Simon, members visit Chicago to talk with families about gun violence in urban communities

CHICAGO - February 14, 2013. Lt. Governor Sheila Simon's Firearms Working Group will meet with parents who have lost children to gun violence on Friday afternoon at Saint Sabina Church in Chicago.

The working group made up of new legislators is meeting with stakeholders on all sides of the gun control debate as the General Assembly considers Illinois' first law to allow Illinoisans to carry concealed firearms.

"Gun violence has taken too many young lives in Illinois, and I was honored that these families chose to share their stories with us," Simon said. "We need to work together to keep our young people safe from gun violence, while also protecting the rights of responsible gun owners."

The working group will meet with members of Purpose Over Pain and Father Michael Pfleger, who will address the group on the personal impact of violence in urban communities and advocate for ways to prevent other parents from losing children to gun violence. Pam Bosley, co-founder of Purpose Over Pain, began the organization along with her husband after their 18-year-old son, Terrell Marquis Bosley, was shot and killed in April 2006 while helping a friend carry a drum set into a south side church.

The Firearms Working Group meeting at Saint Sabina comes on the same day President Obama visits Chicago to talk about the economy and to call for an end to the gun violence that has swept the city. Illinois is in the spotlight as state leaders grapple with the recent shooting death of Hadiya Pendleton and attempt to meet a June deadline to pass a law that permits people to carry guns in public spaces.

Currently Illinois is the only state in the nation with a law that bans carrying concealed firearms. The law was declared unconstitutional in December by a three-member panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the state was given 180 days to pass regulations on where and when residents can carry firearms.

Over the next two months, the group will meet with stakeholders on all sides of the debate - from hunters to law enforcement to domestic violence prevention advocates - to promote dialogue and work toward consensus on pending legislation. Representatives from the National Rifle Association, Illinois State Rifle Association, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and Uhlich Children's Advantage Network (UCAN) met with Simon's Firearms Working Group earlier this month, and a meeting with law enforcement officials from across the state is set for later in February.

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REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS AND PROPOSALS

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) - Plains States Region, in cooperation with the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, invites artists living within a 250-mile radius of Omaha, Nebraska to submit qualifications and preliminary proposals to be considered for the 2013-2014 Typecast | Recast public art exhibition. This is the inaugural year for what the ADL hopes will become a recurring project for Omaha. The deadline for submission of entries is Saturday, March 2, 2013.

The Plains States Anti-Defamation League is now accepting qualifications and preliminary proposals from artists to participate in the inaugural Typecast | Recast exhibit. Typecast | Recast will be a recurring public art exhibit that seeks to activate and amplify the urban conditions of a seven-block stretch of downtown Omaha, Nebraska through innovative and adventurous temporary public artworks. ADL is seeking qualifications from artists who have experience working in the public realm, as well as from artists for whom the project would represent an expansion of their practice. ADL and its partners believe this temporary public exhibition will animate a specific urban corridor, promote nuanced cultural dialogue and communicate the transformative power of public art.

The ADL will commission up to 10 artists to produce temporary site-specific art installations for North 12th Street in Downtown Omaha between Mike Fahey and Douglas streets with a total budget of $50,000 to be divided among the artists for creation and installation of their artworks. The art will be installed mid-August, 2013 and remain on view until July, 2014. Artists should consider the outdoor elements when selecting materials and structure of their piece.

Proposals are not required to adhere to thematic parameters. However, the selection process, led by the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, will include sensitivity to ADL's mission to secure justice and fair treatment for all. It should be noted that this call is intentionally broad so as not to limit artistic vision. The review committee and jury will consider any medium - for this exhibition, public art will be interpreted broadly. The selection team would like to encourage unconventional public works, ranging from public sculpture and two-dimensional works to other media, such as window vinyl, video installation, sound works, event-based projects, placemaking initiatives, billboards, signage or surely many other forms we haven't yet considered. Please be adventurous with your proposal.

The ADL, in collaboration with the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, will make their best efforts to work with the City of Omaha and any private property owners impacted by a proposal in order to negotiate necessary approvals, permissions, and permits for installing a selected piece.

Artists may be asked to work collaboratively with members of the Artist Selection Panel and project consultants in determining unique design opportunities. In some circumstances, proposals may need modifications in order to gain feasibility.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Selected artists will be expected to fabricate and install their works by August 16, 2013. Please consider this schedule before submitting your materials.

The ADL will also help to facilitate and coordinate installation of the art, although costs associated with installation will be the responsibility of the artists.

In some circumstances, selected artists may need space for fabrication. The ADL and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts may be able to help artists find this space if artists notify the organizations of their needs.

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE MISSION

The Anti-Defamation League is keen to improve the culture of our community so that all people - no matter who they are - can strive to live in a respectful and hate-free world. ADL seeks to challenge perceptions, break down stereotypes, and generate understanding. We have all felt typecasted at times and we all hold our own typecasts or biases of others.  Typecast | Recast offers each one of us the opportunity to recognize and examine typecasts, perceptions, and personal biases and through art, to consider a world free of them. By using art to initiate crucial conversations, people are drawn to understand one another on a more human level. In consideration of this underpinning, proposals may embody ADL's mission to secure justice and fair treatment for all, and the pursuit to make Omaha a No Place for Hate community. The exhibition is anticipated to serve as a public illustration of respect, diversity, and mutual understanding. For more information on the ADL's work to secure justice and fair treatment for all, visit www.adl.org.

THE SELECTION PROCESS

This call seeks artists wishing to be considered by a professional Artist Selection Panel for this project. Applicants will utilize ADL's online Call for Artists Submission Portal: http://typecastrecast.org/call-for-artists/.

The selection process will consist of two phases. To be considered in the first phase, artists are invited to complete the online form and upload the following: 1. a current resume (maximum of three pages); 2. Up to 10 documents of related past work; 3. A general statement of interest and brief description outlining the proposed project consisting of a maximum of 150 words.  The deadline for submissions is March 2, 2013.

A shortlist of candidates will receive an invitation to participate in Phase 2 of the Artist Selection Process no later than March 15, 2013. Artists selected to participate in Phase 2 will submit a site-specific proposal of their project. Candidates will be asked to interview with the artist selection panel and will be invited to publicly present proposals at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Finalists will be invited to participate in a public Typecast | Recast selection and fundraising event on April 11.

Incomplete submissions will not be considered.  For inquiries regarding the application and selection process contact Alex Priest at 402.341.7130 x 21 or alex@bemiscenter.org.

If you wish to mail hard copies, they must be received no later than March 1, 2013.  Send them to Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, 724 S 12th St, Omaha Nebraska, 68102.

For more information about this exhibition and to submit your qualifications, see typecastrecast.org

(February 12, 2013) - Concordia University Wisconsin officials released the Fall Dean's List for the first semester of 2012-2013 academic year. To be eligible for the honor, students must achieve a minimum 3.50 GPA.

Among the area students named to the list were: Elizabeth Vondera, Freshman from Davenport, Athletic Training

Founded in 1881, Concordia University Wisconsin, 12800 North Lake Shore Drive, Mequon, offers 49 undergraduate majors and is affiliated with The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The school is located on 155 acres of Lake Michigan shoreline, only 15 minutes north of downtown Milwaukee.

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