I am writing this letter on behalf of the many retired teachers in Illinois and those who plan to retire. We have an election in November for governor, as well as some representatives and senators. It is imperative that we know where these candidates stand in regard to the recent under-funding and diversions of funds for the teacher retirement pension systems.

Okay, by a show of hands, how many of you out there have ever given $1,500 to the college fund of a friend's seven-year-old and then didn't tell your spouse about it?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

In case you haven't heard yet, I'll give you a brief wrap-up of the latest scandal that has befallen Governor Rod Blagojevich.

You may remember that the governor amended his statement of economic interests after he was interviewed by the FBI. One of those amendments included a previously undisclosed gift from Michael Ascaridis, his campaign treasurer during his congressional bids and his first run for statewide office.

IFL World Team Championship

The Mark of the Quad Cities

Saturday, September 23, 8 p.m.

 

 

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).

 

Registered users may download a .pdf file of the special 12-page 2006 Brew Ha Ha guide here.

Reader issue #598 When Bill Hannan first met Jeanne Tamisiea in the 1980s, she was one of three finalists for a teaching position on the fine-arts faculty at Black Hawk College. "You could tell right off the bat that she was a teacher," Hannan said. "If you are a teacher, you can spot one."

Tamisiea "tried to connect immediately," Hannan explained. She made eye contact and asked questions, and the vibe was less of a job interview than a classroom in which Tamisiea was the teacher and her interrogators were her students. "Jeanne sat down to talk to us," Hannan said. "The other two [candidates] sat down to be interviewed."

After the interviews, Hannan said, the decision to hire Tamisiea was a foregone conclusion. "We only talked about her," he said. "We didn't talk about the other two guys."

The Riverssance Festival of Fine Art will be losing one of its founders after this year's event, with Larry DeVilbiss stepping down from his second stint as director.

"Persistence of Mother" by Larry DeVilbiss DeVilbiss has run the festival for the vast majority of its 19 years - he returned three years ago when MidCoast Fine Arts took over the event - but he'll be leaving after this weekend's edition, being held Saturday and Sunday in the Village of East Davenport's Lindsay Park. (The River Cities' Reader is a sponsor of the event. A Riverssance map is located on the back cover of this week's issue.)

Writers are often taught to "show, don't tell." People marketing the Quad Cities are doing exactly that.

Most marketing is done through "telling," such as television ads. "Showing" involves giving people an experience, such as free samples at the grocery store.

This weekend's RiverWay collection of events - running Thursday through Sunday - is all about "showing" the Quad Cities rather than "telling" about them.

Jim Hightower is less an activist or strategist than a cheerleader.

Reader issue #597 Even now - when the Republican and Democratic parties are virtually indistinguishable, when the executive branch of the federal government has curtailed civil liberties in the name of national security with little opposition from Congress, and when popular sentiment seems to have little power in Washington - the Texan finds plenty of silver linings.

Children PlayingViewing the work of an artist who has been making art for decades is like looking at an iceberg. You see the little part that is showing but not the hidden part, which is years of study, making art, learning about oneself, and inventing.

The work of John Dilg, on exhibit at St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery through September 29, may seem simple at first glance, but that is only the tip, the obvious part. Part of the reason is that as one paints for a long time, one begins to consciously and unconsciously shed the unnecessary. What remains is the essential. Dilg's work is simple, spare, and verges on being a visual language, like hieroglyphs or ideograms. There is a subtle humor about them, and the dozen small paintings spread around the room feel like the characters or phrases of this visual language.

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