Welcome Secretary LaHood and Urge Further Movement Toward Construction

Washington, D.C. - The very day that United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is viewing the I-74 Bridge at the invitation of Congressmen Dave Loebsack (IA-02) and Bobby Schilling (IL-17), it became public that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has instructed the Illinois Department of Transportation to devote $22 million in FY2017 and $50 million in FY2018 for the I-74 Bridge.

This follows the Iowa Department of Transportation's announcement from earlier this week about its intent to continue moving forward on planning and acquisition funding but take I-74 Bridge construction funds out of its long-term plans as a result of a lack of construction commitment from ILDOT. The Illinois Department of Transportation had previously announced April 30 had allocated minimal funds for the project.  Loebsack and Schilling also wrote members of the House and Senate negotiating a comprehensive highway bill urging them to prioritize funding for large interstate projects such as the I-74 Bridge.

"We are pleased that the state of Illinois is joining the Quad Cities team, and the Iowa DOT, and is working to move this project forward," the Congressmen said.  "Though it doesn't appear to be on the same timeline as was previously planned for, it's a step in the right direction.  We encourage the Iowa and Illinois Departments of Transportation to ensure they are moving forward on the same timeline so the groundwork is laid for this project to move to construction, and work with us to advance the I-74 Bridge."

Previously, Loebsack has met with representatives from the Iowa DOT about the importance of the I-74 Bridge and has urged the IADOT to preserve construction funding for I-74.  He has also expressed the need to replace the bridge to Secretary LaHood and Speaker of the House John Boehner, as well as urged the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to take action.

Schilling had previously pushed the Illinois Department of Transportation for information as to where on the Department's priority list the I-74 Bridge project resides and the criteria being used to prioritize Illinois' infrastructure needs, noting that "projects totaling millions of dollars around the state, especially in the Chicago area, continue to be funded" which "suggests the state is capable of moving forward on projects it deems a priority."

In 2005, the I-74 Bridge became the most traveled bridge in the Quad Cities with an average of 77,800 vehicles crossing daily.  This is despite the fact that it was built for 48,000 such crossings.  The Bridge itself is functionally obsolete, however, and has never met Interstate standards.  In addition to improving travelers' safety, the I-74 Bridge project would spur economic growth, create construction jobs, reduce traffic backups, and improve air quality.

"These are the results we can achieve when we work together and bring attention to important issues for the Quad Cities and this development should allow Illinois to be ready to move to construction at the same time as Iowa when funding becomes available," Loebsack and Schilling said.  "We will continue to work for results and make sure folks in our state capitals and Washington don't overlook the voice of our region and Congress advances on a long-term transportation bill that will help move construction forward."

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CYPRESS - May 11, 2012. A champion for safe, clean and accessible rivers, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon gave the keynote address today at a dedication ceremony for the Section 8 Boardwalk at the Cache River State Natural Area. The boardwalk was closed following damage from a 2008 flood.

A group of junior high school students, known as the Wetland Warriors, at Creal Springs School used $15,000 of the $20,000 they received last year from the Disney Planet Challenge, a nationwide science competition, to help rebuild the boardwalk. Additional funding for the project came from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), Friends of the Cache River Wetlands and the Southern Illinois Audubon Society.

"I applaud the Creal Springs School students' commitment to protection and restoration of the Cache River Wetlands and to the many others who assisted in this collaborative project," said Simon. "This boardwalk makes it possible for Illinois citizens young and old to enjoy some of our state's wonderful natural resources."

Simon issued a proclamation last year that declared July 12 to be Creal Springs School Day. Simon presented the proclamation to the Wetland Warriors at a meeting of the Mississippi River Coordinating Council, which she chairs. The council was established in 2010 and promotes the environmental and economic health of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

The boardwalk is located in the Section 8 Woods Nature Preserve which is a floodplain forest that features large bald cypress and provides a safe haven for a variety of birds, frogs and swamp fish. The boardwalk, located at the junction of IL Rt. 37 and the Cache River, extends from a parking area into the forested swamp.

The Creal Springs students won the Disney Planet Challenge for their projects in the Cache River Basin including transplanting vegetation, performing trail maintenance, determining water quality through sample collection, assembling educational materials for teachers and creating a website about their research.

Since winning the science competition the students have received the 2011 Illinois Audubon Society's Youth Conservationist Award and their teacher, Fran Wachter, was awarded a 2011 Exxon Mobil Outstanding Illinois Teachers of Science award by the Illinois Science Teachers Association. The students are using the remaining money from the Disney Planet Challenge to build a wildlife viewing blind and purchase radio transmitters for species research.

Simon was joined at the dedication by IDNR Director Marc Miller, Friends of the Cache River Watershed board member Charlie Proctor, and members of the Wetland Warriors. The ceremony was hosted by Friends of the Cache River Watershed.

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May 11, 2012. Moline, IL...In a letter today, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has instructed the state Department of Transportation to devote $72 million to the Interstate-74 Bridge. State Representative Rich Morthland (R-Cordova) released the following statement:

"This morning, I received a call from Governor Quinn's office with news about a $72 million allocation for the I-74 bridge. I commend the Governor for this and congratulate Congressman Bobby Schilling and Congressman Dave Loebsack for their efforts in procuring these much-needed funds.

"The US Constitution makes it clear that building roads is an important function of government. And in the Midwest, the freshwater capital of the world, that means building bridges. This is a great day for Illinois, Iowa, and the United States.

"Our interstate highway systems are arteries of commerce. We need to keep those arteries clear and working strong."

Rep. Morthland will be joining Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Reps. Bobby Schilling, R-Ill., and Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa at 2PM for a press conference after visiting the I-74 Bridge.

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(May 11, 2012)?The following is a statement from Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, on Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's executive order to unilaterally repeal a Natural Resources Commission science-based rule to ban the use of toxic lead ammunition for dove hunting:

"It is the height of hypocrisy for Governor Terry Branstad to overrule both the legislature and the Natural Resources Commission by executive fiat and to thumb his nose at the people of Iowa. But Governor Branstad apparently believes that politics should trump science, and that anything goes if the gun lobby demands it.

After hearing all sides, the Commission, which is a body made up primarily of hunters, unanimously decided that additional toxic lead should not be pumped into Iowa's environment during the new dove hunting season. Millions of hunters have shifted to non-toxic shot, like steel. Studies have shown that non-lead ammunition has the same or better performance as lead. This toxic substance has been removed from toys and paint, yet some hunters continue to dump this poison into the environment by the ton. One pellet ingested by an animal can induce blindness, paralysis of the intestinal tract and lungs, and organ failure."

-30-

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization ? backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty ? On the Web at humanesociety.org.

May 11, 2012...Animal Family Veterinary Care Center (Animal Family), Davenport, IA, will host an open house on Saturday, May 19, 2012, from 11 AM to 1 PM at 6011 North Brady Street, Davenport.

The open house will feature tours of the care center, refreshments and prizes, plus activities for the kids, including games, face-painting and more. There will also be pet care demonstrations and visits with zoo animals. It will be fun for the whole family!

Animal Family offers a full range of veterinary services, including the most up-to-date diagnostic, surgical, dental, and imaging tools and techniques.

Animal Family also provides the very best in pet grooming, dog training, pet boarding and Camp Canine. Camp Canine is a day care that offers a safe place to socialize your 4-legged family members.

For additional information, please call Animal Family Veterinary Care Center at 563-391-9522 or visit animalfamilyveterinarycare.com.

-END-

Animal Family Veterinary Care Center ? 6011 North Brady Street ? Davenport, IA ? 52806-2146 ? 563-391-9522

Listen to More than the 'American Anti-Sovereignty Campaign'

Washington, D.C., May 11, 2012- In a choreographed roll-out yesterday - transparently timed to coincide with the end of Senator Richard Lugar's ill-fated primary race for reelection to the United States Senate, a group styling itself the "American Sovereignty Campaign" announced that it would be mounting an aggressive effort to secure ratification of the obsolete and defective Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).  Given the threat LOST poses to U.S. sovereignty and vital interests, a better moniker for this entity would be the "American Anti-Sovereignty Campaign."

A previously organized coalition that actually supports American sovereignty - the Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty - responded by calling on Sen. Lugar, the Ranking Minority Member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his Democratic counterpart, Chairman John Kerry, to assure the record reflects the insights of the treaty's many critics, not just its boosters.
In a letter to the two Senators (below), the pro-sovereignty Coalition identified a number of LOST's defects that should require close scrutiny.  It also identified a number of expert witnesses who could illuminate them and urged the Foreign Relations Committee to hear from such authorities.
The Coalition welcomes an honest, open debate about a treaty that was largely drafted when the Soviet Union and Non-Aligned Nations were still going concerns and dominated the United Nations and Law of the Sea negotiations.  If the Senate actually deliberates on this accord - rather than following the appalling 2010 precedent of hastily rubber-stamping the Obama administration's unverifiable and inequitable New START Treaty, the outcome seems certain:  The Senate will reject the LOST Treaty, as did President Ronald Reagan 30 years ago.

Text of the Letter

10 May 2012

Hon. John Kerry
Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
444 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0802

Hon. Richard G. Lugar
Ranking Minority Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
446 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0802

Dear Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Lugar:

We understand that you will soon convene hearings in connection with possible U.S. ratification of the United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).  It is our view that this accord is seriously defective in a number of respects (several of which are enumerated below.)  Accordingly, we write to request that the individuals listed below be afforded an opportunity to testify in connection with the Foreign Relations Committee's consideration of LOST with respect to the following problematic provisions of that treaty - an opportunity largely not afforded to critics of LOST during the last round of your panel's hearings on the matter in 2003 and 2007.

First, ratification of LOST would commit the United States to submit to mandatory dispute resolution with respect to U.S. military and industrial operations.  While LOST proponents argue that the United States will choose available arbitration mechanisms to avoid legal decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), such arbitration panels are no-less perilous for U.S. interests as the decisive, "swing" arbiters would be appointed by generally unfriendly UN-affiliated bureaucrats.  The arbitration panels can also be relied upon to look to rulings by the ICJ or ITLOS to inform their own decisions.

Furthermore, while there is a LOST provision exempting "military activity" from such dispute resolution mechanisms, the Treaty makes no attempt to define "military activity," virtually guaranteeing that such matters will be litigated - in all likelihood to our detriment - before one or another of LOST's arbitration mechanisms.  And the rulings of such arbitrators cannot be appealed.

Subjecting our military to the risks of such mandatory dispute resolution is all the more imprudent given that LOST provides the Navy with no navigational rights and freedoms beyond those it already enjoys under customary international law and the U.S. Freedom of Navigation Program.  The Navy has successfully protected American interests on the seas for the past two hundred years without the United States becoming a party to LOST - including during the thirty years since LOST was concluded, in 1982.  We see no compelling reason why that record will be improved upon by entrusting the job to international legal arrangements.

Second, the Law of the Sea Treaty contains provisions that risk putting sensitive, militarily useful information and technology in the hands of America's adversaries and its companies' commercial competitors.  That accord's proponents would have you believe that there is no problem with technology transfer since the Treaty's relevant mandates were eliminated by a 1994 agreement relating to the implementation of LOST's Part XI.  Unfortunately, this is another area that cries out for close examination by the Senate and the Nation.

For one thing, it is unclear to what extent the Treaty could be and was amended by the '94 accord.  For another, a number of provisions obligating the transfer of potentially sensitive technology and data were not addressed in the latter agreement.  For example, LOST arbitration procedures specify that parties to a dispute would be required to provide an arbitral tribunal with "all relevant documents, facilities and information" - a potential avenue for compelling such transfers.

Third, the Law of the Sea Treaty entails commitments that have far-reaching implications for U.S. businesses, far beyond the possibility of mandatory technology transfers.  These include : embroiling this country in treaties bearing on commercial activities to which it is not a party; wide-ranging, intrusive and expensive environmental obligations; creating standing for foreign nationals to pursue alien torts in our courts; and jeopardizing our rights under the World Trade Organization, which was established after 1994.

Of particular concern is the fact that LOST creates an international taxation regime.  It does so by empowering the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to tax Americans for the purposes of meeting its own administrative costs and of globally redistributing revenue derived from the exploitation of seabed resources.  The wisdom of such compulsory payments to the ISA is highly questionable, considering the poor track record of international organizations' management of finances.  Moreover, the ISA would be unconstrained in its discretion as to which countries or entities were to receive this redistributed American wealth, the recipients of which could include highly corrupt and undemocratic regimes or even countries identified by the Department of State as sponsors of terrorism.   

We believe the Foreign Relations Committee's deliberations on the Law of the Sea Treaty will be incomplete, perhaps misleadingly so, unless they are informed by testimony on these and related points.  We formally request that you and your colleagues ensure that the following individuals are afforded an opportunity to provide such testimony:

Donald Rumsfeld                       Former Secretary of Defense
Edwin Meese                          Former United States Attorney General
John R. Bolton                         Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
John F. Lehman                         Former Secretary of the Navy
William Middendorf                     Former Secretary of the Navy
Douglas J. Feith                          Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Admiral James A. Lyons                    Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet
Vice Admiral Robert Monroe             Former Director, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation
Phyllis Schlafly                       Eagle Forum
Fred Smith                          Competitive Enterprise Institute
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.                           Center for Security Policy
Doug Bandow                         Cato Institute
Steven Groves                         Heritage Foundation
Baker Spring                         Heritage Foundation
Thomas P. Kilgannon                      Freedom Alliance
Peter Leitner                        Author, Reforming the Law of the Sea Treaty
Kevin Kearns                         U.S. Business & Industry Council
John Fonte                          Hudson Institute
Jeremy Rabkin                         George Mason University School of Law

Sincerely,

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty
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Braley seeking feedback from Iowans as Congress takes up Farm Bill this year

Waterloo, IA - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) traveled to Independence, Vinton, Marengo, and Grinnell today as part of a two day series of listening sessions focused on the upcoming Farm Bill.

Bill Menner, Iowa Rural Development state director for the US Department of Agriculture, joined Braley at the events.  Braley and Menner will travel to Toledo and Marshalltown on Monday, May 14th, to continue the series of Farm Bill listening sessions.

"The Farm Bill is the single most important piece of legislation this year that affects Iowa jobs and the Iowa economy," Braley said.  "From renewable energy to conservation programs, from crop insurance to agricultural research and rural development, the Farm Bill has a huge impact on our state.  It's my job to listen to Iowans and get their feedback on what needs to be included in this important bill.  I'm working to make the Farm Bill a job creator in Iowa."

 

The Farm Bill listening session events were free and open to the public.

The current Farm Bill expires on September 30th of this year.  If Congress fails to act by that date, existing agricultural programs will end and America's farm policy will revert to the programs outlined in the 1949 Farm Bill - legislation written more than 60 years ago.

Last month, the US Senate passed a draft Farm Bill out of the Agriculture Committee - a significant step forward toward getting a bill passed this year.  The US House has not yet seen significant action on a Farm Bill.

# # #

Governor Branstad Announces Lifting of Iowa Traditional Ammo Ban

Fairfax, Va. - Governor Terry Branstad today announced that he will nullify the traditional ammunition ban in Iowa.  In July 2011, the Iowa Natural Resources Commission (NRC) imposed the ban - after the topic was debated and resoundingly rejected by the legislature - following the enactment of the first dove-hunting season since 1918.  The NRC slipped in the ban on the use of all traditional ammunition while setting bag limits and other regulations with regard to the reenacted Iowa dove-hunting season.

"The National Rifle Association would like to thank Governor Branstad for rescinding this ill-conceived scheme by the Iowa Natural Resources Commission," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.  The NRC pandered to anti-hunting extremist groups and did their political bidding.  They failed to cite a single credible scientific study to back up their baseless claims to support this ban.  Today, thanks to the leadership of Governor Branstad and to the tireless efforts of Senator Dick Dearden, fairness, integrity and common-sense have been restored to this process."

Traditional ammunition bans are financed by extremist anti-hunting groups - like the Humane Society of the United States and the Sierra Club under the guise of "conservation efforts".  The long-term goals of these groups are to try to eradicate hunting and firearm ownership.  Their attempt to gain a foothold in Iowa has been foiled.

Earlier this year, House Joint Resolution 2001, restoring the use of traditional ammunition, passed the Iowa House of Representatives by an overwhelming, bipartisan margin.  The senate companion, SJR2001, passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee on a bipartisan 9-3 vote.  Despite broad bipartisan support and assurances, the Senate Majority Leader, failed to call-up the resolution for a vote.

In rejecting the ban today, Governor Branstad said, "As you may know, the Senate adjourned without bringing up the resolution nullifying the NRC rule banning traditional shot.  Today, I am exercising my legal power as Governor and rescinding the ban on traditional shot by Executive Order.  The determination of whether hunters should be forced to stop using traditional lead shot is the role of the legislature, not an unelected NRC."

The Commission's earlier attempt at a traditional ammunition ban was also defeated with Governor Terry Branstad's help in 2011.

-NRA-

May 11, 2012

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No. 11-0525

STATE OF IOWA vs. JEFFREY DANA KURTH

No. 11-1498

EAST CENTRAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT vs. MISSISSIPPI BEND AREA EDUCATION AGENCY

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