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).

 

Reader issue #595 The Quad Cities' Future Appletree Records is back in a big way this year, but that might create a false impression. Put simply, the label - home to some of the Quad Cities' most distinctive musical outfits - is struggling to find its place in the new music economy, even as its bands are creating some of the best music of their careers.

"Nobody's making money," said Pat Stolley, one of the label's founders.

"Part D" is a Medicare prescription-drug benefit that began this year to save many senior citizens thousands of dollars, but millions of people will soon enter the "doughnut hole" in which they get no coverage.

At an Iowa Citizen Action Network press conference concerning Part D earlier this summer, retired Davenport senior and Part D activist Jim Hughes said, "This is a hoax, this health-care industry" about the gap in coverage between $2,250 and $5,100 where seniors and disabled people pay for 100 percent of their drug costs. This gap is referred to as the "doughnut hole."

Tenki By the time the trumpets enter the picture halfway through the opening track of Tenki's new EP, the listener has been enveloped by atmosphere. On top of muted drums and guitar come layers of gentle keyboards - and are those voices harmonizing with the organ? Hints of gull-like string sounds suggest the ocean.

The trumpets turn everything upside down, adding a mariachi flavor. Then the guitar gets agitated and begins to bellow over the trumpet, and the whole thing builds to a climax before eventually calming itself down.

On Native Soil made its debut Monday evening, August 21, on Court TV. It is a documentary hosted by Kevin Costner and Hilary Swank on the grassroots efforts of 9/11 victims' families and loved ones to hold the United States government accountable for the tragedy that changed our nation forever.

The film acknowledges in no small measure that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are clearly the mass murderers responsible for the deaths of thousands on 9/11. But their evil was perpetrated because of the aggregate failure of our government on many levels, including failed policy and preparedness as reported in the 9/11 Commission's final report, but mostly "a failure of imagination."

My nephew Jack is in the Army in Iraq. He's been there a year, and his unit was scheduled to come back to the States two weeks ago. In fact, a few hundred made it back to Alaska, and a few hundred more to Kuwait, before they were told that their tour in Iraq had been extended four months, and they were going to Baghdad.

An effort to restore a sedge meadow is underway at Nahant Marsh. The Friends of Nahant, along with landscape designer Alec Schorg (of Aunt Rhodie's Landscaping & Design Studio) and several community volunteers counted plants two Sundays in July and August. The counting is the first step in a vegetation survey in a meadow located at the northern edge of the marsh. The sedge is a rare reed-like grass with a solid stem. There are at least three species of sedge in the meadow. The sedges are competing with reed canary grass, an invasive plant that is taking over much of the four-acre meadow. The survey is designed to help decide which management techniques (mowing, burning, spraying) will work best to manage this land. The meadow restoration is part of a revised management plan at the marsh. In addition to the meadow, efforts are moving forward to extend the trail, hire a naturalist, and enclose the observation deck as a handicapped-accessible observation blind.

 

Stu Levine has flipped. Things are gonna get crazy real soon.

Levine was a big Republican insider with very close ties to Jim Ryan, Governor Rod Blagojevich's 2002 opponent. Some saw fair-minded bipartisanship when Governor Blagojevich reappointed Levine to both the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) board of directors and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. As we soon discovered, the appointments may have been made for entirely different reasons. And now Levine is in a position to create some truly serious trouble for the governor.

It's nearly college football season, which means Iowa fans can look forward to another Top 25 squad, and Illinois fans can pray for respectability and then look forward to basketball season.

But maybe avid boosters ought to consider their own critical role in the ills of college athletics. Namely, they ought to recognize that they're supporting of the exploitation of college-sports stars. (Full disclosure: As a University of Illinois graduate and fan, I'm part of the problem.)

The national Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign (WUWM) will be in Davenport on Wednesday, August 16, at 6 p.m. at United Neighbors, located at 808 North Harrison Street.

Since August 1, The WUWM campaign has embarked on a national bus tour, visiting 35 cities in 19 states. The bus, affectionately nicknamed Smiley, will be touring Iowa, as well, and Davenport is one of its stops along the way. Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver will also be there! This will be a town-hall meeting to discuss what we want the face of America to look like. Everyone is welcome!

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