PALATINE - Lt. Governor Sheila Simon will challenge Harper College students on Thursday to sign an online pledge not to text and drive. Simon, the governor's point person on education reform, is visiting community colleges across the state this fall to urge commuter students to practice safe texting.

AT&T's "It Can Wait" campaign aims to educate drivers on the dangers of texting while driving. Nationwide, drivers are 23 times more likely to get in an accident if they text while driving. In the first half of 2011 in Illinois, cell phone distractions were the cause of more than 500 crashes. Simon took the "It Can Wait" pledge in September.

"Texting is one of the leading causes of distracted driving, an epidemic that causes far too many accidents and deaths on our roadways," Simon said. "There is no text message important enough to risk your life - it can wait."

ST. LOUIS - With several festive and fun events taking prominence on the holiday calendar, the upcoming weeks are going to be a whirlwind of activity in St. Louis.

Lights Will Delight

From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, the Macy's Festival of Lights officially kicks off the season at Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis. There will be festive performances, fun characters for the kids, the lighting of the huge Christmas tree, downtown lights, a fireworks show and a visit from Santa.

After the lighting of the tree, the fun continues at Macy's Holiday Open House. Located inside Macy's Downtown St. Louis, the open house will feature a holiday sing-along with Baker's Songs for Children, Christmas cookie decorating with Schnucks Bakery, face painters, jugglers, a magician, holiday crafts, giveaways, and, of course, Santa himself!

A Thanksgiving Day Tradition

Celebrating its 28th year, the 2012 Ameren Missouri Thanksgiving Day Parade will step off at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, November 22 from the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street in downtown St. Louis. The parade will be broadcast live on KMOV-TV Channel 4's "Great Day St. Louis."

The annual Ameren Missouri Thanksgiving Day Parade is hosted by Christmas in St. Louis along with presenting sponsor Ameren Missouri. The parade charitable recipients are the Joshua Chamberlain Society www.chamberlainsociety.org and the National Children's

Cancer Society http://www.thenccs.org/. Honorary grand marshals are Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Olympic champion), Jeffrey P. Bonner (President and CEO of the Saint Louis Zoo) and Adrian E. Bracy (Chief Executive Officer for the YWCA Metro St. Louis).

Magic Time in St. Louis

St. Louis Holiday Magic is a holiday tradition coming to the America's Center on November 23-25. McDonalds is the presenting sponsor.

Once again, the show will be a popular destination for families in search of shopping and entertainment options such as: hands-on arts and crafts projects; trackless train rides; live music and dance performances; full-scale carnival rides; and photo opportunities with Santa and Snowflake.

Produced by the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, Holiday Magic is a unique shopping and entertainment destination for families throughout the region. For more information, visit www.stlouisholidaymagic.com.

Historic Holiday Kick Off

It will be an historic holiday season as the National Park Service presents a series of festive events starting with two November 23 concerts by the St. Louis Brass Quintet and The Caroling Party.  Other events include The St. Louis Holiday Historic House Tour on November 29, Historic Holiday Noon Concert (every Wednesday, November 28-December 19), the 772 St. Louis Holiday Program December 8, the 1812 St. Louis Holiday Program December 15, the 1862 St. Louis Holiday Program December 22, and the 150^th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation December 31. All events, except the St. Louis Holiday Historic House Tour, are free. For more information, visit http://www.nps.gov/jeff/planyourvisit/events.htm.

U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree at Dome

In conjunction with the St. Louis Rams vs. New York Jets game, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, en route to Washington, D.C., will be on display outside the Edward Jones Dome from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on November 18. For more information, please visit explorestlouis.com.

Alternative Transportation

With extended hours of operation and additional trains to accommodate holiday events, MetroLink metrostlouis.org is a convenient alternative to driving and allows guests to,avoid the cost of parking and traffic. Metro will continue MetroLink service until the downtown stations are cleared after events.

Media Partners

In addition to KMOV-TV, Christmas in St. Louis events are sponsored by Fresh 102.5, Y98, and KMOX.

About Christmas in St. Louis

Christmas in St. Louis christmasinstlouis.org is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to promoting activities that inspire people to show their unique holiday spirit while enhancing the texture and heritage of the St. Louis community.  For more information, follow us on facebook.com/ChristmasInStLouis.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois today announced they will object to Senate consideration of a Treasury Department nominee over the Treasury Department's lack of a response to the senators' letter seeking an explanation of apparent inaction to stem the dominance and inform the public of a rigged interest rate that affects mortgages, student loans, credit cards and other loans.

"Taxpayers need to know there's a cop on the beat at the Treasury Department, making sure the interest rates they pay on everything from home loans to retirement investments aren't rigged," Grassley said.  "If the attitude of the Treasury Secretary is that it isn't his responsibility to take action or to tell the public, that's going to harm confidence in our financial system and create a lack of certainty."

Grassley placed a statement in the Senate floor record, stating that he and Kirk will object to Senate consideration of Richard Berner to head the Office of Financial Research within the Department of the Treasury.  That office came about through the Dodd-Frank law and is designed to conduct studies and accumulate financial data.  The text of Grassley's statement follows here:

"Mr. President.  I, Senator CHUCK GRASSLEY along with Senator Mark Kirk, intend to object to proceeding to the nomination of Richard Berner to head the Office of Financial Research within the Department of the Treasury.

"We will object to proceeding to the nomination because the Department of the Treasury has refused to respond to a letter Senator Kirk and I sent on October 2, over six weeks ago, regarding the Treasury Secretary's actions when he became aware of the manipulation of the London Interbank Overnight Rate - or LIBOR.  The Department has also refused to provide the documents we requested.

"In addition, my staff has, on several occasions, attempted to schedule briefing times that are convenient for the Department.  The Treasury Department has cancelled each of these briefings and failed to cooperate in rescheduling at a mutually agreeable time.

"Because everything from home mortgages to credit cards was pegged to LIBOR, its manipulation affects almost every American.  Given the widespread effects of this manipulation, it is disturbing to see that the Treasury Department has thus far refused to answer basic questions and provide essential documents.

"It is critical for Congress to be able to ask questions and to have access to administration documents in order to conduct vigorous and independent oversight.  It is unfortunate that this administration, which has pledged to be the most transparent in history, consistently falls short of that goal."

In congressional testimony earlier this year, Geithner said that when as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he became aware of concerns that the LIBOR rate was being rigged, he deferred to the British central bankers to fix the problem.  Despite those concerns, Geithner appears not to have taken action "to diminish use of this flawed index in U.S. financial markets; to the contrary, Treasury's use of LIBOR has increased," Grassley and Kirk wrote in their Oct. 2 letter to Geithner.

Grassley and Kirk asked Geithner to answer questions including whether the Treasury Department considered the risk to U.S. borrowers, including state, municipal, and local governments facing higher debt burdens as a result of the LIBOR scandal; whether U.S. officials considered the litigation risks to U.S. borrowers in deciding to raise the LIBOR scandal only to the attention of British central banks rather than U.S. lenders and borrowers; and whether the Treasury Department's continued reliance on LIBOR is affecting borrower access to Small Business Administration loans.

Grassley and Kirk concluded, "In the wake of this scandal, we believe that it is essential to undertake steps to consider the creation of an American-based interest rate index. If U.S. investors and borrowers have suffered financial harm from our dependence on an index set in London, they have the right to expect the country's leaders to support better alternatives. Complacency in the wake of losses and lawsuits will diminish both investor and borrower confidence regarding debt securities issued in U.S. financial markets."

The text of the Grassley-Kirk Oct. 2 letter to Geithner is available here.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack today led the push, along with a group of lawmakers, in calling for the passage of the Production Tax Credit for wind energy.  The lawmakers took to the House floor to call on Speaker Boehner to bring up and pass legislation to extend the wind energy tax credit, which expires at the end of the year.  Video of his remarks can be found here.

"Iowa is the second largest producer of wind energy. Wind manufacturing involves about 200 companies and 6,000 good-paying jobs for Iowans," said Loebsack on the House floor.  "Congress should not play games with people's jobs and pull the rug out from an industry employing thousands in the middle of an economic downturn.  The wind credit is also important for energy production and job creation. Congress must extend the wind credit now, before more jobs are lost."

Loebsack has taken the lead in Congress to demand that Speaker Boehner act to ensure the jobs associated with wind energy, including 6,000 in Iowa, are not lost because of the inaction by the Leadership in the House.  Since the beginning of the year, Loebsack has met personally with the President to encourage his leadership on this issue and stressed the importance of passing this legislation on multiple occasions with Speaker Boehner.