Coralville, IA - December 18, 2014 - West Music, with headquarters in Coralville, IA, was recently named to Internet Retailer Magazine's Hot 100 List, a list of websites that are recognized by the industry as e-commerce influencers. West Music was honored in the "Specialty" retail category, focusing on retailers that are unique enough to defy classification within traditional merchandising categories. According to Internet Retailer Magazine, "The merchants in this year's Hot 100 specialty category have discovered compelling ways to emphasize what makes them or their products different from those available elsewhere." To read the full article about West Music, please visit internetretailer.com/Hot100.

West Music was recognized by Internet Retailer magazine due to their continued focus on customer service and finding new and innovative ways to service a diverse customer base that includes local and national customers. West Music has continued to focus on establishing business processes that can provide extraordinary service to both general consumers in the B2C space as well as schools and institutions that rely on West Music for their experience in music education products. The customer experience requires a mix of tools to service both the B2B and B2C customer base.

"We are proud of our newest recognition and proud of what our website can offer to our customers on a regional and national level. We offer strong business-to-consumer elements with a lot of B2B elements in the background." said senior vice president Ryan West.

West Music launched their first website in 1996 and continues to refine its capabilities, search functions, and web platforms to better serve customers locally as well as reaching out to a national audience of music educators.

About Internet Retailer

Internet Retailer Magazine was launched in March 1999 by Faulkner & Gray, a unit of Thomson Reuters. It was purchased in 2000 by F&G CEO Jack Love and some members of his management team, who left Thomson to form Vertical Web Media. Starting with the monthly Internet Retailer Magazine that began in 1999, Vertical Web Media has launched on average a new publication or information service every year since. It now operates a monthly magazine, two web sites, two e-mail newsletters, three conferences and trade shows, and five research guides - all directed to various aspects of the e-commerce business.

MOLINE, Ill. (December 18, 2014) - The Quad City Mallards will join the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign tomorrow (Friday) at SouthPark Mall in Moline, the Mallards announced today.

Mallard players will join the one hundred twenty-fourth annual kettle campaign and ring bells outside the Von Maur entrance to the mall from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m.

"Especially at this time of the year, we feel lucky to have the chance to give something back to those in need in the Quad Cities," said Mallards president Bob McNamara.  "We're very glad to be able to once again join the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign, which does so much for our community every year."

The Mallards tomorrow will join nearly 25,000 bell-ringers taking to storefronts nationwide this holiday season.  Among them are the Flock's Bud Light Ice Girls, who took part in the kettle campaign earlier this month.

STANARDSVILLE, Va. – The Rutherford Institute has come to the aid of a four-year-old Virginia student who, after allegedly acting up in class, was turned over to police, who handcuffed and shackled the preschooler and transported him to the sheriff's office. While at the sheriff's office, the police forced C.B., the four-year-old, to speak with prison inmates in an apparent attempt to "scare straight" the preschooler. The child was left in handcuffs or shackles for about 20 minutes.

Pointing out that handcuffing and shackling a four-year-old is excessive, unwarranted, and unnecessarily traumatizing, attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have asked that public school officials take steps to assure the child's family and the rest of the community of parents and concerned citizens that what happened to C.B. will not happen again to him or other students of similar age. Specifically, Institute attorneys have asked that protocols be established to guide school personnel and allow them to deal more appropriately with students who are acting up or have become upset, preventing such incidents from escalating to the point where use of law enforcement is considered an option.

The Rutherford Institute's letter to Greene County Public Schools is available at www.rutherford.org.

"That it was a sheriff's deputy and not a public school official who handcuffed and shackled this four-year-old does not detract from the fact that this mother entrusted her son to the care of school officials, trusting them to care for him as she would, with compassion, understanding and patience," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State. "That such extreme restraints would even be contemplated in a case such as this points to a failure by those in leadership to provide the proper guidance to school personnel in what forms of restraint and force are appropriate when dealing with students, especially the youngest and most vulnerable."

The incident occurred on October 16, 2014, while four-year-old C.B. was in one of the pre-Kindergarten programs at Nathanael Greene Primary School. According to school officials, C.B. was removed from the classroom after allegedly becoming agitated and throwing several items onto the floor. School personnel then telephoned C.B.'s mother, Tracy Wood, who indicated she would come and get the child. Although school personnel knew C.B.'s mother was en route to NGPS, they called in the school's resource officer, a Greene County deputy sheriff, to confront the preschooler. The sight of the law enforcement officer reportedly only served to agitate C.B. further. Instead of employing positive reinforcement, a bear hug or some other method of control appropriate for children, the officer escalated the situation by treating the 4-year-old as if he were being arrested: handcuffing C.B. and transporting him in a police car to a Greene County Sheriff's office. Upon arriving at NGPS, Ms. Wood was stunned to learn that her son had been transported to the Sheriff's office.

After a frantic trip to the police station, Ms. Wood arrived to find her son traumatized and in leg shackles, like an inmate being transported for a court appearance. To her dismay, Ms. Wood learned that not only had the 4-year-old been handcuffed and shackled for about 20 minutes, but that the police officer had forced C.B. to speak with persons who had been arrested in an apparent attempt to "scare straight" the preschooler. Incredibly, C.B. was held in handcuffs or shackles for about 20 minutes. Rather than recognizing the imprudence of treating a young child like a hardened criminal, school officials and the sheriff's office not only defended their actions but actually suspended C.B. from the pre-K program and instructed his mother to seek "homebound instruction" for him. In coming to C.B.'s defense, Rutherford Institute attorneys have asked that school officials rescind the suspension, remove any indication of the incident from C.B.'s records, and implement policies making it clear that handcuffing, shackling and other similar excessive restraint techniques are never appropriate when dealing with children of tender years.

Governor Urges Legislature to Set Up 2016 Special Election for Comptroller

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today called legislators back to Springfield on Jan. 8, 2015, to consider legislation that would allow voters to fill the elected position of Illinois Comptroller. A special election will give voters the opportunity to choose their Comptroller in the next statewide election on Nov. 8, 2016. The primary election is scheduled for March 15, 2016. Governor Quinn issued the following statement:

"Judy Baar Topinka's passing has not only left us heartbroken - the people of Illinois have been left without their elected representative in the Comptroller's Office.

"Nobody but Judy Baar Topinka was elected to do this job. That's why it's so important that voters have the soonest possible opportunity to elect their Comptroller. Holding a special election is the right thing to do.

"Members of the legislature should set up a special election for 2016 so that voters can exercise their democratic right to decide who will serve as their Comptroller."