods.

But with a looming budget deficit, state stem cell funding could be in jeopardy, at least temporarily.

In her proposal to address the deficit, Gov. M. Jodi Rell called for redirecting to the general fund the $10 million that would have gone to stem cell research in 2010, putting off the next installment of research money for a year.

Jeffrey Beckham, a spokesman for Rell's budget office, said that although stem cell research is a good thing to fund, "We have to prioritize, and some things have to be deferred."

Democrats, who control the legislature, have not yet released a proposal to address the deficit, but legislative leaders said they were mindful that stem cell research creates jobs and that cutting it could hurt the state's economy.

Scientists say that taking away the research funding, even for a year, could hurt the state's standing in stem cell research.

"To take the money off the table, it just would send the message that Connecticut is delaying its program, and I think it'll affect our ability to work with people outside the state and with private concerns," said Marc Lalande, director of UConn's Stem Cell Institute.

Although stem cell research in Connecticut is on the upswing — attracting federal funding and private start-up companies — Lalande said the situation is still fragile enough that a loss of even a year of funding could be a difficult blow. A delay in the funding would make it harder to keep top scientists in Connecticut, especially as other states, including Massachusetts, put money into stem cell research.

Federal funding is now available for stem cell work, but research dollars are tight and it is unclear how much federal money will be devoted to stem cell work, Lalande said. The competition for any federal money that is available will be keen, because the funds will be open to researchers throughout the country, he said.

By contrast, the $100 million that Connecticut lawmakers committed in 2005 for stem cell research over 10 years is meant for research in Connecticut. If the program continues as planned, the state would award another $60.6 million in grants by 2015.

Connecticut's stem cell funding did what it was meant to: Put the state on the map as a stem cell center, said Paul Pescatello, president and CEO of CURE, which advocates for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in the state.

Cutting the money now, even if it's just a one-year delay, could give the impression that the state is reneging on its promise, Pescatello said. "Once that credibility is gone," he said, "it's hard for people to believe that they can count on it and make hiring decisions."

Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, likened the potential cut to killing a chicken to get its eggs, a short-term saving that will foreclose the state's ability to realize lasting gains.

Yale University has received $17.3 million in stem cell funding from the state, which created 128 full- and part-time jobs, Lin said. The state money prompted Yale to invest more than $40 million in stem cell research.

That helped Yale recruit 33 researchers and 11 faculty members from out of state, including Lin, who brought with them $7.65 million in grant funding. Other Yale faculty members have also attracted federal funding.

"This is a shining example in Connecticut," he said. "If we destroy this example, it's such a pity."

Although the proposed cut of next year's stem cell money won't take back money from previously awarded grants, it could pose a problem for researchers who used up their funding and were planning to seek another grant to continue their work, potentially disrupting their research, Lin said.

Already, about 200 scientists at Yale and UConn have written close to 90 grant applications for the next round of funding.

State Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams and House Speaker Christopher Donovan, both Democrats, spoke of stem cell research's ability to create jobs and said they wanted to avoid cuts that could hurt the economy. Williams said he wanted to do all he could to maintain the funding, while Donovan said that the proposed cuts could jeopardize good jobs in an area of strength for Connecticut.



Read More...

$8M in stimulus funds go to UNL virology center

An $8 million infusion of federal stimulus money will allow the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to expand its Nebraska Center for Virology, university officials announced Monday.

"It's an excellent stimulus project," said UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman. "In the near term, construction will crete jobs and stimulate the economy. In the longer term, it will enhance our state's research capacity."

The stimulus funds for the virology center -- housed in the Ken Morrison Life Sciences Research Center -- come from the National Institutes of Health.

UNL will use the money to build a 26,000-square-foot laboratory wing on the north side of the Morrison building on UNL's East Campus. The addition will include as many as seven research labs, support facilities and office and seminar space.

Twelve faculty members, students, postdoctoral fellows and staff are housed in Morrison, and two additional faculty members are being recruited. The expansion will accommodate additional faculty, fellows and students.

Preliminary planning is complete, and the design for the addition is being developed. Bids are expected to be let early in 2011, and construction is set to begin that spring, with completion by summer 2012.

Prem Paul, UNL vice chancellor for research and economic development, said the stimulus money will cover the entire cost of the virology center expansion.

"Our research program has grown tremendously and so space has been challenged," Paul said. "This expansion will be further beneficial."

The virology center links scientists at UNL, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University who study the leading viral threats to people, animals and plants.

The center seeks new ways to treat or prevent diseases caused by HIV, herpes, hepatitis and other viruses.

Charles Wood, the center's director, said the addition will allow UNL to pursue new research opportunities, recruit new faculty and students and provide more room for ongoing projects.

"Our goal is to be an international leader in virology research that provides basic knowledge about viruses and strategies to treat and prevent major viral infectious diseases," Wood said. "This addition will give us the room we need to grow toward that goal.



Read More...

Providence Bishop Tobin says Kennedy ‘erratic’ — but he’s not referring to mental-health issues

PROVIDENCE, R.I. –– Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin on Monday said Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy has shown “increasingly erratic and unpredictable behavior” during their escalating dispute, but said he was “not at all” referring to the congressman’s well-publicized mental-health issues.

The bishop also said he was not suggesting that Kennedy was unfit for office. He said he was “not familiar” or only “generally familiar” with mental-health and drug-addiction problems Kennedy has openly acknowledged and sought treatment for — most recently four weeks of addiction treatment at a medical facility in June.

“His fitness for office is nothing that I would ever comment on,” said Bishop Tobin. “I think that’s up to the voters to make that decision. But I am concerned about his statements and his reactions to some of these recent events. No, I’m concerned about him and I’m praying for him. As I said before, my door is always open, and I hope we can bring a good reconciliation to all this.”

The bishop said the real issue is “the special responsibilities of a Catholic in public life.”

Neither Kennedy nor his spokeswoman, Kerrie Bennett, could be reached for comment Monday. Meanwhile, Bishop Tobin made a round of national TV appearances, including on CNN and MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” (see related story, Page A8), and spoke on local talk-radio programs. More were scheduled today.

The bishop’s comments came amid continuing controversy over whether Kennedy’s support for abortion rights affects his standing in the Catholic Church. It began when Kennedy, a Democratic four-term representative and the only remaining public official in the nation’s most prominent Catholic family, criticized the Catholic stance on abortion clauses in the health-care overhaul legislation pending before Congress.

In a story in The Sunday Journal, Kennedy alleged that Bishop Tobin forbade him from receiving Communion and that the bishop had “instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion.” Bishop Tobin said Kennedy’s statement “has no basis in truth,” and that in 2007 he sent a letter to Kennedy that was “a respectful and gentle request,” not an order.

Bishop Tobin commented about Kennedy’s behavior during interviews with the Associated Press and on the John DePetro show on WPRO talk radio on Monday. He was asked about them later Monday, during an unrelated appearance at La Salle Academy.

“This debate with the congressman is very unfortunate,” he said on the DePetro show. “I’m praying for him, I wish him well. I need to say, honestly, I’m very concerned about the congressman’s increasingly erratic and unpredictable behavior. I think a lot of us are concerned about that. It’s very hard to get a handle on that.

“As his bishop and pastor and also, one of his constituents, by the way, I’m really concerned how he’s responding to this situation. I really hope, I really hope and pray that his friends and supporters and his staff are giving him the help and assistance he needs at this time.”

The bishop took questions at La Salle after a bill-signing ceremony authorizing a Rhode Island license plate for the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, and a kickoff to the 2009-10 “Keep The Heat On” campaign, a five-year-old diocesan program.

He was asked several times to elaborate on his characterization of Kennedy’s behavior as “erratic,” in the context of Kennedy’s long-acknowledged struggles with alcohol and drug addiction and bipolar disorder, or manic depression. Kennedy sought addiction treatment after a 2006 automobile accident. He spent four weeks in addiction treatment this summer, he said, “to ensure I am being as vigilant as possible in my recovery.”

The bishop said he was talking about Kennedy’s “behaviors,” but “not him personally.”

“No, it has no reference at all to his mental-health issue or his drug issue. I’m not even familiar with all that background. I’m talking about his behaviors recently that are very hard to predict and very hard to respond to …”

The bishop said, “For example, two weeks ago here in Providence, he said he wasn’t going to talk any more about his faith or his status in the Church, and then he returns to Washington and gives a major interview about that.”

Bishop Tobin added, “His statement that was released over the weekend — that somehow I’d instructed all the priests to refuse to give him Holy Communion — has no basis in truth. Again, I’m not in a position to analyze him at all. But I am concerned. I hope he’s doing OK. I’m concerned about his personal, and ultimately his spiritual well-being. That’s what this is all about.”

At the heart of this debate, said Bishop Tobin, “is what it means to be a Catholic in public life ... Being a Catholic in public office carries extra responsibilities. It’s public behavior that affects the community — someone who is in a position to pass legislation and so forth. A person in a public position has a special responsibility, when he or she doesn’t act properly, it can cause scandal and confusion in the community …”

The bishop also reiterated his disappointment Monday that Kennedy had decided to go public with what the bishop said he intended as a private pastoral discussion. “I certainly didn’t relish the idea of discussing his faith or his membership in the church in public. That’s something he put on the table, or erroneously put on the table, I think, so I had to respond.”Bishop Tobin said he still hopes for a private discussion with Kennedy, “after the dust settles.”


Read More...

Doctors' group blasts Senate healthcare bill in front of Freedom Tower

As U.S. senators prepared for a critical vote on the healthcare bill Saturday morning, dozens of dissenting physicians and nurses protested at the Freedom Tower in one of 24 rallies staged nationwide.

Holding signs and making speeches touting objections to the proposed reforms, the medical professionals warned that the bill coming before the Senate this week would drastically change the relationship doctors have with their patients.

The bill, which seeks to lower healthcare costs and increase access to medical services for the uninsured, came under fire by those at the rally, including Fort Lauderdale rheumatologist Dr. Yvonne Sherrer.

``Our legislators are committing legislative malpractice,'' Sherrer shouted into a microphone, claiming that the changes proposed by the bill would further restrict how doctors can treat patients.

``We want reform that will take away the current problems in our healthcare system and not take away what's good: the relationship between the doctor and the patient,'' she later said.

Although the bill passed in October by the House of Representatives differs from the one currently being reviewed by the senators, both propose squeezing more than $400 billion out of expected increases in Medicare costs.

The Senate bill also proposes the development of ``new patient care models'' -- a strong issue of contention for the largely conservative crowd at Saturday's event, where doctors criticized what they deemed a takeover by the federal government.

Dr. Patrick Abuzeni, one of two physicians who organized the nationwide rallies, fears the bill will not sufficiently address existing problems, such as ballooning healthcare costs. He said it would simply layer government bureaucracy over a healthcare system already ruined by insurance companies and hospital management staff.

Abuzeni, who blames the high costs born by patients on medical malpractice suits and excessive influence of insurance giants, said elected officials should vote down the bill and instead redirect control of the industry to physicians.

That loss of control, he said, led to a restructuring of the healthcare system that allowed insurance companies to rake in massive profits. One example he noted was last year's $3.2 million compensation plan for UnitedHealth Group's CEO, Stephen Hemsley.

``Those millions of dollars were meant for patient care . . . not Gulfstream jets,'' he said.



Read More...