2 weeks Ago By LEE-GAZETTE DES MOINES BUREAU
Republican lawmakers on the Iowa Senate Education Committee advanced legislation that would allow public school districts, charter schools and innovation zone schools to employ chaplains or engage volunteer chaplains. Under the bill, school chaplains would not be required to have a license, endorsement, certification, authorization or statement of recognition issued by the board of educational examiners. However, chaplains would be required to pass a background check.
House File 334 does not define “chaplain,” but they are professionals trained to address the “spiritual, emotional and relational needs of school communities,” according to the National School Chaplain Association. Critics of the legislation argue that the bill aims to replace trained and licensed school counselors and social workers with chaplains. “This legislation gives untrained, unvetted, unsupervised individuals a title, it gives them authority and it gives them access to our children,” Democratic Sen.
Sarah Trone Garriott, of West Des Moines, said. “It is really troubling to me that at bare minimum, we're only asking them to do the mandatory reporter training and not all of the important work that a real Chaplain does in order to work with vulnerable populations in vulnerable circumstances.” Supporters say chaplains would complement, not replace, counselors and are equipped to provide trauma care and crisis counseling for students in need of support.
“This is actually strengthening extremely what already exists and does not make chaplaincy mandatory in any school,” Republican Sen. Mike Pike, of Des Moines, said. Under the legislation, schools would not be allowed to require or coerce a student to utilize the chaplain.
A bill allowing synthetic psilocybin prescriptions in Iowa if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the substance was unanimously advanced out of the Iowa Senate Health and Human Services Committee Thursday.
House File 383 would reschedule the drug, which is currently listed as a Schedule I substance, based upon the recommendations of the FDA. Another bill moving through the Iowa House would legalize the use of psilocybin to treat PTSD. Iowa Senate lawmakers unanimously advanced legislation out of committee that would require 80% of students accepted to residency programs through the University of Iowa’s schools of medicine and dentistry to be Iowa residents or those who have attended college in Iowa.
Backers of the legislation argue it will help address Iowa’s physician shortage by ensuring more medical students and residents stay in the state after graduation. “We want to make sure that our universities are turning out doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses that (stay in) state and practice in rural Iowa,” Republican Sen. Mike Klimesh, of Spillville, said.
Iowa ranked 44th in the nation for patient-to-physician ratio per 100,000 population in 2024, according to the Iowa Medical Society. While Democratic Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, of West Des Moines, said she supports the legislation, she questioned whether it was the best approach to addressing the state’s healthcare workforce shortage.
“I'm not sure if this bill is really helping us with what we truly need, which is more residencies and more money and more support for medical students so we can just have more, not restrict who is in the current slots,” Trone Garriott said. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is warning Iowans to delete any data from genetic testing company 23AndMe following its bankruptcy announcement in March. 23AndMe, a company where individuals can send in DNA samples to track their ancestries, said it will sell “substantially all of its assets.
” This may include genetic data that could be sold to a third party without their consent, according to Bird. “As 23AndMe goes bankrupt, Iowans should know how to keep their DNA off the market,” Bird said in a press release. “Iowans have the ability to download and delete their data, destroy their test samples, and revoke permission for their data to be used for research.
The power is in Iowans’ hands to keep their unique and valuable genetic information safe.” Bird’s office is directing Iowans to file requests on the 23AndMe website to delete their account , download 23andMe data before deletion, destroy test samples and revoke permission for their genetic data to be used for research. More information on data deletion is available on the Iowa attorney general’s website .
The Iowa Department of Transportation is warning Iowans of a phishing scam involving text messages saying they have an unpaid toll or registration fee that appear to be coming from the department. The texts include a link prompting individuals to provide financial information to pay fees that will lead them to what looks like the Iowa DOT’s website. Phishing is a type of scam where scammers attempt to trick individuals into providing personal and financial information or installing malware by posing as a reputable company or source.
The Iowa DOT does not have any toll roads, nor does it send out fee collections via text. Recipients of the phishing texts should not click on the links, provide personal or financial details. Find more information on identifying and reporting these phishing texts on the DOT’s website .
If you’re like nearly two-thirds of Americans you’re likely worried about tax season and scammers filing a fraudulent return in your name. Now, tax experts are weighing in on how to prevent getting scammed. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
Whether you've fallen for text message scams in the past or even just side-eyed a slightly suspicious text, there's no reason to feel embarrassed—according to the FTC , text message scams shook Americans down for about $330 million in 2022 alone. In the past few years, copycat banks, phony gifts, and fake-out package deliveries were the scams du jour, but 2023 saw a new contender: the wrong number text scam. This new breed is pretty sneaky, as scammers start with a tricky "wrong number" text and pull victims into a friendly rapport, but if you know what to look for, you—and your bank account—can easily slip out of the situation scam-free, Spokeo explains.
Typically, text message scams target your personal (i.e. financial) info pretty quickly.
For instance, bogus "bank fraud prevention" texts pressure victims to make bank transfers on the spot, fake "gift" scams outright steal credit card numbers to cover small "shipping fees," and fake package delivery notifications do the same with bogus "redelivery fees." On the flip side, wrong number text scams are a slower burn. Here, scammers develop a simple "wrong number" text into a friendly, ongoing correspondence that gets increasingly personal as time goes on.
Once they've built enough trust—which can happen over days, weeks, or even months—the scammer will drop a request for private personal info, often by wrapping it in an emotional plea. This is called "making the pitch," and it's not a pitch you want to hear. It's that personal info that leads the scammer to what they really want out of you: your money.
According to the FBI , "The scammers behind the fake wrong-number text messages are counting on you to continue the conversation. They want to exploit your friendliness. Once they've made a connection, they'll work to become friends or even cultivate a remote romantic relationship.
It's all a ruse, designed to get you to relax your mistrust so you'll be more susceptible to falling for their scam, such as a cryptocurrency investment or many others targeting victims." Because wrong number text scams are long-form and rely on ongoing conversations, each iteration of the scam can differ wildly in terms of specific content and interactions—for the scammer, it's almost like a free-form performance or improv. But the racket does have a basic structure, or at least a few variations, that most scammers follow.
Commonly, these scams look something like this: As a flexible scam with a touch of creativity on the part of the criminal, wrong number scams can have a variety of different themes. Oftentimes, fraudsters will simply become catfish of sorts and try to cultivate long-distance, long-term friendships with the victim, but in some cases, that friendship may even develop into a long-distance relationship or romance . Other common tactics include roping victims into some form of investment (cryptocurrency is a common one), or pretending to be under duress in a fake emergency situation ("I'm stranded at the airport with no money," "my sister's in the emergency room and needs help," etc.
). On the note of emergencies, sometimes the scammer will start with that ploy right off the bat—they may mention a hospital appointment or a health issue as the topic of the text, or in passing. This can be a tactic to generate sympathy immediately, or to follow up on that note with a more urgent text later.
Look, wrong numbers happen in the real world—that's why this scheme is so effective in the first place. Especially when the hoax takes such a seemingly friendly form, it's natural to wonder how to identify a fake text message scam from a wrong-number scammer. These scams can be particularly tough to spot, because they don't include the things victims have been conditioned to look out for, like faux messages from official organizations (like the IRS or a bank), immediate promises of money or prizes, or suspicious links.
That said, red flags do still exist, sly as they may be. The number one red flag is the texter attempting to carry on the conversation after you've told them they have the wrong number. Sure, stuff like this develops into Lifetime channel rom-coms or cute Buzzfeed headlines about one in 10,000 times, but it's just not worth the risk with scams like this afoot.
Much of these scams revolve around cryptocurrency investment, so if that comes up early or out of nowhere, be wary. As Erin West, deputy district attorney in charge of the high technology crimes unit in Santa Clara County, tells NBC News , scammers are "broadening the way they will entrance you into the same scam. They are all scams, and I think they are all crypto-investment scams.
" If you've already engaged in the convo, someone you've never met in person who isn't explicitly—and beyond a shadow of a doubt—part of a trusted organization asking you for personal or financial information is more than a red flag, it's a five-star red alarm. Don't do it, ever. Alongside spotting red flags, a few smart habits and tactics can help keep you safe, not just from wrong-number text scams, but from text message scams in general.
The FBI and other pros recommend: Because as different and diverse as we all are, just about everyone on the planet has at least one thing in common: no one likes a scammer. This story was produced by Spokeo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
.
