31
Jul
2001
• Construction of the Putnam Museum's IMAX Theatre has been moving steadily forward since breaking ground in January. Over the past several months, work has focused on earthwork and concrete foundations. Drilled caissons, concrete footings, and walls that establish the initial "footprint" for the entire building have been completed. Work on the interior theatre walls and underground rough-ins for plumbing and electrical systems have begun and will continue for the next several weeks. Structural steel erection began in June and will continue to be the focus of construction over the next 30 days. Grand opening festivities are planned for March 2002.
• Concerned Citizens Opposed to Police States (CCOPS) has decided it is time to monitor the pace of tyranny by instituting the Totalitarian Time Clock (http://www.ccops.org/clock.html). Inspired by the Doomsday Clock, which has appeared on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist since 1947 and marks the worldwide nuclear threat, CCOPS will be tracking national and global news and moving the digital "hands" of the timepiece toward the midnight hour of tyranny or - as hoped - the bright daylight of Bill of Rights restoration. Keep your eye on the clock over the coming weeks, months, and years.
• The June 26 death of a seven-month-old Perry, Iowa, baby has inspired Iowa state Senator Matt McCoy to announce plans for legislation next year prohibiting parents from leaving children under six alone in cars. Tickets would be issued at the discretion of police officers, with the $100 fine to be used to pay for a statewide public-education campaign about the dangers of children in cars. While the proposal is well-meaning, Iowa already has child-endangerment and -neglect laws.
• Isabel Bloom, L.L.C., has announced that orders for the limited-edition "Grasshopper" sculpture have exceeded 1,100, boosting the Isabel Bloom Art Education Fund over $110,000 in the two weeks since its inception. The memorial fund is an endowment of the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend and will support visual-arts programs in Scott and Rock Island counties. The number of orders means that only 400 sculptures remain. You can see the "Grasshopper" for yourself at the company's Web site at (http:\\www.ibloom.com) or stop by its store at 736 Federal Street in Davenport.
• The Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC) is the first blood center in the U.S. to introduce an interactive video donor-screening system. Called the Quality Donor System, it uses a touch-screen computer that takes donors through the screening process. The computer and donor communicate in complete privacy via earphones, text, and graphics. Donors proceed through each screen responding to questions at their own pace. At completion, a card is printed and a staff member reviews it with the donor to determine suitability to donate. I've used the system and found that it's easy and fast. For your chance to see it by donating blood, call MVRBC at (563)359-5401 and look on the Web at (http://www.bloodcenter.org).
• There is good news and bad news for the Casino Rock Island. The Illinois Gaming Board approved a $2 million expansion that would increase the casino's slot-machine total from 600 to 720. State law allows casinos to have 1,200 gambling spaces. The casino's operators hope to have the games in place this fall. But Casino Rock Island's request to move its boat to the southwest part of Rock Island was denied. Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan issued an opinion May 12 saying that only the legislature could give that approval. Two weeks ago, the casino asked a Cook County judge to declare that the gaming board has the right to approve such a move. A ruling is expected in mid-September.
• The new Trinity Hospital project in Bettendorf is moving along, with Trinity and the City of Bettendorf agreeing to add a traffic signal at Crow Creek and Utica Ridge roads and another at Terrace Park Drive to minimize traffic cutting through Bettendorf's Terrace Park Drive Addition. Study continues on other traffic signals and lane additions that might be needed to ensure proper traffic flow. Construction on the 198,000-square-foot hospital is expected to begin this fall, with a projected completion date sometime in 2003.
• Twenty-nine percent of working families in the United States with one to three children under age 12 do not earn enough income to afford basic necessities such as food, housing, health care, and child care, even during a period of national prosperity. "Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families," released by the Economic Policy Institute, shows that the majority of these households are two-parent families, often with one or more workers and for the most part earning incomes above the federal poverty level. The report examines the cost of living in every community nationwide and determines for each community a "basic family budget" - the amount a family would need to earn to afford food, housing, child care, health insurance, transportation, and utilities. Basic family budgets for a two-parent, two-child family range from $27,005 a year in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to $52,114 in Nassau-Suffolk County, New York. The national median is $33,511, roughly twice the official federal poverty line of $17,463 for a family that size. A two-parent, two-child household in Davenport needs to earn $31,638 a year to make ends meet. You can see the report for yourself and calculate the basic family budget at the Economic Policy Institute Web site at (http://www.epinet.org).
• Someone has warned me of a new e-mail worm called SIRCAM. Written in Delphi, it propagates using SMTP commands and sends copies of itself to all addresses listed in an infected user's address book and in temporary Internet cached files. It arrives with a random subject line, and an attachment by the same name. This worm also propagates via shared network drives. Check your virus software for an update or take a look at (http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_SIRCAM.A) for information on how to get rid of it.
• Concerned Citizens Opposed to Police States (CCOPS) has decided it is time to monitor the pace of tyranny by instituting the Totalitarian Time Clock (http://www.ccops.org/clock.html). Inspired by the Doomsday Clock, which has appeared on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist since 1947 and marks the worldwide nuclear threat, CCOPS will be tracking national and global news and moving the digital "hands" of the timepiece toward the midnight hour of tyranny or - as hoped - the bright daylight of Bill of Rights restoration. Keep your eye on the clock over the coming weeks, months, and years.
• The June 26 death of a seven-month-old Perry, Iowa, baby has inspired Iowa state Senator Matt McCoy to announce plans for legislation next year prohibiting parents from leaving children under six alone in cars. Tickets would be issued at the discretion of police officers, with the $100 fine to be used to pay for a statewide public-education campaign about the dangers of children in cars. While the proposal is well-meaning, Iowa already has child-endangerment and -neglect laws.
• Isabel Bloom, L.L.C., has announced that orders for the limited-edition "Grasshopper" sculpture have exceeded 1,100, boosting the Isabel Bloom Art Education Fund over $110,000 in the two weeks since its inception. The memorial fund is an endowment of the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend and will support visual-arts programs in Scott and Rock Island counties. The number of orders means that only 400 sculptures remain. You can see the "Grasshopper" for yourself at the company's Web site at (http:\\www.ibloom.com) or stop by its store at 736 Federal Street in Davenport.
• The Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC) is the first blood center in the U.S. to introduce an interactive video donor-screening system. Called the Quality Donor System, it uses a touch-screen computer that takes donors through the screening process. The computer and donor communicate in complete privacy via earphones, text, and graphics. Donors proceed through each screen responding to questions at their own pace. At completion, a card is printed and a staff member reviews it with the donor to determine suitability to donate. I've used the system and found that it's easy and fast. For your chance to see it by donating blood, call MVRBC at (563)359-5401 and look on the Web at (http://www.bloodcenter.org).
• There is good news and bad news for the Casino Rock Island. The Illinois Gaming Board approved a $2 million expansion that would increase the casino's slot-machine total from 600 to 720. State law allows casinos to have 1,200 gambling spaces. The casino's operators hope to have the games in place this fall. But Casino Rock Island's request to move its boat to the southwest part of Rock Island was denied. Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan issued an opinion May 12 saying that only the legislature could give that approval. Two weeks ago, the casino asked a Cook County judge to declare that the gaming board has the right to approve such a move. A ruling is expected in mid-September.
• The new Trinity Hospital project in Bettendorf is moving along, with Trinity and the City of Bettendorf agreeing to add a traffic signal at Crow Creek and Utica Ridge roads and another at Terrace Park Drive to minimize traffic cutting through Bettendorf's Terrace Park Drive Addition. Study continues on other traffic signals and lane additions that might be needed to ensure proper traffic flow. Construction on the 198,000-square-foot hospital is expected to begin this fall, with a projected completion date sometime in 2003.
• Twenty-nine percent of working families in the United States with one to three children under age 12 do not earn enough income to afford basic necessities such as food, housing, health care, and child care, even during a period of national prosperity. "Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families," released by the Economic Policy Institute, shows that the majority of these households are two-parent families, often with one or more workers and for the most part earning incomes above the federal poverty level. The report examines the cost of living in every community nationwide and determines for each community a "basic family budget" - the amount a family would need to earn to afford food, housing, child care, health insurance, transportation, and utilities. Basic family budgets for a two-parent, two-child family range from $27,005 a year in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to $52,114 in Nassau-Suffolk County, New York. The national median is $33,511, roughly twice the official federal poverty line of $17,463 for a family that size. A two-parent, two-child household in Davenport needs to earn $31,638 a year to make ends meet. You can see the report for yourself and calculate the basic family budget at the Economic Policy Institute Web site at (http://www.epinet.org).
• Someone has warned me of a new e-mail worm called SIRCAM. Written in Delphi, it propagates using SMTP commands and sends copies of itself to all addresses listed in an infected user's address book and in temporary Internet cached files. It arrives with a random subject line, and an attachment by the same name. This worm also propagates via shared network drives. Check your virus software for an update or take a look at (http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_SIRCAM.A) for information on how to get rid of it.
