The good
Smoking is unhealthy, and Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield is doing something about it. The company, which employees approximately 1,600 people in Des Moines, will “require applicants to assert that they are tobacco-free in order to considered for a position.” The policy will go into effect June 1, and the company is asking existing employees to stop using tobacco by Oct. 1. Wellmark’s old policy banned the use of tobacco within 100 feet of its property, but the new rule will also prohibit any smoking during working hours, including scheduled breaks and lunches. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that a smoker costs an employer approximately $3,000 annually in additional to medical costs and loss of productivity. Wellmark’s new policy hasn’t come without heat — opponents say that a company should not have a say in how its employees behave outside of work.
You reap what you sow. The newest exercise fad takes kinetic energy from workouts and converts it into electricity. According to ReReve, a company that retrofits gym equipment to capture human power, reports that a 30-minute workout creates about 50 watts, which is enough electricity to run a laptop for one hour, a phone charger for six full charges or an energy-efficient light bulb for 2.5 hours. Thus far, scenarios include an Arizona Sheriff’s Office purchasing a stationary bike that generates 12 volts of electricity to power a 19-inch television for the jail and a Copenhagen hotel offering free dinners to guests who work out on power-generating cycles. Talk about manual labor.
The bad
Think twice about using the toilet paper. A recent article in an issue of Chemical & Engineering News reports that a shortage of high-quality paper for recycling could mean sore rear ends. The problem is linked to electronic communication, as consumers are no longer recycling as they once used to with recycled newspapers, magazines and print paper. The sources of recycled paper are becoming scarce. Companies are now on a quest to find new paper supplies.
A total of 74 pink slips were handed out to Des Moines Public School teachers last week to help the district with its budget shortfall. Earlier in April, the district eliminated 173 full-time teaching positions. While the number of employees who will actually lose their jobs is expected be much smaller due to vacancies from early retirement and yearly turnover, the board must still approve the pink slips. A vote is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4.
The ugly
What do people have to do to get some attention? Society is so worried about criminals and scams that it fails to notice a man who was stabbed and laying on the sidewalk as people walked by. Hugo Tale-Yax was shown on surveillance video stopping a mugger who was attacking a woman. But the suspect then attacked Tale-Yax, and both the suspect and the woman ran in opposite directions. Tale-Yax fell to the concrete, and for more than an hour, people walked past without offering help. One passerby even stopped and took a picture of the man bleeding on the street.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, Tale-Yax had already died. Shame on our society for letting this happen to someone trying to help another human being.
We think we’ll pass on the recently announced low-cost Megabus from Des Moines to Chicago. Violence in the “Windy City” has become so rampant that two lawmakers made a public plea last week to Gov. Pat Quinn to deploy National Guard troops for extra protection. Last week alone, seven people were killed and 18 wounded, and the city already has 113 homicide victims this year. Officials say cutbacks have stretched the police force thin.CV
