Good Fit T-shirt Photo Contest continues until Feb. 15

ROCK ISLAND, IL (02/09/2012)(readMedia)-- Online voting continues until Feb. 15 for the People's Choice Award in Augustana College's Good Fit T-shirt Photo Contest, where potential first-year students are eligible to win one of five $1,000 scholarships to Augustana. For their photos, students must wear the Augustana T-shirt they received when visiting campus.

Students who have entered the photo contest from your area include :

Paige Ehrecke, from Long Grove, IA. Ehrecke is a senior at NORTH SCOTT HIGH SCHOOL and submitted a photo in the At Another College category.

Andrew Statz, from Davenport, IA. Statz is a senior at WEST HIGH SCHOOL and submitted a photo in the At Another College category.

Danya Tazyeen, from Bettendorf, IA. Tazyeen is a senior at PLEASANT VALLEY CMTY HS and submitted a photo in the At Another College category.

Go to www.augustana.edu/Goodfit and check out the creative photos and clever captions and cast a vote for your favorite. In addition to the People's Choice Award, other categories in the photo contest include : action shot, in a famous location, at another college and with an alumnus.

The Good Fit T-Shirt competition is a fun way Augustana can get to know the potential members of its incoming class while spreading the word about Augustana College at the same time.

"It's a way to get Augustana's name out in cyber-world as students share their photos and ask others to vote," said Meghan Cooley, director of recruitment communications and a 1999 Augustana graduate. "In some ways, it's like a global billboard as we have photos of students wearing their Augustana T-shirts in England, Greece and Belize, even at the Blarney Stone in Ireland."

About Augustana: Founded in 1860 and situated on a 115-acre campus near the Mississippi River, Augustana College is a private, liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college enrolls 2,500 students from diverse geographic, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds and offers nearly 90 majors and related areas of study. Augustana employs 287 faculty members and has a student-faculty ratio of approximately 11:1. Augustana continues to do what it has always done: challenge and prepare students for lives of leadership and service in our complex, ever-changing world.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has awarded $428,6222 to Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission (CRCRC), Davenport Civil Rights Commission (DCRC), Des Moines Human Rights Department  (DMHRD), Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC), Mason City Human Rights Commission (MCHRC), Sioux City Human Rights Commission  (SCHRC), and Waterloo Commission on Human Rights (WCHR) to enforce fair housing laws and help communities and housing providers to better understand their fair housing rights and responsibilities. (Read project description for Iowa funding.) The funds, part of more than $7.5 million distributed nationwide today, will also be used to promote the Department's new Equal Access to Housing regulation, which ensures that HUD housing and programs are open to all families, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.

"Today's announcement demonstrates the Obama Administration's commitment to ending housing discrimination, no matter what form it takes," said John Trasviña, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.  "With these funds, state and local government agencies on the front line of the fight will be able to continue their efforts to take on today's many fair housing challenges."

In awarding the funds, which are provided through HUD's Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), HUD is responding to requests and suggestions from state and local government agencies that are seeking to partner with organizations that will assist in fair housing enforcement and outreach. The funds will help local communities learn more about their fair housing rights and housing providers meet their fair housing obligations, including those related to HUD's new Equal Access to Housing regulation.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and  transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and  http://espanol.hud.gov.  You can also follow HUD on twitter @HUDnews, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.

Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) Funding

The following Iowa agencies have received funding:

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Floor Speech of Sen. Chuck Grassley

Political Intelligence Amendment to the STOCK Act

Delivered Feb. 9, 2012

I would like to speak as if in morning business on my amendment to the STOCK Act.

In the dark of night Tuesday, the House released its version of the STOCK Act, which wiped out any chance at meaningful transparency for the political intelligence industry.

What we are faced with is a powerful industry that works in the shadows.  They don't want people to know what they do or who they work for.  They are afraid of sunlight.

My amendment was adopted here in the Senate on a bipartisan basis, a rare occurrence recently.  It simply requires registration for lobbyists who seek information from Congress in order to trade on that information.

It's straightforward.  If trades are taking place based on political intelligence obtained from Congress or the executive branch, people should know who is gathering such information.

Not requiring political intelligence professionals to register and disclose their contacts with government officials is a gaping loophole that my amendment fixes.  In fact, political intelligence firms actually brag about this loophole.

For example, on its website, the Open Source Intelligence Group, a political intelligence firm, says the following:

"Our political intelligence operation differs from standard 'lobbying' in that The OSINT Group is not looking to influence legislation on behalf of clients, but rather provide unique 'monitoring' of information through our personal relationships between lawmakers, staffers, and lobbyists.

Providing this service for clients who do not want their interest in an issue publicly known is an activity that does not need to be reported under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, thus providing an additional layer of confidentiality for our clients.

This service is ideal for companies seeking a competitive advantage by allowing a client's interests to remain confidential..."

If you didn't hear it the first time, let me repeat some of that for you,

"Providing this service for clients who do not want their interest in an issue publicly known is an activity that does not need to be reported under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, thus providing an additional layer of confidentiality for our clients."

You have it here on paper.  This firm is telling potential clients, if you don't want anyone to know what you are asking of federal officials, hire us.  That's just wrong, but that's why firms like this don't want to register.

If somebody on Wall Street is trying to make money off of conversations they have with senators or staff, we should know who they are representing.  It's just that simple.

Since the passage of my amendment, which would require political intelligence lobbyists to register as lobbyists, I have heard a great deal of "concern" from the lobbying community.

Political intelligence professionals have claimed that they should do their business in secret for several reasons.

First, they've said that if they are required to register, they will no longer be able to sell information to their clients because people will not want to hire them.  That makes me wonder, what do they have to hide?

Second, they have said that many of them have large numbers of clients, and it would take them a lot of time to register these large numbers of secret clients.  Again, that makes me think we need more transparency to find out who all these people buying political intelligence are.

Third, they have claimed that it would not address the so-called "20 percent loophole" that allows people who spend less than 20 percent of their time lobbying from having to register as lobbyists.

Well, on this, I have some good news for them.  We don't make the mistake that caused the 20 percent loophole.

My amendment requires anyone who makes a political intelligence contact to have to register.   No loopholes, no deals, no special treatment - everyone registers.

Finally, I just want to assure people: Journalists won't need to register.  A constituent looking for information in order to make business decisions won't have to register.  Only political intelligence brokers, people who seek information so that others can trade securities, would have to register.

As I said before, if people want to trade stocks from what we do here in Congress, we should know who you are.  The American people deserve a little sunlight into this industry.  Last night the House turned away from transparency.  The House supported the status quo.

What we need is a full and open conference process so that Congress, both the House and Senate, can work together and improve this bill.  If not, I worry that we will miss the best opportunity we have had for openness and transparency in years.