03 Jun 2014

FEMA Urges Preparedness ahead of Severe Weather

By FEMA News Desk
Residents Encouraged to Monitor Conditions and Follow Direction of Local Officials

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)?through its regional offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City and Denton (Texas)?is monitoring the possibility of tornadoes and large hail on Tuesday across parts of the Central Plains and Mid-Mississippi Valley. Residents in potentially affected areas should take the time now to prepare for severe weather and to monitor conditions via NOAA Weather Radio and local media.

FEMA is in close contact with the National Weather Service, which is forecasting the development of severe thunderstorms across the Great Plains into the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians Tuesday into Wednesday. The storms may bring the potential for significant severe weather events. Comprehensive forecasts for specific areas are available at www.weather.gov.

When natural disasters like severe weather and tornadoes strike, immediate aid often comes from neighbors, family, friends and co-workers. First responders?such as local emergency and public works personnel, volunteers, humanitarian organizations and numerous private interest groups?provide rapid emergency assistance to protect the public's health and safety and to meet immediate human needs.

Severe Weather and Tornado Safety Tips

· Maintain an emergency supply kit both at home and in the car to help prepare for power outages or impassable roads. Visit www.ready.gov or www.listo.gov to learn more about how to be better prepared and how to protect your family during emergencies. Find severe weather and tornado preparedness tips at www.ready.gov/severe-weather.

· Follow the instructions of state and local officials, and listen to local radio or TV station for updated disaster response and sheltering information. Listen to a NOAA Weather Radio and local news to monitor for severe weather updates and warnings. The National Weather Service is the official source for tornado watches and warnings.

· Many mobile devices are capable of receiving free Wireless Emergency Alerts, which are sent by public safety officials such as the National Weather Service about imminent threats like severe weather. They look like a text message and show the type and time of the alert, any action you should take and the agency issuing the alert.

· Become familiar with the terms used to identify severe weather. Discuss with your family what to do if a watch or warning is issued.

Terms Used to Describe Tornado and Other Severe Weather Hazards

· For flooding:

· A Flood Watch is issued when conditions are favorable for flooding.

· A Flood Warning is issued when flooding is imminent or occurring.

· A Flash Flood Watch is issued when conditions are favorable for flash flooding.

· A Flash Flood Warning is issued when flash flooding is imminent or occurring.

· A Flash Flood Emergency is issued when severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage from a flash flood is imminent or ongoing.

· For a severe thunderstorm:

· A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is issued when severe thunderstorms are possible in and near the watch area.

· A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is issued when severe thunderstorms are occurring or imminent in the warning area.

· For a tornado:

· A Tornado Watch is issued when severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area. It does not mean that they will occur. It only means they are possible.

· A Tornado Warning means a tornado is imminent, take shelter immediately.

· A Tornado Emergency is issued when severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage is imminent or ongoing, and reliable sources confirm a tornado.

###

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate's activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

03 Jun 2014

Monty Python Live (mostly)

By Fathom Events
Fathom Events and Picturehouse Entertainment invite you to experience Monty Python comedy legends, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin as they reunite on stage for the first time in over three decades for a special, historic event. Broadcast LIVE from London's famed O2 Arena, "Monty Python Live (mostly)" will beam to select cinemas nationwide on Sunday, July 20 at 2:30 pm ET/1:30 pm CT/12:30 pm MT/11:30 am PT with rebroadcasts on Wednesday, July 23 and Thursday, July 24 at 7:30 pm (local time).
"Monty Python Live (mostly)" will be shown at the following cinemas in your area:
Cinemark Davenport 18 with IMAX 3601 E 53Rd St Davenport IA 52807
Tickets are available now at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. Click here for a full list of participating theaters.
03 Jun 2014

2014 Iowan of the Day - Searching for Iowa's Greatest All-Stars

By Emily Friedricks

DES MOINES, IA (06/02/2014)(readMedia)-- Hit, run, score! Summer is near, and the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation needs your help to find this year's Iowan of the Day All-Star team lineup. These exceptional all-stars will be honored at the 2014 Iowa State Fair August 7-17. All-stars are those who step up to the plate as a captain in their community and go the extra innings to help those around them.

Iowan of the Day nominations should be based on acts of relentless community involvement, leadership and an outstanding sense of Iowa pride. All nominees must currently live in Iowa. Other materials such as testimonials, photos or newspaper articles that demonstrate the greatness of your nominee are welcomed. Each Iowan of the Day winner will receive his or her own day of recognition at the 2014 Iowa State Fair.

This day of honor includes an introduction on the Anne & Bill Riley Stage, VIP parking, gate admission, use of the Iowan of the Day golf cart and Grandstand show tickets for the evening of their award day. In addition, all winners will receive $200 in cash, accommodations at the Des Moines Downtown Marriott Hotel the night before their day of recognition, and a one-year subscription to The Iowan & Iowa Gardening magazine.

Help us recognize the people that are worthy and deserving of this all-star award. Nomination forms can be downloaded online at www.blueribbonfoundation.org/iotd or by calling the Blue Ribbon Foundation at 1-800-450-3732. All nominations are due by July 1, 2014.

The Blue Ribbon Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation has generated more than $100 million for renovations and improvements to the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

 

###

03 Jun 2014

June 5th. 2014 " Mahima: meaning, and comparison with Consciousness"

By Narveen Aryaputri
June 5th. 2014
" Mahima: meaning of the word, it's inclusion in contemporary American English vernacular, and comparison with  Consciousness "
By
Narveen Aryaputri, B.Ed., M.A. English Literature.
7:00 p.m.
Narveen is an essayist as well as a career artist. Her writings and Art Books are published online, and are available at The Moline Commercial Club library, and at the ULCC library. She lives in Rock Island. She is director of The Institute for Cultural & Healing a Traditions, LTD and president of The Moline Commercial Club. She has one child, Manisha and two grandchildren, Nicasio and Zahra
Independent Scholars' Evenings :
Doors will be open at 6:30 p.m.
ISE is held on 2nd. Floor of the Moline Commercial Club.
1530 Fifth Avenue, Moline.
The event is free and open to all.
Light snacks and wine, and beverages are provided.
A cash bar is available.
Facebook page: institutecht@gmail.com
The Independent Scholars evenings are sponsored by The Institute for Cultural & Healing Traditions, Ltd. A 501(c)3 organization under US laws since 1996.
All contributions are fully tax-exempt
03 Jun 2014

Art Gumbo Cancels Summer Funding Cycle/Announces New Plans for Fall

By Paula Neuhaus

Art Gumbo Dubuque will not be accepting applications for the annual summer funding cycle. The event scheduled for June has been cancelled. The independent crowd-funding initiative was launched in 2010 and has raised nearly $12,000 in seed money to fund 24 arts-related projects. Art Gumbo winners have included Tim Olson's "A City at Work," Bell Tower Theatre, Outside The Line's Art Gallery's "The Great Draw," and artist Gene Tully's sculpture installation in the Historic Millwork District.

Co-founder and director Paula Neuhaus plans to use the time off from the summer event to work on plans to re-launch the project in September as Smart Gumbo; a crowd-funding source for smart ideas that propose to impact our economy, increase a healthy environment, and enhance our cultural vibrancy. Smart Gumbo plans to accept applications from all projects that propose to make Dubuque a smart and thriving place to live, work, and play.

"Art Gumbo has offered the arts community an alternative funding source for three years and has funded some incredible projects," Neuhaus said, "In our fourth year we're excited to welcome proposals from a variety of disciplines. As the cultural landscape of Dubuque continues to evolve, Smart Gumbo will be there to provide funding to all facets of innovative projects that impact our community."

The inaugural Smart Gumbo is schedule for Thursday, September 18, 6-8 p.m. at Dubuque Area Arts Collective, 902 Main Street with soup and bread provided by Dubuque Food Co-Op.

For more details or to donate time or services to Art Gumbo/Smart Gumbo visit artgumbodubuque.blogspot.com or contact Paula Neuhaus at art.gumbo.dbq@gmail.com.

03 Jun 2014

Davenport site search options Zooming forward

By T. Brecht

The City of Davenport has partnered with ZoomProspector in the creation of a super-helpful, super-thorough new site selection and economic analysis tool to help attract new businesses and assist those already calling Davenport home.

Check out DavenportSiteSearch.com to take this immersive new tool for a test drive, and be sure to share it with anyone you know who might be looking for a new place to open a business, anyone who needs demographic information on Davenport or the entire Quad-Cities area, or local businesses who might want to create reports on employement and consumer spending data.

DavenportSiteSearch by ZoomProspector

Davenport's ZoomProspector site allows people to find available commercial properites along with discovering why that location makes sense. Some of its features include :

  • Simple search options that make it easy to find properties
  • Extensive demographic and employement data for every property
  • Business search to build industry clusters visually
  • Community comparison and demographic tools
  • Demographic mapping of more than 700 variables to visualize demographic, employment and consumer spending data
03 Jun 2014

PV Trap Team succeeds at state

By Chris Cournoyer

Pleasant Valley Trap Team Succeeds at State Competitions

 

The Iowa High School and Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) State Trap Championships took place on May 30th - June 1st, at the Iowa State Trapshooting Association (ISTA) Homegrounds in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

In its first year of competition, the Pleasant Valley Trap Team sent 15 Student athletes from Pleasant Valley Junior High and Pleasant Valley High School who participated along with over 1400 others from across the state of Iowa.

Results are as follows:

  • Iowa High School State Trap Championship, May 30th - PV Squad 1 consisting of Kyle Berst, John Jones, Tommy Cassatt, Roland Bettis-Vicary, Sam Bailey placed 81st (out of 232 teams) with a score of 419. Brenden Robinson shot 25 straight for the first time this season. Megan Wirtjes and Seth Moffitt also stepped up and shot personal best scores.

  • SCTP Trap Championships - High School, June 1st: Squad 1 consisting of Brenden Robinson, John Jones, Roland Bettis-Vicary, Tommy Cassatt, Sam Bailey took 3rd Place in the State for the Junior Varsity division with a score of 450. Brenden Robinson shot 25 straight AGAIN! Megan Wirtjes tied for 7th for the JV girls with a score of 84/100. Tommy Cassatt tied for 19th with a score of 94/100. (Imagine being in 19th place and only missing 6 out of 100 birds! Tough competition...) Seth Moffitt stepped up again and got an 81.

  • SCTP Trap Championships - Intermediate/ Junior High, June 1st: The Pleasant Valley Junior High Intermediate-Advanced shooters consisting of Braxton Childers, Brent Alman, Ethan Hornbuckle, Max O'Brien, Arthur Braden stepped up and took 2nd Place  (in the state) with a score of 437 for the squad. Brent Alman was in 8th place with a score of 94. Ethan Hornbuckle took 11th place with a score of 92. Cameron Johns and Nate Pilger also participated and had personal best scores.

    In the season-long league competition for the state of Iowa, Brent Alman took 1st place,  Arthur Braden took 2nd place, Braxton Childers took 4th place after a shoot-off and Max O'Brien took 7th place after a shoot-off.

Coaches are head coach Mr. Shannon Martin and Assistant Coaches Marcia Auliff, Chris Cournoyer, Darin Oberhart, Brian Alman, Tom Corchado, Jeff Christner, Damien Dassie, Bryan Murphy, and Rodney Childers.

The Pleasant Valley Trap Shooting team formed in the Fall of 2013 when student Megan Wirtjes applied to the school to start the club after noticing that PV students that wanted to participate had to go to Davenport or North Scott to be on a team. The purpose is to give the students at Pleasant Valley another extra-curricular activity and represent their school in a positive manner.

Trap shooting is a fast growing sport that not only gives kids a fun time and another sport to compete in, it teaches the kids a lot about ethics and the great responsibility that comes with handling a firearm. It is an Olympic Sport and a life-long sport that can be shared across generations.

Pleasant Valley School Board member and Assistant Coach, Chris Cournoyer sees it as "another hook" to get kids involved in school activities and feel like they are part of the PV community. Cournoyer said, "In addition to learning gun safety and shooting skills, trap shooting involves focus, patience, teamwork, perseverance and a working knowledge of physics and math to hit a moving target. Its harder than it looks and I'm so proud of these kids and the coaches that put in the countless hours to achieve this level of success in the first year of competition. Our team has a very bright future."

For more information about our team, visit www.pvtrapteam.org

# # #

03 Jun 2014

Governor Quinn Celebrates Marriage Equality in Illinois

By Dave Blanchette
Attends Wedding Ceremony of James Darby and Patrick Bova

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today celebrated marriage equality in Illinois by attending the wedding of James Darby and Patrick Bova during a day of ceremonies at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago. The Governor announced yesterday that marriage equality is now in effect, allowing all couples in Illinois the ability to receive the rights and protections of marriage. The new law is part of Governor Quinn's agenda to make Illinois the most welcoming state in the nation.

"Three years ago to this very day I witnessed Jim and Patrick's special ceremony as they joined in civil union," Governor Quinn said. "Now I'm honored to be in attendance as they take the sacred vow of marriage. We worked hard to make this day possible but we never lost hope that love would prevail in the Land of Lincoln. Today we celebrate full marriage equality for all couples across Illinois."

James and Patrick have been together for 50 years. Their wedding is one of several ceremonies planned during a day of festivities at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago in celebration of the new law. The MCA opened its galleries and sculpture garden for the private wedding ceremonies and post-ceremony receptions.

Governor Quinn led the charge for marriage equality and signed the Illinois Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act on November 20, 2013, making Illinois the 16th state in the nation to embrace full marriage equality. The law is officially in effect as of June 1, allowing every couple in Illinois, regardless of gender, equal access to the status, benefits, protections, rights and responsibilities of marriage.

Governor Quinn first called for marriage equality in May 2012 and made it a top legislative priority, featuring it in his 2013 State of the State address. In November, the Governor signed the historic bill in front of thousands at the University of Illinois at Chicago's UIC Forum. James and Patrick were also in attendance at the historic signing.

In addition to equal access benefits and protections, current provisions in the Affordable Care Act require all insurance companies to offer the coverage to all couples, regardless of their gender. This means that all married couples and their children can now enroll in a plan together in Illinois and may qualify for financial help on the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Marriage and other qualifying life events may allow couples to get coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplace through a Special Enrollment Period, but they must enroll in a plan within 60 days of the marriage or other life event. A Special Enrollment Period also allows residents to make changes to their current plan, like adding a spouse and children, changing carriers, and possibly getting financial help. To learn more about coverage options or to find free in-person help visit GetCoveredIllinois.gov or call 866-311-1119 Monday - Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In 2011, the Governor signed into law historic civil union legislation. For the more than 6,000 couples across Illinois who have joined in a civil union, the law also allows the ability to convert a civil union to marriage and make the marriage date retroactive to the date of the civil union. When applying for a Special Enrollment Period, residents are asked to use the date their civil union was converted to a marriage.

###
03 Jun 2014

Kimberly Steele Receives Degree from Saint Francis University

By Amanda Drumm

LORETTO, PA (06/02/2014)(readMedia)-- Kimberly Steele from Moline, IL, received a Master of Health Science degree at the 163rd Commencement exercises held at Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA, on Sunday, May 10, 2014.

This year approximately 750 students earned degrees from Saint Francis University; this figure includes both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

As the oldest Franciscan institution of higher learning in the United States, Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA, offers higher education based on Catholic values and teachings, inspired by the examples set by the institution's patron, St. Francis of Assisi. The mission of the university is to promote a mind for excellence, a spirit for peace and justice, and a heart for service. For more information visit: http://www.francis.edu.

03 Jun 2014

Local Residents Graduate from St. Olaf College

By Marie Frederickson

NORTHFIELD, MN (06/02/2014)(readMedia)-- The following local residents graduated from St. Olaf College. St. Olaf President David R. Anderson '74, awarded 785 diplomas to the class of 2014.

Laura Beck of Bettendorf graduated with an Individual major. She is the daughter of Timothy and Martha Beck .

Joseph Dickens of Bettendorf graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Mathematics major. He was awarded distinction in Mathematic sand Statistics. He is the son of Dan Dickens and Jayne Rose.

In his remarks, Anderson told the graduating seniors, "The habits of mind and heart are the elements of your St. Olaf education that will accompany you the longest after you leave campus and they will provide life direction for you. They include the ability to think analytically, to be creative and imaginative, to listen thoughtfully and with compassion, and to commit yourself to a set of values that guide your behavior."

St. Olaf College

One of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges, St. Olaf offers a distinctive education grounded in academic rigor, residential learning, global engagement, and a vibrant Lutheran faith tradition. St. Olaf provides an uncommon educational experience that fully prepares students to make a meaningful difference in our changing world.

Pages

more

Subscribe & Listen to Reader Podcasts

On Stands Now

 

Tagged Content

Two Ways to Subscribe

1. Subscribe to free weekly e-mail content updates.

You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Real Astrology and RCR Crossword every week?) 

Subscribe!

* indicates required

2. Get 12 monthly issues mailed first class for $48

Get 12 issues mailed monthly for $48 per year.

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Subscribe now.

 
 

Meetings Calendar

Kids Calendar

Eat & Drink Calendar