(DES MOINES) - Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds was named one of the 100 Women Leaders in STEM by STEMconnector™.

"I am deeply honored to be named one of the top 100 women leaders in STEM," said Reynolds. "As I travel across Iowa and meet with local businesses and schools, STEM becomes an increasingly important topic of the future of Iowa's economy."

Reynolds serves as the co-chair, with University of Northern Iowa President Ben Allen, of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council, which created by Executive Order 74 to grow Iowa's commitment to bolstering STEM education, STEM innovation and to better position Iowa's young people and the state's economy for the future.

"As part of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council, we want to target young Iowans and give them the tools necessary to prepare for STEM careers. We want to have both the schools and businesses at the table working together and collaborating in a public-private partnership that creates solutions for Iowa's unemployment rate and ignites opportunities for students," said Reynolds.

STEMconnector™ publishes an annual publication called the 100 Women Leaders in STEM to honor the initiatives and careers of women promoting STEM education, business practices and workforce development across the United States. The mission of STEMconnector™ is to provide information and resources that increase communication, encourages collaboration and promotes sustainable and replicable approaches to STEM education interventions.

For more information, visit www.STEMconnector.org.

DES MOINES, IA (06/18/2012)(readMedia)-- Country act Pistol Annies will open for the Miranda Lambert Grandstand show on August 12. Tickets for all shows are on sale now. The 2012 Grandstand line-up is presented by U.S. Cellular.

Trio Angaleena Presley, Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert make up the Pistol Annies. They began writing and recording songs together straight away, but barely had six tracks down when they were offered an opportunity to make their official debut on national TV via the Academy of Country Music's "Girls Night Out" special on CBS in April 2011. The Pistol Annies' smoking debut is an album equal parts sass, heartache and hard knocks, sweetened with just enough wistful Southern romance to reveal a teasing hint of vulnerability.

Country music heats up the Grandstand this year. Other acts include The Band Perry with Easton Corbin on August 14. August 17 features country icon Hank Williams Jr. and his "Taking Back the Country" tour. Country superstars Rascal Flatts will take the stage with Little Big Town, Eli Young Band and Edens Edge on August 19. See iowastatefair.org for the complete line-up.

Tickets for all concert and track events are on sale through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. All concert events are reserved seating; track events are general admission. Beginning July 9, the Fair's Ticket Office will be open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mondays - Fridays and 9 a.m. to Noon on Saturdays for walk-up orders only (no mail, phone or fax orders). Convenience charges will apply to all tickets. Grandstand tickets do not include Fair admission.

"Nothing Compares" to the 2012 Iowa State Fair, August 9-19. For more information, call 800/545-FAIR or visit www.iowastatefair.org.

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Beert-McCoy Insurance Agency receives recognition from Grinnell Mutual

Beert-McCoy Insurance Agency of Eldridge, Iowa, is the recipient of an Award of Excellence from Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company of Grinnell, Iowa.  This award recognizes 15 years of outstanding achievement in the insurance profession and superior performance for Grinnell Mutual.

Receiving the award are Robin Beert, Bill McCoy, Sandra Peitersen, and Trudy Beert.

Arp Insurance recognized by Grinnell Mutual

Brent Arp of Arp Insurance of Walcott, Iowa, was presented with an Award of Excellence from Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company of Grinnell, Iowa.  This award recognizes five years of outstanding achievement in the insurance profession and superior performance for Grinnell Mutual.

For more information please contact:

Brent Arp
Arp Insurance
Phone: 563-284-6244
E-mail: brentrarp@aol.com

Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, in business since 1909, provides reinsurance for farm mutual insurance companies and property and casualty insurance products for homeowners, farmowners and businessowners through more than 1,600 independent agents in 12 Midwestern states. Grinnell Mutual is the largest primary reinsurer of farm mutual companies in North America.

Large swaths of Americans seem to have drastically different views of how humans came to be, according to a June Gallup poll.

Nearly half of America - 46 percent - agrees with the creationist view that humans are purely the product of God, absent of evolution, within the last 10,000 years. Fifteen percent believe humans evolved independent of God, which is 6 percent more than 30 years ago.

These millions of Americans are pitted on two sides of a conflictwhich has a solution, says engineering physicist Daniel Friedmann, CEO of the aerospace company known for building the space station's robotic arm and author of The Genesis One Code (www.danielfriedmannbooks.com).

"The creation-evolution conflict is a recurring point of contention in the United States, from the presidential election to what should be taught in schools," he says. "American science legend Carl Sagan tried to settle this conflict by calling both camps 'non-overlapping magisteria' - in other words, science and religion each preside as the source of wisdom over separate domains."

Friedmann argues that both wisdoms are two sides of the same coin and can enlighten each other. The reason the debate developed in the first place, he says, is because the discoveries of modern science of an old Earth seemed to conflict with descriptions in the Bible of a young Earth.

"People believed both could not be right," he says. "It had to be one or the other - science or religion."

But they both agree on the timeline for the development of the universe and life on Earth, Friedmann says. He has developed a formula that converts "Bible time" to years as we know them. When applied to calculating the age of the universe and life on Earth, the Bible consistently matches scientific estimates derived from the study of fossil timelines, the solar system and the cosmos.

His formula -- 1,000 X 365 X 7,000 -was derived from references in religious texts and science. The first number is found in Psalms, which says a year for God is 1,000 years for mortals. The second refers to the amount of days in one solar year. The third comes from scriptural study that indicates one creation day in Genesis equals 7,000 God years.

When those numbers are multiplied in human years, each creation day is an epoch of 2.56 billion years, he says. Using the formula, the biblical age of the universe is 13.74 billion years. Scientific estimates put the universe's age at 13.75 billion, plus or minus 0.13 billion, he says.

"I have nothing but respect for scientists like Sagan and Stephen Hawking, but I feel that both were wrong about religion to varying degrees, especially Dr. Hawking," he says. "Last year, Hawking dismissed religion, publicly calling it a 'fairy tale' for people who are afraid of death. I think that is a terriblynaive and misinformed view of what millions of people have believed in for more than a millennium."

These are a few of the reasons Hawking is wrong, Friedmann says:

• The Bible and science agree on what happened and when it happened with respect to the formation of the universe and the appearance of life on Earth.

• The term "creation days" can be shown from biblical sources to be 2.5 billion years. Using this conversion factor, it is clear that the Bible is correct about timelines we have confirmed through science, including the age of the universe.

• If the Bible and science agree on what happened and when it happened, do we really have a conflict? It is time to reexamine and bury the conflict between science and religion.  In fact, Friedmann in his book, shows that religion has answers to science's three biggest questions.

• By continuing this false dichotomy of religion vs. science, we are severely limiting progress and our potential as humans. Nearly 54 percent of the world's population - Christians, Jews and Muslims - assert the truth of biblical scripture. Recognition of a commonality among diverse cultures, while linked to scientific principle, provides a better chance to advance the understanding of our origins.

About Daniel Friedmann

Daniel Friedmann is CEO of MDA, anaerospace company in Canada, which among other things, specializes in robotics used on the international space station. He has a master's in engineering physics and 30 years' experience in the space industry. He has published more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific papers on space industry topics. He is also a longtime student of cosmology and religion.