DAVENPORT, IA–Celebrate America Recycles Day with us! There are two ways to join the fun.

On Friday, Nov. 15, Waste Commission of Scott County and iLivehere (a Keep America Beautiful affiliate), will host a free tour of the Scott Area Recycling Center at 1 p.m. The one-hour tour is open to everyone, and space is limited. Sign up online at www.wastecom.com.

Can`t make the tour? Stop by one of our recycling drop-off locations and enjoy a free treat! From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 15, you can get all your recycling questions answered and warm up with a complimentary cup of hot chocolate at 5640 Carey Ave. or 202 S. Marquette St., Davenport, or at the recycling drop-offs at West Lake Park (gate 2) or Scott County Park (1/2 mile east of main entrance). For a map of these locations, visit www.wastecom.com.

On America Recycles Day, Keep America Beautiful affiliates across the U.S. host activities to educate people about recycling. Details are online at www.americarecyclesday.org. For more information about iLivehere, visit www.ilivehereqc.org.

Waste Commission of Scott County is an intergovernmental agency whose mission is to provide environmentally sound and economically feasible solid waste management for Scott County. For more information about the Commission, please call (563) 381-1300 or visit www.wastecom.com.

Iowa Fertilizer Company named Second-best "Deal of the Year"

(DES MOINES) - Site Selection Magazine and the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Association today named Gov. Terry Branstad as the "Foreign Direct Investment Politician of the Year" during the 10th Annual World Forum for Foreign Direct Investment in Shanghai, China.

Additionally, the Iowa Fertilizer Company was named the Second-best "Deal of the Year," joining several FDI wins for the state. Since January 2011, IEDA has assisted FDI projects in projects that are expected to create and retain nearly 1,000 jobs and result in capital investment in Iowa of almost $2 billion. The top five FDI projects include the Iowa Fertilizer Company, Valent Biosciences, CJ Bio America, Danisco US Inc., Bridgestone Americas Tires and Hipra USA.

According to the FDI Association, the governor's international award "present(s) accolades for achievement and excellence in the FDI arena in 2012/13." Gov. Branstad's success with foreign direct investment results from his administration's efforts in recruiting businesses to locate in a state or area to grow jobs and strengthen the economy.

"As the governor of Iowa, I have the tremendous opportunity to promote our state, our people and our strong resources to a world market," said Branstad. "This award gives Iowa a prominent place on the world stage, and is an honor in which all Iowans can take pride. The hardworking, sincere people of Iowa are proud of the safe and reliable products they produce for a growing world population. Lt. Governor Reynolds and I have worked tirelessly to grow jobs in our state and improve our economy - and these efforts are being noticed around the world."

Attending the World Forum on Foreign Direct Investment in Shanghai, China, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds was the featured speaker on the opening panel of the forum to promote the state of Iowa and the opportunities for direct economic investment to an audience of international leaders.

"This forum is a tremendous opportunity to meet face-to-face with key economic and industry leaders to have an open dialogue on economic prospects that would benefit the state and people of Iowa," said Reynolds. "As I talk to business leaders from Europe or from Asia, they have all heard of the great things we are doing in Iowa, and they want to learn more about the steps we are taking as a state to recruit companies, grow our state economy and create careers for Iowans."

In this award category, second place was given to Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor from Copenhagen, Denmark, third place was presented to the Honorable Zafer Ça?layan, Minister of Economy, Turkey, fourth place was presented to Henk Kool, Vice Mayor, The Hague, Holland and fifth place was presented to Noureddine Zekri, General Manager, FIPA Tunisia.

Award winners were determined based on data collected by the Conway Data New Plant Report and by an independent panel of consultants from around the world, including Andreas Dressler, Managing Director, TERRAIN Global, Jason Hickey, President, Hickey & Associates, Yin Hong, National Director & Head of Manufacturing Services, China, Jones Lang LaSalle, Roel Spee, Global Leader, Plant Location International (PLI) Global Location Strategies, IBM Global Business Services, Shirar O'Connor, Principal, The Pont Group, Robert Pittman, Senior Principal, Janus Economics and David East, Director, fDi Intelligence.

Governor Branstad's leadership in bringing foreign direct investment projects to the state is clear. In addition to the Governor's receipt of the FDI Politician of the Year, Iowa was recognized with a second place FDI Deal of the Year honor for Iowa Fertilizer Company's (IFCo) $1.4 billion project in Lee County.

"Governor Branstad has really elevated our position in the international marketplace," said Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. "And that has helped us to bring in some very significant business locations to Iowa."

In this category, the top four finishers are as follows:

1)      Sasol North America Inc., Lake Charles, Louisiana ($21B)

2)      Iowa Fertilizer Company LLC, Weaver, Iowa ($1.8B)

3)      Masisa-MDF, Durango, Mexico ($132M)

4)      Yanfeng USA, Riverside, Missouri ($45M)

For more information on these awards, visit: http://www.worldforumforfdi.com/awards.cfm

From child abuse and domestic violence to human sex trafficking and atrocities against civilians in war-torn countries, our world creates new victims daily.

Broken bones and bruises heal, but for many victims, the emotional damage is lifelong and life altering, says Amrita Maat, a nurse, child abuse survivor, and author of the inspirational new book, "Wearing a Mask Called Normal," www.maskcallednormal.com.

"Experiencing abuse can affect how you feel about yourself and how you respond to other people," Maat says. "These effects might be easy to see if you're observing them in someone else, but they can be nearly impossible to recognize in yourself without help."

The emotional and physical abuse that Maat grew up with set the stage for her to become a perpetual victim as an adult, she says. The choices she made and her interactions with others were often unwittingly self-destructive.

"Lifestyle changes that involve healthy choices include eliminating dysfunctional patterns, such as manipulation and abusive behavior - the things children of abusive parents learn from their role models," she says. "A healthy lifestyle comes first through recognizing unhealthy behaviors and then laying the groundwork for positive change."

For Maat, that groundwork begins with forgiveness.

"You have to forgive," she says. "You have to forgive yourself and you have to forgive those who've hurt you. When you're a victim, you're often angry - because you have every right to be angry, right? But anger, focusing on blame and thinking of yourself as a victim only perpetuates the dysfunction and the pain it brings."

So, how does one begin to forgive oneself and others? Maat shares the steps she put together, which helped her learn how to identify what would move her forward on her healing path. She started by creating a list of the people and circumstances she needed to forgive and systematically working through the process:

1. Identify the people who have caused you pain and why you feel that pain. This validates your pain; it was real and deserves to be acknowledged.

2. Identify the pain you feel from others and consciously release it to the universe in a personal ritual that has meaning for you. You might write it down on a piece of paper and burn it. Or speak the words out loud and blow them away.

3. Allow yourself to forgive those who have caused you pain as a means to your physical, emotional and spiritual healing.

4. Identify the people you have caused pain and recognize why you caused them pain. It's important to acknowledge that you, too, are capable of causing pain in order to forgive yourself and those you've hurt.

5. Identify the pain you have caused others with your actions.

6. Allow yourself forgiveness for the pain you have caused others as a means to your physical, emotional and spiritual healing.

While forgiving others for hurt caused intentionally is difficult, Maat says the hardest is forgiving yourself for pain you caused. But this is vital; in order to forgive others and to open yourself to positive energy, you must forgive yourself.

"From every hurtful moment, I learned something, and part of my process is to acknowledge each lesson and to be grateful for it," Maat says. "Forgiveness was possible when I released the hurt because it no longer served a purpose."

About Amrita Maat

Amrita Maat is a nurse who reached a turning point in her life when she was injured while trying to avoid the advances of a physician who had sexually harassed her for years. For the first time, she stood up to an abuser by taking the man to court. But she had waited too long under the statutes, so she did not get her day of justice. Because of the nature of her memoir, Amrita Maat is a pseudonym.

Theo's Java Club Cafe, 213 - 17th Street, Rock Island, will be celebrating 20 years in the specialty coffee/cafe business November 15th - November 23rd.

Kicking off the festivities will be "Elvis Presley Tribute Artist" Steve Brandes, live, on stage, on Friday, November 15th from 7-10pm.  More info on Steve can be found at www.stevebrandes.com.

Al through the following week, November 18th - 23rd, Theo's will be offering lunch and drink discounts and door prizes.

Also, more live music is coming back to Theo's beginning with open stage on Thursday nights, from 7:30-10pm with local and regional musical acts on Fridays and Saturdays.

Theo and his friendly staff invite all friends, past and present and future, to stop by for a heartfelt "Thank You" for 20 years!