Body Image Blues:Body Image, Eating Disorders, and Disordered Eating Among Teens and Young Adults

Wednesday, October 19th, 5-7pm

Rogalski Center, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, IA

Sponsored by the Amy Helpenstell Foundation, St. Ambrose Counseling Center, St. Ambrose Women's Studies Department, and Active Minds

The Quad Cities Eating Disorders Consortium is hosting author Harriet Brown at the Rogalski Center to speak on Body Image, Disordered Eating, and Eating Disorders on October 19th from 5-7pm, sponsored by the St. Ambrose Counseling Center, Active Minds team, and St. Ambrose Women's Studies department.

Harriet Brown is an eclectic and curiosity-driven writer and speaker whose work on subjects ranging from fat acceptance to forgiveness appears in the New York Times Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, Health, Glamour, Vogue, and many other publications. Her radio essays can be heard on NPR's "All Things Considered" and "To the Best of Our Knowledge." A frequent contributor to the Tuesday New York Times science section, she specializes in speaking about issues that affect the lives of women and children. Her latest book, Brave Girl Eating: A Family's Struggle with Anorexia (William Morrow), recounts her family's efforts to help their oldest daughter recover from anorexia nervosa while .

Brown is also an assistant professor of magazine journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in Syracuse, New York, where she created Project BodyTalk, an audio project that collects commentaries about people's relationship to food, eating and their bodies.  This project will be one of the focuses for her talk on October 19th.

Brown is the editor of two anthologies (Feed Me! and Mr. Wrong) and several other nonfiction books, including The Good-Bye Window: A Year in the Life of a Day-Care Center.  She co-chairs Maudsley Parents, a website of resources for families struggling with eating disorders, and is a member of the Academy for Eating Disorders.

More information on Harriet and her work can be found at www.harrietbrown.com and www.projectbodytalk.com, and more information about local resources for Eating Disorders can be found at www.qceatingdisorders.com.



The    Happy    Joe's    company,    based    in    Bettendorf,    Iowa,    plans    to    launch    a    chainwide    breakfast    program    
September    15,    2011.    Along    with    the    breakfast    rollout,    the    company    will    also    launch    a    new    text    mobile    
marketing    program    where    guests    can    opt    in    to    their    favorite    Happy    Joe's    mobile    club    and    receive    
exclusive    offers    from    Happy    Joe's    all    year    long.        

The    Happy    Joe's    breakfast    program    will    focus    on    two    main    items,    omelet    pizzas    and    home?    style    
cinnamon    rolls,    which    will    be    available    for    dine    in,    pickup,    and    delivery.    Kristel    Whitty?Ersan,    Marketing    
Director,    stated,    "We    have    had    good    success    with    our    breakfast    items    at    over    20    stores    and    we    are    thrilled    
to    expand    the    program    chainwide.        Much    of    our    success    with    this    program    has    come    through    our    delivery    
program    to    businesses    as    our    omelet    pizza    and    cinnamon    rolls    work    well    for    morning    business    meetings."    

All    locations    will    be    offering    the    omelet    pizza    and    cinnamon    rolls,    and    will    have    the    option    to    add    gourmet    
coffee,    breakfast    burritos,    and    Happy    Joe's    Scramblers    (similar    to    a    breakfast    skillet).        Happy    Joe's    omelet    
pizza    is    served    on    a    pan?style    crust    with    scrambled    eggs,    cheese,    and    your    favorite    pizza    toppings.    Happy    
Joe's        most    popular    omelet    pizzas    include    the    Denver    with    green    peppers,    onions,    tomatoes,    and    diced    
bacon,    the    3?Meat    with    sausage,    Canadian    bacon,    and    bacon,    and    the    Bacon?Bacon    with    Canadian    bacon    
and    bacon.    

Happy    Joe    Whitty,    Founder    of    the    company,    stated,    "I    used    to    belong    to    several    business    groups    back    in    
the    '80s    and    we    would    meet    at    a    local    diner    for    our    morning    meetings.    One    day    I    realized        we    weren't    
meeting    at    my    restaurant    for    our    weekly    meetings.    A    couple    of    the    members    reminded    me    that    we    didn't    
serve    breakfast!    I    responded    that    the    following    week    we    would    meet    at    my    place    and    I'd    whip    something    
up.    That's    when    the    breakfast    pizza    was    born.    For    years    we    only    made    it    for    special    meetings    and    internal    
events.    Finally    my    kids,    who    now    run    the    company,    said,    'Dad,    this    pizza    is    so    great,    we    should    really    offer    
it    to    our    guests.'    So    now    we're    in    the    breakfast    business!    It    always    makes    me    feel    great    when    I    hear    the    
compliments    we    get    on    these    breakfast    items."            

If    you    would    like    more    information    on    Happy    Joe's    breakfast    program    or    would    like    to    interview    Happy    
Joe    Whitty    or    Kristel    Ersan,    Marketing    Director,    contact    the    Happy    Joe's    Support    Center    at    563?332?8811,    
or    Kristel    at    563?650?4680    or    kristele@happyjoes.com.        

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The fifth annual urban deer hunt will begin in Davenport on September 10, 2011 and continue through January 29th 2012. This year the special deer management zone will include all areas of three acres or more inside Davenport city limits. Landowner permission is required to hunt on private or public property. The only legal deer license recognized within the Davenport city limits will be a special deer management zone permit. The hunt will be coordinated by Parks and Recreation employee, Mike Reis, who can be contacted at: 563-320-2315.

The City of Davenport has created a special antlerless management zone, for the purpose of controlling the deer population within the City of Davenport. This zone will include all public and private property with a minimum of three acres or more, within Davenport City Limits. To legally hunt deer within this management zone, a special deer management tag must be obtained.

To participate in this deer management zone hunt each hunter must have completed a DNR Hunter Education Course. For information concerning the time and date of this course, please contact: B & B Shooting Supplies, 2152 State Street, Bettendorf, Iowa 52722, Phone: (563) 355-4867. A yearly proficiency test will be required to purchase a deer management zone tag.  This test will be offered through B & B Shooting Supplies.

Deer tags may be purchased from:

  • B & B Shooting Supplies 2152 State Street, Bettendorf, Iowa 52722
  • Farm and Fleet of Davenport 8535 Northwest Boulevard Davenport, Iowa
  • Gander Mountain 3940 Elmore Avenue, Davenport, Iowa

Rules and regulations that apply to the Deer Hunt are as follows:

  • To reduce arrow flight, it is mandatory that all shots are taken from an elevated position.
  • Portable tree stands (provided by the hunter) may be used.
  • Care must be taken to minimize damage to trees.
  • Harvested animals must be removed intact from the site.
  • Hunters agree to maintain a distance of 150 feet away from any occupied building, street, or paved trails.
  • To maximize safety, hunters are encouraged to take shots of 75 feet or less.
  • No baiting, driving, or stalking of deer is allowed.
  • Hunters will observe all regulations of Iowa DNR as pertaining to deer bow hunting.

More information can be found at www.cityofdavenportiowa.com/parks.  Within 24 hours of harvest, hunters filling a special deer management tag must contact:

Hunt Coordinator:
Mike Reis
Parks & Recreation Department,
Red Hawk Golf Course
6364 Northwest Blvd
Phone: (563) 320-2315

Friday, Oct. 7th 5:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.

First Friday event at the Mississippi River Distillery and Artstroll downtown.

Saturday, Oct. 8th, 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

Saturday is all about the stores and restaurants. Some of the items being featured downtown will be: 

  • Green apple or caramel apple popcorn along with Lagomarcino's caramel apples at Kernal Cody's
  • Grasshoppers-apple wine
  • Happy Joe's-Apple pizza
  • Buffalo Bill museum will have an apple pick for prizes at 2:00
  • The Blue Iguana will have an apple dessert or drink.
  • Penny Waters will feature floral arrangements in pumpkins and also have taffy apples
  • Apple candles at the Primitve Cottage
  • LeClaire Antique & Appraisals will have any item with an apple tag-50% off

Book Sale at the LeClaire Community Library: www.leclairelibrary.org

Sunday, Oct. 9th, 11:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

More shopping and vendors.

Book Sale at the LeClaire Community Library: www.leclairelibrary.org

Iowans For Accountability (IFA) would like to remind folks that this month we celebrate four different, but very important days regarding our American heritage and history: Labor Day, Jury Rights Day, Patriot Day and Constitution Day. This year, two of the events, Labor Day and Jury Rights Day, happen to fall on the same day, and Constitution Day is technically proclaimed by law as an entire week instead of just a day. Patriot Day being the most recent addition of the four since the tragic attack on 9/11/2001. This IFA announcement includes both a brief historical summary and the local liberty movement's activities in respect to these special days in our American History.

Labor Day became a federal holiday back in 1894, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads. This holiday falls on the first Monday of September which was the 5th of September this year, which happens to also be Jury Rights Day this year.

Jury Rights Day is in commemoration of the William Penn case in1670 which firmly established protection for the jury, and firmly established the right of the jurors to refuse to accept bad government laws. In celebration of both Jury Rights Day and Labor Day, the Illinois Liberty Alliance of SuperLiberty.com walked in the East Moline Labor Day Parade last Monday promoting both Ron Paul for President in 2012 and The Fully Informed Jury Association.

Patriot Day occurs on September 11th of each year, designated in memory of the 2,977 killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the New York World Trade Center Twin Towers. In commemoration of Patriot Day, the Illinois Liberty Alliance (ILA) has adopted Veteran's Memorial Park in Moline on the north shore of the Rock River behind Blaine's Farm & Fleet off of 60th Street. There will be a sign in the park that ILA adopted the park along with the SuperLiberty.com link. There will be a park cleanup and picnic on September 24th at 10am at this location.

And finally, Constitution Day, September 17, 2011 marks the two hundred and twenty-fourth anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention. In Fact, public law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17 through 23 as constitution week.

Iowans For Accountability, in conjunction with the local tea party movement, plan to hold a, "Are You Hearing Us Now?" Constitutional Counties March, Rally and News Conference that day. People of all parties and affiliates are invited to walk from the Scott County Courthouse/Jail to the Rock Island County Courthouse/Jail in solidarity and as an expression of hope that our local law enforcement leadership and rank and file deputies and officers will reflect upon the times we all live in and how important it is they honor their oaths of office to uphold the federal and state constitutions.

Certified mailers with constitutional educational material, produced by former law enforcement leaders who won a historic Supreme Court case over state sovereignty and the duty of LEO to protect individual rights will have been sent to all local law enforcement personnel earlier that week.

IFA hopes that our local communities public servants and members of the communities will join us in our celebration of our Month of Liberty by participating in the various events. These historical events should never be lost or forgotten, and these are great opportunities for folks to learn more about their own history and serving their fellow Americans.

A CLARION CALL: THIS CHURCH IS SERIOUS ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS

Meeting At Hotel Every 3rd Sunday for Handicap Accessibility

 Iowa/Illinois Quad Cities - Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities ("MCCQC") takes inclusiveness seriously. The church is well known for its outreach to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community -- as well as for being Christian while respecting everyone's individual spiritual journey. "We proclaim our mission statement from the pulpit every Sunday: 'To provide lively worship and to proclaim God's inclusive love for everyone,'" says MCCQC Pastor, Rev. Rich Hendricks. "Now we have to get out of the old church building to reach some of our own folks and some people we have yet to meet who would love to come and worship but cannot handle stairs."

Hendricks says that the congregation has been trying unsuccessfully to sell their building at 30th and Harrison Street for over two years. Without selling the building, the congregation is unable to purchase a handicap accessible facility. "At least this way, we can be handicap accessible once a month," says Hendricks. Worship services are now scheduled at the Clarion Hotel, 5202 N. Brady Street, Davenport in a conference room every third Sunday of the month beginning Sunday, September 18th.

All are welcome to attend. For the first service at the Clarion on the 18th, there will be free doughnuts and coffee beginning at 10:30 a.m., and a pizza buffet at 12 noon following the worship service. Church members have come up with extra-giving donations to cover the cost of renting the conference room at the Clarion. "I would much rather we could afford a handicap accessible facility for our worship services every Sunday, but until we win the lottery at least this is a start," says Hendricks.

For more information, contact the church office at 563.324.8281 or visit them on the web at www.mccqc.com.

 

 

 

Press Contact: Rev. Rich Hendricks 563.324.8281 or richdhendricks@msn.com

 

 

 

MCC QC: tearing down walls & building up hope!

President's Jobs Proposal Includes Harkin-led Efforts to Fund Education Jobs/School Construction

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) tonight issued the following statement after President Obama addressed Congress on the need to put America back to work.  Harkin is Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Appropriations subcommittee that funds education and labor initiatives.  He has fought to prevent massive layoffs of American teachers and is leading the effort in Congress to rebuild the middle class in America.

"Traveling in Iowa this summer it was abundantly clear that the number one issue impacting Americans is not the budget deficit, but a far more urgent deficit: the jobs deficit.  By all means, we need to agree on necessary spending cuts and tax increases to bring deficits under control in the longer term.  But in the short term, we need a robust federal agenda to boost the economy and create jobs.

"I am encouraged that the President's proposal goes to the heart of that effort by investing in the jobs that sustain a strong middle class.  In particular, new funding he proposed for educator jobs will keep teachers in the classrooms.  This echoes a bill that I pushed through Congress last year to provide $10 billion to keep teachers on the job in the face of deep cuts to state budgets.

"The President's call to renovate our schools is a win-win for our economy and for our children.  Kids cannot be expected to reach their full potential if the school they attend is crumbling around them.  And my experience in Iowa in providing funding to renovate our schools shows that every dollar in federal funds that is provided for school construction leverages an additional four dollars in funding from other sources, creating jobs and economic growth.

"And I was pleased to see he proposed ramping up federal investments in infrastructure to boost U.S. competitiveness and create construction jobs.  As the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates, America faces a $2.2 trillion infrastructure backlog and they are correct to say that "we are still driving on Eisenhower's roads and sending our kids to Roosevelt's schools."  His proposal also offers assistance so that the long-term unemployed can support their families while they continue to look for work.

"As we move forward, we must also address the fact that two-thirds of adults with disabilities are not working. In the HELP Committee, I intend to continue to hold hearings on the best way to address this issue.

"Now that this proposal has been unveiled, I encourage the President to use the bully pulpit and fight to get it passed.  Where necessary, draw a sharp contrast to those who offer only obstruction and do-nothingism.  It's time to break up the gridlock in Washington and put America back to work.  The future of our middle class - and our economy - depends on it."

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CHICAGO - September 8, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today issued a statement following President Obama's announcement of the American Jobs Act:

"Tonight, the President laid out a plan that will put Americans back to work now. We in Illinois applaud President Obama's vision for American innovation, infrastructure, fiscal responsibility and bipartisanship. As our country recovers from the worst recession in decades, we must invest in our small businesses and the sectors that are creating the jobs of today and tomorrow. I support the President's plan, and I stand with him in calling on Congress to put aside partisan politics and do their part for America's working families."

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GAO report on improved IRS whistleblower office

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa wrote the 2006 law improving the IRS whistleblower office to encourage people with information about big-dollar tax fraud to come forward and lead to the substantial recovery of tax dollars for the U.S. Treasury.  He modeled the whistleblower improvements after the successful 1986 whistleblower amendments to the federal False Claims Act.  Grassley was the Senate author of the False Claims Act whistleblower amendments, which since 1986 have brought back more than $27 billion to the federal treasury and deterred even more fraudulent activity. The False Claims Act whistleblower provisions have been very effective against defense and health care fraud, but there was no strong incentive to expose big-dollar tax fraud until Grassley's work in 2006.  Grassley has been monitoring the progress of the new, improved whistleblower office.  In April, an in-house accountant who raised a red flag about a tax lapse that his employer then ignored, leading him to tip off the IRS, received $4.5 million in the first whistleblower award under the new, improved IRS whistleblower office, with a recovery for the taxpayers of a net $20 million in taxes and interest from the financial services firm. Grassley made the following comment on a report released today from the Government Accountability Office, GAO-11-683, "Tax Whistleblowers: Incomplete Data Hinders IRS's Ability to Manage Claim Processing Time and Enhance External Communication."

"The report makes clear that the whistleblower program has been a success in providing good information to the IRS about big-dollar tax cheating.  The statistics show the IRS views a significant number of the whistleblower claims as having merit.  The IRS has received tips on more than 9,500 taxpayers from 1,400 whistleblowers in just five years. The IRS has acted or is acting on almost 8,300 of these claims, so only about 1,300 tips have been rejected so far.

"Now the challenge is for the IRS and Treasury to make the changes needed to provide assurance to existing and future whistleblowers so they're not discouraged by the time needed to process their claims. With the nation facing massive deficits, Treasury and IRS officials need to do all they can to ensure the success of what's clearly one of the best tools available to go after tax fraud.  The vast majority of taxpayers are honest.  They're the ones who benefit from a successful whistleblower program.  More tax compliance means more fairness for hardworking families who pay what they owe.

"The report has good recommendations that the IRS needs to implement tomorrow.  The IRS needs to do a better job of communicating with whistleblowers.  Silence between the IRS and the whistleblowers only helps the tax cheats.  I'm concerned that the IRS management still might have too many opportunities to say 'no' to a whistleblower, even when the whistleblower office believes a claim has merit. The IRS commissioner has to make it clear that he expects the director of the IRS whistleblower office to speak up if it thinks an IRS office is foot-dragging on a good whistleblower claim.  The law I wrote gives the IRS whistleblower office the power to investigate claims on its own. The IRS commissioner should make that clear to all of his managers and provide the necessary resources so that valid whistleblower claims aren't forgotten.  We can't let the next Madoff get a free pass just because someone doesn't want to be bothered.  Going through whistleblower claims is work but it's worth it.

"The GAO report says the IRS is short on resources but also is doing nothing to take advantage of the resources of the whistleblower and his attorneys.  This has to stop.  A key provision of the whistleblower law, and a big part of the success of the False Claims Act provisions that I co-wrote, is to allow the government to leverage the whistleblower's resources.  It's worrisome that the IRS hasn't taken advantage of this provision even once.  The tax cheats shouldn't be the only ones who can take advantage of outside legal talent.  The IRS can't ask for more resources while ignoring the free resources available.

"The GAO has done a good service by providing a road map for how to improve the IRS whistleblower program and go after big-dollar tax cheating.  For the benefit of honest taxpayers, I intend to ensure that the IRS follows that map."

Senator Chuck Grassley tonight released the following statement after the President's speech before a Joint Session of Congress.

An audio comment can be accessed on Grassley's website by clicking here.

"What the President's saying is more of the same, especially with what was in the stimulus bill.  That massive government spending bill passed two years ago, right after the President took office, and was touted by the administration as a way to keep unemployment below eight percent, which it hasn't by a long shot.  When we've tested something like that, and it failed, we need to try something new.  That something new would be to remove the tremendous anxiety that Congress, the President and Washington lately are creating for employers throughout America, in businesses small and big.   Employers don't know what's coming next in the way of regulations and higher taxes.  As a result, they're understandably reluctant to spend the trillion dollars that's now sitting in corporate treasuries.  The cash flow of small businesses needs to be protected, or they can't hire anybody new.  We've got to free up that corporate money and the entrepreneurial spirit to create economic activity and jobs.

"The best way for Congress and the President to lessen that anxiety is to make a serious effort to get rid of duplicative, outdated regulations and really consider the economic impact of forthcoming regulations before reflexively moving them forward, as in the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed dust regulation, which doesn't reflect an understanding of farming and the economic impact on rural communities; to make sure the biggest tax increase in the history of the country, which everyone knows is coming on December 31, 2012, doesn't happen; and to get under control the excessive government spending that's tripled the national debt over the last two years.  I'm willing to work with the President to make things happen, but that doesn't mean more of the same.  In the end, the President inherited a very bad economic situation, but by any measure of the economy, including inflation or unemployment or deficit spending, his policies and programs have made it worse.  We want the President to see that what he's tried hasn't worked and for him to work with Congress to get the economy turned around."

 

BAUCUS, GRASSLEY APPLAUD PASSAGE OF BILL TO INCREASE TAX FAIRNESS, DETER TAX SHELTERS BY ELIMINATING PATENTS ON TAX STRATEGIES

Finance Senators Say All Taxpayers Have a Right to Legal Methods to Reduce Tax Bills

Washington, DC - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and senior Committee member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today applauded the Senate's passage of their bill to protect taxpayers and fight tax evasion, which was included in the larger patent reform bill.  The Baucus-Grassley legislation prevents any individual or firm from patenting tax strategies, which could otherwise subject taxpayers to royalty fees for using the patented strategy when filing their taxes.  The bill also stops tax patents from providing windfalls to lawyers and patent holders by preventing them from holding exclusive rights to use loopholes, which could provide some businesses with unfair advantages over their competitors.  Now that both the House and Senate have passed the patent reform bill, it goes to the President for his signature.

"Unfair patents can give a small number of people a stranglehold on tax strategies that should be open to anyone," Baucus said. "This bill will bring fairness to the system, and it will deter the use of tax shelters to evade the responsibility we all share.  Our ongoing tax reform effort will continue cleaning up the code, and it can create jobs and be a major boost to our economy."

"Tax strategy patents are on the rise.  More and more legal tax strategies are unavailable or more expensive for more and more taxpayers," Grassley said. "It's important to protect intellectual property rights for true tax preparation and financial management software.  At the same time, we have to protect the right of taxpayers to have equal access to legal tax strategies.  That's necessary for fairness and tax compliance.  We need more tax compliance, not less."

In order to obtain a patent, an inventor must show, among other things, that the claimed invention is novel and non-obvious and has a practical application.  In 1998, the courts determined that a method of doing business may be patentable, and soon thereafter, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office began granting patents for various tax-related inventions.

Tax practitioners have long decried the issuance of these tax-strategy patents because they are unlikely to be novel, given the public nature of the tax code, and undermine the fairness of the Federal tax system by removing from the public domain particular ways of satisfying a taxpayer's legal obligations.  The bill expressly provides that a strategy for reducing, avoiding or deferring tax liability cannot be considered a new or non-obvious idea, and therefore, a patent on a tax strategy cannot be obtained.

Baucus and Grassley have long been leaders in congressional efforts to protect taxpayers and prevent the patenting of tax strategies that result in extra costs for taxpayers.

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Grassley, Johanns Work to Stop Long Reach of the EPA in Regulating Dust

WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley today introduced legislation to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating dust in rural America while maintaining the protections of the Clean Air Act to the public's health and welfare.  Grassley introduced the bill with Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska.

Grassley first began asking questions about the EPA's proposed dust rules in 2006.  He has hounded the EPA as the rule has progressed through the regulating process to ensure that the unique aspects of agriculture and rural America are accounted for.  Grassley has invited the last two EPA administrators to Iowa to see for themselves the important role that farmers play in their communities.  Administrator Stephen Johnson came to Iowa in 2006 and heard directly from several farmers and agriculture specialists.  Current Administrator Lisa Jackson sent two staff members to Iowa in 2009 to spend the day with Grassley touring a family farm, the Iowa State University research facility and a biodiesel plant.

"In each of my most recent town hall meetings the excessive amount of regulations coming out of Washington, D.C. and the impact on small businesses and rural communities was a top issue," Grassley said.  "The dust rule is a perfect example. It makes no sense to regulate the dust coming out of a combine harvesting soybeans or the dust off a gravel road of a pick-up truck traveling into town.  If the administration were to decide to revise the standard, farmers and livestock producers will likely be unable to attain the standard levels and the rural economy would be devastated."

The bill takes a two prong approach to keep the EPA from regulating farm dust.  First, it prevents the EPA from revising the current dust standard for one year from date of enactment.

The bill also provides flexibility for states, localities, and tribes to regulate "nuisance dust."  Nuisance dust is defined in the bill to exclude the type of dust typical of rural areas (unpaved roads and dust resulting from agricultural activities) from the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) regulation targeted at harmful air pollutants. If the state, tribal, or local government chooses to regulate nuisance dust, these regulations would supersede any regulations put forth by the federal government under the Clean Air Act. If there are no local regulations in place and the EPA wants to regulate this type of dust, the EPA must find that the specific type of dust or particulate matter causes adverse health effects and that the benefits of applying EPA's standard to that area outweigh the costs to the local and regional communities, including economic and employment impacts.  The Clean Air Act does not currently differentiate between urban and rural dust, so this provides the EPA with a distinction between the two for implementation of air quality standards.

A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Kristi Noem of South Dakota.

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Moline, IL...State Representative Rich Morthland (R-Cordova) released the following statement on Governor Quinn's facility closure and state layoffs plan:

"Governor Quinn is once again holding state employees hostage to put pressure on the General Assembly to approve his billion dollar borrowing plans. What we are seeing is a return to the budgeting methods of Rod Blagojevich. We are seeing more attempts to threaten the General Assembly into spending more money. If the Governor wants to work with us, he needs to stop the bullying and start participating in the budget negotiations."

"We need to have responsible financial accountability and continue the steps we started in May, when the General Assembly sent the Governor a budget $2 billion less than he had proposed spending. We cannot back down to the Governor's threats in this time of dire financial straits."

For more information call (309) 762-3008 or email repmorthland@gmail.com.

 

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