Kick off your Fourth of July celebrations at the Annual Ice Cream Social presented by the Friends of the Muscatine Art Center. The event will be held on Sunday, June 29th from 1 to 5 p.m. As always, there will be plenty of ice cream, desserts, live music, family-friendly fun and an art fair.

Families are encouraged to bike to the Art Center as part of the Family Bike Ride organized by the Melon City Bike Club and Harper's Cycling & Fitness. The group will depart from Discovery Park at 1 p.m. and will have the option of a short 3-mile round-trip ride or a longer 10-mile ride. Both rides will stop at the Art Center, and participants will receive a coupon for a free ice cream.

The musical line-up for this year begins with the family group "Tammy and the Fyffe's" at 1 p.m. "Indigo Quartet" will take the stage at 2 p.m., and Muscatine favorite, "The Creepin' Charlies," will perform at 3:15 p.m.

Returning this year is a book sale and art fair. Local artists Carol Steinmetz, Joseph Barnard, Brad Nord, Chris Clark, and Ashley Hogenson and Iowa City artists, Yelena Mass and Connie Schumm, will offer their works for sale.

New this year is a Puppet Building Project with "Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre" of West Liberty. Kids can help Eulenspiegel build and decorate a giant "Pearl of the Mississippi" puppet. Also new are activities presented by the Citizens for an Off-Leash Muscatine Park, including a chance for children to read to a therapy dog and pose for a photograph in a decorated dog house.

Freddie the Fire Truck will make an appearance, thanks to the City of Muscatine Fire Department. Kids' games, sponsored by Central State Bank, will include some annual favorites plus activities that relate to railroad history as a compliment to the exhibition, "Railroads of Muscatine County". In the studio, kids will create a "Thomas & Friends" finger puppet from felt.

The railroad exhibition features interesting artifacts and photographs and engaging components for the young and the 'young at heart' including a toy train table, a step-on caboose, and working "O and S Gauge" model railroads. Among the railroads featured in the exhibition are the Rock Island Lines, the Muscatine City Railway Company, and the Muscatine & Iowa City Railway, which did not survive its first year of incorporation. In the early 1900s, Muscatine had four active railroads, two inter-urbans and a city trolley system.

Also opening at the Ice Cream Social is an exhibition of Wood Carvings by Muscatine's own Norman Bunn. Norman is the nephew of William Bunn, the Muscatine artist who is famous for WPA Post Office Murals and Mississippi River boats and scenes. In his retirement, Norman began carving figures, birds, and animals which delight people of all ages. The wood carvings will be on exhibit in the Musser Mansion Gallery from June 1 through August 28, 2014.

Admission to the Ice Cream Social (and related events) is free. All proceeds from sales of ice cream, desserts, beverages and books will go to the Friends of the Muscatine Art Center. Each year, the Friends of the Muscatine Art Center financially contributes towards the educational programs offered at the Art Center, provides scholarships for students to attend studio classes offered through the Art Center and pays for busing for area schools to visit the Art Center.

The Muscatine Art Center is located at 1314 Mulberry Avenue in Muscatine, Iowa. Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday evenings until 7:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. Donations are appreciated.

Let the weekend of celebration begin! MarchFourth Marching Band kicks off River Music Experience's 10 Year Anniversary Celebration with an outdoor concert tonight for FREE! Tomorrow, start your weekend off with Friday Live at 5 featuring The Candymakers, and stick around until the 6th Annual BeeRME for Music at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the fun starts early with Junk Percussion and Drum Circle with Living Lands & Waters & Terry Hansen at 10:30 a.m., and carries on until a rockin' performance by David Mayfield Parade with special guest Lissie Saturday night! Wind down the weekend on Sunday with Third Sunday Jazz and a performace by Willie Pickens Trio. Happy 10 years, RME!

 Get in on the action along the Mississippi river this weekend with Rally on the River QC. With events ranging from bike rodeo to stunt shows, this is one rally you won't want to miss. If you prefer to pedal your own wheels, don't miss out on the 30th Annual Ride the River Sunday. A Father's Day tradition in the QC, this event celebrates the beauty of the riverfront trails.

 Juneteenth continues on this week with events leading up to the all-day festival Saturday. Hear from various local and surrounding choirs tomorrow night during Gospel in the Park with a headlining performance by BET's Sundays Best runner-up, Alexis Spight. Bring the family out Saturday for the Family Festival featuring a classic car show, bounce houses, a peach cobbler eating contest, and much more.

 Dads, spend some time downtown this weekend to celebrate Father's Day! Start Saturday at the Freight House Farmer's Market for Dads and Kids Day plus the Children's Festival featuring a bouncy house, balloon man, and much more. On Sunday, head to Modern Woodmen Park and cheer the River Bandits on to a win, then stick around for post-game catch with your kids.

 Did you know it is Iowa Museum Week? Celebrate by checking out the many offerings and exhibitions over at the Figge Art Museum or the German American Heritage Center. On Saturday, the Figge opens a new exhibition, Thunderstorm, and on Sunday, GAHC offers FREE admission for Dads in honor of Father's Day.

 Follow step-by-step instructions while creating your own piece of art in a relaxed environment at Re-Cre8 Studios now open in the Mississippi Plaza!  Spend a night releasing your creative side with a drink and some friends. Create a "Sand and Art" painting tomorrow, a "Whimsical Dandelion" painting Tuesday, or a painting of "Patriotic Flip Flops" on Wednesday. Like them on Facebook to browse their class schedule.

 Celebrate local and natural foods, health and fitness, community groups and environmental stewardship Saturday at the 8th Annual Healthy Living Fair. Presented by Radish Magazine, this fair includes fitness demonstrations throughout the day, a Pet of the Year contest, music, and a multitude of vendors offering healthy goods and services. Three cheers for good health!

As student loan debt reaches $1.3 trillion nationally, bill would allow Iowa students, graduates to refinance federal and private loans

Washington, D.C. - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today signed onto the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, allowing individuals to refinance their student loan debt at lower interest rates, helping address the record high levels of crippling loan debt and delinquencies increasingly affecting millions of students and their families.

The U.S. Department of Education estimates this new legislation would benefit 311,000 Iowa student borrowers.

"Students that are getting an education and fighting for a brighter future shouldn't have to mortgage that same future in order to afford it," Braley said. "I was fortunate to have access to student loans when tuition was less costly and interest rates were dramatically lower?and it's important that current students and recent graduates have the same opportunities that I had."

Student loan debt today totals $1.2 trillion, $864 billion of which is backed by the federal government. More than 70 percent of students who graduated from college in 2012 had student loan debt.

The Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act would allow eligible student loan borrowers to refinance their high-interest federal loans to the low rates offered to new federal student loan borrowers. The bill would also allow eligible students with loans from the private market to refinance their high-interest private student loans by converting the private loans to government loans. Those who refinance their private loans would gain access to the protections and benefits of the federal student loan programs.

Braley has repeatedly fought to keep student loan rates affordable for Iowa's students, writing Congressional leadership, urging them to make affordable student loan rates and priority. Braley also introduced the Student Loan Affordability Act in 2012 in an effort to prevent a significant spike in student loan rates.

A link to the bill can be found HERE. 

Letter follows the release of a national report showing children experience sudden, serious health ailments while working in tobacco fields, curing barns

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Seventeen U.S. Senators led by Tom Harkin (D-IA) today sent a letter to the ten largest tobacco companies urging them to prohibit child labor in their supply chain.  The letter comes on the heels of a new report by Human Rights Watch.  The report found that nearly three-quarters of the child tobacco workers in the four largest tobacco-producing states had experienced the sudden onset of serious symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, dizziness, difficulty breathing, skin rashes, and irritation to their eyes and mouths; while working on tobacco fields and in curing barns.  Many of these symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.

In the letter, the lawmakers urged the companies to develop company policies and industry-wide standards that would include the following:

·         A prohibition on child labor anywhere in the tobacco supply chain, including any work in which children under age 18 come in direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves, including in countries where national laws provide lesser protections;

·         Provisions in all contracts with growers and suppliers that child labor is prohibited, including work by children under age 18 that brings them in direct contact with tobacco;

·         Provisions stipulating qualified third-party monitors to conduct regular inspections of suppliers during peak season when children are most likely to work, and ensure that their reports are made public."

·         Support for programs to prevent child labor in tobacco, including programs to support educational, recreational, and alternative skills building and vocational opportunities.

Noting that other major tobacco-producing countries, including India and Brazil, prohibit children under age 18 from working in tobacco, the Senators wrote, "We urge you, as the world's leading tobacco companies and tobacco leaf merchants, to take the steps outlined above to ensure that all children are protected from nicotine poisoning and other health hazards in tobacco production."

The letter was signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bob Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).  It was sent to executives at Altria Group, Inc., British American Tobacco PLC, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, Japan Tobacco Inc., Lorillard, Inc., Philip Morris International Inc., Reynolds American Inc., Alliance One International, Inc., and Universal Corporation.

A signed copy of the letter can be found here.