SIOUX CITY, IA (09/02/2014)(readMedia)-- Several area residents received Master of Arts in Teaching degrees from Morningside College in August.

The students are:

Tara Christensen, of Davenport, Iowa.

Katrina Serrano, of Davenport, Iowa.

Heath Kelley, of De Witt, Iowa.

Melissa Ruyter, of Eldridge, Iowa.

Aubrey Bockwoldt, of Moline, Ill.

Morningside College offers the Master of Arts in Teaching degree, as well as graduate teaching endorsements. The Graduate Program in Education at Morningside supports education professionals as they continue to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are characteristic of an effective educator. Morningside also offers several undergraduate degrees. For more information, visit the college's website at www.morningside.edu.

Business owner and father cycles cross country to teach how easy it is to trade currencies by paying for trip on profits made from trading during trip
What:  Can someone actually pay for a family vacation across the U.S. simply from the profits of trading currencies? Shawn Lucas and his family are on a coast-to-coast cycling and road trip to prove just that.
Lucas, CEO and founder of Apiary Investment Fund (www.apiaryfund.com), arrives in Davenport, Iowa today during the fourth leg of a 100-day, 19 cities, 4,100 mile, coast-to-coast cycling trip called Pedals and Profits. He started from Cape of Disappointment, WA and will cycle to the Boston Harbor. During the trip he will teach and show people how easy it is to make an income from currency trading by paying for his entire trip from income he earns trading currencies each day of the trip.
Lucas' 10 member family will travel with him via car and cycle.
When: Sept. 2
Where: Davenport, Iowa

Register for a chance to win a $5,290 College Savings Iowa account

DES MOINES, IA (09/02/2014)(readMedia)-- State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald has announced that Iowa is joining forces with states across the nation in declaring September as College Savings Month. During College Savings Month, families are encouraged to explore the benefits of saving through a 529 plan, such as College Savings Iowa. "College Savings Iowa provides families with an affordable, tax-advantaged way to save for future college expenses," Fitzgerald said. "With as little as $25, you can start saving for a loved one's future education. Iowa allows Iowa taxpayers to deduct contributions up to $3,045 per account from their 2014 state income taxes.*"

"As a way to raise awareness among families about saving for higher education, the plan will be awarding a $5,290 College Savings Iowa account this fall," added Fitzgerald. "I encourage all Iowans with young children to register today for a chance to win and jump-start their children's college savings." For more information about the giveaway and to register, visit collegesavingsiowa.com.

. For more information about future giveaways and events, find College Savings Iowa on Facebook and Twitter (@Iowa529Plan).

*Adjusted annually for inflation. If withdrawals are not qualified, the deductions must be added back to Iowa taxable income.

**The Earnings portion of nonqualified withdrawals may be subject to federal income tax and a 10% federal penalty tax, as well as state and local income taxes. The availability of tax or other benefits may be contingent on meeting other requirements.

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Investment returns are not guaranteed and you could lose money by investing in the plan. Participants assume all investment risks as well as the responsibility for any federal and state tax consequences. If you are not an Iowa taxpayer, consider before investing whether your or the designated beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other benefits that are only available for investments in such state's qualified tuition program.

For more information about the College Savings Iowa 529 Plan, call 1-888-672-9116, or visit collegesavingsiowa.com to obtain a Program Description. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information are included in the Program Description; read and consider it carefully before investing. Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.

College Savings Iowa is an Iowa trust sponsored by the Iowa State Treasurer's Office. The Treasurer of the State of Iowa sponsors and is responsible for overseeing the administration of the College Savings Iowa 529 Plan. The Vanguard Group, Inc., serves as Investment Manager and Vanguard Marketing Corporation, an affiliate of The Vanguard Group, Inc., assists the Treasurer with marketing and distributing the Plan. Upromise Investment Advisors, LLC, provides records administration services. The Plan's portfolios, although they invest in Vanguard mutual funds, are not mutual funds.

Per-game average of 3,885 is highest in 55-year history of the Quad Cities Midwest League franchise

DAVENPORT, Iowa (August 31, 2014) - An average of 3,885 fans per game attended Quad Cities River Bandits home games at Modern Woodmen Park this season, setting a new record for the highest per-game average for a season in the 55-year history of the Quad Cities Midwest League franchise.

The 2014 season also saw five of the 11 largest single-game home crowds - all 7,089 or larger - for the Quad Cities franchise since the start of the 2002 season. The new per-game average record was achieved despite weather postponing nine River Bandits home games - the most for any Midwest League team in six years.

"We are thrilled and humbled by the unyielding support of all of the fans who came to Modern Woodmen Park this season," said River Bandits owner Dave Heller. "This record is even more meaningful because our fans endured record rain and flooding, when entire parking lots and parts of our play area were underwater, and people had to walk as much as a mile to get to the ballpark. That's just one of the many hundreds of reasons why we are so grateful to host the best fans in minor league baseball at the No. 1 minor league ballpark in America!"

Quad Cities' total home attendance of 237,005 this season was the sixth-most since the franchise joined the Midwest League in 1960. For each of the seven seasons under Main Street Baseball, more than 200,000 fans have attended Quad Cities River Bandits games at Modern Woodmen Park - a streak unprecedented in franchise history.

"This season has been special for so many reasons - the opening of the Ferris wheel, unique promotions and events, and exciting baseball games, but the fans have made it truly memorable with overwhelming passion for the River Bandits and Modern Woodmen Park," said General Manager Andrew Chesser. "The entire Quad Cities should be proud of a record-setting season at the ballpark!"

The Quad Cities franchise record for single-season attendance is 260,471 - a mark set in 1994 as the Quad City River Bandits, an affiliate of the Houston Astros. That season's per-game average of 3,755 was the highest for the franchise until this season.

ABOUT THE BANDITS: Having been named Ballpark Digest's winner of Best Ballpark Improvement in America under $1 million, the River Bandits ownership in 2014 made one of the biggest improvements to Modern Woodmen Park since the ballpark was first built back in 1931! A new Ferris wheel, standing 105 feet over the playing field, opened May 24, Space Camp opened June 20; the new Drop-N-Twist debuted in July; and the newly expanded 300-foot long zip line also reopened.

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November 25, 2014 - 7:00 pm

iWireless Center

On Sale Friday, September 5 at Noon

Ticket prices are $35.00, $49.50, and $65.00. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 5 at Noon and are available at the iWireless Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 800-745-3000, and online at www.ticketmaster.com. Brought to you by Live Nation.

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CLINTON, IA., September 1, 2014–Clinton Area Showboat Theatre is excited to announce its 2015 summer professional season.

Clinton Area Showboat Theatre will open its 2015 season with Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar). Cats ran on Broadway from 1982 to 2000, won seven TONY awards and remains the second longest running musical in Broadway history. Clinton Showboat`s reimagined production will open June 11.

The second production in the Clinton Showboat 2015 season is the music revue My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra. The professional company will perform the songs made famous by Sinatra including My Funny Valentine, Fly Me to Moon, The Best is Yet to Come, The Way You Look Tonight, All of Me, The Lady is a Tramp and many more. My Way will open June 25 at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre.

The third production in this year`s season is Seussical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Seussical is a musical mash-up of the most famous stories and characters created by Dr. Seuss. This award winning musical is fun for the whole family and will open July 9th.

Steel Magnolias is the fourth title in the 2015 season and is the one non-musical presented this year. This touching comedy was presented on the Showboat stage in 2000 and was adapted into the popular film starring Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton and Sally Fields. Steel Magnolias will open July 23rd at Clinton Area Showboat Theatre.

The final production of the 2015 season is the powerful Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal. Originally appearing on Broadway in 2009, Next to Normal tells the story of a suburban mother dealing with depression and bipolar disorder while struggling to keep her family together. Next to Normal was nominated for eleven TONY awards and is one of only eight musicals in history to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Hailed by critics as a "landmark achievement in American Musical Theatre history," Next to Normal is sure to be the most talked about production of the season and opens August 6th.

Season tickets for all five productions are available on the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre website, www.clintonshowboat.org. The Box Office is currently closed for the offseason but a message can be left at 563-242-6760

The Clinton Area Showboat Theatre is a Professional Non-Profit Summer Theatre located on the Mississippi Riverfront in Clinton, Iowa. Our mission is to provide superior artistic theatre and quality theatre education to the greater Clinton and Quad Cities area.

 

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Funding Will Improve Capacity, Safety on Joliet-Dwight Segment

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today announced a $102 million investment from the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program to improve system performance and reliability on a key segment of the Chicago-to-St. Louis high-speed rail line. The investment will allow the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Union Pacific Railroad to move forward with construction of a new bridge over the Kankakee River near Wilmington, as well as other safety and capacity enhancements along the busy corridor between Joliet and Dwight. Today's announcement is part of Governor Quinn's agenda to create jobs and build a 21st century infrastructure that will drive Illinois' economy forward.

"This investment is going to put people to work and take us one step closer to completing the high-speed rail connection between Chicago and St. Louis," Governor Quinn said. "None of this work on the Chicago-St. Louis high-speed line would be possible without the outstanding cooperation of the Union-Pacific Railroad. Investing in our Chicago-St.Louis line today will pay dividends to Illinois residents for years to come."

The $102 million investment will build a second set of tracks between Mazonia and Elwood, including the new Kankakee River bridge to accommodate the increased capacity. The work, which will be performed by the Union Pacific Railroad and overseen by IDOT, will take place in 2016 and 2017. The $102 million investment, part of the $550 million the governor identified in Illinois Jobs Now! to improve passenger rail service across the state, will create or support 918 construction jobs.

Once completed, the improvements will eliminate about five minutes in travel time immediately and put the final upgrades in place between Joliet and Dwight in anticipation of the eventual double-tracking of the remainder of the Chicago-St. Louis corridor. This double-tracking will then allow more daily round-trips at increased 110-mph speeds.

"We value the public-private partnership between IDOT's Bureau of Railroads, the Federal Railroad Administration and Union Pacific Railroad in making the rail corridor between Chicago and St. Louis the premier high-speed passenger corridor in the county,"  Union Pacific Railroad's Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs Wes Lujan said.

Today's announcement pushes the state's total commitment to the Chicago-St. Louis route to $358.8 million, with the remainder of the $1.7 billion project federally funded. Trains currently travel at 110 mph between Dwight and Pontiac. By the end of 2015, the trip between Chicago and St. Louis will be reduced to 5 hours from the current 5½ hours. When all of the improvements are finished in 2017, the trip will have been reduced even further to 4½ hours.

For more information on the high-speed rail project, visit www.idothsr.org.

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Washington, D.C. - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) released the following statement in honor of Labor Day:

"Labor Day has always been a time to gather with family and friends and enjoy the traditional end of summer. But the real purpose of Labor Day is to celebrate American workers, who have been responsible for the most innovative and powerful economy in the world.  Better and safer working conditions exist because American workers fought for them. American workers deserve jobs that pay a living wage for a hard day's work. On this Labor Day, my thoughts are with the hardworking Americans who make our lives better and help make America the greatest country in the world."

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BANDITS CLOSE SEASON WITH 8-5 LOSS TO BEES
Davis homers again as Quad Cities completes second consecutive winning season

BURLINGTON, Iowa (September 1, 2014) - J.D. Davis and Dayne Parker each homered, but the Quad Cities River Bandits ended their season with an 8-5 loss Monday to the Burlington Bees at Community Field.

The River Bandits (35-35 second half, 70-69 overall) got off to a good start when Bobby Boyd and Ryan Bottger, who had three hits for the second time in three contests, opened the game with singles against Burlington (30-40, 68-71) starter Alex Blackford. Marc Wik then laced a double down the right field line to bring both in and quickly give Quad Cities a 2-0 lead.

The Bees struck back right away though against Quad Cities starter Michael Feliz. Bo Way, who had three hits and reached base for the 27th time in his last 28 games, led off the bottom of the first with a base hit and then Kody Eaves hit his tenth homer of the year to tie the game at two. Feliz got Brandon Bayardi on strikes and then Eric Aguilera grounded out to second for the first two outs of the frame. Zach Houchins then lined a base hit to left that got by Quad Cities left fielder Brauly Mejia for a single and an error, the first of two on the day for Mejia. Houchins then came around to score on Trevor Gretzky's RBI double to put Burlington ahead 3-2.

With Burlington holding onto a 4-3 lead in the fifth, Gretzky, who had three hits, singled with two outs, stole second and then came into score on Stephen McGee's RBI double. Ismael Dionicio then singled to left, but Mejia threw out McGee at the plate to end the inning and the day for Feliz (8-6). The right-hander allowed a career-high 12 hits and gave up five runs, four earned, with no walks and six strikeouts in his five frames to suffer the loss.

Quad Cities used a home run from Dayne Parker, his second of the season, in the seventh to cut the lead back to one, but a McGee sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the frame made it 6-4 Bees.

In the top of the eighth, Davis launched his eighth dinger of the year and fifth in the last eight games to pull the Bandits back to within just one. But again, in the bottom of the inning, the Bees had an answer, using a Bayardi two-run shot to put the score at 8-5.

Alex Blackford (2-4) earned the win for the Bees, surrendering three runs on six hits in five innings. He walked one and fanned six while Ben Carlson worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save.

The River Bandits closed the 2014 season with a 70-69 record, their second consecutive winning campaign.

DAVIS POUNDS TWO HOMERS, BANDITS WIN BUT ARE ELIMINATED
Wisconsin victory ends Quad Cities postseason hopes
BURLINGTON, Iowa (August 31, 2014) - J.D. Davis had his first professional multi-homer game to lead the Quad Cities River Bandits to a 9-4 win over the Burlington Bees Sunday at Community Field. Despite the victory, the River Bandits were eliminated from the playoff picture by Wisconsin's win at Beloit.

Davis got the scoring started by launching a 2-2 pitch from Burlington (29-31 second half, 67-71 overall) starter Daniel Hurtado over the right-field wall for his sixth home run of the season to put Quad Cities (35-34, 70-68) up 1-0.

Chase McDonald followed Davis' act with a solo home run, his team-best 16th of the year, to lead off the top of the fourth, making it 2-0.

Ranyelmy Mendoza's solo shot in the bottom of the fifth cut the Bandits' lead to 2-1, but Hurtado (2-4), who gave up five runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in six innings to take the loss, got himself into more trouble with the longball in the sixth. He walked McDonald with two outs and nobody on before yielding a single to A.J. Reed. Davis then clubbed his second dinger of the game to give Quad Cities the 5-1 advantage. Davis finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs, while also walking and swiping his fourth base of the season.

Burlington was able to get back in the game in the bottom of the seventh when Trevor Gretzky hit his third homer of the season, a three-run shot to draw the Bees to within 5-4. But the Bandits were able to answer immediately, with back-to-back doubles by Marc Wik and Ryan Bottger in the top of the eighth scoring a run, and Bottger coming home on a McDonald sacrifice fly to the wall in left-center, giving Quad Cities a 7-4 cushion.

In the top of the ninth, Bobby Boyd hit his first career triple to drive in Lindauer. He then came into score on Dayne Parker's sacrifice fly to left to put Quad Cities ahead 9-4.

Troy Scribner (1-2) earned the victory, going three innings in relief of Chris Lee, who tossed four scoreless frames. Scribner gave up four runs, one earned, on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

The River Bandits and Bees combined to hit five home runs in the game, the most between Quad Cities and an opponent this season.

Quad Cities will wrap up the regular season tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Burlington. Michael Feliz (8-5, 3.87 ERA) is scheduled to make the start for the River Bandits against Burlington's Alex Blackford (1-4, 2.63).

UP NEXT: The final River Bandits games will be live online at riverbandits.com and TuneIn Radio. On Labor Day, the ballpark will open with free admission at 4 p.m. for the Red, White and Boom Fireworks show scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

ABOUT THE BANDITS: Having just been named Ballpark Digest's winner of Best Ballpark Improvement in America under $1 million, the River Bandits ownership recently made one of the biggest improvements to Modern Woodmen Park since the ballpark was first built back in 1931! A new Ferris wheel, standing 105 feet over the playing field, opened May 24, Space Camp opened June 20; the new Drop-N-Twist debuted in July; and the newly expanded 300-foot long zip line also reopened. In 2013, the team unveiled a new 220-foot long dual zip line, a rock climbing wall, and a number of new bounce houses. Last season, the team's major league affiliate, the Houston Astros, saw all six of its affiliates reach the playoffs - the first time in a decade any MLB team can claim such success. The River Bandits were one of three affiliates to reach the championship round and one of two to win their league championship.

MidCoast Fine Arts' Riverssance Festival of Fine Art is celebrating its 27th year as the premier fine arts festival of the Quad Cities, showcasing over 100 of the top artists from throughout North America.  Riverssance is located on a scenic hill overlooking the Mississippi River in the historic Village of East Davenport.  Riverssance will feature a free children's art tent, wine tasting, gourmet food and live regional music  booked by the River Music Experience.  MidCoast Fine Arts serves area artists and the Quad Cities community throughout the year with a myriad of exhibition opportunities designed to help arts promote and sell their work without commission.  Artists helping artists is what the organization is all about.

The recipients of the Harley Award given in recognition of an individual(s) or organization that has demonstrated a lasting commitment to the promotion and the advancement of the visual arts and artists in the Quad Cities area are sisters Megan and Kristin Quinn.  Both are outstanding, accomplished artists and each represents the bi-state region. Megan is a professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Augustana College in Rock Island, Il.  Kristin is a professor and Art Department Chair at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.  Both artists contribute greatly to the community, to their respective states and respective academic institutions.  They are a vital part of both  the Iowa & Illinois art communities.

The featured design for the Festival, by artist Naidine D'Angelo, is a dragonfly drawn from the concept of its insides being driven by bolts, screws, piping and steam.  The design will be the basis for this year's promotional artwork and t-shirts. The artist resides in the Quad Cities and is a vital part of the art community.  Her creativity with this drawing and concept opens the doors to both the arts, science and mathematics.  The connection between math and art is a connection that increases educational learning for both children and adults.  Naidine's work of the dragonfly as a scientific, mechanical and artistic expression completes this mental circuit.

I would like to ask you to promote the Riverssance Festival of Fine Arts on September 20-21 in the Village of East Davenport.  With so many schools and communities reducing their art dollars for education this Festival is one way to continue to promote and provide accessibility to fine arts to everyone.  Additionally it is a wonderful event for our community.  Admission is $4 per person with children under 12 free. A flyer with more information is attached.

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