29
Jul
2003
• The Davenport Parks & Recreation Department has announced the opening of its new Children's Wildlife Sensory Garden, located in Fejervary Park, three blocks west of Division Street. The Children's Wildlife Sensory Garden has taken two years to construct and is designed to serve all ages. The outdoor garden will challenge the five senses in a fun yet educational fashion. Special thanks for the new garden go to the Riverboat Development Authority, Scott County Regional Authority, the Heartland Railroad Club, the Davenport Jaycees, and the time and efforts of the Parks & Recreation staff.
• On July 17, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Congressional Arts Caucus amendment to increase National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) funding by $10 million and the National Endowment for the Humanities funding by $5 million, bringing their respective funding levels to $127.5 million and $142 million. The amendment passed by a vote of 225 to 200. A similar amendment passed in the House last year by a vote of 234 to 192. In a second victory for the arts, the House has defeated the Tancredo Amendment to cut the NEA by $50 million with a vote of 313 to 112. The same amendment failed last year by a vote of 300 to 123.
• The fourth annual Iowa sales-tax-free holiday will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, August 1, and will end 48 hours later. Eligible items will be exempt from both the state and local-option sales taxes. Legislation was adopted in 2002 establishing annual sales-tax-free holidays. Based on previous years, it is estimated that this will help Iowa families get ready for the school year by saving them about $1.6 million. For more information, contact the Iowa Department of Revenue at (515)281-3114 or (idrf@idrf.state.ia.us), or by visiting the Web site (http://www.state.ia.us/tax/index.html).
• The American Red Cross of the Quad Cities Area will soon be shipping an additional 500 boxes of "treasures" to United States servicemen and -women. In March 2003, the Red Cross collected approximately 2,700 boxes of items to improve the quality of life of military personnel in hardship assignments. Because of increased security and because hundreds of other Red Cross chapters were holding similar drives across the country, the shipping of these items has been slow. Between March and last week, approximately 500 of the 2,700 boxes were mailed to Red Cross service stations in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. Last week, the chapter sent an additional 100 boxes to Jacksonville, Florida, and soldiers being deployed from there will take the quality-of-life items with them.
• Habitat for Humanity-Quad Cities on August 2 will break ground for its 28th home, at 1338 Christie in Davenport. Partner family Kevin and Patricia Murphy and their children will purchase the home from Habitat. The build is sponsored by the Greater Davenport Board of Realtors. Additional sponsors are Wells Fargo Mortgage and Valley Bank. Together, these sponsors will raise the funds to build the home - approximately $55,000 in all. They will also provide construction volunteers. For more information about Habitat for Humanity-Quad Cities, call (563)359-9066 or look on the Web at (http://www.habitatqc.org).
• The City of Bettendorf has announced that the George Thuenen Drive bridge repair, which began on July 28, will continue for approximately three weeks. While this viaduct will be closed 24 hours a day, the 14½ Street temporary crossing will be open, except when gates are closed to allow locomotives to pass. Traffic signs will direct Isle of Capri patrons on Highway 67 to turn south either at 12th Street or 15th Street and then follow Gilbert Street and turn south on 14½ Street to cross the railroad tracks to Isle Parkway. Follow Isle Parkway east to the hotel and riverboat casino.
• The U.S. House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan effort has agreed to an amendment that would bar federal law-enforcement from carrying out secret "sneak and peek" searches without notifying the target of the warrant. The Otter Amendment, added to the Commerce-, Justice-, and State-department funding bill and named after Representative C.L. "Butch" Otter, an Idaho Republican, passed 309 to 118, with 113 Republicans voting in favor. The amendment would effectively prohibit implementation of controversial Section 213 of the USA PATRIOT Act, which enables federal agents to obtain so-called "sneak and peek" warrants with far less evidence than was required before the bill was passed. Under these warrants - also referred to as "black bag" warrants - agents have the permission to search homes, confiscate certain types of property, and monitor computers, all without notifying the subject of the search. The amendment still has to get past the Senate and President Bush before it becomes law.
• Daily ingestion of legal hemp-oil products will probably not trigger a positive drug-test result for marijuana, according to findings published in the July 1 issue of Clinical Chemistry. Researchers reported that daily ingestion of hemp oil at low doses produced measurable metabolite concentrations ranging from 5.4 to 38.2 micrograms per liter - well below the federal threshold of 50 micrograms per liter. In contrast, authors noted that ingestion of the prescription drug Marinol (synthetic THC) produced metabolite concentrations as high as 436 micrograms per liter. Abstracts of the study are available online at (http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/short/49/7/1114).
• On July 17, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Congressional Arts Caucus amendment to increase National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) funding by $10 million and the National Endowment for the Humanities funding by $5 million, bringing their respective funding levels to $127.5 million and $142 million. The amendment passed by a vote of 225 to 200. A similar amendment passed in the House last year by a vote of 234 to 192. In a second victory for the arts, the House has defeated the Tancredo Amendment to cut the NEA by $50 million with a vote of 313 to 112. The same amendment failed last year by a vote of 300 to 123.
• The fourth annual Iowa sales-tax-free holiday will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, August 1, and will end 48 hours later. Eligible items will be exempt from both the state and local-option sales taxes. Legislation was adopted in 2002 establishing annual sales-tax-free holidays. Based on previous years, it is estimated that this will help Iowa families get ready for the school year by saving them about $1.6 million. For more information, contact the Iowa Department of Revenue at (515)281-3114 or (idrf@idrf.state.ia.us), or by visiting the Web site (http://www.state.ia.us/tax/index.html).
• The American Red Cross of the Quad Cities Area will soon be shipping an additional 500 boxes of "treasures" to United States servicemen and -women. In March 2003, the Red Cross collected approximately 2,700 boxes of items to improve the quality of life of military personnel in hardship assignments. Because of increased security and because hundreds of other Red Cross chapters were holding similar drives across the country, the shipping of these items has been slow. Between March and last week, approximately 500 of the 2,700 boxes were mailed to Red Cross service stations in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. Last week, the chapter sent an additional 100 boxes to Jacksonville, Florida, and soldiers being deployed from there will take the quality-of-life items with them.
• Habitat for Humanity-Quad Cities on August 2 will break ground for its 28th home, at 1338 Christie in Davenport. Partner family Kevin and Patricia Murphy and their children will purchase the home from Habitat. The build is sponsored by the Greater Davenport Board of Realtors. Additional sponsors are Wells Fargo Mortgage and Valley Bank. Together, these sponsors will raise the funds to build the home - approximately $55,000 in all. They will also provide construction volunteers. For more information about Habitat for Humanity-Quad Cities, call (563)359-9066 or look on the Web at (http://www.habitatqc.org).
• The City of Bettendorf has announced that the George Thuenen Drive bridge repair, which began on July 28, will continue for approximately three weeks. While this viaduct will be closed 24 hours a day, the 14½ Street temporary crossing will be open, except when gates are closed to allow locomotives to pass. Traffic signs will direct Isle of Capri patrons on Highway 67 to turn south either at 12th Street or 15th Street and then follow Gilbert Street and turn south on 14½ Street to cross the railroad tracks to Isle Parkway. Follow Isle Parkway east to the hotel and riverboat casino.
• The U.S. House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan effort has agreed to an amendment that would bar federal law-enforcement from carrying out secret "sneak and peek" searches without notifying the target of the warrant. The Otter Amendment, added to the Commerce-, Justice-, and State-department funding bill and named after Representative C.L. "Butch" Otter, an Idaho Republican, passed 309 to 118, with 113 Republicans voting in favor. The amendment would effectively prohibit implementation of controversial Section 213 of the USA PATRIOT Act, which enables federal agents to obtain so-called "sneak and peek" warrants with far less evidence than was required before the bill was passed. Under these warrants - also referred to as "black bag" warrants - agents have the permission to search homes, confiscate certain types of property, and monitor computers, all without notifying the subject of the search. The amendment still has to get past the Senate and President Bush before it becomes law.
• Daily ingestion of legal hemp-oil products will probably not trigger a positive drug-test result for marijuana, according to findings published in the July 1 issue of Clinical Chemistry. Researchers reported that daily ingestion of hemp oil at low doses produced measurable metabolite concentrations ranging from 5.4 to 38.2 micrograms per liter - well below the federal threshold of 50 micrograms per liter. In contrast, authors noted that ingestion of the prescription drug Marinol (synthetic THC) produced metabolite concentrations as high as 436 micrograms per liter. Abstracts of the study are available online at (http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/short/49/7/1114).
