DECORAH, IA (11/21/2013)(readMedia)-- Cydney Roelandt of Davenport, Iowa and Michael Ehrecke, also of Davenport, Iowa, will perform in the Luther College Department for Visual and Performing Arts production of "Cabaret," an award winning 1966 musical based on the play "I Am a Camera."

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15; 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22; and 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23.

Roelandt, the daughter of Bradley and Kelly Roelandt of Long Grove, Iowa, is majoring in theatre/dance at Luther. She is a 2010 graduate of Davenport West High School.

Tickets for the performance are $15 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under; available at the Luther Ticket Office, telephone (563) 387-1357 or boxoffice@luther.edu, open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9-10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Tuesday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and Thursdays 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

The Luther performance of "Cabaret" will be directed by Jane Hawley, professor of dance, and Bobby Vrtis, assistant professor of theatre.

Upon its premiere, "Cabaret" was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning seven of them, including "Best Musical," "Best Original Score" and "Best Choreography."

"Cabaret" takes place in the 1930's in Berlin as the Nazi party is growing stronger. The plot follows the arrival of a young, American writer named Cliff Bradshaw, who has come to Germany to work on his novel. When visiting the Kit Kat Klub, a seedy cabaret, he meets an English performer, Sally Bowles and the two soon find themselves living together.

Through misadventures in love, work and rapidly changing political landscape of Germany, Cliff and Sally find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy in their hands and watching the struggles of their German landlady and her Jewish suitor at the beginning of the Nazi era.

The story is narrated in part by the omniscient Emcee of the Kit Kat Klub, whose flamboyant and increasingly dark musical numbers serve as a metaphor for the madness and disarray descending upon the world around them.

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Warns Tornado Survivors of Dangers of Sleeping in Vehicles

SPRINGFIELD - Governor Pat Quinn today declared Fayette and Vermilion counties state disaster areas, bringing to 15 the number of Illinois counties to receive the designation after several tornadoes ravaged the state on Sunday. Other counties declared state disaster areas by Governor Quinn include Champaign, Douglas, Grundy, Jasper, LaSalle, Massac, Pope, Tazewell, Wabash, Washington, Wayne, Will and Woodford counties.

"The initial damage reports continue to pour into the State Emergency Operations Center, illustrating just how far-reaching these deadly storms were," Governor Quinn said. "Illinois will recover and we will rebuild our communities, but we expect the total number of homes damaged and destroyed will exceed 1,500. That's why it is so important for those who have been impacted in our hardest-hit areas to document damages and save their receipts in order to qualify for future assistance."

The state disaster declaration makes available a wide variety of state resources that can help affected communities respond and recover from the storms. The state of Illinois has personnel and assets that can be mobilized to help local government officials with disaster recovery, including such things as trucks, heavy equipment to remove debris, communications equipment and assistance with security and other public safety issues.

On Monday, Governor Quinn personally inspected the damage in some of Illinois' hardest hit communities: Washington, Diamond, Gifford, Brookport and New Minden.

Governor Quinn also urged people whose homes were heavily damaged or destroyed to stay with friends, family, at a local shelter or in a hotel, and not in their vehicles. State officials have heard reports of people sleeping in their vehicles, which can result in serious health effects or death if carbon monoxide builds up in a running vehicle.

"You cannot see or smell carbon monoxide, but at high levels it can kill a person in minutes," Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck said. "We want to help people stay safe and healthy as we pick up and rebuild in communities around the state. Do not stay or sleep in your car if your home has been damaged. Instead, take advantage of the shelters and other resources available."

Carbon monoxide is produced whenever any fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood or charcoal is burned.  People who have lost power and are heating their homes using an appliance that burns fuel should make sure the appliances are working properly and are being used correctly.  Hundreds of people die accidentally every year from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by malfunctioning or improperly used fuel-burning appliances.

Symptoms of mild to moderate carbon monoxide poisoning may resemble winter flu and can include headaches, dizziness, nausea and lethargy. Higher levels of exposure can cause fainting, confusion and collapse. If exposure to carbon monoxide continues, death can result.

For more information about disaster recovery resources, visit Ready.Illinois.gov.

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New Law Makes Illinois the 16th State in Nation to Embrace Equal Rights for All Couples

CHICAGO - In front of a crowd of thousands at the University of Illinois at Chicago's UIC Forum, Governor Pat Quinn today signed historic legislation making Illinois the 16th state in the nation to embrace full marriage equality. The legislation permits all couples in the Land of Lincoln to receive the rights and protections of marriage.

As part of his agenda to ensure Illinois embraces all people, Governor Quinn made marriage equality a top legislative priority this year, featuring it in his 2013 State of the State address.

"This new law is an epic victory for equal rights in America," Governor Quinn said. "Illinois is moving forward. We are a model for our country. If the Land of Lincoln can achieve marriage equality, so can every other state in the nation."

Governor Quinn pushed for marriage equality throughout the 2013 legislative session. In 2011, the Governor signed into law historic civil union legislation. Since then, more than 6,000 couples from across Illinois have joined in a civil union.

Senate Bill 10, sponsored by State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and State Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago), requires that all Illinois laws pertaining to civil marriage must apply equally to all couples. The law will guarantee equal access to status, benefits, protections, rights and responsibilities for all couples entering into marriage and their families. The law also allows the voluntary conversion of a civil union to a marriage and protects the religious freedom of churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other religious organizations.

"I couldn't be prouder of Illinois today as we become the 16th state to write equality into our marriage laws," Senator Steans said. "This is a day to celebrate the hard work of so many Illinois families whose commitment to human rights and basic fairness made this moment possible."

"This is a very proud day for the state of Illinois and a happy day for thousands of Illinois families who will now be treated equally in the eyes of the law," Representative Harris said. "I want to thank Governor Quinn, Speaker Madigan and my colleagues for making this day possible."

The law takes effect June 1, 2014.

Prepared Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Hearing Regarding the Nomination of:

David Jeremiah Barron, to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Mr. Chairman,

Today, we are holding the 17^th judicial nominations hearing of the year, during which we will have considered a total of 58 judicial nominees.  I would note this is the fourth nominations hearing in four weeks.   So anyone who says Republicans are engaging in "unprecedented" obstruction is ignoring the cooperation I have shown as Ranking Member of this committee.

Compare the record on hearings for President Obama this year with how President Bush was treated during the fifth year of his Presidency.

In 2005, the final judicial nomination hearing was held on November 15^th.  That wasn't the 17^th hearing of the year, but only the sixth hearing on lower court judges.  During those six hearings we heard from not 58 judicial nominees, but only 15 district and circuit nominees.

How are we doing this year compared to last year?  2012 was a very productive year for judicial nominations.  In fact, in the 112^th Congress, President Obama had more district judges confirmed than were confirmed in any of the previous 8 Congresses.  Our work in Committee last year contributed to that accomplishment when we held 10 hearings for 41 judicial nominees.

In addition, let me remind everyone that we have now confirmed 38 lower court Article 3 judicial nominees this year.  That is more than two and a half times the number confirmed at a similar stage in President Bush's second term, when only 14 district and circuit nominees had been confirmed.

In total, the Senate has confirmed 209 lower court Article 3 judges.  This includes a significant number of women and minority nominees.  We could have confirmed more judges over the last couple of weeks.  But the Senate majority decided to take precious Senate floor time for a diversionary political exercise, rather than confirming additional judges.

Now, as I explained earlier this week, the other side has been working diligently to manufacture a crisis on the D.C. Circuit.  And in order to support their claim that Republicans are "obstructing" nominees, it appears the other side is doing a sleight-of-hand on the data as well.

Recently, one of my colleagues stated that Senate Republicans have filibustered 34 of President Obama's nominees.  Anyone who pays attention to these things knows that Republicans have "filibustered" only a handful of nominees.  So what is going on here?  How does the other side get to 34?

To begin with, fully one-half of these cloture petitions were filed by the Majority on one day, as a procedural gimmick and were totally unnecessary.  None of those 17 cloture petitions required a vote - every cloture petition was withdrawn.  And, every single one of those nominees was confirmed.    So that was just another manufactured crisis.

That leaves 17.  But Republicans haven't filibustered anywhere close to 17 nominees.  So again, what is the real story here?

Of the remaining 17 cloture petitions, six of those were also withdrawn.  That leaves only 11 nominees who have actually faced a cloture vote.  One of those nominees had 2 cloture votes, for a total of 12 cloture votes.

Yet, six of those 11 nominees were confirmed.  That leaves only 5 nominees who have failed to achieve cloture.

So to sum up, the Majority claimed earlier this week, with great fanfare, that Republicans had "filibustered" 34 nominees, when we've actually stopped 5 nominees.  And of those 5, three are still pending in the Senate, leaving only 2 nominees actually defeated by filibuster.

I suppose that's what one is required to do in order to try to overstate the record established during this administration with the record the Democrats established during the Bush years.

During the Bush administration, Senate Democrats truly were unprecedented in their use of cloture against judicial nominees.   In fact, they forced 30 cloture votes on judicial nominees, including a Supreme Court nominee.

So that is the factual record - 30 cloture votes during the Bush Administration, 12 cloture votes during President Obama's term.

Of those 30 cloture votes faced by President Bush's nominees, Senate Democrats obstructed nominees 20 times.

Let me emphasize this point - during the Bush administration, 20 cloture motions failed.  Senate Democrats continued to obstruct judicial nominees twenty times.

So I think it is clear which party holds the record on delaying or obstructing the confirmation of judges.  The number of cloture votes demanded by Senate Democrats on President Bush's nominees is 2 and a half times the number of cloture votes on President Obama's nominees.  The number of times Senate Democrats refused to end debate is nearly 3 times what Republicans have done.  Democrats clearly hold the record on delaying and obstructing judges.

I think we have treated President Obama in a fair manner, and he enjoys an outstanding record for his judicial nominees.

One final point on this baseless charge that Republican obstruction has left the federal judiciary with high vacancies.  The fact is, President Obama's initial delay in nominations was the primary factor in the lower number of confirmations during his first term, resulting in the high number of vacancies.

Even now, 42 of 93 vacancies have no nominee.  That is 45 percent of vacancies with no pending nomination before the Senate.  While this percentage recently has been reduced, it was the case for most of the Obama presidency that the majority of vacancies had no nominee.  Of the 38 "Judicial Emergencies", 18 have no nominee.  That is 47 percent.

The Senate can't be held responsible for these vacancies, where almost half the seats have no nominee.

Having set the record straight let me now address today's nomination.  I welcome the nominee, his family and guests.  This nomination has been pending before the Senate just 55 calendar days.    I would note that President Bush's Circuit nominees waited, on average, 246 days for a hearing, more than four times the wait for this nominee.

Mr. Barron has an extensive record as an academic.  He has written on a wide range of subjects.  I think it would be fair to say that I probably don't agree with much of what he has written.  But that isn't necessarily the standard for my review of his qualifications to sit on the federal bench.