DAVENPORT, IA - On October 5, 2015, Monte A. Cox, age 55, appeared before the Honorable Stephen B. Jackson, Jr., and pled guilty to filing a false tax return for the year 2009, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt.
According to the plea agreement, Cox underreported income on his personal tax returns for the years 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. During this period Cox resided in Bettendorf, Iowa, and earned income as a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight promoter and fighter manager. He operated his business under the name Ultimate Productions, Inc. For each of these years, Cox knew that he had received income from his MMA-related activities and ownership of Ultimate Productions, Inc. that exceeded the income he reported on his tax return. Cox underreported his income by an estimated $255,036 for 2007, $295,854 for 2008, $405,778 for 2009, and $152,509 for 2010.
Cox is scheduled to be sentenced before United States District Court Chief Judge John A. Jarvey on February 24, 2016, at 10:00 a.m., in Davenport, Iowa. Filing a false tax return is a felony that carries a maximum term of three years imprisonment, up to $100,000 fine, and up to one year of supervised release.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
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TRICARE is hosting a webinar to continue the conversation about suicide prevention on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at noon EST. No prior registration is required. Participants are invited to join us using the following access link: https://conference.apps.mil/webconf/SuicidePrevention.

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Friendship Force Quad Cities (FFQC) presents A Foreign Affair with Flare: Traveling with the Friendship Force. Wednesday November 4, 2015, 6:00 PM-7:30 PM.  Davenport Eastern Branch Library, 6000 Eastern Avenue, Davenport, IA.  Explore our fun, economical and safe way to travel the US and abroad.  Learn how we welcome guests from around the world. Door prizes! Food samples from foreign lands!  Free.  Please RSVP: Kathy 309-738-2590 or Ginny 563-355-8120

Prepared Floor Statement Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

Statement for the Record

President Obama's Judicial Nominations and Lawrence Vilardo of New York, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of New York

Monday, October 26, 2015

 

Today, the Senate confirmed the 316th judicial nominee during President Obama's presidency, so I wanted to take this opportunity to provide an update on judicial nominations progress. These 316 confirmations are in contrast to the only 292 judicial nominees the Senate had confirmed by this point in 2007 during George W. Bush's presidency. So, at this point in their respective seventh year of Presidency, President Obama has 24 more judicial nominees confirmed than President Bush did.

Furthermore, contrary to what one might hear, there is no judicial vacancy crisis. This year has the lowest average vacancy rate during Obama's Presidency, and is among the lowest in the last 25 years. Both the district and circuit courts are over 92 percent filled.

As I have said before, the Senate Judiciary Committee is moving at the same pace this year that it did under Democrat control in 2007 during the last two years of President Bush's presidency. By this point in 2007, the committee had held 10 hearings for a total of 29 nominees (26 judicial nominees and 3 executive nominees). We have held 9 hearings for a total of 29 nominees (24 judicial nominees and 5 executive nominees) including hearings for both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General.

I just wanted to set the record straight and remind all my colleagues that the Senate continues to make good progress on judicial nominations.

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(Rock Island County)  It's that time of the year again....

Each year a coalition of caring community leaders comes together for a cause as worthy as they come:  handing out bikes to the youngest and the neediest among us.  Teaming up this year is the Rock Island County Regional Office of Education, Bike N'Hike and Queen's Parlour.

This initiative, called "Bikes for Brains," seeks to give out 150 bikes (with helmets and training wheels) to qualified QC-area children deemed eligible by Rock Island Head Start,  Children's Therapy Center, The Project and Youth Hope.  The average cost of a bike with training wheels is about $50. The Pilot Club of Moline has pledged to donate helmets for all of the new young bikers and will fit the children with the helmets properly at the giveaway day.
The goal is to raise a total of $6,000 between now and December 14th which is the happy day we give away the bikes.  On that day, from 11 am-5 pm at the Martin Luther King Center in Rock Island, we help the young children pick out their new bikes.

Organizer Sandy Seeley loves to help with this program.  "This initiative provides bicycles, helmets, and books to young children who would not be provided the opportunity to own and ride a bicycle, if it were not for the generous donations provided for by our community. Children who are recipients of this initiative will use their gross motor skills every time they ride their bike which, in turn, promotes brain development."

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2015 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that beginning today, nearly one half of the 1.7 million farms that signed up for either the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs will receive safety-net payments for the 2014 crop year.

"Unlike the old direct payments program, which paid farmers in good years and bad, the 2014 Farm Bill authorized a new safety-net that protects producers only when market forces or adverse weather cause unexpected drops in crop prices or revenues," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "For example, the corn price for 2014 is 30 percent below the historical benchmark price used by the ARC-County program, and revenues of the farms participating in the ARC-County program are down by about $20 billion from the benchmark during the same period. The nearly $4 billion provided today by the ARC and PLC safety-net programs will give assistance to producers where revenues dropped below normal."

The ARC/PLC programs primarily allow producers to continue to produce for the market by making payments on a percentage of historical base production, limiting the impact on production decisions.

Nationwide, 96 percent of soybean farms, 91 percent of corn farms, and 66 percent of wheat farms elected the ARC-County coverage option. Ninety-nine percent of long grain rice and peanut farms, and 94 percent of medium grain rice farms elected the PLC option. Overall, 76 percent of participating farm acres are protected by ARC-County, 23 percent by PLC, and 1 percent by ARC-Individual. For data about other crops, as well as state-by-state program election results, final PLC price and payment data, and other program information including frequently asked questions, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc.

Crops receiving assistance include barley, corn, grain sorghum, lentils, oats, peanuts, dry peas, soybeans, and wheat. In the upcoming months, disbursements will be made for other crops after marketing year average prices are published by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Any disbursements to participants in ARC-County or PLC for long and medium grain rice (except for temperate Japonica rice) will occur in November, for remaining oilseeds and also chickpeas in December, and temperate Japonica rice in early February 2016. ARC-individual payments will begin in November. Upland cotton is no longer a covered commodity.

The Budget Control Act of 2011, passed by Congress, requires USDA to reduce payments by 6.8 percent. For more information, producers are encouraged to visit their local Farm Service Agency office. To find a local Farm Service Agency office, visit https://offices.usda.gov.

The Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs were made possible by the 2014 Farm Bill, which builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past six years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

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Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack recently joined members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee to express their strong support for mental health reform in a letter to Chairman Upton and Ranking Member Pallone. Committee members urged colleagues to support legislative reforms that prioritize the needs of patients and families experiencing mental illness.

"For far too long, mental health and mental illness have been left in the shadows, and we believe the only way we can fight stigma, improve access to services and treatments, and bring mental health up to parity with physical health is to start treating the brain as a part of the body," the members wrote. "Our policies and systems need to reflect the fact that mental illness is a disease and that if the right services , supports, and treatments are available, people can and do recover."

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Moline, IL. / October 26th, 2015 - Doug's Heating & Air Conditioning has experienced significant growth over the past few years.  So much growth that they've now moved to a 27,000 square foot facility located at 4307 49th Avenue in Moline.

To celebrate this new expansion, Doug's Heating and Air Conditioning will have a Ribbon Cutting and Open House Thursday, November 12th from 4pm-6pm.  During this time, Doug's crew will host tours of the new facility and provide refreshments.

Since its inception in the early 1950's, Doug's Heating and Air Conditioning has called several Quad Cities locations home.  Doug's initially shared a building in Silvis with All Action Plumbing.  In the early 90's, they needed more room and expanded to a building located on Blackhawk Road, then later in the decade moved into yet another larger building located on 15th Street in Moline.  In April of 2002 Doug's Heating and Air Conditioning added a branch in Clinton, Iowa.  Then a few years later, expanded to a 9,000 square foot building on River Drive.  This new move on 49th Avenue triples their space and gives them the room to house all of the services and products they now provide.

Matt Hines, President of Doug's Heating and Air Conditioning says, "This move needed to happen.  We simply grew out of our location on River Drive.  We now have the room to fit all of the equipment shipped to us.  This space helps us build and service the equipment our customers need much more efficiently."

Doug's Heating & Air Conditioning now has a team of over 30 factory-trained, licensed and insured technicians servicing both residential and commercial needs throughout the Quad Cities area. They sell and install brands like York and Ruud and they've stayed ahead of the curve on all of the heating and cooling options available for both residential and commercial buildings.  Doug's provides the following services:

  • Geothermal
  • Generators
  • Boilers
  • In-floor radiant heat systems
  • Mini-splits (or Ductless Heating and Air Conditioning systems)
  • Food service technologies for commercial use
  • Custom ductwork
  • Foam installation
  • Furnaces
  • Air Conditioners

We invite you to visit our website: http://dougsheatingandairconditioning.com for additional details on specific products and services offered by Doug's Heating & Air Conditioning, as well as our informative and educational Blog.

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WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa continues to drill down on agencies' use of extensive paid administrative leave, now focusing on the Department of Veterans of Affairs (VA).  In a letter to the agency, Grassley cited its "troubled record" on paid leave, including reportedly placing employees on such leave pending investigations into their inappropriate actions related to secret VA waiting lists, as well as accusations of using administrative leave as retaliation for employees who objected to instructions to manipulate appointment times or other improper practices.

Grassley's letter to Secretary Robert McDonald said the Government Accountability Office reported that the VA placed nearly 6,000 employees on administrative leave for between 1 and 6 months in fiscal years 2011-2013, comprising nearly 2 percent of its workforce. And, in fiscal year 2014, the VA outspent all other agencies surveyed with respect to employees on administrative leave for a month or more.

"As such, oversight of the VA's use of administrative leave is critical," Grassley wrote to McDonald.

In response to a letter sent to all major agencies from Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa last October, the VA reported that it placed 46 employees on paid administrative leave for a year or more.   "The agency's explanations for doing so were largely vague, incomplete, or incoherent," Grassley wrote.  "The VA's responses suggest it may be placing some employees on administrative leave for inappropriately long periods of time and that it does not adequately track or manage use of administrative leave. Further, the VA's incomplete responses to this inquiry make it impossible to fully evaluate the agency's use of administrative leave, and thus frustrate meaningful oversight."

Grassley asked for a full accounting of the agency's reasons for putting employees on paid administrative leave for extended periods.

Last week, Grassley asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a full accounting of why each of 88 employees has been on paid administrative leave for more than a year.  Grassley's request came after an inadequate explanation from the agency on its use of paid administrative leave.

Grassley is working with Sen. Jon Tester on potential legislation that would force agencies to make a decision on whether an employee is a danger to fellow employees and must be removed from the workplace or whether that person can be reassigned while his case is resolved.  "The goal is to make sure federal employees are working for taxpayers and not lingering on paid leave at taxpayer expense," Grassley said.

Grassley's letter to the VA is available here.  The VA's prior response is available here.

Grassley's letter to DHS is available here.  DHS' prior response is available here.

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