18
May
2004
• The National Trust for Historic Preservation has awarded U.S. Representative Jim Leach (R-Iowa) its Civic Leadership Award. The honor recognizes outstanding contributions by an elected official, a government staff person, a public agency, or a not-for-profit organization at the local, state, or national level. Leach championed a provision in the federal HOPE VI funding bill to give rural and small communities access to housing grants. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to protecting the irreplaceable. For more information, visit (http://www.nationaltrust.org).
• The Quad City Youth Symphony Orchestra has awarded $11,000 in scholarships to 19 members of the orchestra at its annual spring concert. The Youth Symphony Orchestra's scholarship fund is derived from donations from individuals, civic organizations, the Symphony Association's Board of Trustees, and Volunteers for Symphony. Since 1961 the scholarship program has awarded thousands of dollars to its student musicians. Awards are made based upon the students' musical ability and progress, attitude, attendance, and general contribution to the musical life of the orchestra. Founded in 1958, the Quad City Youth Symphony Orchestra is a training ensemble of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association. It is made up of approximately 90 young musicians, representing 21 middle and junior- and senior-high schools in the Quad Cities area. Players are selected by audition each year and rehearse and perform throughout the school year.
• The owners of Centro (in downtown Des Moines) are starting construction this week on a 10,500-square-foot restaurant in the Redstone Building (future home of the River Music Experience) at 131 West Second Street in downtown Davenport. Centro is renovating 8,900 square feet on the ground floor of the historic building and another 1,600 square feet in the basement. The $1.5-million restaurant project will draw on the experience and expertise the owners gained while opening the first Centro in the Temple for Performing Arts in Des Moines. For more information, visit (http://www.centrodesmoines.com).
• Limited funds are available for uninsured women who are Illinois residents to cover the cost of mammography and pap tests. Community Health Care is in charge of this program in conjunction with the Rock Island County Health Department. For information regarding eligibility, contact Teresa Francis at Community Health Care at (563)336-3001 or Angela Keesy at the Rock Island County Health Department at (309)794-7090.
• John McBride of Bettendorf was elected president of the Quint Cities Poets Society at a recent meeting. McBride has published poetry in 15 poetry journals around the country and has won awards in numerous national and local poetry contests, including third place in the adult category of this year's Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest. The Quint Cities Poets Society is open to everyone and meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Bettendorf Library. For more information, contact John McBride at (563)355-5766 or at (nancejohn@aol.com). Other winners in the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest were Dale G. Haake (grand prize), Tony Cardoso (second grand prize), Dick Stahl (first prize, adult category), J.W. Hale (second prize, adult), Ariana Raya (elementary competition), Anna Tunnicliff (middle-school), and Sarah Bush (high school).
• A new report by the National Association of Manufacturers claims that local, state, and national government policies within the United States are damaging U.S. manufacturing far more than any foreign competitor or foreign trade policy. The report states that "domestically imposed costs ... [are] adding at least 22.4 percent to the cost of doing business from the United States." Entitled "How Structural Costs Imposed on U.S. Manufacturers Harm Workers & Threaten Competitiveness," the 30-page document is available at (http://www.nam.org/s_nam/bin.asp?CID=201715&DID=227525&DOC=FILE.PDFF).
• New Department of Labor (DOL) overtime rules that would guarantee overtime for firefighters, EMS employees, and other emergency responders could be threatened by legislation sponsored by U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and approved by the Senate on May 4. Organizations representing emergency responders had worked with the DOL and succeeded in ensuring that the overtime eligibility of its members would be guaranteed under the department's new rules. Harkin successfully attached the amendment to corporate tax legislation currently under discussion in the Senate. The tax legislation has not yet passed the Senate or been considered by the House of Representatives, and it would not become law until approved by both chambers and signed by the president.
• Volunteers are needed for Bettendorf's Park Ambassador program. Duties for the program include patrolling parks, assisting in eliminating vandalism, and being a good-will ambassador for the parks department by interacting with and assisting residents. Volunteers will be provided a T-shirt, a cap for ID, transportation, radio, and phone connected to the police department. The program runs Memorial Day to Labor Day, with hours from 6 to 11 p.m. seven days a week. Call (563)344-4113 by May 25 to volunteer.
• Works of art and other objects from the Muscatine Art Center's permanent collection will be on loan to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts from June 27 through September 26 as part of a special exhibition commemorating the Grand Excursion of 1854. Currents of Change: Art & Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850-1861 will open June 27 in Minneapolis and will showcase arts along the Mississippi River through approximately 150 objects, among them paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, furniture, silver, ceramics, textiles, and sculpture. For further information about Currents of Change, visit the Muscatine Art Center's Web site at (http://www.muscatineartcenter.org) and click on the Minneapolis Institute of Arts link.
• The Quad City Youth Symphony Orchestra has awarded $11,000 in scholarships to 19 members of the orchestra at its annual spring concert. The Youth Symphony Orchestra's scholarship fund is derived from donations from individuals, civic organizations, the Symphony Association's Board of Trustees, and Volunteers for Symphony. Since 1961 the scholarship program has awarded thousands of dollars to its student musicians. Awards are made based upon the students' musical ability and progress, attitude, attendance, and general contribution to the musical life of the orchestra. Founded in 1958, the Quad City Youth Symphony Orchestra is a training ensemble of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association. It is made up of approximately 90 young musicians, representing 21 middle and junior- and senior-high schools in the Quad Cities area. Players are selected by audition each year and rehearse and perform throughout the school year.
• The owners of Centro (in downtown Des Moines) are starting construction this week on a 10,500-square-foot restaurant in the Redstone Building (future home of the River Music Experience) at 131 West Second Street in downtown Davenport. Centro is renovating 8,900 square feet on the ground floor of the historic building and another 1,600 square feet in the basement. The $1.5-million restaurant project will draw on the experience and expertise the owners gained while opening the first Centro in the Temple for Performing Arts in Des Moines. For more information, visit (http://www.centrodesmoines.com).
• Limited funds are available for uninsured women who are Illinois residents to cover the cost of mammography and pap tests. Community Health Care is in charge of this program in conjunction with the Rock Island County Health Department. For information regarding eligibility, contact Teresa Francis at Community Health Care at (563)336-3001 or Angela Keesy at the Rock Island County Health Department at (309)794-7090.
• John McBride of Bettendorf was elected president of the Quint Cities Poets Society at a recent meeting. McBride has published poetry in 15 poetry journals around the country and has won awards in numerous national and local poetry contests, including third place in the adult category of this year's Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest. The Quint Cities Poets Society is open to everyone and meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Bettendorf Library. For more information, contact John McBride at (563)355-5766 or at (nancejohn@aol.com). Other winners in the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest were Dale G. Haake (grand prize), Tony Cardoso (second grand prize), Dick Stahl (first prize, adult category), J.W. Hale (second prize, adult), Ariana Raya (elementary competition), Anna Tunnicliff (middle-school), and Sarah Bush (high school).
• A new report by the National Association of Manufacturers claims that local, state, and national government policies within the United States are damaging U.S. manufacturing far more than any foreign competitor or foreign trade policy. The report states that "domestically imposed costs ... [are] adding at least 22.4 percent to the cost of doing business from the United States." Entitled "How Structural Costs Imposed on U.S. Manufacturers Harm Workers & Threaten Competitiveness," the 30-page document is available at (http://www.nam.org/s_nam/bin.asp?CID=201715&DID=227525&DOC=FILE.PDFF).
• New Department of Labor (DOL) overtime rules that would guarantee overtime for firefighters, EMS employees, and other emergency responders could be threatened by legislation sponsored by U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and approved by the Senate on May 4. Organizations representing emergency responders had worked with the DOL and succeeded in ensuring that the overtime eligibility of its members would be guaranteed under the department's new rules. Harkin successfully attached the amendment to corporate tax legislation currently under discussion in the Senate. The tax legislation has not yet passed the Senate or been considered by the House of Representatives, and it would not become law until approved by both chambers and signed by the president.
• Volunteers are needed for Bettendorf's Park Ambassador program. Duties for the program include patrolling parks, assisting in eliminating vandalism, and being a good-will ambassador for the parks department by interacting with and assisting residents. Volunteers will be provided a T-shirt, a cap for ID, transportation, radio, and phone connected to the police department. The program runs Memorial Day to Labor Day, with hours from 6 to 11 p.m. seven days a week. Call (563)344-4113 by May 25 to volunteer.
• Works of art and other objects from the Muscatine Art Center's permanent collection will be on loan to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts from June 27 through September 26 as part of a special exhibition commemorating the Grand Excursion of 1854. Currents of Change: Art & Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850-1861 will open June 27 in Minneapolis and will showcase arts along the Mississippi River through approximately 150 objects, among them paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, furniture, silver, ceramics, textiles, and sculpture. For further information about Currents of Change, visit the Muscatine Art Center's Web site at (http://www.muscatineartcenter.org) and click on the Minneapolis Institute of Arts link.
