ROCK ISLAND - Illinois Farm Bureau ACTIVATOR is proud to announce State Senator Mike Jacobs of the 36th Senate District and State Representative Pat Verschoore of the 72nd House District have both been designated a Friend of Agriculture.

Local ACTIVATOR trustees have designated Sen. Jacobs and Rep. Verschoore for their strong voting records and continued support of key issues impacting agriculture.

"Mike Jacobs and Pat Verschoore continue to advocate and support agriculture in their districts." IFB's Director of State Legislation Kevin Semlow said. "Senator Jacobs and Representative Verschoore have worked diligently on extremely important issues to the farming community, and they continue to prove they are friends of agriculture."

"I appreciate the support of leaders and members from our local farm bureaus. The agriculture industry is vital to our economy and I pledge to continue to support the farmers of the 36th Senate District," said Jacobs. "I'm extremely grateful to receive this award."

"It is an incredible honor to receive this award. Illinois farmers work tirelessly to provide their products to consumers across the globe. Senator Jacobs and I will continue to work together to advocate for the farming communities in our districts," Verschoore said.

Both legislators play a vital role for the farming community throughout the legislative process. Representative Verschoore is the acting Chairperson for the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee, while Senator Jacobs is a sitting member of the Senate Agriculture and Conservation Committee.

ACTIVATOR, Illinois farm Bureau's political involvement fund, is a voluntary, non-profit, segregated fund promoting the economic and social well-being of farmers. ACTIVATOR trustees are local Farm Bureau leaders representing each county in every Illinois legislative district.

 

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The Genesis Community Hotline is available at (563) 421-2273 (CARE). You can call with questions about Genesis preparations for possible Ebola events, about seasonal influenza, or other concerns or comments. Leave a message with your question or comment and a contact number so we can return your call.

On Monday, October 20, 2014, Sergeant Thomas Gibbs has been appointed the new chief deputy for the Scott County Sheriff's Office. This appointment was created with the retirement of former Chief Deputy Mike Brown.

"Tom Gibbs has played a vital role in recent technology upgrades that have occurred in Scott County, including the New World Data Management System that was implemented in Scott County and the State of Iowa's new EDMS Court Paperwork System" says Sheriff Conard. "His knowledge and expertise helped make these two upgrades work for the Sheriff's Office. As law enforcement progresses into the 21st Century, Tom Gibbs' knowledge, expertise and work ethic will help guide the Sheriff's Office, as we continue to embrace modern policing practices."

Thomas Gibbs, originally from the Coralville/Iowa City area, was sworn in as a deputy with the Scott County Sheriff's Office on February 9, 2004. Mr. Gibbs is a graduate of Iowa City West High School and joined the U.S. Air Force where he worked as a law enforcement canine patrolman. He was last assigned to Andrews AFB in Maryland where he provided explosive detector dog support to the Air Force One Mission and Support Complex. After separating from the U.S.A.F. he worked briefly as a security officer at the Library of Congress, and then joined the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. While working for the Scott County Sheriff's Office he is a member of 

the Emergency Services Team, a Field Training Officer, and was the Sheriff's Office first canine handler. He was previously assigned to Sheriff's Office Administration assiting with technology and other projects as assigned. Tom is married to Heather Gibbs (Huffman) who is from Bettendorf. Together they have two daughters Abigail and Sydney and currently reside in Davenport.

 

 Wednesday, October 29, 2014
1pm EST | 12pm CST | 11am MST | 10am PST

Learn how customers like you, are using Canon Technologies to create new applications and increase their revenue at the same time!

Mark Vruno, Editor of Quick Printing magazine, will moderate and will ask about new applications or technologies Canon customers are using to generate new revenue streams.

Register Now

Jennifer Beatty landed into the printing industry after a career start in being a network administrator in the IT business. She has been in the printing business now for almost 13 years, and became a part of the Executive Press team in February of 2006. After a series of promotions and position changes, Jennifer became Vice President and business partner at Executive Press in September of 2009. Her main focus now is to be the visible owner of the company, to develop new business and make and manage relationships.

Rick Sands is the owner of The Fenway Group, a Boston based marketing services provider. In 2008, following the merger of its graphic design and offset print companies, it sought out digital production technology that could output a wide range of products, generate a consistent return on investment, and meet current and future client demands. Partnering with Canon, the shop is experiencing new areas for growth, and realizing the full potential of its cross-media capabilities, to provide its clients with a full array of strategic marketing programs, of which print is one part.

Following her support for a federal personhood bill & attempts to hide her views during final debate, Ernst's extreme positions on women's health care dominate headlines

Des Moines, IA ? With just more than two weeks until Election Day, the stark choice in the Iowa Senate race on women's health care continues to drive the campaign narrative and dominate headlines as Iowans learn more about state Sen. Joni Ernst's extreme views?and Sen. Ernst continues to struggle immensely with women voters.

While Iowans already knew that state Sen. Ernst had sponsored a radical personhood bill in the Iowa Senate that would ban common forms of birth control and eliminate a women's right to choose even in the cases of rape or incest, Ernst told the Sioux City Journal editorial board this week that she would even support federal personhood legislation efforts?impacting women not just in Iowa, but across the nation.

The topic of women's health care was then a dominant focus of the final Iowa Senate debate and its coverage, as state Sen. Ernst tried and failed to explain away her extreme positions, even when pressed for specifics.

In contrast, following his winning performance at Thursday's debate, Bruce Braley was proudly joined on the campaign trail by Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, who called Bruce a "champion" for women's health care in discussions with women in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, while highlighting Ernst's "dangerous" views for women.

Narcisse Speaking at Genesis Hospital & EICC Kahl Building

Jonathan Narcisse, the Iowa Party candidate for Governor will be in Davenport, Iowa on Wednesday October 22nd for two public speaking engagements.

After touring facilities with hospital officials, Narcisse will be speaking at Genesis' Adler Health Education Center from 3pm to 4pm, on Wednesday at Genesis East, in Davenport.

He will be addressing invited employees of Genesis Health System, and answering their questions about his candidacy. The public is invited and welcome to attend and participate as well.

Location: 1236 E. Rushholme Street, Davenport, Iowa

Click here for map and venue info: http://www.genesishealth.com/facilities/location-public-profile/?id=441

And, at 6:30pm Narcisse will be delivering his major policy speech on Iowa Tax Reform inside the Eastern Iowa Community College Kahl Educational Center building, Room 1006, in downtown Davenport.

Narcisse will be available to meet and greet voters and answer questions until 8pm.

Location: 326 West Third Street, Davenport, Iowa

Click here for map and venue info: http://www.eicc.edu/about-eicc/colleges-and-centers/kahl-educational-center.aspx

What's at Stake: The Iowa Party, An Accountability Party

Narcisse, who is campaigning on a reform platform that calls into account both the major parities, is seeking at least 2% of the Iowa vote on November 4th so that the Iowa Party will have official party status and full state-wide ballot access for all partisan elected offices for four years. Narcisse, who grew up and lives in Des Moines, refers to the Iowa Party as the birth of Iowa voters' only true second party choice.

Narcisse asserts that when both of the major party candidates came into office in the Iowa Statehouse in the 1970's, Iowa had six federal congressional representatives. And that after more than 40 years of the "Branstad Era," where both major parties have shared power and abused taxpayers, Iowa has only four congressional seats due to loss of population.

"Iowa's tax code is one of the single biggest contributors to our state's stagnation," Narcisse says. "We don't have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem."

Visit http://www.narcisseforgovernor.com/reforming-iowas-tax-codes-is-a-priority/ for a 2 minute video on Reforming Iowa's Tax Code.

The 51 year old candidate will be addressing how a Narcisse administration would reform state income tax, residential and commercial property tax and phase out the corporate income tax. He will explain how these measures will grow Iowan's individual prosperity, lift Iowans out of poverty and retain Iowa's middle class families and youth.

"We will cut a lot of taxes, but we will also cut a lot of wasteful spending," says Narcisse.

Narcisse is an enigma to many major party political insiders who know his history as a very young twenty year old co-chair of the powerful Polk County Democrat Party and one who generated headlines by getting results as a reformist on the Des Moines School board in 2009.

Read more about Narcisse's history in his Iowa Values, Common Sense Solutions campaign piece, here. http://www.narcisseforgovernor.com/publication-iowa-values-common-sense-solutions/

His efforts are gaining endorsements from both conservative talk-radio hosts, and liberal-activist leaders alike.

He is wrapping up his statewide 99 county tour next week and focusing his get out the vote campaign efforts in Iowa's urban centers in the final ten days of the campaign, prior to election day November 4th.

If two percent of the Iowa voters support Narcisse this election, the Iowa Party will have official party status over the next Iowa Caucuses, presidential election cycle, and into 2018.

"We are building a potent statewide political tool that will help us recruit good candidates to run for local office - school board, city council, and county seats - as well as legislative candidates we will encourage to run in primaries where our organizational muscle will help them oust vulnerable incumbents in the June elections," Narcisse says.

"We will especially present a second party alternative where incumbent Democrats and Republicans at the county and legislative levels are re-elected term after term without ever facing a viable opponent, if any at all."

Narcisse Speaking Engagements

Wednesday, October 22nd
Davenport, Iowa

3pm - Genesis West
Adler Health Education Center

6:30pm - EICC
Kahl Educational Center

For more information, visit www.NarcisseForGovernor.com

Contact 563-650-0120 or info@narcisseforgovernor.com for interviews or more information.

Album Update 10/17

We cannot thank all of you enough of your patience in this process of creating the new record. We set out to do something very different and unique and with that often comes new challenges and hurdles that have to be overcome during that process. So, with that said we are pleased to announce the record is done, and for your patience we are going to be releasing an EP next week Monday morning entitled "E.P. Phone Home" directly to pledgers only. The record "Always And Forever" will be released in Jan 2015 worldwide and for all those who have pledged you will get your copies ahead of the street date before the general public as promised.
Words truly cannot express how we feel about your constant support and patience we only do what we do in music because of all of you and without your support Alien Ant Farm would not be possible, so thank you truly!!!

SPRINGFIELD, IL, - Rock Island County has been issued a tentative property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000, according to Brian Hamer, Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue.

The property assessment equalization factor, often called the "multiplier", is the method used to achieve uniform property assessments among counties, as required by law. This equalization is particularly important because some of the state's 6,600 local taxing districts overlap into two or more counties (e.g. school districts, junior college districts, fire protection districts). If there were no equalization among counties, substantial inequities among taxpayers with comparable properties would result.

State law requires property in Illinois to be assessed at one-third (1/3) of its market value. Farm property is assessed differently, with farm homesites and dwellings subject to regular assessing and equalization procedures, but with farmland and farm buildings assessed according to standards based on productivity.

The equalization factor is determined annually for each county by comparing the sales price of individual properties sold over the past three years to the assessed value placed on those properties by the county supervisor of assessments/county assessor.

If this three-year average level of assessment is one-third of market value, the equalization factor will be one (1). If the average level of assessment is greater than one-third of market value, the equalization factor will be less than one (1). And if the average level of assessment is less than one-third of market value, the equalization factor will be greater than one (1).

Assessments in Rock Island County are at 33.35 percent of market value, based on sales of properties in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

The equalization factor currently being assigned is for 2014 taxes, payable in 2015.  Last year's equalization factor for the county was 1.0000.

The tentative factor is subject to change (1) if the County Board of Review takes actions which significantly affect the county assessments or (2) if local officials or others can present data showing that the Department of Revenue's estimates of the average level of assessments in the county should be adjusted. A public hearing on the tentative multiplier will be held between 20 and 30 days after the tentative factor is published in a newspaper of general circulation within the county.

A change in the equalization factor does not mean total property tax bills will increase or decrease. Tax bills are determined by local taxing bodies when they request money each year to provide services to local citizens. If the amount requested by local taxing districts is not greater than the amount received in the previous year, then total property taxes will not increase even if assessments may have increased.

The assessed value of an individual property determines what portion of the tax burden a specific taxpayer will assume. That individual's portion of tax responsibility is not changed by the multiplier.

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Dazzling and Unique Blend of Puppetry, Technology and Dance As Seen on America's Got Talent

The Coralville Center for the Performing Arts is thrilled to bring Lightwire Theater's production of DiNO-LIGHT to the Coralville on Tuesday, November 11, with a public performance at 6:30pm and a special 12:30pm matinee for school groups.

Created by Corbian Visual Arts and Dance, DiNO-Light (also known as Darwin the Dinosaur) is a heart-warming original story that features a friendly dinosaur who wanders away from home and discovers a world of creatures who light up the darkness and help him find the true meaning of love. The story is told through electroluminescent puppetry, music, sound, and movement and has delighted children and adults around the world.

Tickets for the 6:30pm performance on Tuesday, November 11 are $16 for adults and $12 for children 12 and under and are available online at coralvillearts.org, by phone at 319.248.9370, and in person at the CCPA box office and Coralville Rec Center.  Special group pricing is available for the 12:30pm matinee performance; those interested can learn more by calling 319.248.9372.

Corbian creators Ian Carney and Corbin Popp met while dancing in Twyla Tharp's Broadway show Movin' Out. They immediately connected over their mutual love of art, theater, and technology.  After they discovered a product called EL wire, they developed puppetry based creatures that quickly gained personality.  "EL wire" is short for electroluminescent wire: unlike black lights, the technology can be powered by batteries and requires no theatrical lighting.

Based in New Orleans, Lightwire Theater rose to national prominence through its appearance on America's Got Talent in 2012, where the group made it to the semi-finals, and has toured extensively.  Lightwire Theater will be competing on the truTV series FAKE OFF, which premieres on October 27.

Owned and operated by the City of Coralville, the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts is dedicated to enriching the community and contributing to the vitality of Coralville by offering an accessible, affordable venue for a variety of performances, presentations, and public and private events.  The 472 seat theater opened August 26, 2011 and has hosted performances from City Circle Acting Company, Orchestra Iowa, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Dan Knight, Lola Astanova, Lorie Line, Judy Carmichael, Jim McDonough, Nolte Academy of Dance, and many others.  Coralville schools are also able to use the Center free of charge up to three times per year; 15 school events took place at the Center in the 2013-2014 school year. The Center was named 2012 Member of the Year by the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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DAVENPORT, Iowa - Oct. 17, 2014 -- Genesis Health System President and CEO Doug Cropper announced today that the health system will enter a new partnership agreement North Carolina-based Compass Group, North America focused on several, primarily hospital-based support services.

Once executed, the agreement is expected to enhance the economic stability of Genesis and secure the continued employment, pay, benefits and seniority of all affected staff. Most importantly, this agreement will help ensure the continued availability of these services to Genesis patients consistent with Genesis' mission, vision and values.

The proposed support services agreement with Compass Group, North America involves four system-wide support service areas: environmental services; facility maintenance services; food and nutrition services; and, patient transportation services. Together, these departments employ nearly 500 Genesis colleagues. According to Mr. Cropper, the decision to enter into an agreement with Compass was driven largely by the growing complexity and higher costs associated with maintaining these services on an "in-house," independent basis.

Specifically, Mr. Cropper noted, "The opportunity to partner with Compass for support services will significantly enhance the quality and cost- effectiveness of these services. The singular „focus? of dedicated support service providers, like Compass, provides „best practice? models in areas such as energy management and reduced waste. Moreover, the purchasing power of Compass will certainly lead to more cost-effective service delivery. Compass also will provide staff and leaders with the highly specialized training available in these support service areas that will enhance quality and customer satisfaction."

Mr. Cropper reported that the impact of the proposed Compass agreement on Genesis employees will be limited. On January 1, 2015, all affected staff will transfer employment from Genesis to Compass Group at their current pay rates and seniority levels. Moreover, the Compass benefit packages are comparable to those offered by Genesis.

"By executing this agreement with Compass Group, I believe we have enhanced the long-term job security of our support services staff,?? Cropper said. "Not only will this agreement preserve jobs; but, it also offers a career-growth path that only a large, highly specialized organization, like Compass, can offer. I believe this action advances the best interests of Genesis, the affected support services staff and, most importantly, our patients who rely on us to ensure the compassionate, quality cost-effective care our mission promises and our patients deserve."

Genesis workers in environmental services; facility maintenance services; food and nutrition services; and, patient transport services were briefed Thursday, Oct. 16 by Genesis and Compass officials on the pending partnership arrangement.

Commenting on the transparency of the process, Compass Group Director of Business Development Chris Kacsits said: "Quite frankly, we?ve never seen a communication process quite so thorough and open as this one. Genesis staff members were updated throughout the negotiations in order to minimize the disruption this new relationship will have on workers. We regard our experience with Genesis as a case study in effective communication and social responsibility. I am not aware of any other Compass partner that has guaranteed the employment, pay and seniority of its workers in such a transaction."

ABOUT COMPASS GROUP

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina; Compass Group North America leads the market in food and support services to both public and private health care and senior living providers with nearly $13 billion in revenues in 2013. It is a subsidiary of UK-based Compass Group, PLC, the world?s largest provider of such services to health care, education, sports and leisure and other industries. Compass is the ninth largest employer employs more than 500,000 associates worldwide and has annual revenues in excess of $28 billion.

Under the "Morrison" brand name, Compass provides a wide variety of food service options designed to meet the unique dietary requirements of patients, staff and visitors as well as senior living residents. The Compass health care industry team includes more than 1,200 registered dietitians, 350 executive chefs and 18,000 professional food service team members.

Compass?s "Crothall" division provides a comprehensive portfolio of support services, including patient transport as well as maintenance and housekeeping. Compass is focused on the needs of its health care clients serving nearly 950 hospitals, senior living communities and integrated healthcare systems in 43 states. Compass brings with it the scale and "buying power? needed to drive costs down and the expertise to ensure quality service. To learn more, visit www.compass-group.com

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