06
Nov
2001
• Despite crummy weather, more than 200 people showed up to help mark the "ground staking" for new Trinity North Campus in Bettendorf. Civic leaders and hospital employees, doctors, and auxiliary members used ceremonial mallets to drive in stakes along a symbolic perimeter for the 58,000-square-foot hospital off Utica Ridge Road. The 150-bed, full-service facility will have 240 full time employees with an estimated annual payroll of $9 million. It will offer emergency services, a birthing unit, and outpatient-surgery services. The new hospital will open in the fall of 2003.
• Interested in knowing the truth behind the bioterrorism/anthrax scares? The Scott County Health Department has a bioterrorism response page containing frequently asked questions and links to other sources of information, including the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. You can find it at (http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/health/bioterrorism.html) or by following the links on the Scott County Web page (http://www.scottcountyiowa.com).
• A new Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Web page is attempting to convey the chilling effect that responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11 have had on information availability on the Internet, as well as some sense of the effect on people trying to provide this information. Currently, this page tracks Web sites shut down or partially removed by governments, ISPs, and Web-site owners, as well as details of government requests to remove information; media professionals or other employees terminated or suspended for exercising free speech in response to anti-terrorism; and other related incidents. Check out the Chilling Effects of Anti-Terrorism page at (http://eff.org/Censorship/Terrorism_militias/antiterrorism_chill.html). If you know of any anti-terrorism chilling effects that should be listed, you can send an e-mail message to (freespeech@eff.org)
• As the state budget crunch gets worse, Governor Tom Vilsack is warning not to look for an expansion of the Vision Iowa program. During a recent radio address, he did leave open the possibility of expanding the program next year to try to stimulate the state's economy. So far Vision Iowa has awarded $180 million to tourist attractions and cultural projects, with state officials saying the total value of those projects tops $1 billion.
• Almost 300,000 tax-rebate checks worth an average of $322 have been returned undelivered to the U.S. government because they could not be mailed to the proper taxpayer. This usually occurs because taxpayers moved to new addresses or changed their last names. Taxpayers who don't claim their checks by December 5 will have to wait until they file their 2001 income-tax returns next year. The 295,000 rebate checks are worth about $95 million and represent a fraction of 1 percent of the 85 million rebate checks mailed out as part of the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut that President Bush signed into law. If you think you are due a check, call the IRS at (800)829-1040.
• ADavenport company had a hand in an innovative bridge construction on Highway 20 over the Iowa River. The bridge is situated over an environmentally sensitive area that includes a "greenbelt" - a scenic strip of old-growth woodland - and is the home of the rare, federally protected Northern Monkshood plant and three species of freshwater mussels. Ashton Engineering of Davenport designed a "launching system" for the bridge that pushed about 4.5 million pounds of steel I-beams a quarter-mile across the water using rollers and hydraulic jacks. Concrete bridge piers are holding up the structure, but they are on the riverbanks, not in the river. The total cost for the bridge will be $21 million, and it should be open in late 2002. You can learn more about this innovative design and construction on an informative Web site at (http://www.iowariverbridge.org).
• Before the end of the year, Internet users will be able to access a Web-based version of the Iowa Court Information System. The system will provide information on civil and criminal records and court scheduling, as well as other court records. Currently, the system is only available during business hours on terminals at the state's courthouses and doesn't allow statewide searches. While it's proposed that some information be available for free, a $25 monthly fee would be charged for access to more detailed information. An earlier proposal called for some free information and a $125 fee, but it was felt such a large fee would discourage usage.
• Legislators have justified their voting for broad civil-rights-violating laws by assuring Americans that "sunset provisions" in the new anti-terrorism bill will ensure that the controversial emergency powers granted the federal government will expire in four years. According to a recent article in Wired magazine by journalist Declan McCullagh, that's not entirely true. The December 2005 expiration date actually applies only to a tiny part of the bill. According to McCullagh, "Police will have the permanent ability to conduct Internet surveillance without a court order in some circumstances, secretly search homes and offices without notifying the owner, and share confidential grand-jury information with the CIA. Also exempt from the expiration date are investigations underway by December 2005, and any future investigations of crimes that took place before that date." You can find the full article at the following link: (http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47901,00.html).
• The Community Jail & Alternatives Advisory Committee is recommending that Scott County nearly double the number of jail beds it uses by 2017 and add 208 beds after that to deal with overcrowding. An estimate hasn't been made on construction costs, nor has a plan been developed for where the additional beds should be built. However, the committee agreed at a recent meeting with county officials to start working on the details for the project. The Scott County Board of Supervisors will hear the committee's suggestions on November 28.
• Interested in knowing the truth behind the bioterrorism/anthrax scares? The Scott County Health Department has a bioterrorism response page containing frequently asked questions and links to other sources of information, including the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. You can find it at (http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/health/bioterrorism.html) or by following the links on the Scott County Web page (http://www.scottcountyiowa.com).
• A new Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Web page is attempting to convey the chilling effect that responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11 have had on information availability on the Internet, as well as some sense of the effect on people trying to provide this information. Currently, this page tracks Web sites shut down or partially removed by governments, ISPs, and Web-site owners, as well as details of government requests to remove information; media professionals or other employees terminated or suspended for exercising free speech in response to anti-terrorism; and other related incidents. Check out the Chilling Effects of Anti-Terrorism page at (http://eff.org/Censorship/Terrorism_militias/antiterrorism_chill.html). If you know of any anti-terrorism chilling effects that should be listed, you can send an e-mail message to (freespeech@eff.org)
• As the state budget crunch gets worse, Governor Tom Vilsack is warning not to look for an expansion of the Vision Iowa program. During a recent radio address, he did leave open the possibility of expanding the program next year to try to stimulate the state's economy. So far Vision Iowa has awarded $180 million to tourist attractions and cultural projects, with state officials saying the total value of those projects tops $1 billion.
• Almost 300,000 tax-rebate checks worth an average of $322 have been returned undelivered to the U.S. government because they could not be mailed to the proper taxpayer. This usually occurs because taxpayers moved to new addresses or changed their last names. Taxpayers who don't claim their checks by December 5 will have to wait until they file their 2001 income-tax returns next year. The 295,000 rebate checks are worth about $95 million and represent a fraction of 1 percent of the 85 million rebate checks mailed out as part of the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut that President Bush signed into law. If you think you are due a check, call the IRS at (800)829-1040.
• ADavenport company had a hand in an innovative bridge construction on Highway 20 over the Iowa River. The bridge is situated over an environmentally sensitive area that includes a "greenbelt" - a scenic strip of old-growth woodland - and is the home of the rare, federally protected Northern Monkshood plant and three species of freshwater mussels. Ashton Engineering of Davenport designed a "launching system" for the bridge that pushed about 4.5 million pounds of steel I-beams a quarter-mile across the water using rollers and hydraulic jacks. Concrete bridge piers are holding up the structure, but they are on the riverbanks, not in the river. The total cost for the bridge will be $21 million, and it should be open in late 2002. You can learn more about this innovative design and construction on an informative Web site at (http://www.iowariverbridge.org).
• Before the end of the year, Internet users will be able to access a Web-based version of the Iowa Court Information System. The system will provide information on civil and criminal records and court scheduling, as well as other court records. Currently, the system is only available during business hours on terminals at the state's courthouses and doesn't allow statewide searches. While it's proposed that some information be available for free, a $25 monthly fee would be charged for access to more detailed information. An earlier proposal called for some free information and a $125 fee, but it was felt such a large fee would discourage usage.
• Legislators have justified their voting for broad civil-rights-violating laws by assuring Americans that "sunset provisions" in the new anti-terrorism bill will ensure that the controversial emergency powers granted the federal government will expire in four years. According to a recent article in Wired magazine by journalist Declan McCullagh, that's not entirely true. The December 2005 expiration date actually applies only to a tiny part of the bill. According to McCullagh, "Police will have the permanent ability to conduct Internet surveillance without a court order in some circumstances, secretly search homes and offices without notifying the owner, and share confidential grand-jury information with the CIA. Also exempt from the expiration date are investigations underway by December 2005, and any future investigations of crimes that took place before that date." You can find the full article at the following link: (http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47901,00.html).
• The Community Jail & Alternatives Advisory Committee is recommending that Scott County nearly double the number of jail beds it uses by 2017 and add 208 beds after that to deal with overcrowding. An estimate hasn't been made on construction costs, nor has a plan been developed for where the additional beds should be built. However, the committee agreed at a recent meeting with county officials to start working on the details for the project. The Scott County Board of Supervisors will hear the committee's suggestions on November 28.
