Mercer County Republicans worked hard to get a Republican majority on
the county board last fall, and now, after 30 years of Democrat
control, the county is faced with a serious financial situation. The
Mercer County Board declared last week that county government is in a
period of financial emergency including:

1. The Mercer County board's 2015 appropriations ordinance did not
provide funding for:

--Salary of the county engineer & other MFT expenses;
--All required "step increases" in compensation for represented
employees in compliance with labor agreements;
--Required payments for interest or principle reduction for the
county's operating line of credit;
--Likely settlement of three expired bargaining unit contracts and
costs associated with the likely settlements.

2. Mercer County does not maintain an unencumbered fund balance
sufficient to manage county business without incurring short term debt
for the purpose of maintaining county operations.

3. Mercer County has been unable to meet its legal and contractual
obligations to make payments to creditors, including the Public
Building Commission.

4. The growth in the cost of labor and benefits have exceeded the
economic growth of Mercer County as well as the county's legal ability
or desire to raise taxes to meet the rising costs

5. In recent years financial obligations have been funded by selling
county assets or through inter-fund borrowing and transfers, which is
no longer an available financial strategy (the county has one asset left -- a farm).

See http://www.mercercountyrepublicans.org/mercer-county-resolution-of-fiscal-emergency/ for entire text of the emergency resolution.

Brian Anseeuw, MD
Mercer County Board Chair

BATON ROUGE, LA (04/08/2015)(readMedia)-- The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is pleased to announce that Angelina Kruse of Bettendorf, Iowa, was recently initiated into Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Kruse was initiated at Eastern Michigan University.

Kruse is among approximately 32,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, having at least 72 semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff, and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine and headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The Society has chapters on more than 300 college and university campuses in North America and the Philippines. Its mission is "To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others."

More About Phi Kappa Phi

Since its founding, more than 1.25 million members have been initiated. Some of the organization's more notable members include former President Jimmy Carter, NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence, novelist David Baldacci and YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley. The Society has awarded approximately $15 million since the inception of its awards program in 1932. Today, more than $1 million is awarded each biennium to qualifying students and members through graduate fellowships, undergraduate study abroad grants, member and chapter awards and grants for local and national literacy initiatives. For more information, visit www.phikappaphi.org.

Dear Friend,

Last month, I had the privilege of hearing directly from veterans from across our district on several occasions.  As the father of two children in the Marine Corps, I know the tremendous sacrifice service members and their families have made for our country.

Often, an individual's story sticks with you.  That's how I felt after hearing about Mr. Ray Marlow's service in Korea, where he showed extraordinary courage and patriotism.  In the battle of Pork Chop Hill, for example, Mr. Marlow was shot in the face and had shrapnel lodged in his stomach.  He survived despite incredible odds, and ultimately was awarded the Purple Heart, Silver Star, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with three bronze stars, Combat Infantry Badge and United Nations Service Medal.   After he reached out to my office because he was missing a medal box, I was honored to present Mr. Marlow with all six medals and thank him for his service in person.

Early in March, I met with the Department of Iowa Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to hear about their legislative priorities and what I could do to help.  Less than a week later, I held a town hall in Davenport with Vietnam War veterans to share updates on legislation related to Agent Orange exposure and to learn more about what challenges they face.  I also wrote to House appropriators in support of full funding for veterans' health services and in support of continued psychological health and traumatic brain injury research.

It is my solemn and welcome responsibility to serve veterans and their families in Congress, both through legislation like the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, which I helped to introduce and which became law in November 2012, and by helping individual veterans and their families cut through red tape at the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration.  If you believe I can be of assistance to you, please contact my Iowa City office at (319) 351-0789 or toll free at (866) 914-IOWA.

As a member of the the Military Veterans Caucus, I will continue to fight against proposals to reduce or eliminate essential benefits for those who have made such great sacrifices on behalf of our nation.  Thank you, and I look forward to staying in touch about this important topic.

Sincerely,

Dave Loebsack
Iowa's Second District