Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the following statement after the Senate voted on a series of amendments related to the pending gun legislation.  Grassley offered an amendment with Senator Ted Cruz that would reauthorize and improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, increase resources for prosecutions of gun crime, address mental illness in the criminal justice system, and strengthen criminal law by including straw purchasing and illegal firearm trafficking statutes.  The amendment failed to gain 60 votes, but gained the votes of nine Democrats and all but two Republicans.  No amendment gained the necessary 60 votes for passage.  A summary of the Grassley/Cruz bill can be found here.

Rock Island, IL: In the minute it takes you to read this sentence, 19 people will fall victim to identity theft, according to Trans Union credit bureau. To help you keep your personal information private, the Rock Island Public Library will offer a free Community Shred Day next week.

The 6^th annual drive-up and drop-off event on Thursday, April 25 runs from 3:30 to 5:30 pm outside the Rock Island Main Library, 401 19^th Street. Participants should pull up along the south side of the library, entering from 20^th Street onto the one-way alley. Representatives from Document Destruction and Recycling Services will be on hand to take custody of documents. All materials will be secured in locked bins and shredded in bulk under monitored conditions at the DDRS plant in Davenport. The service is free and open to anyone, regardless of library affiliation or city of residence.

The Rock Island Library collected 5,192 pounds of paper at its 2012 Shred Day event. Additional library Shred Days are available at the Davenport Fairmount Branch Library on Saturday, April 20, Bettendorf Public Library on April 24 and Moline Public Library on April 27. The projects are part of Money Smart Week Quad Cities. For additional events, please visit www.moneysmartweek.org.

Document Destruction and Recycling Services, an affiliate of City Carton Recycling, has provided confidential materials destruction services since February 1996.

For more news about Rock Island Public Library events, visit www.rockislandlibrary.org, call 309-732-7323 (READ) or follow the Rock Island Library on Facebook and Twitter. A monthly calendar of library events is available online and at Rock Island Library locations.

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RICHMOND, KY (04/17/2013)(readMedia)-- Michael Bales of Clinton, majoring in Occupational Safety, is one of 85 Eastern Kentucky University juniors, seniors and graduate students who were inducted into the EKU chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi during a special ceremony on April 5.

Bales is among approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year.

Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The Society has chapters on more than 300 campuses in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, having at least 72 semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Since its founding, more than 1 million members have been initiated. Some of the organization's more notable members include former President Jimmy Carter, NASA Astronaut Wendy Lawrence, Baylor University head women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, writer John Grisham and Netscape founder James Barksdale. The Society has awarded approximately $11.5 million in fellowships and scholarships since the inception of its awards program in 1932. Today, more than $800,000 is awarded annually to qualifying members and non-members through graduate fellowships, undergraduate study abroad scholarships, member and chapter awards and grants for local and national literacy initiatives. The Society's mission is "To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others."

BATON ROUGE, LA (04/17/2013)(readMedia)-- The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is pleased to announce that Joseph Rives of Moline, Ill., was recently initiated into Phi Kappa Phi--the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines--at Western Illinois University.

Rives is among approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, having at least 72 semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff, and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine and headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The Society has chapters on more than 300 college and university campuses in North America and the Philippines. Its mission is "To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others."

More About Phi Kappa Phi

Since its founding, more than 1 million members have been initiated. Some of the organization's more notable members include former President Jimmy Carter, NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence, novelist David Baldacci and YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley. The Society has awarded approximately $15 million since the inception of its awards program in 1932. Today, $1 million is awarded each biennium to qualifying students and members through graduate fellowships, undergraduate study abroad scholarships, member and chapter awards and grants for local and national literacy initiatives.