WHEREAS, our region had experienced severe drought conditions, as are many areas across the State and Country; and

WHEREAS, 70 ILCS 705/8.20 (d)(i) allowed for the Fire Chief to prohibit open burning within the district on an emergency basis; and

WHEREAS, an amount of rain sufficient enough at this time to reduce the drought conditions has been received.

THEREFORE, I, Gary D. Chapman, Fire Chief of the Blackhawk Fire Protection District, do hereby LIFT THE BURN BAN for ALL OF BLACKHAWK FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT which has been in place since June 28, 2012.

Done this 27th day of August, 2012

MONTICELLO, IOWA - BP Petroleum in collaboration with their BP Fueling Communities Program, local BP stations, and Fauser Energy Resources has awarded Camp Courageous a grant in the amount of $3,000.00.  Camp Courageous is a year-round recreational and respite care facility for individuals with special needs.  Run on donations, without government support, formal sponsorship, or paid fund raisers, this year the camp will serve 6,000 campers.

Camp Courageous' relationship with Fauser Energy Resources began in 1981, when Don Fauser visited Camp Courageous as a board member of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa.  During that visit the Petroleum Marketers decided to take Camp Courageous under their wing, at a time when the camp was struggling to survive.  Since then the camp has grown from serving hundreds of campers to serving thousands of campers, is open-year round, has grown from 40 acres to 200 acres; and from 5 buildings to over 20.

"Don Fauser, and his son, Paul, have been actively involved in the success of Camp Courageous for over 30-years. They are a good and carrying family of incredible integrity...and those exceptional traits pour over into their work.  Camp Courageous feels very fortunate to have BP Petroleum and Fauser Energy Resources come together to make this wonderful gift possible," said Charlie Becker, Camp's Director.

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SPRINGFIELD - Lt. Governor Sheila Simon will recognize the commitment and courage of 69 law enforcement officers Monday at the Illinois Law Enforcement Medal of Honor ceremony. Selected from 15 law enforcement agencies statewide, the award recipients have displayed exceptional bravery and heroism while serving their communities.

The Illinois Law Enforcement Medal of Honor was established by law in 1990 and officers can be nominated for the award by their command.

Jurisdictions with award recipients are: Aurora Police Department, Chicago Police Department, Elgin Police Department, Harvey Police Department, Illinois State Police, Itasca Police Department, Justice Police Department, Kinkaid Police Department, Lincoln Police Department, Pekin Police Department, Rock Island County Sheriff's Office, University of Illinois Police Department, Waukegan Police Department, Will County Sheriff's Office, and Winnebago County Sheriff's Office.

EVENT: Illinois Law Enforcement Medal of Honor ceremony

DATE: Monday, August 27

TIME: 1:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center, 701 East Adams Street, Springfield

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Local Royal Neighbors of America chapters and the Semper Fidelis Club were to host the August 26 to shine a spotlight on domestic violence awareness and prevention. The festival was to feature live music, games, Zumba classes, product and food vendors, hip hop and belly dance instruction, martial arts demonstrations, clowns, a magician, free face painting, a bounce house, resource information and a silent auction to support area domestic violence shelters.

Paula Frazier-Millsap, Director of the Quad City Phoenix Festival will announce a new date and time later this week. According to Ms. Frazier-Millsap, "A little rain won't dampen our spirits or our resolve. Like the mythical Phoenix, we will rise from this minor setback and present an even grander festival."

Sponsored by Royal Neighbors of America, Semper Fidelis Club, Alcoa, Quad City Times, dci Print, Dispatch/Argus, River Drive Records and A.D. Huesing.

What: Quad City Phoenix Festival to raise awareness of domestic violence

When: To Be Announced

Where: To Be Announce

Cost: Free

Contact: Paula Frazier-Millsap, (563) 210-7145

For more information about Quad City Phoenix Festival, call (563) 210-7145, or visit www.qcphoenixfestival.com or http://www.facebook.com/events/379611102066034/.
Friends this is a message that I never wanted to have to write, but today the time has come to be honest with each other and admit that something has gone terribly wrong. Despite our best efforts, our troops overseas in Afghanistan are still suffering from a lack of compassion and attention from back home, especially from the news outlets and the politicians who claim to care so much.

Candidate Obama promised to refocus America's resources on Afghanistan. But by the time President Obama sent 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan in December 2009 in a policy known as the "surge", years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan had drained Western resources and sapped resolve
- NBC 8/22/2012

The President just threw some more troops into Afghanistan to fulfill his campaign promise and then just forgot about them. He didn't want to appear soft on terror, he didn't want to admit that he intended to ignore our troops, but that's whats been happening.

When was the last time you heard any politician talk about the importance of supporting our troops and defeating the terrorists? They are few and far between.

Our responsibility is to keep the faith, to continue serving our troops and supporting them until their mission is complete and they can all come home! We sent them over there so now it's our duty to help them finish the job - so sponsor a MAF care package today and send some much needed support to our soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors and guardsmen serving over in Afghanistan.


SOLDIER LAMENTS: "NO ONE REALLY CARES. ALL THE 'SUPPORT THE TROOPS' STUFF IS BUMPER STICKER DEEP"

As much as we have worked hard to try to help our troops feel appreciated and supported while deployed overseas, we're not doing enough! Too many of our troops feel that Americans don't care about the mission or the men and women sacrificing for it!

"We're bored with it," said Matthew Farwell, who served in the U.S. Army for five years including 16 months in eastern Afghanistan, where he sometimes received letters from grade school students addressed to the brave Marines in Iraq ? the wrong war.

"We all laugh about how no one really cares," he said. "All the 'support the troops' stuff is bumper sticker deep."
- NBC 8/22/2012

Never before in our nation's history have we as a nation put almost 12 years of time, effort, money, and most precious of all, American lives lost, into an effort like this conflict in Afghanistan. And yet, here today, we've lost the energy and fervor with which we supported our troops before. They noticed.



We must do better. We can't let this be OUR legacy as a generation. When this war began, and the anti-war protesters took to the streets, we stood by our troops, we got our American flags out and rallied to support the troops in the streets because we wanted to show the world that this would not be a repeat of the shameful way Americans treated their troops during Vietnam.

We didn't want the War on Terror to end up being a repeat of that sad chapter in American history. Now we're in danger of allowing that to happen to our troops in Afghanistan. We must show our support to correct this trend immediately! 


DON'T LET OUR TROOPS FEEL FORGOTTEN ANYMORE! WE NEED TO SEND  A SURGE OF SUPPORT TO REMIND OUR TROOPS THAT WE STILL SUPPORT THEM!

Each care package comes with tons of goodies that our troops love and appreciate, from coffee and cookies to beef jerky and gatorade. Our care packages have the comfort foods they need and personal care items like deodorant, sunblock, wet wipes and lip balm that help them deal with the tough environment!

SPONSORING A MAF CARE PACKAGE IS AN EASY, AFFORDABLE, AND TAX-DEDUCTIBLE WAY TO SHOW THE TROOPS THAT YOU CARE!

CLICK HERE TO FORWARD THIS IMPORTANT
MESSAGE TO FRIENDS & FAMILY

CHICAGO- August 26, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today took action on the following bill:

Bill No.: SB 2950

An Act Concerning: Safety

Creates the Toxin Free Toddler Act, which prohibits manufacturers and retailers from selling food or beverage containers that contain bisphenol-A (BPA) that will be used by children under the age of three.

Action: Signed

Effective Date: Immediately

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918studio to release Schaefer's In Search of Lode September 1

LECLAIRE, IOWA ? August 27, 2012 ? In Search of Lode, a collection of poetry by Nancy Ann Schaefer, will be released by 918studio on September 1. The chapbook is Schaefer's first collection of poetry. Cover and interior design for the collection was by Sarah Throne-Ploehn of Rivertown Creative.

Schaefer will read from her collection at a chapbook launch party and book signing to be held from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, September 15, at the Midwest Writing Center. The event will be held in the third floor conference room of the Bucktown Center of the Arts at 225 East 2nd Street, Davenport. The public is invited and refreshments will be available.

Schaefer is a poet and Quad Cities area college professor, and teaches sociology and liberal arts at Western Illinois University's new Riverfront campus. She was twice a finalist for the Max J. Molleston Award in the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest, and is a member of the Quint City Poets and the Rockford Writers' Guild. Her poems have appeared in a number of anthologies and journals including The Rockford Review, Numinous, Off Channel, Avocet, Outloud, In Other Words: Mérida, Struggle, and Women's Voices Journal.

Local poet, Ellen Tsagaris, had early praise for Lode: "With In Search of Lode, Nancy Ann Schaefer shows us that poetry is indeed a universal language by offering verses in English, Spanish, and Dutch that cross the United States but traverse the world. She makes the common and simple sublime, and the sublime simple to understand with verse that is lyrical yet familiar, as if the lode were the depths of our communal heart
songs."

Milliken University English chair and award-winning poet, Stephen Frech, said Schaefer mines "mineral and personal depths...[to] recover 'artifacts of concord [...] tangible reminders of our conjoined / past.' In Search of Lode beautifully reclaims the ironies of finding the pure and infinite in things "preserved like ants in amber?forever young."

In Search of Lode is available for purchase at the Midwest Writing Center and on Amazon.com.

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For more about 918studio, visit

www.918studio.net or email 918studio@windstream.net

For more about Rivertown Creative & Co, visit

www.rivertowncreative.com

For more about the Midwest Writing Center, visit

www.midwestwritingcenter.com

Victory for environment

CHICAGO - August 26, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today vetoed a bill which would have removed the right of home rule communities to implement innovative solutions to the plastic bag litter problem. In his veto message, the governor said the bill is more restrictive on municipalities than any other plastic bag regulation in the country, which would have created a roadblock for locals to choose policies that fit the needs of the area.

The governor also reiterated his commitment to working with communities, businesses and advocates to pass a better bill in the next legislative session to increase recycling.

"Justice Louis Brandeis once called states the 'laboratories of democracy' for our nation. Let's not tie the hands of innovative Illinois municipalities that are laboratories of reform for Illinois," Governor Quinn said. "While well-intentioned, this legislation is a roadblock to innovation that would do little to boost recycling in Illinois. We can do better."

Senate Bill 3442, also known as the "plastic bag" bill, would have required manufacturers to register with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and stamp a number on each plastic bag. The bill would have outlawed the purchase of plastic bags from non-registered manufacturers and prohibited municipalities from enacting their own recycling programs, fees or outright bans on plastic bags.

The bill was opposed by the Illinois Municipal League and 150 municipalities who saw it as an undermining of home rule. Under the 1970 Illinois Constitution, home rule enables municipalities to exercise greater control over local problems. Illinois currently has 209 home rule units whose authority would have been weakened by this bill.

"This bill was an assault on the principle of home rule and the idea that innovations can come from municipalities," said Mayor Don Gerard of Champaign, whose City Council was moving towards regulation of plastic bags in retail stores. "If the City of Champaign and other towns want to put a fee on plastic bags or ban them or do nothing, it should be our choice."

Municipalities around the nation are tackling the plastic bag litter problem with innovative methods. Washington D.C., for example, has imposed a nickel per bag fee which has reduced plastic bag usage by 80 percent. Outright bans have been enacted by 40 local governments in California (including San Francisco and Los Angeles County), Seattle, Austin and elsewhere.

Plastic bag litter is a growing and expensive problem throughout the nation. Plastic bags are found tangled in trees, littering waterways and harming wildlife. Governor Quinn is committed to enacting policies that prevent pollution and safeguard our communities and natural resources. Today's veto received praise from environmental advocates.

"With this veto, Governor Quinn has completed the 2012 legislative session with a perfect record for the environment," said Jennifer Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental Council.

"Illinois has a history of upholding home rule authority. This bill would have handcuffed communities wishing to implement innovative solutions," said the Sierra Club's Jack Darin, one of 14 signers of a letter from religious and environmental groups urging a veto.

In addition, Governor Quinn noted the efforts of 13-year old Abby Goldberg, whose online petition drive to stop the bill garnered 175,000 signatures. Last year, the 7th grader at Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake, Illinois, was given the assignment in her environmental awareness class to design an environmental project. She decided to convince her village board to enact a ban on plastic bags. When she learned that a bill was moving through the Legislature to prevent Grayslake and other towns from enacting such a ban, she took action.

"I love animals. When I saw birds and turtles choked by plastic bags, it hurt," Goldberg said. "I've learned that no matter what your age, you can make a difference."

Opponents to the bill and those urging a veto include the Illinois Municipal League, Northwest Municipal Conference, nearly 150 municipalities, Sierra Club, Illinois Environmental Council, Environment Illinois, Illinois Recycling Association, Chicago Recycling Coalition, Prairie River Network, Alliance for the Great Lakes, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Natural Resources Defense Council, Faith in Place, Protestants for the Common Good, Illinois Policy Institute, Surfrider Chicago, Center for Oceanic Awareness, the 175,000 signers of Abby Goldberg's online petition and others.

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Braley will tour facility with owner Karen Ohnesorge 

Dubuque, IA - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) will be in Dubuque on Monday to tour Dubuque Power Equipment, a local business owned by Karen Ohnesorge. The tour will focus on how the Small Business Administration can further help small business owners in Iowa.

Braley has helped small businesses in Iowa by introducing the Support our Startups Act that increased the tax deductions available for new startup companies and the Main Street Stabilization Act that helps fifteen Iowa Small Business Development Centers provide customized, free and confidential business advice to any small business.

Rep. Braley will tour the business and hold a press availability.

Monday, August 27th, 2012 

 

2:00 PM CDT      Small Business Tour and Press Event

Dubuque Power Equipment

1901 Rockford Road

Dubuque, Iowa

 

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Continues "Walk Across Illinois Challenge"

OAK PARK, IL - August 25, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today signed a new law to enhance physical education in Illinois schools. In addition, the governor continued to urge Illinois residents to take the "Walk Across Illinois Challenge" (walkacrossillinois.org), a program the governor launched to improve the health and fitness of the people of Illinois. Governor Quinn led a group of walkers on a half-mile trek through Oak Park.

"Today we want to encourage people to be fit, be healthy and walk across Illinois," Governor Quinn said. "This new law is another step in the right direction to help the citizens of Illinois improve their health and wellness."

Senate Bill 3374, sponsored by Sen. Linda Holmes (D-Plainfield) and Rep. Jerry Mitchell (R-Rock Falls), creates the Enhance Physical Education Task Force to examine existing physical education strategies and programs, assess the impact of physical education, and identify and leverage local, state and federal resources for physical education. An initiative of the Illinois Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the bill was supported by major teachers' and school organizations, American Heart Association, American Stroke Association and other health advocates. The law is effective immediately.

"This law helps us take a serious look at the positive impact PE has on students. It benefits them both physically and mentally. Studies show that physical activity increases the ability to concentrate and improves cognitive function. There is a connection between a healthy body and a healthy mind," said Sen. Holmes (D-Plainfield).

"As a former coach and physical education teacher, I know first-hand the value of physical fitness," said Rep. Mitchell (R-Rock Falls). "This Task Force will help put Illinois schoolchildren on the right path."

The new Task Force will collaborate with the Governor's Council on Health and Physical Fitness, which was created in January to develop practical ideas to help Illinois residents embrace healthier lifestyles. The Council is chaired by Sandy Noel, a Golden Apple Award-winning teacher and fitness instructor.

"With initiatives such as 'Walk Across Illinois', Governor Quinn's Council on Health and Physical Fitness and the new Enhanced Physical Education Task Force, we are  affirming the importance of teaching physical education and health in our schools, and living what we learn," said Sandy Noel, the Oak Park teacher who co-chairs the Governor's Council on Health and Physical Fitness. "Summer is drawing to a close. Walk outside and let's get fit together!"

Originally launched by Quinn when he was Lieutenant Governor, "Walk Across Illinois" is an interactive program which encourages participants to walk 167 miles in a single year, roughly the distance across Illinois from Rock Island on the Mississippi River to Chicago on Lake Michigan. Ten years ago, Quinn - joined by his 78-year old physician, Dr. Quentin Young - walked that 167-mile-route to promote the Bernardin Amendment which called for decent health care for everyone.

Residents wishing to take the "Walk Across Illinois Challenge" may visit walkacrossillinois.org, where they can register, log their mileage, learn about hiking routes and get helpful tips. A chart enables you to convert other activities to mileage, such as 30 minutes of bowling or 20 minutes of lawn-mowing being equivalent to one mile.

Once a walker has reached 167 miles, he or she receives a certificate from the governor. Illinois has approximately 270 hiking trails, 63 miles of walkable Lake Michigan shoreline, thousands of miles of riverfront paths and countless neighborhood walks.

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