Consumer Advisory Bulletin, “Phishing” Scams Use New Tricks March, 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: “Phishing” Scams Use New Tricks

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes, April 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Prevent Home Repair Scams and Disputes

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Prevent Identity Theft Take Control of Your Personal Information, May 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Prevent Identity Theft Take Control of Your Personal Information

Taking Chances on Integrity: An Investigation of the Iowa Lottery

The Iowa Lottery has failed to adequately protect its customers from fraud and theft by retailers. That is the key conclusion of the Iowa Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman in a critical report released today. The 210-page report, which makes 60 recommendations to the Lottery, is the culmination of a year-and-a-half-long investigation into how the Lottery polices and prevents retailer fraud and theft. In general, the Ombudsman found that the Lottery has maintained a weak, reactive enforcement system that fails to detect retailer dishonesty independently of customer complaints. This means that there likely have been instances of fraud – possibly largescale fraud – that have gone undetected. The Ombudsman’s examination marks the first time the Iowa Lottery’s investigative files have been audited by an outside authority. It also appears to be the first full-scale investigation of its kind in the United States.

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Counterfeit Check Scams, July 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about:Counterfeit Check Scams : Counterfeit checks plus wiring money usually adds up to fraud.

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Consumer “Private Right of Action” -- What Consumers Need to Know, August 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about:Consumer “Private Right of Action” -- What Consumers Need to Know

State of Iowa Department of Administrative Services Human Resource Enterprise: Review of State Hiring Practices, April 30, 2007

The State of Iowa and the Hiring Practices Working Group commissioned this review of the State’s hiring practices in response to recent concerns about these practices involving racial discrimination claims against the Departments of Human Services, Transportation, and Iowa Workforce Development. The State of Iowa should be commended for undertaking this review. The State has a longstanding Affirmative Action Program and commitment to diversity – they instituted their Affirmative Action Program in 1973, and continue their commitment to its success by making the changes necessary to ensure the program is viable and sustainable. Iowa Department of Administrative Services In July 2003, the State created the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) as a way to manage and coordinate the major resources of state government. DAS provides human resource services through an entrepreneurial management model. Entrepreneurial management is a customer-focused approach to delivering services. The customer departments have input about what services and products they want from DAS and in turn DAS is funded by the customer departments through purchases of DAS services and products. DAS looks to offer new and additional services (for example recruitment support and coordination) to various customers on a fee-for-service basis. A customer council is charged with approving the DAS business plan, establishing the rate for services, and reviewing service delivery and complaints. Under this entrepreneurial model, human resource services are provided by DAS-HRE (Human Resources Enterprise) central staff, 12 DAS-HRE Personnel Officers located at the customer departments, and customer agency staff. The majority of the recruitment and hiring functions are done by the customer (hiring) departments and their staff. Applications for employment are submitted using the BrassRing system with applicants being qualified by DAS-HRE employees. Since the creation of Human Resources Enterprise, DAS-HRE has strived to provide human resource tools to the departments. The Screening Manual and the Supervisor’s Manual are just two examples of the resources created for the hiring departments. They also provide Supervisor Training for newly appointed supervisors. Larger departments have dedicated staff assigned to human resource activities. The staff at the departmental level may or may not have a human resources background. Iowa Population and Workforce The 2000 U.S. Census indicated that Iowa’s population was 2,926,324. According to this census, 92.6 percent of Iowa’s population identified their race as white (alone). The nonwhite alone or minority population (including Black or African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, two or more races, or some other race) was 7.4 percent.

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Consumer “Cash for Clunkers” Consumer Tips, August 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about:“Cash for Clunkers” Consumer Tips

Incidence and types of illness when traveling to the tropics: a prospective controlled study of children and their parents.

Increasingly, families travel to tropical destinations exposing them to infectious agents and tropical diseases not encountered at home. We studied 157 children (0-16 years) and their adult relatives traveling to the tropics, who attended a pretravel clinic and were generally adherent to prescribed advice. Incidence rates of common illness in children and adults were respectively 16.9 (14.3-19.7) and 15.1 (12.7-17.8) episodes/100 person-weeks. Diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever were the most frequent complaints. There was no significant difference in the incidence of morbid episodes between children and adults, except for fever (more frequent in children). Most episodes occurred in the first 10 days of travel. The similar incidence of morbidity in children and adults and the episodes' mildness challenge the view that it is unwise to travel with small children.

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, How to Deal With Credit Card Offers, October 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: How to Deal With Credit Card Offers

Consumer Advisory Bulletin; Tips for Buying a Used Car, November 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Tips for Buying a Used Car

Consumer Advisory Bulletin; Consumer Tips for Holiday Shoppers, December 2009

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Consumer Tips for Holiday Shoppers

Consumer Advisory Bulletin; Beware of “Foreclosure Rescue Scams, January 2010

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about:Beware of “Foreclosure Rescue Scams

Consumer Advisory Bulletin; Beware of Avoid Rapid Tax-Refund Loans, February 2010

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Avoid Rapid Tax-Refund Loans

Consumer Advisory Bulletin; New Protections for Credit Card Consumers, March 2010

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: New Protections for Credit Card Consumers