ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – For the sixth consecutive year, Minor League Baseball teams will honor America and help raise much-needed funds for a worthy cause this Independence Day holiday weekend by wearing specially designed "Stars & Stripes" caps from New Era Cap Company. A total of 115 teams will wear the specialty caps as part of fundraising and awareness initiatives for Welcome Back Veterans, an organization dedicated to addressing the ongoing needs of military personnel and their families.

Minor League Baseball, in conjunction with its licensing partner Major League Baseball Properties, will once again donate 100 percent of the proceeds from cap sales to Welcome Back Veterans as part of its contribution to the program. Since the program's inception in 2010, MiLB has contributed annually to the veterans' organization. The caps have a red, white and blue version of the team logo over a flag-waving, striped background. They can be purchased in team stores of participating teams, and online on some teams' websites.

"The Stars & Stripes cap program is a way of showing our appreciation to the men and women who have served and made great sacrifices for our country, while at the same time helping a tremendous organization that provides treatment for veterans and their families," said Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O'Conner. "On behalf of all of Minor League Baseball, we would like to salute and thank all of the current and former members of our armed forces for their service to our country."

About Minor League Baseball

Minor League Baseball, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, is the governing body for all professional baseball teams in the United States, Canada, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic that are affiliated with Major League Baseball clubs through their farm systems. Fans are coming out in unprecedented numbers to this one-of-a-kind experience that can only be found at Minor League Baseball ballparks. In 2014, Minor League Baseball attracted 42.4 million fans to its ballparks to see the future stars of the sport hone their skills. From the electricity in the stands to the excitement on the field, Minor League Baseball has provided affordable family-friendly entertainment to people of all ages since its founding in 1901. For more information about Minor League Baseball, visit www.MiLB.com.

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Rock Island, IL: Parents have two more chances to help kids improve their reading superpowers with final summer Read with Rover programs at the Rock Island Public Library.

Read with Rover will be offered at revised times of 11:00 am to noon on Wednesday, July 8 at the Southwest Branch, 9010 Ridgewood Road, and on Friday. July 17 in the Main Library Children's Room, 401 19th Street. The learning events bring in certified therapy dogs from the QC Canine Assistance Network (QC CAN) so children can practice reading aloud before a welcoming, non-judgmental audience.

Reading to a therapy dog may be especially useful for reluctant readers and children in the 8 to 12-year-old age range, who have fewer opportunities to read aloud. From increasing vocabulary to attention span, reading aloud is one of the single most important ways to improve a child's reading level. The events are open to children in grades K-6 or equivalent ages.

The Rock Island Library's Every Hero Has a Story contests for children and Escape the Ordinary teen and adult reading contests run until July 18. Reading incentives and more than 60 free events are designed to help keep children, teens and adults active, productive and learning over the summer. For more information about library events, visit the library's online branch at www.rockislandlibrary.org, call 309-732-READ, or follow the library on Facebook or Twitter.

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Founded in 1872, the Rock Island Public Library provides resources to enhance personal achievement and stimulate the imagination through the Main, 30/31 and Southwest Branches, community outreach efforts, and online opportunities.

"American workers are more productive than ever, working longer hours and still they are not getting ahead." Said Ken Sagar, President of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. "Updating the federal overtime regulations is a significant step the President can take today to raise the wages of working people."

The Iowa Federation of Labor, strongly supports the proposed changes in the overtime eligibility rules to restore the overtime protection workers have lost to inflation since 1975.

Under federal overtime regulations, workers who earn less than a certain salary level are generally entitled to overtime protection.  The last regular adjustment to the salary level was made by President Ford in 1975. No further adjustments were made for the next 29 years.

The current federal threshold for overtime is $455 per week?or $23,660 per year.  To simply make up for inflation, it should be raised to $51,168. Many workers who would benefit from restored overtime protection are employees at banks, Walmart, and fast food restaurants. Insurance clerks, secretaries, low-level managers, social workers, bookkeepers, dispatchers, sales and marketing assistants and employees in scores of other occupations would also benefit.

The Iowa Federation of Labor: representing the interests of nearly a quarter of a million Iowans who make Iowa work.

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WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley is asking key government agencies what they're doing to prevent and punish Medicaid dental fraud, including billing for unnecessary treatments for children, in light of inspector general audits and related media reports documenting worrisome practices.

"Some dentists are clearly performing unwanted and unneeded medical procedures on children without the consent of parents and bilking Medicaid for the privilege," Grassley wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson.

Grassley's letters cited Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General audits of questionable billing practices for Medicaid pediatric dental services in four states: California, New York, Louisiana and Indiana.  All of these audits identified questionable billing practices that suggest Medicaid dental providers are performing medically unnecessary procedures on children.   Grassley wrote that this conclusion has been echoed by a variety of news sources that have reported on troubling practices performed by dentists treating children in Medicaid, including a Florida-based dentist who allegedly subjected hundreds of children to unneeded tooth extractions, improper dental fixtures, and other troublesome procedures.

Grassley asked Lynch for the number of criminal and civil fraud referrals from the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General related to Medicaid dentistry chains in the past five years, with a listing of the referrals by state and how each criminal and civil case was resolved; details of the number of ongoing Department of Justice Medicaid dental chain fraud investigations by state; and a description of the Department of Justice's plan to address the findings by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General that indicate health care fraud in the context of dental procedures provided to children in Medicaid.

Grassley asked Levinson for the steps the inspector general's office will take, or has already taken, to increase the auditing of dentistry offices that are recipients of federal dollars; the number of criminal and civil fraud referrals from the inspector general's office to the Department of Justice relating to Medicaid dentistry chain activity in the past five years; details of the Medicaid dentistry audits the office performed by state in the past five years, with a note on whether the audit resulted in criminal or civil referral to the Department of Justice; the number of ongoing Medicaid dental fraud investigations by state; and a description of the progress on following up on billing fraud and unnecessary procedures in Medicaid pediatric dental services.

In 2013, following a year-long investigation, Grassley and then-Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana issued a report and recommendations urging the administration to ban dental clinics from participating in the Medicaid program if the dental clinics circumvent state laws designed to ensure only licensed dentists own dental practices to prevent substandard care.  In 2014, the inspector general moved to disqualify a firm from Medicaid.

Grassley's latest letters are available here and here.

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