The slogan for Butterworth Center & Deere-Wiman House, "Where history lives in real time," can be taken literally when it comes to their new Web-site features. The Web site at (http://www.butterworthcenter.com) will now include free, downloadable audio features and mini-video recaps. Angela Hunt, who directs the public-relations program, decided to add the audio features after attending a local workshop about podcasting. The debut audio feature, "Makeover for the Birds," is a 20-minute interview with Program Director Gretchen Small. In the interview, listeners will learn about the historic homes' collection of Audubon's Birds of America prints from the 1860s. Of the 106 prints, the historic sites have 98. Small talks about how the Charles Deere family may have acquired the prints, and the sensitive restoration process that the prints are undergoing. Video recaps are also a high-tech addition to the 1800s-flavored website. The video recaps are two-minute segments and show highlights of past events or programs to background music. The Web site will post different audio topics on a regular basis, from snippets of tours, interviews, or programs.

This year's heat wave is part of a broader trend of rising temperatures in Iowa, according to a new report released last week by the Iowa Public Interest Research Group (Iowa PIRG). The average temperature in Des Moines is up 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 2000 compared with the previous three decades (1971 through 2000). In the continental United States , the first seven months of 2006 were the warmest January-to-July period of any year on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center. In Iowa , the average temperature was the third warmest January-through-July on record. To examine how these recent temperature patterns compare with temperatures over the past 30 years, Iowa PIRG's researchers analyzed temperature data from 255 major weather stations in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., for the years 2000 through 2005 and the first six months of 2006. Research was collected from four Iowa cities: Des Moines, Waterloo, Dubuque, and Sioux City. In August, Iowa PIRG released a report showing how the U.S. could cut global-warming pollution by nearly 20 percent by 2020 by making homes, cars, and businesses more efficient; switching to renewable-energy sources; and giving Americans more alternatives to driving, paired with strong, mandatory limits on global-warming emissions. For more information, visit (http://www.iowapirg.org).

Nearly 1,500 volunteers cleaned area streams, creeks, drainage ways, rivers, and illegal-dump sites on Saturday, August 19, and removed more than 150,000 pounds of garbage, tires, and other illegally dumped items. Xstream Cleanup, which took place from 8:30 a.m. until noon, targeted 31 sites in both Scott and Rock Island counties. Volunteers removed an estimated 5,200 tires, 2,200 bags of trash, 58 pieces of furniture, 36 appliances, 25 bicycles, and 22 pallets from area waterways. In addition, site coordinators reported finding bags of clothing, a wine rack, shopping carts, automotive parts, hair and beauty supplies, toilets, various electronics, boat carpet, blankets, barge cable, safety cones, recliners, and wire. At one site near Milan, volunteers found nearly everything one would need to build and furnish a home including carpet, appliances, furniture, wood, metal, drywall, siding, and shingles. Volunteers donated more than 4,500 hours of work during the cleanup. Organizers estimate that nearly $100,000 in staff time, equipment, collection, and disposal costs were avoided with the help of volunteers and in-kind donations for the event. Cleanups took place in Bettendorf, Davenport, and LeClaire, Iowa; and East Moline, Milan, Moline, Rock Island, and Taylor Ridge, Illinois. For more information and to view photos from Xstream Cleanup, visit (http://www.xstreamcleanup.org).

St. Ambrose has become the first credentialed physical-therapy residency program in Iowa - and one of only 12 orthopedic residency programs in the country. The status was conferred by the American Physical Therapy Association. Offered in collaboration with Rock Valley Physical Therapy, the Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency Program is a post-professional experience providing employment and clinical mentoring, upper-level academic and continuing-education classes, and teaching opportunities in a defined area of specialty practice. The residency program is the latest addition to the SAU Doctor of Physical Therapy Program and promotes standards of quality and consistency in the teaching and practice of physical therapy. For more information, contact the physical-therapy department at (563) 333-6403 or go to (http://www.sau.edu/pt).