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WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley will hold three town meetings in Eastern Iowa during the week of June 29 as part of his annual 99-county tour. 

On July 1 and July 2 Grassley will be in Washington, Wilton, and Vinton. 

"Representative government is a two-way street.  I'm one half of the process and the people of Iowa are the other half.  You can't have representative government without dialogue between elected officials and the people we represent," Grassley said.  "I appreciate the opportunity to hold town meetings, answer questions and take comments."

Grassley will be available for 15 minutes after each meeting to answer questions from local reporters.  These town meetings are open to the public and media.

Grassley's town meeting schedule for the week of June 29 is as follows:_­

Wednesday, July 1

4-5 p.m.
Washington County Town Meeting
Washington County Courthouse
Courtroom
224 West Main St.
Washington
*Grassley will be available for 15 minutes after the meeting to answer questions from local reporters.

Thursday, July 2

8-9 a.m.
Muscatine County Town Meeting
Eastern Iowa REC
1705 West 3^rd St.
Wilton
*Grassley will be available for 15 minutes after the meeting to answer questions from local reporters.

4:45-5:45 p.m.
Benton County Town Meeting
Vinton City Hall
City Council Chambers
110 West 3^rd St.
Vinton
*Grassley will be available for 15 minutes after the meeting to answer questions from local reporters.

New book offers rich glimpses into farm life in 1950s, 1960s

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.

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DEKALB, IL (06/12/2015)(readMedia)-- Northern Illinois University announces students who have been named to the Dean's List for the spring 2015 semester.

Cody Anderson of Moline, IL

Alexander Buzzell of Bettendorf, IA

Jessica Carlson of Moline, IL

Jessica Devolder of Moline, IL

Robert Fite of Coal Valley, IL

Seth Fuller of East Moline, IL

Benjamin Jackson of Silvis, IL

Rachel Mushimata of East Moline, IL

Andrew Pearson of Milan, IL

Adrian Puentes of East Moline, IL

Darby Sawyer of Milan, IL

Chartered in 1895, NIU first opened its doors as the Northern Illinois State Normal School in 1899 as a teachers college. The university has grown since into a world-class, research-focused public institution that attracts students from across Illinois, the country and the world.