Gomers -- What’s going wrong

NOT THE SAME: A few Iowa House conservatives proposed an amendment to the judicial branch budget bill that would cut the pay of Iowa Supreme Court justices involved in a 2009 decision that declared Iowa's ban on same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional. They say the justices “trashed the separation of power” between the three branches of state government and thus should be paid the same as a state legislator - $25,000 a year. Well, last time we checked, it's the court's job to interpret laws based on the state and U.S. constitutions, and it's legislators' job to approve laws and clarify them as needed.

lll

MILITARY FAMILIES AT RISK: A new University of Iowa study specific to Iowans and reflective of research in other states confirms what is probably the obvious: Spouses and children left behind by a military parent who is deployed flong-term are at higher risk for alcohol and drug abuse to cope with a host of anxieties, fears and, for the remaining parent, increased responsibilities and financial challenges. And in Iowa, the access to support services for military families is more limited because most of the Iowa personnel serve with the Reserve or National Guard and most are not near an active-duty base.

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