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A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

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The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Iowa Students in Prison - for Class

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Monday, April 23, 2007   


Carroll, IA - The Des Moines Area Community College campus at Carroll is offering a unique sociology course for students. Instead of being cooped up in a classroom all day, instructor Mark Maggio gives his students a direct understanding of today's most pressing social problems.

“We try to pick out a few of the more prominent social issues that are going on in society today. In this case, a couple of the issues we were studying were one, the methamphetamine epidemic, and the second one is child abuse.”

He says students then examine an array of social, behavioral and legal troubles connected to those problems, and that means talking to those affected, including meth offenders in the corrections system. He lined up visits to the state prison in Fort Dodge where he and the students were caught off-guard by how frank the inmates were.

“Many of the offenders we talked with said that they felt they needed prison time, which is kind of a surprise. Meth is such a severe addiction that they felt they could not have gotten over meth addiction in a shorter term, or without a prison term.”

Maggio adds that the second half of the class will focus on another social ill, the victims and perpetrators of child abuse. He notes many in the course are studying for careers in law, teaching, counseling, or law enforcement.



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