The course is interactive and breaks down money management into five key steps including goal setting, evaluating current spending, and making and following a spending plan. Each step provides one or more tools for participants to use in completing that step for themselves. The five steps are logically connected and it is easy to advance from one to another. It is possible, however, to jump around in the material according to individual needs and interests.

"The Take Control of Your Money course is especially useful for people whose finances are changing, who are just starting out on their own or who want to turn over a new leaf with stronger financial management," Wollan said. "It also can help people who are having financial difficulties, although it is not designed to solve serious financial crises."

Special topics covered in the course include dealing with debt, building financial security and family communication about money.

"Take Control of Your Money is practical and adaptable," said Wollan. "It isn't a strict regimen you have to follow. Rather, it's a set of strategies and an overall philosophy you can adapt and personalize."

To enroll in Take Control of Your Money, a free Web course, please visit www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/take-control.

New book is featured in this month's Reader's Digest Magazine

TEMPE, Ariz. - Lawn Griffiths has released a collection of true stories and essays titled "Batting Rocks Over the Barn: An Iowa Farm Boy's Odyssey" (published by Xlibris). The award-winning writer's latest book follows his incredible journey as a young Iowa boy who dared to chart his destiny beyond the rural landscape of the 1950s and 1960s.

"Batting Rocks Over the Barn" captures the rhythm of rural life through the eyes of a young boy who grew up to become a newspaper journalist and farm editor. As largely a non-fiction biography, the work is narrated by the author from real experiences on the farm leading up to college.

The book devotes considerable space to the writer's parents, his twin brother and sister, plus such other people as hired men, neighbors, teachers and others who came to the farm.  All are important because of their genuine place in the writer's formative years, especially in their teaching responsibility.

Pervading the book is the author's belief that, put together, the varied experiences, jobs and misadventures helped shape him to be an alumnus of the rural school of hard knocks.  Time and again, the author has zeroed in on single elements of his farm life like fences, grease guns and harvesting wild asparagus in the roadside ditches, the  death of the town's blacksmith and city kids' raiding of his father's melon patch.

"Batting Rocks Over the Barn"

By Lawn Griffiths

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 150 pages | ISBN 9781503572843

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 150 pages | ISBN 9781503572836

E-Book | 150 pages | ISBN 9781503572829

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Lawn Griffiths spent 40 years in daily newspapers as writer, editor and columnist, including 12 years with the Waterloo (Iowa) Courier, 25 years with Tribune Newspapers in Mesa, Arizona, plus freelance writing for the Arizona Republic. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1946, he grew up on a farm near Parkersburg, Iowa. He earned a bachelor's degree in science journalism from Iowa State University in 1968 and master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1972. He also served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay and the U.S. Army. Griffiths has earned more than 80 writing and community service awards.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack released the following statement today after the House of Representatives passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The legislation replaces the outdated No Child Left Behind and ensures children across the country have access to a quality education and important resources and opportunities that will prepare them for college and career. The bill was passed by a bipartisan vote of 359-64 and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

"As someone who grew up in poverty, I know firsthand how important education is for kids to get ahead in life. With the passage of this legislation, our nation's schools finally have the meaningful reform that students and teachers have long needed. The Every Student Succeeds Act ensures that all students graduate from high school with college and career-ready skills by investing in our children's education and our country's future economic growth. I am proud that many of my priorities have been included in this bipartisan, compromise legislation."

As a former member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Loebsack worked to ensure his proposals were included in this bipartisan compromise. Loebsack's Schools of the Future Act, which provides resources to rural schools for improving their education technology programs, was included in the House version of the bill as an amendment that was passed on a bipartisan vote. Loebsack's amendment paved the way for the creation of the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program, a new $1.6 billion dedicated funding stream, up to 60 percent of which can be used by districts to support the effective use of technology in schools. This new fund will be distributed based on need, with a large proportion flowing to rural schools, and can be used to:

·       Provide educators, school leaders and administrators with the professional learning tools, content and resources to provide high quality digital learning;

·       Provide students in rural, remote, and underserved areas with the resources to take advantage of high-quality digital learning experiences, digital resources, and access to online courses taught by effective educators;

·       Build technological capacity and infrastructure;

·       Develop or use innovated or effective strategies for the delivery of curricula through technology;

·       Carry out blended learning projects; and

·       Provide professional development for educators in the use of technology to increase student achievement.

The Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program also supports two of Loebsack's other priorities, including:

·       Improving mental health supports and services in our schools. Funding from this grant can be used to hire more mental health personnel including counselors, school psychologists, social workers and other instructional support personnel, a priority Loebsack advanced in his Reducing Barriers to Learning Act.

·       Supporting community involvement by encouraging schools to partner with public, private, nonprofit and community-based entities to address nonacademic factors affecting student academic performance, which mirrors Loebsack's Working to Encourage Community Action and Responsibility in Education (WE CARE) Act.

(DES MOINES) - Today, Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds announced that they have completed their visits to all 99 of Iowa's counties for 2015.  This announcement is now the 5th year in a row that both Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds have visited all 99 counties?every year since they took office in 2011.  They held a combined 692 public events in 2015.

"Visiting all 99 counties is a priority both the Lt. Governor and I share.  We believe the best way to connect with the people of Iowa is to visit them each year," said Branstad. "We have accomplished a lot since 2011, but we are not done yet and this is the best way to hear Iowans' ideas for growing a prosperous future for Iowa.

Lt. Governor Reynolds added, "These visits across Iowa reaffirm our commitment to openness, honesty and accountability to Iowans.  This year, we visited schools, cafes, small businesses, agricultural operations and many more places across Iowa to let our citizens know that they don't have to travel to Des Moines to have their voices heard.  We will continue visiting every county every year to discuss and hear from hard-working Iowans on the issues our state faces."