21
Jun
2005
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is poised to lose more than 45 percent in federal funding from its 2006 budget. This is a result of a vote by the House Appropriations Subcommittee. This subcommittee vote is a result of pressure on Congress to hold down spending due to enormous federal deficits. And how do these actions in Washington impact us in the greater Quad Cities?
Our local public radio station, WVIK, is anticipating a CPB grant of approximately $120,000 to be used for national news and entertainment programs, and basic operational services. This funding for WVIK is significant. With the proposed cuts, our station stands to lose $30,000 from its fiscal 2006 budget, which will precipitate reductions across the budget, including programming and staff.
For many Quad Citians, WVIK is their primary media source of news, cultural information, and even public safety. Plus, for persons with visual difficulty, the WVIK reading information service is their daily companion, keeping them connected with their neighbors and the greater community.
On behalf of the WVIK Foundation Board of Directors, I am urging all supporters of public broadcasting to express their views on this matter to their elected representatives. These deep cuts in funding go beyond even the austere reductions suggested by the administration. Please make contact with Iowa and Illinois representatives now to let them know the funding must be restored. Information is available at (http://www.wvik.org).
Libbet Brooke
WVIK Public Radio Foundation President
Davenport
Study Has Led to Multiple Collaborations
The Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (QCCVB) is pleased that Quad Cities arts, culture, and heritage groups are partnering, collaborating, and implementing the suggestions of the cultural tourism study conducted in 2004. (See "Ghostlight Continues on the Path to Professionalism," River Cities' Reader Issue 533, June 15-21, 2005.) We are pleased that the C.R. Johnson study has not sat on a shelf but has been embraced by several arts organizations.
In addition to the marketing collaboration of City Opera Company, Ballet Quad Cities, and Ghostlight Theatre, there is a second collaboration among museums and attractions that resulted from the QCCVB efforts.
Be sure to thank Riverboat Develoment Authority and Mary Ellen Chamberlin, as well as Scott County Regional Authority, for providing the initial grant funds to the QCCVB to conduct the study and for continuing to fund the actual marketing these groups desire to conduct.
Joe Taylor
President/CEO
Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau
Asbestos Legislation Important to Veterans
Iowa is a political battleground in national elections, so we're used to negative political advertisements on our airwaves. But a recent ad charging Senator Chuck Grassley with not thinking about Iowans grabbed my attention.
It wasn't a surprise that the Senate Accountability Project, the special interest group behind the ads, wasn't even from Iowa.
But why should this outside group even care how our Iowa senators vote?
It turns out the Senate Accountability Project is a trial-lawyer group trying to stop asbestos-trust-fund legislation. Now the group is trying to scare the senators supporting this bill, including our Senator Grassley.
This legislation is vitally important to U.S. veterans. Because asbestos was used by the U.S. military during and after World War II, thousands of veterans today suffer from asbestos-related diseases.
Under the current system, veterans are restricted by law from recovering from the government in the courts. The no-fault victims' trust fund in the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act would fix this injustice. Sick veterans would no longer need to point a finger at the government or a specific asbestos supplier to get the compensation they deserve.
The Senate Accountability Project, funded by trial lawyers and run by trial lawyers, isn't interested in helping veterans. This group is interested in ensuring that the current system, which has brought trial lawyers billions, remains intact.
As an Iowa veteran, I thank Senator Grassley for putting veterans before greedy special interests and voting for this bill in the Judiciary Committee. I urge Senators Grassley and Tom Harkin to vote for the FAIR Act when it comes to a full Senate vote.
Howard Ward Ransford,
Past State Commander Iowa Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Eddyville, Iowa
Our local public radio station, WVIK, is anticipating a CPB grant of approximately $120,000 to be used for national news and entertainment programs, and basic operational services. This funding for WVIK is significant. With the proposed cuts, our station stands to lose $30,000 from its fiscal 2006 budget, which will precipitate reductions across the budget, including programming and staff.
For many Quad Citians, WVIK is their primary media source of news, cultural information, and even public safety. Plus, for persons with visual difficulty, the WVIK reading information service is their daily companion, keeping them connected with their neighbors and the greater community.
On behalf of the WVIK Foundation Board of Directors, I am urging all supporters of public broadcasting to express their views on this matter to their elected representatives. These deep cuts in funding go beyond even the austere reductions suggested by the administration. Please make contact with Iowa and Illinois representatives now to let them know the funding must be restored. Information is available at (http://www.wvik.org).
Libbet Brooke
WVIK Public Radio Foundation President
Davenport
Study Has Led to Multiple Collaborations
The Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (QCCVB) is pleased that Quad Cities arts, culture, and heritage groups are partnering, collaborating, and implementing the suggestions of the cultural tourism study conducted in 2004. (See "Ghostlight Continues on the Path to Professionalism," River Cities' Reader Issue 533, June 15-21, 2005.) We are pleased that the C.R. Johnson study has not sat on a shelf but has been embraced by several arts organizations.
In addition to the marketing collaboration of City Opera Company, Ballet Quad Cities, and Ghostlight Theatre, there is a second collaboration among museums and attractions that resulted from the QCCVB efforts.
Be sure to thank Riverboat Develoment Authority and Mary Ellen Chamberlin, as well as Scott County Regional Authority, for providing the initial grant funds to the QCCVB to conduct the study and for continuing to fund the actual marketing these groups desire to conduct.
Joe Taylor
President/CEO
Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau
Asbestos Legislation Important to Veterans
Iowa is a political battleground in national elections, so we're used to negative political advertisements on our airwaves. But a recent ad charging Senator Chuck Grassley with not thinking about Iowans grabbed my attention.
It wasn't a surprise that the Senate Accountability Project, the special interest group behind the ads, wasn't even from Iowa.
But why should this outside group even care how our Iowa senators vote?
It turns out the Senate Accountability Project is a trial-lawyer group trying to stop asbestos-trust-fund legislation. Now the group is trying to scare the senators supporting this bill, including our Senator Grassley.
This legislation is vitally important to U.S. veterans. Because asbestos was used by the U.S. military during and after World War II, thousands of veterans today suffer from asbestos-related diseases.
Under the current system, veterans are restricted by law from recovering from the government in the courts. The no-fault victims' trust fund in the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act would fix this injustice. Sick veterans would no longer need to point a finger at the government or a specific asbestos supplier to get the compensation they deserve.
The Senate Accountability Project, funded by trial lawyers and run by trial lawyers, isn't interested in helping veterans. This group is interested in ensuring that the current system, which has brought trial lawyers billions, remains intact.
As an Iowa veteran, I thank Senator Grassley for putting veterans before greedy special interests and voting for this bill in the Judiciary Committee. I urge Senators Grassley and Tom Harkin to vote for the FAIR Act when it comes to a full Senate vote.
Howard Ward Ransford,
Past State Commander Iowa Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Eddyville, Iowa
