Poll: Most Americans favor small businesses

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA – Americans trust small business owners for job creation more than large corporations, the president and congressional leaders, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Local Iowa City small business owners say that’s because of the personal relationships among customers, employees and employers they work to build.

“Employees are just numbers in large corporations,” Todd Thelen, the owner of Artifacts, 331 E. Market St., said. “I work directly with my employees and have the best interest in treating them well and making sure they’re happy.”

The poll showed that while 79 percent of Americans polled trusted small business owners for job creation, 52 percent trusted President Obama, 44 percent trusted Democratic leaders in Congress and 43 percent trusted Republican congressional leaders.

-The Daily Iowan
By Dora Grote

Studies at JMU, Ohio State find ‘freshman 15’ a myth

JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY – The “freshman 15” could be a fluke. A study to be published in December’s edition of Social Science Quarterly by The Ohio State University Center for Human Resources researcher Jay Zagorsky quelled the notorious freshman 15 concept.

The study found on average during freshman year, women gain 2.4 pounds and men gain 3.4 pounds.

The data was collected from 7,000 teenagers in 1997, and their weights were reported each year. The study also found that students gain weight over time throughout college; on average, women put on 6.5 pounds and men gained 12.1 pounds.

Dietetics professor Patricia Brevard and health sciences professor Melissa Rittenhouse conducted a study on weight gain in 2010 that surveyed 365 students, 140 of which reported an average weight gain of 9.4 pounds with a variation of plus or minus 4.1 pounds.

Lack of exercise and a poor diet are a few contributors to this weight increase, Brevard said. She suggests that staying physically fit, eating healthy and sticking to food low in fat all help keep the extra weight away.

Brevard’s study used a different method to get the same result.

“We used medical scales to check each student’s weight for precision,” Brevard said. “The Ohio State University study was based upon the students self-reporting their weight changes.”

-The Breeze
By Kelsey Beckett

Obama’s 2012 campaign kicks off on campus

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA – While Republican candidates are still fighting for their party’s nomination in the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama’s campaign for re-election has turned its attention to the Twin Cities.

Obama’s campaign, Organizing for America, launched its first Minnesota office Monday. After a tough year in office and sinking approval ratings, the campaign is looking to recapture the student vote that helped elect him in 2008.

Among the more than 100 supporters who showed up at the campaign office were local, state and national politicians.

But just 10 percent or so of the supporters were students.

“Support has declined sharply among young Americans,” Larry Jacobs, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs said. “However, (students have) more support for the president than any other age group.”

Jacobs said many factors have contributed to Obama’s decreases in approval ratings.

“The economy has tanked and it has really hurt young people,” Jacobs said. “Congressional approval is at an all-time low, and members of Congress and the president are facing a big backlash.”

Obama carried Minnesota and its 10 electoral votes in the 2008 election. No Republican nominee has won Minnesota in a presidential election since Richard Nixon in 1972.

-The Minnesota Daily
By Matt Herbert