Davenport, IOWA (October 2012) On Thursday, November 1 at 7pm Portrait of Maquoketa: The Dimensional View artist Rose Frantzen will speak at the Figge. A reception for the exhibition and talk will be held at 6pm. The Figge will offer free museum admission from 5-9pm on November 1; there will be no cost to attend the reception and artist talk. Portrait of Maquoketa is a new, multi-dimensional installation that includes 180 portraits of Maquoketans and a 315 square foot landscape view of Maquoketa. Major funding for this exhibition has been provided by the Riverboat Development Authority, US Bank, Dr. Ralph and Jennifer Saintfort and SSAB.

During the 7pm talk, Ms. Frantzen will share her use of representational painting to explore questions of self and community, giving special emphasis to the Portrait of Maquoketa project. This has led her in many directions during her 27-year journey as a fulltime artist. Although she was trained in the alla prima style, she also employs other representational approaches and creates multidimensional works in which she incorporates diverse stylistic elements along with gilding, stained glass and mosaic.

Ms. Frantzen will also be featured in an Artist Demo Saturday, November 3 from 12:30-4:30 pm. Ms.Frantzen will demonstrate the alla prima approach to portrait painting that she used in her Portrait of Maquoketa project. This event is free with membership or paid admission.

About the Figge Art Museum

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 and Sundays 12-5 p.m.  Thursdays the museum is open until 9pm. Admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit our website, www.figgeartmuseum.org.

• Volunteers needed to help with the shelter.  We are looking for someone to volunteer once a week for checking in.  The hours would be from 9 pm to 10:30 pm.  
• We are also looking for volunteers to stay overnight at the shelter once a week and someone to bring and serve sandwiches once a week at 9 pm.  Our volunteer sign up and training night will be November 14th at 7 pm.  Please use the front door that night.  Any questions regarding volunteering please call Chris at  309-798-3776.
• Pet lovers, we have a abundance of cats and kittens that we took from a hoarder that was becoming homeless at the end of October.  If you are looking to add a four legged furry addition to your family please check out petfinders at www.kingsharvest.petfinder.com or you can go to Petsmart on Elmore Avenue Friday, Saturday and Sunday November 2nd, 3rd, and 4th  from 11 am till 2 pm.
• Last but not least if anyone has a refrigerator, gas stove, or washing machine that they are no longer in need of and would like to donate we have an elderly couple that are currently cooking on a hot plate and can't afford to buy these items.  If you can help please call 563-570-4536.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration's advanced battery manufacturing program through the federal stimulus package cost $158,556 per job created, and many of those jobs likely were temporary, according to an analysis released today by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. The analysis came after Grassley pressed for verification of the administration's claims of the economic benefits of the $2 billion program, which included a grant to a now-bankrupt company, A123 Systems. According to the analysis, the bankrupt company cost taxpayers more than $300,000 per job reportedly created by the stimulus bill.

"The taxpayers paid $2 billion for a pretty lackluster return," Grassley said. "The Administration billed this program as an all-around success toward creating jobs, but the results are a lot more mixed. The program cost $158,556 per job, including jobs that were later cut. Under the best-case scenario at the now-bankrupt A123, it cost $317,435 per job.  The expense is significant, especially when many of the jobs were temporary.  The Administration should not overstate the value of this program as a boon to economic recovery.  The facts show otherwise.   Adding insult to injury, A123 executives reportedly are seeking to retain $4.2 million in bonuses through the bankruptcy process."

"President Obama's failed stimulus spending program contributed to America's dangerously-high $16 trillion national debt and record federal deficits of over $1 trillion year after year," said Thune. "The Obama administration took nearly $2 billion of taxpayers' hard-earned money so the federal government could spend more. Spending $158,556 per job, many of which were temporary, was a waste of taxpayer dollars and failed to create the economic growth the president promised when he jammed his stimulus through Congress."

Earlier this month, a Department of Energy spokesman released an update on the advanced battery manufacturing program in response to the bankruptcy of A123 Systems, one of the grant recipients.  The update said the program awarded $2 billion in grants to 29 companies to build or retool 45 manufacturing facilities spread across 20 states to build advanced batteries, engines, drive trains, and other key components for electric vehicles.

The update said the initiative was responsible for "employing thousands of American workers" but provided no documentation to support this claim. Grassley pressed for documentation and ultimately received some data showing a total of 12,613.77 jobs were "created" by the advanced battery manufacturing initiative from the signing of the stimulus act on February 13, 2009, to the present. Given the $2 billion cost of the program, that represents $158,556.88 per job created. Many of those jobs are likely temporary, but the Energy Department does not track how long the jobs are retained. Also, the data show the program did not achieve the overall goal of the stimulus program to create jobs as rapidly as possible.

Grassley and Thune released an analysis of the program prepared by their staff.  The analysis is available here.