Children are invited to Brucemore for a festive and memorable evening of holiday tradition?Santa, Snacks, and Stories on Sunday, December 2 and Tuesday, December 4 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Mansion's holiday décor and the estate's seasonal spirit add to the evening's activities. In the Visitor Center, children will be delighted by sing-a-long caroling with Brucemore's most famous resident, Leo the Lion, and a snack making station. In the Mansion, children will participate in a craft, listen to holiday stories, and give Santa their wish-lists. In between activities, children and parents are invited to view the first and second floors of the Mansion and to ask any questions to the available stationary guides.

Admission is $7 per child and $5 per child of a Brucemore member. One adult is free per child admission; each additional adult is $5.  Space is limited; purchase tickets online at www.brucemore.org or by calling (319) 362-7375. . Santa, Snacks, and Stories is sponsored by US Bank.

Experience Brucemore, an unparalleled blend of tradition and culture, located at 2160 Linden Drive SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the heart of the historic 26-acre estate stands a nineteenth-century mansion filled with the stories of three Cedar Rapids families.  Concerts, theater, programs, and tours enliven the site and celebrate the heritage of a community.  For more information, call (319) 362-7375 or visit www.brucemore.org.

For the second concert of this year's Masterworks season, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra is performing a collection of concert hall favorites from incomparable composers Mozart and Beethoven: the Overture to The Magic Flute, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A Major, and Beethoven's "Pastorale" Symphony. These concerts will be performed on November 3 and 4 and are sponsored by the Charles B. Preacher Foundation. Saturday evening's concert will be held at the Adler Theatre in Davenport at 7:30 p.m. and followed on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at Centennial Hall, Augustana College, in Rock Island. Tickets for this concert can be purchased in person at the QCSO Box Office, 327 Brady Street in Davenport, by phone at 800.745.3000, or online at www.qcsymphony.com.

Burt Hara has been the Minnesota Orchestra's principal clarinet for 24 years and has drawn acclaim for his solo appearances in works of Bernstein, Copland, Debussy, Nielsen, Weber and others, as well as his many chamber performances. In recent seasons he has been featured on Orchestra programs playing Messiaen's Abyss of the Birds, from Quartet for the End of Time, Copland's Clarinet Concerto, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Sinfonia concertante, Bernstein's Clarinet Sonata, and Crusell's Second Clarinet Concerto. Before his appointment in Minnesota, Hara was principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony. An active chamber musician, Hara has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Pensacola Chamber Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Salt Bay Chamberfest, and La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest.

The Quad City Symphony Orchestra is excited to provide Inside the Music at the hip and historic Hotel Blackhawk. The lectures series will still be held on the Thursday previous to each Masterworks program at 5:30 p.m. Doors will open at 5 p.m. with free hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar available.

Music Director Mark Russell Smith will also be available at Kai Swanson's Concert Conversations, held in the concert hall an hour before each of the weekend's concerts. At Concert Conversations the audience members will be led through highlights of the program they are about to experience. This look into the background of the concert's repertoire, sponsored by Rich James of Wells Fargo Advisors, is in its fifteenth year and has become an audience favorite.

After the Saturday night performance, the audience is invited to mingle with the musicians of the QCSO, Mark Russell Smith, and Burt Hara in the lobby of the Hotel Blackhawk at Afterglow. The evening includes free hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. The November Afterglow is sponsored by Jane Chiappinelli, DDS.

SPRINGFIELD, IL (10/31/2012)(readMedia)-- Approximately 20 Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers who served in Afghanistan will return to Illinois this week. The homecoming ceremony for the Bilateral Embedded Staff Team (BEST) A9 will be Nov. 1 at 9 a.m. Camp Lincoln, 1301 N. MacArthur Blvd. in Springfield.

The BEST Soldiers were mobilized in January. They trained for a brief time at Camp Atterbury, Ind., before deploying to Poland for approximately two months to train with the Polish Land Forces 6th Airborne Brigade. The unique mission allowed Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers to train and deploy side-by-side with their Polish counterparts. Following the training, the Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan for a six-month mobilization. The Soldiers are from various parts of Illinois and were selected for the mission based on their training and skills.

The team was part of Task Force White Eagle XI, which included more than 3,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines from the U.S., Poland and Ukraine. The task force kept the roads between Kabul and Kandahar safe and reduced the insurgent influence in the area.

Task Force White Eagle had the highest rate of found and cleared roadside bombs in the region, greatly reducing the number of innocent civilians, Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition Forces who were injured or killed. The task force also worked in regions of the country that were previously neglected and helped build a new security presence. Additionally, the servicemembers worked with the Internal Security Assistance Force to coordinate and execute multiple raids with Afghanistan commanders that targeted the Taliban in Ghazni Province. The raids captured and removed a majority of the Taliban commanders and sub-commanders in the region. The task force also found and removed more than 30,000 kilograms of explosive materials from the area and the team found more than $21.3 million of lost and unaccounted for property.

BEST A9 was awarded 13 Bronze Star Medals, five Army Commendation Medals, two Combat Infantry Badges and three Combat Action Badges. They also received four Polish Army Medals-Silver and five Polish Army Medals-Bronze.