Cell phones have become a near necessity in the lives of Americans all  over the nation. People are constantly texting, dialing, emailing and  whatever else they can do with the technology of the new devices. Starting on February 19th, a new law in Dubuque made the use of cell phones while driving illegal. After a 30 day grace period, driving while using your cell phone could cost you anywhere from $50 – $250 depending on the situation. According to Lieutenant Scott Baxter of the Dubuque County Police Department, some people are clearly choosing their cell phones over the law. Lieutenant Baxter says that during the first weekend the police department wrote 32 violations regarding cell phone usage.

Some people in Dubuque are not so happy with the recent passing of the cell phone ban. While some community members think that Dubuque has bigger things to be worried about there are others that are happy with the ban and think it couldn’t have been passed at a better time.

While there are a number of disagreements regarding the law, most people can agree on at least one thing that should be banned: texting. Right now the state of Iowa is considering a law that will ban only texting but still allow talking on your cell phone while you drive. According to Lieutenant Baxter, if the state law against texting gets passed it will override Dubuque’s law banning all cell phone usage.

For now, in order to use a cell phone while in the car, drivers must be using a hands free device such as the Bluetooth (R). Keep checking Myduhawk.com for updates on cell phone laws in Iowa and in Dubuque.

Fight Like A Girl- This year's slogan for the fight against breast cancer

Each year when October comes and the leaves begin to change colors some other things start to change colors as well.  We see pink ribbons, pink t-shirts and over the past two years we’ve even started to see pink hair. All of this pink serves as a reminder that October is breast cancer awareness month.

There are many women and men affected by breast cancer all over the World; therefore there are tons of different ways to raise money and awareness for the survivors of this dangerous illness. Here in Dubuque some strong survivors strut their stuff at a fashion show created to raise money for the Tri-State Survivors Fund.

On Monday night survivors from all over the tri-states came to the Port of Dubuque for a special event founded by Salon and Day Spa, Amirage. At this event breast cancer survivors model donated clothing from local boutiques such  as The Discovery Store and DBQ Fashions. The tickets were just one way to raise money for the survivors fund. There were also tables set up outside of the main event room selling different products such as t-shirts, hats and jewelry.

There are other ways to get involved in raising money for breast cancer as well. Some people raise funds for the Susan G. Koleman foundation by preparing for and walking in the 3 day breast cancer walk. Women like Tracy Less, the 6 year survivor from Dubuque, walk in order to support the women struggling through the disease.

Tracy was a 34 year old, stay at home mother when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. With a husband and 3 young daughters, Tracy had  big choices to make. The doctors only found cancerous cells in one of her breasts but she elected to have both of them removed so that she would not have to endure another surgery later in her life.

Tracy and I sat down and she told me a little bit more about her journey. “Ater my first daughter was born, she was 5 months old, I found a lump into my breast… I decided to go to the doctor and they did a mammogram but on the mammogram nothing showed up.” Tracy said.  She explained to us that without her doctor’s persistence she would have never known about her cancer.  ”There was a spot that they could feel but he wanted me to follow up just because i was young.”

To purchase the “Fight Like a Girl” products that are show in the show follow this link to the website where they are available. http://fightlikeagirlonline.com/

Kelli Spencer

September 23, 2009

There’s a new committee making plans in Dubuque and their main concern is sustainability. The committee is called Dubuque Squared and they say their main goal is to “make sustainability sustainable.”

They are still a rather new committee and are in the early stages of development but seem to have some very strong ideas. They hope to get their plans and ideas from the people of Dubuque, local businesses, schools and non-profit organizations. They also hope to create an inventory of practices already in place by the people of Dubuque.  By doing this they hope to also achieve the goals of reducing the community’s carbon footprint and getting national recognition for Dubuque’s efforts.

Their website is still in the construction stages. However, Justin Thilgen, a member of the committee, tells us that it will hopefully serve as a way to share the wonderful things that people are already doing and promote the things that people can do to help over time.