Icestravaganza 2015 is finally here! Head out to our new location at the Freight House to watch award-winning ice sculptor, Dawson List, carve ice sculptures live on site. This event will offer FREE indoor kid's activities including a cookie decorating station, crafts, story time, and more. The Farmers Market will remain open until 4 p.m. so you can shop local, too! Get in the winter spirit and hop to River's Edge for public ice skating that afternoon.

Ain't no party like an after party once evening hits. Come on back Saturday night for heavy hors d'oeuvres from Front Street Brewery, a live DJ set by Just Let Go, a cash bar with a vodka luge, and good company during the Icestravaganza After-Party. After-Party tickets are only $10 and can be purchased here or at the door. What a perfect time to see the ice sculptures professionally lit at night!

 

 Featuring wine samples from local wineries and wine distributors, River Music Experience's Winter Wine Experience is back for it's seventh year Saturday! Sip and sample wine, munch on hors d'oeuvres, and enjoy a performance by the Manny Lopez Septet during this benefit for RME and their musical mission. You can still hit this event and catch Icestravaganza, too.   Tomorrow, kick back to some blues/rock tunes from the Nick Schnebelen Band in the Redstone Room.

 

 Considered to be the perfect musical comedy, Guys and Dolls is sure to be a hit at the Adler Theatre on Wednesday. This oddball romantic comedy will steal your heart...and laughs. Make a night of it by attending the pre-show dinner at the RiverCenter. Also at the RiverCenter this week- the Big Brothers Big Sisters Putt-A-Round. Go miniature golfing in the winter and help youth in the community all at once. May the putts be with you!

 

 If you're in need of some warmth this week, look no further than downtown Davenport. Grab a fresh cinnamon roll from Oh So Sweet and treat yourself to a New Orleans Style Ice Coffee at Redband Coffee Company before heading to work. Stop by SiS International Shop for some comfy cozy fair trade socks, hats, and more while you're out! We feel warmer already...

 

iOWA FALLS, Iowa (January 14, 2015) - One hundred thirty-eight students have been named to the Fall 2014 (August to December) Dean's List at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, including MEGAN DENNY and TROY MUILENBURG, both of Bettendorf. To be eligible for the Dean's List, students must have taken 12 or more credit hours during the semester (a full-time class load) and have earned at least a 3.5 grade point average while attending ECC classes in Iowa Falls or online. Part-time students are not included on this list, and developmental courses do not count toward a student's GPA. The ECC faculty, administration and staff congratulate these students for their academic excellence.


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Davenport, Iowa (January 14, 2015) - The Figge Art Museum is partnering with Augustana College to present Girls in Justice and Juvenile in Justice, a nationally acclaimed project by photographer Richard Ross.

Each year in the United States there are nearly 150,000 minors as young as 10 years old booked into confinement facilities for reasons ranging from truancy to violent crime. Many have histories of abuse, abandonment and addiction. Over the past eight years, Ross has traveled to juvenile detention facilities across the country, photographing young prisoners and recording their stories. The result is large-scale photographs which focus on the young people Ross has encountered, accompanied by their own personal stories.

The more recent photographs by Ross include the young women he met in juvenile detention centers all over the United States. The images, along with the heart-wrenching personal stories, will be featured at the Figge in Girls in Justice for the first time publically. The exhibition will open Saturday in the fourth-floor gallery, and will be on view until March 15.

Ross's earlier work with both young men and women will be included in Juvenile in Justice at Augustana Teaching Museum of Art beginning March 9. The photographs put a face on juvenile detention centers and allow the viewer a glimpse into the lives of these inmates. The exhibition will be on display through April 18.

Both exhibitions are funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Ross holds the title of Distinguished Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work has been exhibited internationally, and monographs of his work have been published, including in Museology and The Architecture of Authority. Ross has published two books in conjunction with this project: Juvenile in Justice, with a foreword by Ira Glass, host of NPR's This American Life; and Girls in Justice, with a foreword by Marian Ross Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund. Both books will be available in the Figge Museum Store.

Companion Programming:

FIGGE EVENTS:

Film: What I Want My Words to Do to You

6 p.m. Thursday, January 29 • John Deere Auditorium

This documentary of a writing workshop led by playwright Eve Ensler takes an unprecedented look into

the minds and hearts of the women inmates of New York's Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.

 

Any One of Us: Words from Prison

7 p.m. Thursday, February 19

Augustana students will perform a collection of stories written by women in prison moving toward healing

and change as they use their voices to impact policy, laws and treatment of incarcerated women.

 

Closing Reception/Artist Talk

Thursday, March 12

5:30 p.m. Closing Reception • 7 p.m. Artist Talk

Mingle with Figge members and photographer Richard Ross before joining Ross in the Figge auditorium

for a talk about his experiences.

 

Exhibition Tours

1:30 p.m. Sunday, January 25, February 22

1:30 p.m. Saturday, January 31

 

AUGUSTANA EVENTS:

Juvenile in Justice Opening Reception

4 p.m. Friday, March 13

Augustana Teaching Museum of Art, Centennial Hall

Richard Ross will be present at the reception to chat with attendees.

 

Panel Discussion

7 p.m. Tuesday, March 24

Augustana Teaching Museum of Art, Centennial Hall

A panel discussion on issues of juvenile injustice as it relates to the Quad-Cities area.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays the museum is open until 9 p.m. Admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members, and free to all on Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit www.figgeartmuseum.org.

About Augustana Teaching Museum or Art

The Augustana Teaching Museum of Art is in Centennial Hall on Augustana's campus at 3701 7^th Avenue. The museum consists of a permanent collection of 4,250 art objects and also sponsors a rotating series of gallery exhibitions and programs during its annual season, serving more that 35,000 visitors each year. Hours are noon to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday when school is in session. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information about the museum please call 309.794.7469, or visit www.augustana.edu/artmuseum.

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LEXINGTON, Ky.--While 27 states and the District of Columbia chose to expand Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the federal poverty level by the end of 2014, more states are likely to consider expansion in 2015.

Debra Miller, CSG's director of health policy, said states that expand this year are likely to follow the lead of Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania and design state-specific programs that will require a waiver from the federal government.

"The pressures on the states that have not already expanded Medicaid are growing," Miller said. "Providers, especially hospitals, worry about their revenues. Many in the dollars-and-cents crowd worry about the economic loss of leaving federal money on the table. Consumer advocates tout the advantages of health insurance coverage not just for those newly covered, but for employers and the overall economy."

The federal government will reimburse states 100 percent of the cost of expansion for calendar years 2014 through 2016, and at a reduced rate thereafter.

Miller listed Medicaid expansion as the top health care-related issue facing state policymakers in 2015. The Council of State Governments this week released its annual listing of top 5 issues legislators will face this year in education, energy and the environment, federal affairs, fiscal and economic development, health, international affairs, interstate compacts, transportation and workforce development.

The Medicaid expansion was a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will again loom large in states. Twenty-seven states are served by a federally facilitated health insurance exchange, while 14 states opted to operate a state-run health insurance exchange. Three states have a federally supported marketplace and seven are served by a state-federal partnership marketplace. A case before the Supreme Court this term raises questions about the subsidies for insurance coverage under those federal exchanges.

"Depending upon the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the exchange and insurance subsidy question, states could be forced into another round of decisions around ACA implementation," Miller said.

Other health issues will compete for the attention of state policymakers, Miller said. Among the questions they'll need to consider, she said, are these: "How can states make sure there are enough health care providers to deliver the right services at the right time? How will aging baby boomers change demands on the health care system? Will parity between physical health and behavioral health be achieved? How can the scourge of heroin and prescription drug abuse be stopped?"

Health care costs account for one of every six dollars spent in the economy.

"The growing share of states' budgets spent on health care--not just Medicaid, but state employee benefits, state retiree health care, and health costs in corrections as well--dictates that each dollar be spent as efficiently and effectively as possible," Miller said.

She said states will look at integrating health and human services to "break down artificial funding and service silos." They also will increasingly apply evidence-based standards to guide programs and services, she said.

"State policymakers will look to tackle upstream factors such as poverty, racism and educational achievement in order to reduce downstream costs," said Miller.