(Davenport, Iowa - May, 2011) The Figge announces the fall exhibition, Restoring the Spirit: Celebrating Haitian Art and the recent reinstallation of the Figge's Haitian Gallery with an event on May 18.  The upcoming exhibition celebrates Haiti's complex visual traditions and the devotion of artists to creative endeavors in the face of national adversity.  The exhibition will open September 17 and run through January 15, 2012.

The Figge's Haitian Collection is one of the first and most comprehensive collections of Haitian art in the United States.  The collection was established through a gift from Davenport native Dr. Walter E. Neiswanger and charts the growth and development of the country's rich artistic tradition from its origins in the 1940s through today.

Now on view in the reinstalled Haitian Gallery is the triptych Azaka, Agro Rex by Edouard Duval-Carrie.  Duval-Carrie, who was featured in the solo exhibition, Migration of the Spirit at the Figge in 2006, will have work included in Restoring the Spirit exhibition.  Duval-Carrie will visit the Figge on October 13 to lead a "Thursdays at the Figge" art talk on his experiences as a Haitian artist.

On May 18, in honor of Haitian Flag Day, the Figge will host an event to celebrate the announcement of the exhibition and the recent Haitian Gallery reinstallation.  The Figge is partnering with Kids Against Hunger Your Quad-Cities to bag life saving food which will be delivered to Haiti.

Kids Against Hunger is an international food relief organization working to save the lives of starving people. The local chapter has provided over 500,000 meals to starving people in Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua, many of whom suffer from malnutrition and resort to eating mud cakes to stave off the hunger.  In addition, they have provided nearly 60,000 meals to hungry people in the Quad Cities. The bagged meals, made up of rice, soy, six vegetables and twenty-one vitamins and minerals, provide a nutritionally complete meal and cost $0.25 per meal.

The Figge is seeking over 100 volunteers to help bag food from 2:30pm to 4:30pm on the May 18.  Individual cash donations of $20 are encouraged to help cover the cost of these meals.  For a fee of $360, teams of 12 volunteers can sign up to create 1440 meals in an hour.

Leading the bagging efforts will be Keith Donohue.  Donohue is the founder of Positive Present®, an organization devoted to making a positive impact through philanthropy. His organization is currently embarking on a unique project called "50Give," where Donohue will trek cross-country to volunteer in each of the 50 states as well as Canada, Mexico and the District of Columbia.  Travelling by car, plane or boat, Donohue will devote over five months of his time helping various nonprofits, charities and other worthy causes.

Donohue volunteers at one non-profit in each state and has chosen to spend his time in Iowa volunteering at the Figge.  In addition to helping bag food, Donohue will help in the administrative offices and assist Figge outreach staff with an elementary program in the Davenport School District.

There will be a brief program at 2pm with remarks by Figge staff and community members. Haitian gallery tours will be offered at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm by Sally Ruggeberg, a Figge Docent who has spent time volunteering in Haiti.

To volunteer, please contact Jennifer Brooke at the Figge Art Museum 563.326.7804x2048 or j.brooke@figgeartmuseum.org

For more information on 50Give and Keith Donohue visit www.50give.com/contact.

For more information on Kids Against Hunger Your Quad-Cities, contact John Kessler at info@kahqc.com or 309.762.0437.

This event is being sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. As the country's largest fraternal benefit society, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans does much more than offer financial services. It offers programs and outreach opportunities where members can connect with each other, learn new things, and help their communities. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans supports two foundations that address a variety of needs and serve charitable purposes that support individuals, organizations and communities.

For more information on Thrivent Financial for Lutherans contact Tom Brooke at 326.650.2389 or Thomas.Brooke@Thrivent.com.

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For hundreds of years, Americans have relied on their local post office as their main form of communication. Before Facebook, text messages, emails, and even cables, we had letters and packages, thanks to the postal service that delivered them to our door and our town. Postal workers and letter carriers were, and still are, the driving force to ensure that everyAmerican has access to consistent, reliable mail service. But now thatservice is in jeopardy as Washington politicians put more and more rural post offices on the chopping block.

In my own family, my wife's grandfather worked as a letter carrier. After serving in World War I, he came home and went to work as a letter carrier for the post office in Dubuque, Iowa. He was so well regarded and respected among his fellow letter carriers that he was presented with a gavel made out of timber from the White House. Now, that gavel - and the pride in one's work and community that it symbolizes - is a prized possession in our household.

During the Second World War, my father relied on the post office as his only form of communication with his family. Half a world away, he was only 18 when he served at Iwo Jima, but he was still able to send and receive letters from his mother and his loved ones. If it weren't for the hardworking employees of the United States Postal Service (USPS), these letters would never have made their way to him. And on Mother's Day in 1945, while he was recuperating on Guam, my father used the mail to send flowers to his mother in Iowa.

Today, many Iowans still rely on their local post office for their main form of communication. Whether you use the post office to write letters to loved ones far away or to send and receive packages, the post office continues to be a reliable and necessary service. And even in the age of electronic communication, small-town post offices serve as the heart of so many communities across Iowa. Going into your local post office is about more than just getting the mail - it's about catching up on the local gossip, checking in on friends and neighbors, and staying connected to your community. Our local post offices provide good-paying jobs to Iowans and they remain astrong presence in many small-town economies.

Unfortunately, in recent years we've witnessed the closing of many post offices across the state. In towns like Volga, St. Olaf and Arlington, post offices have already been closed. And now communities like Evansdale and New Hartford are facing closures of their own. Some of these closings have come so abruptly that communities don't even have a chance to make their protests heard or rally to save the post office.

But now, bending to political pressure, the USPS is planning to close even more small-town post offices. The USPS has proposed new regulations that would consolidate or close many small town post offices.

That's not the way we treat our neighbors in Iowa, and I will continue to make sure our rural communities have a voice when it comes to issues that affect them. That's why, just this week, I sent a letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe expressing my grave concern over these new proposed regulations. I urged the Postmaster General to reconsider and not to issue new government regulations that would lead to the closing of even more rural post offices in our state. I strongly believe that these closings would lead to job loss and would cause many headaches for Iowans in rural communities who rely on their local post office. But I also know that if we stand together and make our voice heard, we can prevent these closings.

After the 2008 floods devastated parts of our district, the post office in Greene was in danger of closing. The post office was badly damaged because of the floods, but as the people of Greene rallied to repair and revive after the flooding, I was pleased to work with the community to help prevent this post office from closing. And just like I did then, I intend to keep fighting for all the post offices in my district.

With our growing national deficit, we certainly need to look at all the ways we can save money. But closing post offices that so many small towns and rural communities rely on will not solve the financial troubles of the USPS or the U.S. government - it will serve as a financial and moral blow to Iowans who can least afford it. The United States Postal Service has a long and proud history. Shuttering the post offices that serve as the hearts andsouls of our small towns would be a devastating closing chapter.

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ROCK ISLAND, IL (05/10/2011)(readMedia)-- The Augustana Choir will draw on tradition this Memorial Day weekend when it performs in the prestigious Carnegie Hall on Sunday, May 29, at 1 p.m. The 65-member choir received a special invitation to perform at the hall this season after organizers heard and recognized the high quality performances of the choir.

From your area this includes:

Kaleigh Wall, a sophomore from Eldridge, Iowa majoring in music.

Ricky Rector, a sophomore from Davenport, Iowa majoring in communication sciences and disorders.

Anita Cook, a senior from Davenport, Iowa. majoring in studio art.

Kjerstin Hurty, a sophomore from Moline, Ill. majoring in business and music.

Martha Ade, a junior from Moline, Ill. majoring in music and English.

Calvin Vo, a sophomore from Moline, Ill. majoring in English and theatre.

Lauren Reid, a junior from Sherrard, Ill. majoring in business and communications.

Under the director of Dr. Jon Hurty, the choir will perform a solo program of a cappella works in the 2,800-seat, five-level main auditorium. Then the choir will join Augustana's Handel Oratorio Society in a performance of "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff, also under the direction of Hurty

"It's a big performance in a really amazing hall," said Hurty.

The event restores a tradition of the Augustana Choir performing at the hall that started in the 1930s. The choir had a large New York presence in the 1950s and 1960s when it was recording with the RCA label and performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." This year's invitation came from the largest independent contractor, MidAmerica Productions in New York, which oversees many of the productions for Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center.

"The quality that they've [Augustana Choir] got, it's exciting to be able to present something like that," say Paul Torkelson, composer-in-residence for MidAmerica Productions.

For information regarding tickets for the performance at Carnegie Hall, please visit www.carnegiehall.org or call (212) 247-7800.

WASHINGTON - May 9, 2011 - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin wrote to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in response to a new report showing that 88 percent of the powerful antipsychotic drugs being prescribed to nursing home residents with dementia were for uses that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

"Nursing home residents are getting antipsychotic drugs for dementia, not psychoses," Grassley said.  "No one seems to have a good handle on whether the patients are benefiting from these medicines or whether they're being prescribed drugs that don't help and might even harm them.  The government needs to do a better job of protecting nursing home residents from unnecessary drugs.  I'll continue to work to hold the Medicare program and nursing homes accountable for the quality of care delivered to nursing home patients."

"Late last year we convened a panel of national experts on Alzheimer's and they told us that we must do a better job of providing care to the rapidly growing number of elders with dementia who live in our nation's nursing homes," Kohl said.  "As these experts told us, and as the HHS OIG report confirms, Alzheimer's patients who do not have a diagnosis of psychosis can be seriously harmed by this class of drugs. CMS must find ways to encourage the medical community to use appropriate non-pharmacological treatments for these patients, who deserve to lead dignified lives."

Grassley and Kohl commented on a report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.  The report titled, "Medicare Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Claims for Elderly Nursing Home Residents," was requested by Grassley in December 2007.

The Inspector General found that 88 percent of the powerful antipsychotic drugs being prescribed to nursing home residents with dementia were for uses that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, even though the drug labels contain "black box warnings" of an increased risk of death in elderly patients with dementia. The report also shows that 22 percent of the nursing homes failed to meet federal standards on unnecessary drug use in nursing homes. Further, more than half of the claims for atypical antipsychotic drugs were improperly paid.

Grassley and Kohl wrote to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seeking a description of the agency's actions to protect nursing home residents from unnecessary off-label antipsychotic prescriptions and to protect the taxpayers from improper payments for these drugs.  The text of their letter is available here.  The text of the report is available here.

Grassley and Kohl have long worked together to safeguard nursing home residents and more broadly, to inject transparency into the financial relationships between drug makers and doctors.  Last year, their Physician Payments Sunshine Act became law and will require, beginning in 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services to post on a public website newly reported payments that drug, device and biologic makers make to physicians.

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