DES MOINES - In a close election, Obama for America - Iowa knows that the grassroots will make the difference. That's why supporters across the state will gather tonight to watch President Obama lay out the clear choice in this election for the second presidential debate of the campaign. Using the debate as an opportunity to bring supporters together, Obama for America - Iowa is hosting watch parties in neighborhoods across the state.

OFA supporters will engage their family and friends on the choice in this election between two visions for our country: one that moves us forward with an economy built from the middle-out or one that moves us backwards with an economy that writes off our middle-class and returns to the same failed top-down economics of the last decade. Iowans have already started casting their ballots in this year's election by voting early in person or by mail, which began on September 27th and will conclude on November 5th.

 

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

8:00PM CST

 

Des Moines Debate Watch Party

WHERE: Cooney's Tavern

3708 Beaver Avenue

Des Moines, IA 50310

 

 

Iowa City Debate Watch Party

WHERE: OFA-IA Iowa City Office

321 Market St, Suite 106

Iowa City, IA

 

 

Sioux City Debate Watch Party

WHERE: OFA-IA Sioux City Office

4106 Morningside Ave

Sioux City, IA

 

 

Council Bluffs Debate Watch Party

WHERE: OFA-IA Council Bluffs Office

1851 Madison Ave, Suite 200

Council Bluffs, IA

 

 

Waterloo Debate Watch Party

WHERE: Jameson's Public House

310 East 4th Street

Waterloo, IA 50703

 

Davenport Debate Watch Party

WHERE: OFA-IA Davenport Office

1706 Brady Street, Suite 205

Davenport, IA

 

Mason City Debate Watch Party

WHERE: OFA-IA Mason City Office

219 North Federal

Mason City, IA

 

 

Ames Debate Watch Party

WHERE: OFA-IA Ames Office

413 Northwestern Ave #103

Ames, IA

 

 

Burlington Debate Watch Party

WHERE: OFA-IA Burlington Office

900 Osborn St

Burlington, IA

 

 

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WASHINGTON - Senators Chuck Grassley and Dean Heller and Representative Mark Amodei are pressing Attorney General Eric Holder for information about the cases that were not prosecuted during a fall-out between the Reno, Nevada offices of the U.S. Attorney and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

 

A recent article in the Reno Gazette Journal indicated that the U.S. Attorney's office may have declined or dismissed as many as a dozen cases that were submitted by the ATF.

 

"The Justice Department has yet to respond to any of Congress' questions about what happened in Reno for more than a year.  It's an abdication of responsibility on the part of the Justice Department, and if these crimes weren't prosecuted, whether because of actions of the U.S. Attorney or the ATF, the people of Nevada should know why," Grassley said.

 

"This breakdown within the Department of Justice is a threat to public safety. There is no question this problem should have been addressed some time ago. The Department of Justice needs to explain why they allowed this problem to fester. I will continue to work with Senator Grassley and Congressman Amodei to get answers and hold the Department of Justice accountable," said Heller.

 

"The Department of Justice owes Nevadans an explanation and a solution. That it has failed to provide either, let alone demonstrate a sense of concern or urgency, is disappointing. I will continue to work with Senators Grassley and Heller to ensure this problem receives the attention it deserves," Amodei said.

 

A copy of the text of the letter is below.  A signed copy of the letter can be found here.

 

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

 

The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.

Attorney General

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530

 

Dear Attorney General Holder:

 

We are in receipt of the Department's October 12, 2012, letter regarding the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Reno.

 

On September 28, 2012, we understand that ATF Acting Director B. Todd Jones and U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden released a public statement, although neither the Justice Department nor ATF took any steps to notify any of our offices about the statement before we learned about it from public news accounts.  In that statement, Acting Director Jones and U.S. Attorney Bogden reportedly said: "The United States Attorney's Office in Nevada is accepting, for review and potential prosecution, all cases and matters referred to it by ATF.  The United States Attorney's Office and ATF are reviewing the allegations and will work to address any issues that could impact the effectiveness of their law enforcement efforts to protect the public from violent crime."

 

According to recent accounts by the Reno Gazette Journal, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada may have declined or dismissed as many as a dozen cases that had been submitted to it by ATF.[1] Therefore, please provide answers to the following questions:

 

1)      Is the U.S. Attorney's Office re-considering the cases that it formerly declined when submitted to it by ATF?

 

2)      If so, how long will it take to conduct reviews of those cases?

3)      Who within the U.S. Attorney's Office would conduct the review?

4)      In the course of the U.S. Attorney's Office's dispute with ATF, how many of the ATF cases declined by the U.S. Attorney's Office would be barred within the next six months by statutes of limitations?  For each such case, precisely when would the statute of limitations expire?

 

Please provide a response and produce these documents by Thursday, October 25, 2012.  If you have any questions concerning this matter, please contact Senator Grassley's staff at (202) 224-5225, Senator Heller's staff at (202) 224-6244, or Representative Amodei's staff at (202) 225-6155.

 

Sincerely,

Chuck Grassley

Dean Heller

Mark Amodei

 

 

cc:       The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General

U.S. Department of Justice

 

B. Todd Jones, Acting Director

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives

 

The Honorable Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada

U.S. Department of Justice

 

[1] Martha Bellisle, ATF cases U.S. Attorney's office in Reno refused to prosecute, Reno Gazette Journal (Oct. 9, 2012), available at http://www.rgj.com/interactive/article/20121009/NEWS01/121009018/RGJ-Investigates-ATF-cases-U-S-Attorney-s-office-Reno-refused-prosecute.

More than 100 students will celebrate October 18th as National Lights ON Day--a day designed to draw attention to vital afterschool programs--by watching two kinds of dance?Rap and Philippine.

The school's mini assembly is scheduled for Thursday, October 18th at 3:45 pm in the school's north gym.  On hand will be the very popular local rap group, RusHour, (made up of former Glenview students) and The Philippine Dance Troupe Company of the Quad Cities.   The media is invited to attend the assembly and interview the performers, Lights ON student and staff.

Who:  Glenview Lights on Students
What:  Cultural dance and music display
When:  Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Where:  Glenview Middle School East Moline
3100 7th Street East Moline, IL 61244
North Gym
Why:  Celebrate National Lights ON day in the community

East Moline will join more than 7,500 communities and 1 million Americans celebrating Lights On Afterschool, a nationwide event organized by the Afterschool Alliance to rally support for afterschool programs.

Afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and inspire learning. In the U.S. today, 15.1 million children go home alone after school.


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Davenport, IA (October 2012)- With its strong commitment to art and education, the Figge Art Museum is pleased to announce another installation of its annual exhibition, College Invitational, on display in the Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery from October 20, 2012 through January 6, 2013. This exhibition celebrates the talents and successes of community art students, as well as the faculties and institutions that support them. Included artworks are selected by professors from the art department at each participating institution and this year's exhibition features 47 works from promising artists at: Augustana College, Black Hawk College, Eastern Iowa Community College, Knox College, Monmouth College, St. Ambrose University and Western Illinois University.

The museum invites interested parties to attend an opening reception on Saturday, October 20 from 2-4 pm. An introduction from the Figge's new Director of Education Melissa Hueting will be followed by commentary from the student artists, college faculty and staff. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served.

The opening reception is free to the public. Photography is allowed in the exhibition.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum, formerly the Davenport Museum of Art, opened August 6, 2005. The award-winning building designed by architect David Chipperfield holds a collection of approximately 3,500 works that reflect artistic styles and developments from the Renaissance to contemporary art, with particular strengths in American Regionalist, Mexican Colonial, and Haitian art.  The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, Sundays 12-5 p.m. and Thursdays 10 a.m.- 9p.m. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit our website, www.figgeartmuseum.org.

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DAVENPORT, IA - On October 15, 2012, Charles Edward Bateman, age 45, and Roscoe Terrell Lee, age 32, both of Davenport, Iowa, having previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine base, were sentenced today, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey sentenced Bateman to 168 months imprisonment and eight years supervised release following imprisonment. Lee was sentenced to 190 months imprisonment and five years supervised release following imprisonment.

From approximately October 2007, until June 2011, Alon Shorter, Dale Shorter, Roscoe Lee, Charles Bateman, Charles Harrington, David Minor, and Kadar Wall conspired to distribute in excess of 2.8 kilograms of cocaine base. During the investigation, law enforcement officers made two controlled purchases of crack cocaine from co-defendant Dale Shorter. Roscoe Lee supplied in excess of 8.4 kilograms to the charged conspiracy, primarily to Alon and Dale Shorter. Law enforcement officers also made five controlled purchases of crack from Harrington and one from Bateman, who distributed crack cocaine provided by Dale and Alon Shorter.

Minor and Wall agreed to distribute crack cocaine for Dale and Alon Shorter at multiple locations in Davenport, Iowa, including an apartment on Heatherton Drive.

This case was investigated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Davenport, Iowa, Police Department. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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Calls for reforms to keep higher education affordable

CARBONDALE - October 15, 2012. Lt. Governor Sheila Simon visited Southern Illinois University Carbondale today to urge state, federal and higher education leaders to work together to keep college affordable so thousands of Illinois students can earn the credentials needed for good-paying jobs. This is Simon's second stop as she holds college affordability summits with students at all 12 public universities this fall.

"To keep pace with the global economy, Illinois needs 60 percent of working-age adults to hold college credentials by 2025. To complete college, students must be able to afford college," Simon said. "Higher education affordability must be a higher priority. College cannot be accessible only to the privileged when it is a prerequisite for a good-paying job."

Simon supports College Choice Reports, a standardized report for all degree-granting institutions that would help students analyze real cost, debt and graduation rates across institutions. She is also serving on a state task force that could change the way need-based state grants are awarded to students as early as next school year.

The goal is to stabilize the cost for public universities and community colleges, following tuition and fee increases that have outpaced inflation, family incomes and available aid over the past 20 years. To pay the bills, students racked up an average of $26,682 in student loans in 2010, up 14.3 percent from three years earlier and more than double what they owed in 1995, according to a Pew Research Center report released in early October.

Simon emphasized the need for cooperation among state, federal and higher education leaders to prioritize the investment in higher education and the state's future. She outlined three ways stakeholders could work together to keep college affordable:

·         Consumer protections: Simon supports House Bill 5248, which would require all degree-granting institutions that operate in Illinois to publish online College Choice Reports. The reports would contain information such as net costs, average debt and completion rates in an easy-to-read and easy-to-find format. Unlike the federally proposed "shopping sheet" which provides cost information after a student applies to a school, the College Choice Report would be available to students online before they apply, to help them find a college or university that fits their needs and their budget.

·         Targeted assistance: To better use state resources, Simon wants to strengthen the Monetary Award Program and insure MAP grants promote college attendance and completion and reduce the achievement gap between low-income and higher-income students. MAP grants are currently awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to students based on financial need, but state funding reaches only about half of eligible students. A MAP Eligibility Task Force is evaluating ways to improve distributional equity and encourage timely degree completion.

·         Tax relief for middle class families: Over 9 million students and families are taking advantage of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, saving them up to $10,000 over four years of college. Simon supports making this federal tax credit permanent and preventing it from expiring at the end of this year.

"Cutting investments directly related to economic growth doesn't make sense. We should work together on policies that prioritize education and employment, not shortchange Illinois students and quality employers," Simon said.

During her visit, Simon shadowed Christophe Freeman, a federal work-study recipient who works in the Trueblood Dining Hall to help pay for college expenses. Freeman, a junior majoring in cinema production, says that without financial aid, he would not be able to attend school.

"With the financial aid I receive, I can pay for tuition and some other expenses, too." Freeman said. "My schedule is flexible, I get to work with my peers and I can walk between work and classes, so work for me really is worry-free."

 

Eric Zarnikow, executive director of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, cited recent MAP award activity as evidence that affordability should be a key issue for Illinois leaders. For every eligible student who received a MAP grant this school year, another was denied due to lack of state funds.

 

"MAP is one of the largest needs-based financial aid programs in the country. While approximately 150,000 students will receive an award this year, just as many will be left on the sidelines as a result of limited funding," Zarnikow said.

"The higher education community looks forward to working with Lt. Governor Simon and state leaders to maintain and restore funding and support policies that will help more students graduate with a quality college education in a timely and cost-effective manner," said George Reid, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

Simon's summit at SIU Carbondale is the first of four such visits this week. Upcoming Affordability Summits include Thursday, Oct. 18 at Illinois State University and Western Illinois University and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville on Friday, Oct. 19.

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Outside-the-Box Producer Discusses Value of New Blood
in the Industry

Once upon a time - before the late 1970s - it was a holiday for children.

Using Halloween as a theme, however, an independent film producer saw opportunity by getting inside the minds of adults. Irwin Yablans, (www.irwinyablans.com), pioneered a highly profitable new genre, Horror, by rebranding an overlooked holiday and introducing Hollywood to new talent.

In his new memoir, "The Man Who Created Halloween," Yablans details his fortuitous journey from Brooklyn's tenements to Hollywood and behind-the-scenes tales from the iconic movie.

"I suppose it is a bit of a Cinderella story, if Cinderella were a pugnacious Jewish guy who fought his way out of a run-down Brooklyn tenement and made a living out of rebranding a kiddie holiday with Hitchcockian chiller-flicks," says Yablans, who created the "Halloween" franchise of movies as an independent producer.

The film that kicked it all off is being rereleased in theaters this holiday season for the first time in 34 years. Showings can be found online, at http://www.screenvision.com/cinema-events/halloween/.

Yablans also worked as sales chief at Paramount Pictures and was head of Orion Pictures. But it was when he did things his own way, as an independent producer, that he made his mark on the world. He says the following factors and people significantly contributed to the success of his project:

• New blood (with John Carpenter): Thirty-five years ago, Carpenter was an "almost consumptively thin guy" who just graduated from USC's film school. Yablans admired Carpenter's film pedigree - both were fans of legendary director Howard Hawks - and liked the young talent's film, "Assault on Precinct 13," which was distributed by Compass International Pictures, Yablans' company.

• Michael Myers (the original): Yablans quickly became good friends with a friendly new distributor in England, Mr. Myers, who appreciated Carpenter's work for its economy and originality. Later, Yablans went with his gut feeling to have Carpenter direct "Halloween," and the name Michael Myers would forever have a new connotation.

• New blood/familiar lineage (with Jamie Lee Curtis): "Curtis had that perfect blend of youthful newness and Hollywood lineage, which was perfect for 'Halloween,' " says Yablans. "She had an impressive amount of maturity and charm, as she was just 18; but she is also the daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh." Curtis' mother starred in the iconic shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," the primary influence of "Halloween." "I'm still proud of the fact that we cast Curtis as the heroine Laurie," he says.

• It's all in your mind (Halloween as a concept): Yablans grew up listening to radio shows that relied on "theater of the mind" narratives to capture the imaginations of listeners. He used the same approach with the "Halloween" series, the first of which premiered in 1978. His films spawned a wave of iconic horror characters, and a new way to do business in Hollywood.

• Co-producers (Moustapha Akkad and Joseph Wolf): Akkad and Wolfe had a dynamic relationship with each other, and they helped Yablans and Carpenter with the $325,000 budget it took to make "Halloween," which went on to gross more than $100,000 million - the most successful independent film of its time.

About Irwin Yablans

Irwin Yablans is the executive producer and creator of the "Halloween" film series, which forever changed the horror genre and the old studio system. His new autobiography, "The Man Who Created Halloween," details a true rags-to-riches tale of a boy who grew up in a roach-invested tenement in Brooklyn to become the man who transformed society's view of a children's holiday. Yablans' influence in Hollywood includes setting the standard for a new breed of independent producers and filmmakers, the discovery of famed director John Carpenter and advocating for studio support of one of the most acclaimed films in history, Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." Yablans self-published his debut book through CreateSpace, Amazon.com's independent publishing platform.

East Moine Mayor John Thodos will join representatives of the East Moline Foundation on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 to announce the kickoff of a new program to benefit the citizens of East Moline and the surrounding area. The announcement will begin at 10:00 a.m. outdoors at the Quarter in East Moline at the intersection of 7th Street and Beacon Harbor Parkway.

The Quarter is a residential/commercial development located along the riverfront at the western edge of East Moline.

In celebration of their one year anniversary, the East Moline Foundation will also announce the status of their fundraising efforts. One year ago tomorrow, the East Moline Foundation was officially unveiled to the community. Since then, the Board has initiated several fundraising activities, met with financial advisors , and added two new Board members. Today, the campaign continues. Donations to the East Moline Foundation may be mailed to: Bill Phares, P.O. Box 457, East Moline, Illinois 61244 or call (309) 796-0170.

In remarks made today, East Moline Foundation Board Chairman noted, "Hungry children will be fed, the poor will be housed, and the needy clothed, thanks to the many gifts that have been received, and those yet to come."

East Moline Foundation Announces New Program

The East Moline Foundation, founded in 2011, is affiliated with the Moline Foundation as a community foundation which provides grants to health, human services, education, workforce development, the arts and other charitable organizations which benefit the citizens of East Moline and the surrounding area, including the Quad Cities region in both Iowa and Illinois. The East Moline Foundation receives and administers charitable gifts & works with citizens to achieve their dreams to improve the community.

Officers and members of the East Moline Foundation include : Doug Reynolds, Chairman, Bob Baecke, Vice Chairman, Bill Phares, Secretary-Treasurer, Pat VanBruwaene, and Larry Anderson.

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