...Most of Ed's coverage was a leftover from last week's furor over his amendment to ban truck mudflaps with obscene or hateful images. In terms of the legislature, the amendment was an interesting moment, but only a moment. However, it hit the AP wire and received nationwide coverage that lasted well into this past week.
...There was also some residual coverage of a letter that he and some other Democratic legislators wrote to President Bush opposing the troop surge in Iraq.
Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill:
...She also received residual coverage, though hers concerned Thayer Vershoor's attempt to remove any semblance of free speech from the state's public classrooms.
Rep. David Schapira:
He had some fresh coverage this week, though one of the articles was a rehash of stuff covered earlier.
...He was mentioned, but not quoted, in an article about the efforts of some teachers as they lobby the lege for higher pay.
From the article:
Kathy Ray,a first-grade teacher at Mesa's Salk Elementary and a regional representative with the Mesa Education Association, told Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, that her first full-time teaching salary in 2003 was less than what she made in 1993 selling cosmetics.
...Another article with a mention but not a quote was a Business Journal piece about the lege's passage of a bill that would penalize deadbeat dads (and moms!) by suspending drivers and business licenses of parents who are 6 months or more behind in their child support payments.
From the article:
Supporters included the Democratic House caucus, House Minority Leader Phil Lopes and state Reps. Dave Schapira and Chad Campbell...
Still haven't figured out why Lopes, Campbell, and Schapira were named specifically after the article stated that the "Democratic House caucus" supported the bill.
All three are Democrats.
...There was a good article in the AZ Rep about how, during the campaign, Schapira met a woman with colon cancer who would have benefitted from a cancer screening, but her insurance company didn't cover them.
From the article:
She found out about her condition only when she started having digestive problems because her health insurance company did not pay for preventative cancer screenings.
Schapira's empathy for the woman's situation is rooted in his own experiences with cancer: He was born with a skin-cancer tumor on his face, and all four of his grandparents had the disease.
In response, Schapira, a Democrat from Tempe, wrote a bill that would require insurance companies to cover various cancer screenings once patients reach a certain ages.
"It fit right in with my legislative agenda," he said.
It would benefit the 8 percent of insured people whose insurance companies do not pay for cancer screenings, such as mammograms and colonoscopy exams, he said.
Note: the bill, HB2086 has apparently died in the House Health Committee without a hearing. It hasn't been heard, and isn't on the posted agenda.
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