Senator Harkin championed the continued funding of the National Asthma Control Program and the American Lung Association applauds his efforts. Earlier today, the Senate Appropriations Committee again voted to keep the National Asthma Control Program as a stand-alone program and maintained its funding level of $25.3 million for fiscal year 2013.

DAVENPORT, IA - On June 14, 2012, Karol Mae McCaughey, age 39, of Long Grove, Iowa, was sentenced to five years'probation including six months' home confinement for forging securities of a private entity, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. United States District Judge John A. Jarvey also ordered McCaughey to pay $42,853.61 in restitution.

McCaughey began working for Aero Plumbing and Heating as an office manager in 1993. In late 2008 McCaughey began writing herself unauthorized checks from the company on which she forged her supervisor's signature. McCaughey then added additional purchases in the company's QuickBooks ledger to disguise the payments. McCaughey wrote herself approximately 60 unauthorized checks over two years totaling over $40,000.

The case was investigated by the Davenport, Iowa, Police Department and the United States Secret Service, and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, made the comment below about invoking the Thurmond-Leahy rule on circuit court judicial nominees.  Previously, Chairman Patrick Leahy expressed respect for the informal rule.  During an executive business meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 12, 2008, Chairman Leahy said, "... I want to say, I appreciate the comments of the Senator from Delaware.  He knows that we are now way past the time of the Thurmond Rule, named after Senator Thurmond when he was in the minority, and I'm trying to respect that. ..."

Senator Grassley's comment:

"There's no need to make an exception to the Thurmond-Leahy rule based on the number of circuit court judges confirmed during this presidential election year, especially compared to the last couple of presidential election years.

"The Senate considered district court nominees into the fall during the last two presidential election years but not circuit court nominees, as was said today.  In fact, during both 2004 and 2008, the last circuit court nomination considered was in June.  No one has suggested that no more district court nominations will be considered this year this year.

"Since 2008, the Senate has confirmed 149 circuit and district court judges and two Supreme Court Justices nominated by President Obama, and his term is not over.  During President Bush's entire second term, which was the last time two  Supreme Court Justices were confirmed, the Senate confirmed a total of only 119 circuit and district court judges.

"This year, the Senate has confirmed five circuit court nominees.  Likewise, in 2004, the Senate confirmed five circuit court nominees.  Yet, in 2008, the Senate confirmed only four circuit court nominees.  The Senate did not confirm additional circuit nominees in 2008 even though, for example, the Fourth Circuit had a vacancy rate that was more than 25 percent, and four qualified nominees were pending in the Senate for that circuit alone.

"In addition, so far this year, the Senate has confirmed 22 district court nominees.  That's three times as many nominees as the Senate had confirmed by this date in 2008, when it had confirmed only seven district court nominees.  Similarly, by this date in 2004, the Senate had confirmed only nine district court nominees.

"Based on this record, it's disingenuous to suggest that Senate Republicans have not been fair in the consideration and confirmation of judicial nominees.  And, it is entirely appropriate and consistent with past practice to invoke the Thurmond-Leahy rule at this point."

SIOUX CENTER, IA (06/14/2012)(readMedia)-- Scholarships from Dordt College have been awarded to incoming freshmen, including these area students:

Natalie Dailey of East Moline, Illinois, has been awarded Hester Hollaar Literary Studies, Kuyper, and Presidential scholarships.

Scholarship details are available at www.dordt.edu/scholarships.

Dordt College is a comprehensive Christian college in Sioux Center, Iowa. U.S. News & World Report, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review all list Dordt on their best colleges lists. Dordt is home to approximately 1,400 students. To learn more about Dordt College, visit www.dordt.edu.

Note: Though a scholarship has been awarded and the student has been granted acceptance, the student might not have made a final decision about whether he or she will choose to attend Dordt College.

thought you might find this particularly interesting as Iowa is a Right To Work State. Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics James Sherk has just published  a piece on the bailout being for the United Auto Workers (23 billion worth).

The U.S. government will lose about $23 billion on the 2008-2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler. President Obama emphatically defends his decision to subsidize the automakers, arguing it was necessary to prevent massive job losses. But, even accepting this premise, the government could have executed the bailout with no net cost to taxpayers. It could have?had the Administration required the United Auto Workers (UAW) to accept standard bankruptcy concessions instead of granting the union preferential treatment. The extra UAW subsidies cost $26.5 billion?more than the entire foreign aid budget in 2011. The Administration did not need to lose money to keep GM and Chrysler operating. The Detroit auto bailout was, in fact, a UAW bailout....read more


Corrine Williams
Midwestern Regional Media Associate
The Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002
305-479-5683
heritage.org


The Heritage Foundation's 2012 Federal Budget in Pictures
The newly redesigned Federal Budget in Pictures presents complex policy trends in a series of simple, full-color infographics.
Check it out today.

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Senator Chuck Grassley says Attorney General Eric Holder can avoid the constitutional stand-off created by the Department of Justice by ending its stonewalling in the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal.

 

Click here for audio.

Here is the text of the address:

This week, I've urged Attorney General Eric Holder to exercise leadership and avoid the constitutional stand-off that the Department of Justice has created with its stonewalling in the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Tuesday, the Attorney General sounded willing to negotiate, at last, over releasing documents.  That's fine if the offer isn't hollow.  We've been talking for a year and a half, and a show of good faith would be to produce the documents in question.

The documents concern the government's Fast and Furious program.  In December 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry died in a shoot-out with Mexican bandits.  Those bandits were armed with weapons our own government allowed to be purchased and transferred illegally under Operation Fast and Furious.  Whistleblowers came to me with allegations.  They testified nearly a year ago about the use of this practice.  The Department of Justice denied the allegations to me for 10 months before being forced to withdraw its denial in the face of evidence to the contrary.

Yet, today, the family of Brian Terry is still waiting for answers.  It's waiting for justice.  The FBI doesn't have the shooter in custody.  And, the Justice Department is still defying a congressional subpoena for information about how all of this happened.   The chairman of the House oversight committee has scheduled a vote next week on whether to hold the Attorney General in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over the documents.

The House committee action is straightforward and necessary.  Contempt is the only tool Congress has to enforce a subpoena.  The Department of Justice can avoid the action by complying with its legal obligation.  The contempt citation is not about personalities.  It's a procedural mechanism in our system of checks and balances.  If Congress is afraid to pursue answers to questions, it's not doing its job.  People deserve transparency from their government.  Transparency leads to the truth about what's going on.  It puts people in a position to defend their rights.  It protects our freedoms.

The facts are important as a matter of accountability.  Related to Fast and Furious, at the Senate hearing this week, Attorney General Holder said that a previous Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, was briefed on a gun walking in the government's Operation Wide Receiver and did absolutely nothing.  Well, there's no evidence of that.  In fact, documents show Attorney General Mukasey was briefed about a different case involving a controlled delivery.  The evidence also shows that more recently, assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer did learn about gun walking in Operation Wide Receiver and did absolutely nothing.  Again, the facts matter, and the nation's top law enforcement officer should take care to get them right.  Since the hearing, I've asked Attorney General Holder to provide any information in support of his statement about Attorney General Mukasey.

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Will tour the Rock Island Arsenal, visit Sivis' Hero Street Memorial

Moline, Illinois - Today, the 237th Birthday of the United States Army, Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17), a member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), announced that he will be joined in Illinois on Saturday June 16 by HASC Chairman Buck McKeon (CA-25).  The Congressmen will tour the Rock Island Arsenal Saturday morning, and in the afternoon will visit the Hero Street Memorial in Silvis, holding a press availability there from 2:00-2:30pm.

"I'm honored to have Chairman McKeon joining me to visit Hero Street and the hard-working men and women of the Rock Island Arsenal, especially in light of the Arsenal's approaching 150th birthday," Schilling said. "Our area has long been vital to America's national security, be it through our brave sons and daughters who risk their lives to preserve our freedoms like those from Hero Street, or through our defense manufacturing capabilities like those found at the Arsenal.  I look forward to welcoming Chairman McKeon to our area, and to showing him all we have to offer."

Renamed Hero Street USA in 1967, Silvis' Second Street was formed when a group of families were forced to move from the Rock Island Railroad where they had been living in boxcars to a short dirt path a mere block and a half long.  At the start of World War II, 45 young men and women from the 35 tight-knit families of Second Street heard the call to serve their country and volunteered to join the United States Armed Forces to preserve our freedom.  When the Korean and Vietnam Wars broke out, even more enlisted and served as soldiers.  In all, nearly 100 residents of this street's 35 families helped defend our country and our allies.

Eight of these brave soldiers from Second Street died for our country in these conflicts, potentially the most combat deaths of any single street in the United States.  Their names are Tony Pompa, Frank Sandoval, Joseph Sandoval, William Sandoval, Claro Solis, Peter Macias, Joe Gomez, and Johnny Munos.  It was in honor of their sacrifice that the name of Second Street was changed to "Hero Street" in 1967.  Four years later a memorial park was built on Hero Street, and in 2007 a monument was added.

On July 29, 2011, Schilling introduced H.Res.381, a resolution expressing the House of Representatives' support for Hero Street Memorial Park.  His bipartisan resolution has been cosponsored by Congressmen Donald Manzullo (IL-16), Bruce Braley (IA-01), and Dave Loebsack (IA-02).  Companion legislation has been introduced in the United States Senate by Illinois Senator Mark Kirk (R).

Schilling has worked on a bipartisan basis to advance Rock Island Arsenal priorities.  Schilling and Loebsack in last year's defense bill included a landmark provision lifting the cap on the number of public-private partnerships arsenals are able to enter into, maximizing the possibility for private-sector job growth at installations like the Rock Island Arsenal.  They also included in last year's bill the provision designating the Rock Island Arsenal as a Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence, further improving its ability to enter into public-private partnerships, provide for our men and women in combat, and strengthen the Arsenal's core skills and manufacturing abilities.  Both provisions were signed into law as part of the comprehensive Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.  

In the Fiscal Year 2013 House conference report, Schilling and Loebsack built on their successes from last year and included language ensuring that the Department of Defense recognizes in its overarching national security strategy the critical manufacturing work done at facilities like the Rock Island Arsenal.  It also reviews how to maintain those skills and therefore the employees doing the work.  They also partnered with area senators in introducing the bipartisan and bicameral Army Arsenal Strategic Workload Enhancement Act, which would help to keep arsenals like Rock Island warm and employees' skills sharp by requiring that the Army produce a plan to ensure they are properly workloaded.  

"Chairman McKeon's support in advancing our area's defense priorities in Washington has been invaluable," Schilling said. "I appreciate the opportunity to serve on the Armed Services Committee, and look forward to continuing to work with the Chairman and our colleagues to preserve our national security and provide for our warfighters and their families."

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'Queen of the Random Job' Going Strong after 13 Years

Most adults of a certain age believe they've had some colorful jobs. Chances are likely, however, that Bethany Mooradian has them beat.

"I began finding random jobs after receiving my degree in puppetry because I realized that most puppeteers don't make that much money," says Mooradian, author of I Got Scammed So You Don't Have To (www.QueenOfTheRandomJob.com), a how-to book for finding legit work in an economy of scammers. "At one point, I was even Ronald McDonald's bodyguard."

Beginning in 1999, in order to make ends meet while pursuing her artistic passions, she looked for odd jobs. It wasn't long before the search for and execution of odd jobs became a lifestyle. She gave so much advice to her friends on how not to be scammed, that she decided to write a book about it.

Mooradian came up with an acronym to help as a general outline to avoid scams: SCRAM. S = scrutinize the source; C = check for affiliate links and fees; R = research the heck out of every detail; A = ask for more information; M = mouse over images and links to see what website you end on before you click.

"I was scammed in a work-at-home gig from a magazine ad when I was young and naïve," she says. "It was before the internet was widely used, so it wasn't as easy to check it out, and I hadn't yet developed my SCRAM method."

While the odd, random job or source of supplemental income usually does not replace the income of a fulltime job, there are several ways of making money people often overlook, or simply don't know about.

Mooradian emphasizes that anyone can find extra ways to earn income from what they already know how to do, "No one ever goes to college to learn how to 'work at home.' It's simply a matter of taking your skill set and translating that into a home-office or flexible work environment instead of a 9-5 job."  Here are five income opportunities most people are not aware of.

• Being a Virtual Assistant: If you have computer and internet skills, you can work as a VA doing general secretarial work, or processing orders for large-name corporations at home. Many companies are seeing the benefit of "homesourcing" instead of "outsourcing" because overhead is reduced, and customers get to speak to local operators who understand the language and culture.

• Merchandising: Have you ever walked up to someone shelving products in a store to ask for help and they reply, "I'm sorry, I don't work here?" Those are merchandisers. They're hired to set up displays, check prices on items, and shelve products like magazines, food items, and greeting cards. Merchandisers have specific locations to service, but with fairly flexible hours.

• Landlord (rent that extra space!): Many people own property because they want their personal freedom. But for those who've fallen on hard financial times, like millions of Americans, finding a good, trustworthy person to rent your extra room, a storage space, garage, or a parking space is a great option.

• Mystery shopper: Mooradian has created a video and book training course on this topic titled "The Mystery Shopper Training Program," which can be found on her website, as well as through Amazon.com and local bookstores. Mystery shoppers are paid to surreptitiously check out the behavior of employees in retail shops, bars, restaurants, apartment buildings, car dealerships, banks, and even on cruise ships and travel resorts.

• Use your talent: You don't have to have movie-star aspirations to get work as an extra in movies, television shows or industrial/training films. Many times you can call up your local film board to find casting directors in the area to get on their "extra" list. Voiceover work can also be done from the comfort of your home if you have a powerful enough microphone, and you can also be a "standardized patient" acting out diseases to help medical students with their board exams.

"The internet is full of information, but finding useful leads for jobs or making extra money can be like searching for a needle in the proverbial haystack, which is why I provide over 300 legitimate companies, ideas, and resources for money-seekers," she says.

About Bethany Mooradian

For 13 years Bethany Mooradian has lived the random-job lifestyle, including everything from being a puppeteer, dog walker and art gallery owner to actor, sexual health resource clinic advisor and parade float fabricator to elderly caregiver, phone book deliverer, mystery shopper, virtual assistant and more. The "Queen of the Random Job" has written books, created training programs, and teaches classes in both Seattle and online to assist others looking for ways to make ends meet.

PF utilizes NAWCA funding to create wildlife habitat, public hunting opportunities

Washington, D.C. - June 14, 2012 - Pheasants Forever has been awarded five North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grants to conserve wetlands and associated grasslands in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Pheasants Forever will utilize NAWCA funding to permanently protect and conserve habitat on more than 2,100 acres that are vital to waterfowl and upland birds and also open to public hunting.

Pheasants Forever projects funded with NAWCA Small Grants in the Midwest for 2012 include :

Iowa
Project: Buffalo Creek Wildlife Management Area, Mangold Addition, Delaware County. The purpose of this 40-acre project is to restore and protect grassland and riparian wetland habitats in the Wapsipinicon River watershed. This effort will protect a prairie stream by acquiring additional riparian habitat and creating an additional wetland within the corridor. Waterfowl, grassland nesting birds and many species that use riparian habitat will benefit from this project. Another objective is to create a large wildlife habitat complex for the benefit of wildlife and for public access to these natural resources. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is a partner on this project.

Project: Iowa Prairie Pothole Upland Habitat Enhancement II. The purpose of this grant project is to fund critical enhancement of native, local tallgrass prairie on state wildlife management areas within the 35-county Prairie Pothole Joint Venture Region in Iowa.  The goal is to assist in the enhancement of 1,440 acres of tallgrass prairie and create 290 new acres of tallgrass prairie associated with restored wetlands on areas designated for wildlife management. The objective is to enhance tallgrass prairie blocks large enough to achieve ecological function and to benefit all grassland bird species that breed in the Iowa portion of the Prairie Pothole Region. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is a partner on this project.

Minnesota
Project: Minnesota Lake Waterfowl Complex Addition, Faribault County. This project will build upon existing conservation work being completed by federal, state and private organizations. The Minnesota Lake Waterfowl Production Area acquisition will permanently protect 78 acres within an area that has over 1,323 acres of permanently protected habitat. This complex is adjacent to Minnesota Lake, a regionally significant 1,900-acre lake vital to migratory waterfowl within the area. The area has been designated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a migratory waterfowl feeding and resting area.

Project: West Central MN Grasslands II, Big Stone, Pope, Traverse and Stevens Counties. West-central Minnesota provides important migration and breeding waterfowl habitats.  This area also provides critical staging and migratory habitats for lesser scaup, canvasbacks, ring-necked ducks and other migratory waterfowl. The purpose of this project is to restore and protect grassland and wetland habitats to assist land managers in increasing and accelerating grassland management for the benefit of waterfowl and grassland nesting birds within the project area. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is a partner on this project.

Wisconsin
Project: Marquardt Addition to the Hallie Marsh Wildlife Area, Chippewa County. The Marquardt Acquisition will protect a palustrine emergent wetland and allow for the conversion of row cropping to significant upland nesting cover/habitat for waterfowl and grassland birds. This will decrease habitat fragmentation while also serving as a buffer from area urbanization and development. Pheasants Forever will acquire and eventually restore the 105-acre Marquardt property, and then donate the land to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

About NAWCA
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act was established in 1989 to provide matching grants for organizations and individuals who have developed partnerships to carry out wetlands conservation projects in the United States. As part of the Act, both the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and Northern American Wetlands Conservation Council were formed to recommend and approve worthy conservation projects. From September 1990 through March 2011, some 4,500 partners in 2,067 projects have received more than $1.1 billion in grants. They have contributed another $2.32 billion in matching funds to affect 26.5 million acres of habitat and $1.21 billion in nonmatching funds to affect 234,820 acres of habitat. NAWCA funding is awarded through a Standard and a Small Grants Program.

About Pheasants Forever
Pheasants Forever and its quail division, Quail Forever, is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation. Combined, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have more than 135,000 members and 700 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Chapters are empowered to determine how 100 percent of their locally raised conservation funds are spent, the only national conservation organization that operates through this truly grassroots structure.

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